eobet
01-09-2005, 10:41 AM
"Seekers of the Frontier" - A city building game in the old west, featuring more settlers and less cowboys.
The game begins with you, the enterprising land owner. From scenario to scenario, the land vastly changes. Some maps consist of huge forests, which you have to cut and ship in order to make a profit so you can build your town. Other maps are absolutely deserted, perhaps home merely to a fort, and you must provide enough entertainment and gain enough fame so that people will want to move in and provide support for the fort. Further, some maps contain gold or oil so that people will flock to your city instead, and you must keep them happy and in check by any means possible (either manage your plots so well that everybody can fit in and have something to do, or go the other way and hire outlaws for the extreme solution). Finally, some maps are indian territory and it is up to you to decide what you want to do there (build a small, peacful co-operating trade settlement, or mercilessly expand, using your marshalls and other hired guns drive out the natives).
As hinted, the game should rely heavily on the people you employ. These people are the settlers who have come from Europe seeking their fortune. The important thing is that most of them already have a profession, so when they pass by seeking a place to live, you can interview them and employ them if you want (if you feel that their skill is high enough and that you can rely on them), or deny them stay and hope for better luck with the next caravan. There will be people from many cultures who move in, and not all of them like each other, so city planning will be a challenge (an easy way out is to create ghettos with different cultures, but if they grow displeased, the unease will spread like wildfire within the community and they might take to arms, so a better way is to try to integrate all cultures and keep marshalls and a sheriff around, but that is much more challenging and requires micro management to fix all the dozens of small conflicts which will arise). If you manage to get a large city going for enough time, you might even see some rich people popping up, either from very succesful establishments within your own city, or people who have heard of your fame and fortune. Rich people have very high demands, though, but can in turn spend exessive amounts of money in your shops.
But all people have demands, and these are met by providing goods and services. Providing these require two things: A settler with the correct profession, and a locale for that settler to use. The locale, in turn, requires wood which you will start out with very little of, and will have to either cut and saw on your own, or if you are unlucky with the scenario map, import from other regions (nails and tools will nearly always have to be imported, unless it is a scenario with mountains where you can get a mine up and running, which will take a very long time and require many strong settlers together with lots of whiskey and grub). Streets are always mud lanes until you can quarry or import stone and get a mason (an extremely rare occupation in the west) who can produce cobble stone roads (cobble stones is not a ware that is traded either, it is for rich people demands only).
Examples of locales with services are saloons, who keep the visiting population happy (mostly male city dwellers and hired guns), but is in conflict with the church, which keeps other parts of the population happy (mostly farmers). Saloons and other gambling locations can also be used to make money of caravans which pass by.
...
Well, I could probably go on, but I hope I've highlighted som important gameplay features which I feel is missing in current games: Constant conflicts and multiple ways to solve them (ie. a real balancing act).
Also, I know there's been a few wild west games, but none have been a real city builder, and none have been that much fun (to me, anyway).
So, feel free to tear this apart, or add your own suggestions to it!
The game begins with you, the enterprising land owner. From scenario to scenario, the land vastly changes. Some maps consist of huge forests, which you have to cut and ship in order to make a profit so you can build your town. Other maps are absolutely deserted, perhaps home merely to a fort, and you must provide enough entertainment and gain enough fame so that people will want to move in and provide support for the fort. Further, some maps contain gold or oil so that people will flock to your city instead, and you must keep them happy and in check by any means possible (either manage your plots so well that everybody can fit in and have something to do, or go the other way and hire outlaws for the extreme solution). Finally, some maps are indian territory and it is up to you to decide what you want to do there (build a small, peacful co-operating trade settlement, or mercilessly expand, using your marshalls and other hired guns drive out the natives).
As hinted, the game should rely heavily on the people you employ. These people are the settlers who have come from Europe seeking their fortune. The important thing is that most of them already have a profession, so when they pass by seeking a place to live, you can interview them and employ them if you want (if you feel that their skill is high enough and that you can rely on them), or deny them stay and hope for better luck with the next caravan. There will be people from many cultures who move in, and not all of them like each other, so city planning will be a challenge (an easy way out is to create ghettos with different cultures, but if they grow displeased, the unease will spread like wildfire within the community and they might take to arms, so a better way is to try to integrate all cultures and keep marshalls and a sheriff around, but that is much more challenging and requires micro management to fix all the dozens of small conflicts which will arise). If you manage to get a large city going for enough time, you might even see some rich people popping up, either from very succesful establishments within your own city, or people who have heard of your fame and fortune. Rich people have very high demands, though, but can in turn spend exessive amounts of money in your shops.
But all people have demands, and these are met by providing goods and services. Providing these require two things: A settler with the correct profession, and a locale for that settler to use. The locale, in turn, requires wood which you will start out with very little of, and will have to either cut and saw on your own, or if you are unlucky with the scenario map, import from other regions (nails and tools will nearly always have to be imported, unless it is a scenario with mountains where you can get a mine up and running, which will take a very long time and require many strong settlers together with lots of whiskey and grub). Streets are always mud lanes until you can quarry or import stone and get a mason (an extremely rare occupation in the west) who can produce cobble stone roads (cobble stones is not a ware that is traded either, it is for rich people demands only).
Examples of locales with services are saloons, who keep the visiting population happy (mostly male city dwellers and hired guns), but is in conflict with the church, which keeps other parts of the population happy (mostly farmers). Saloons and other gambling locations can also be used to make money of caravans which pass by.
...
Well, I could probably go on, but I hope I've highlighted som important gameplay features which I feel is missing in current games: Constant conflicts and multiple ways to solve them (ie. a real balancing act).
Also, I know there's been a few wild west games, but none have been a real city builder, and none have been that much fun (to me, anyway).
So, feel free to tear this apart, or add your own suggestions to it!