March 10, 2015 at 19:18The game of reality: how we created a historical strategy
“No centaurs!” - the first thing we decided when we started work on the strategy. About how to make a game based on historical events and not go too far with realism - in this article.
The main question that arises when creating a game based on historical events: how authentic should it be? Where is the line between “this is interesting” and “too boring”? The answers to these questions can vary dramatically depending on the genre, target audience, and developer capabilities. Using the Plarium strategy “Sparta: War of Empires”, I’ll talk about our experience in creating a game with historical elements, which this year was included in the list of the best new games on Facebook.
Concept and setting
The idea to create a game whose action would take place in the time of Antiquity was not accidental: marketing research on the market helps us understand and predict the interests of the target audience even before these interests arise.
Our company employs many people who are trembling in ancient history and mythology. As it turned out, since the time of the release of the first Total War, the art director thought over the idea of creating a game about ancient wars, the creative director reread Herodotus' Muses before going to bed, and several dozen masters in historical sciences disguised themselves as testers and artists. Therefore, everyone met the proposal to create a game in such a setting with enthusiasm.
It was necessary to determine the period and the heroes - and here everything turned out to be somewhat more complicated. Someone wanted a game about Greece, someone voted for Rome, and some ran around the office in red cloaks shouting "Only Sparta!" In such a situation, to avoid disagreements, you can use thetest duel A \ B-testing. Three focus groups of players on Facebook helped us determine what users are most interested in is the story of the confrontation between the inhabitants of Sparta and the troops of the Persian king Xerxes.
We say "Antiquity" - remember the mythology. In today's dominance of stories about the relationship between people and gods, we wanted to create a game that is closer to historical realities. Therefore, a ton of relevant literature was brought into the office, and everyone began to study.
Characters
For strategies in which a player controls armies, it is very important to make warriors vivid and memorable. But the weapons and armor used during the confrontation between the Spartans and the army of Xerxes cannot be called spectacular or diverse. That is why we had to look for a way to cover a larger time period and introduce into the game the types of troops that at that time simply could not physically be in Sparta.
It was possible to solve this problem by transforming the familiar technology tree into a map of ancient Greek policies and other cities of the ancient world - the player must conclude agreements with them. Each agreement gives access to a new type of troops - Cretan archers, Macedonian horsemen, Thracian mercenaries, etc. We decided to take a conditional time period to cover as many possible military cultures as possible, interesting to the audience.
To create a map showing all the policies with which you can enter into agreements, we have processed a large number of historical materials with descriptions of symbolism, life, characteristic weapons and buildings. There are no random details on the icons, each element is carefully thought out: a hammer with a lily depicts Hephaestus, a sickle and mint - Eleusis, a helmet in the form of a lion's head - Pella.
Before starting to create warriors, we collected a lot of references from various sources - from classical literature and books on reconstruction to amateur mods of strategies.
For each type of unit, a detailed description was created - information about weapons, vestments, a description of combat techniques and the most famous battles with their participation. Serving this content as texts would be too boring, so we used a new format: the history of units is revealed in a number of stylized videos.
Character concepts were developed primarily as spectacular models - in some cases, historicity faded into the background.
Nevertheless, the artists tried to create reliable models (as far as the preserved data on the armor and weapons of that period allowed), and paid special attention to details. The unit’s description indicates where it came from, but this can also be determined by its appearance: the owl and olive on the Hoplite’s shield directly indicate its Athenian origin, the Gladiator, of course, is from Capua, and the Archer with the image of a bull on a linen carapace Crete.
Despite the recognizable image of the Spartan that has developed over the past couple of years, there are no naked torsos in the game Sparta: War of Empires. The only thing that could not be abandoned is the red raincoats.
Most units have authentic names - Cataphract, Triarius, Tureofor, Sarissophor. Some were nevertheless localized due to lack of sound and difficulty in perception. So, Spartan Lohagos turned into Ares Warrior, Hypaspist - into Champion, and Promachos from Sparta - into Spartan Elite. Such a simplification was made only for Russian-speaking users: according to research, Russian-speaking players negatively relate to the authentic names of the troops. In other languages (there are 6 in total), we left the Greek names.
Striving for realism and at the same time entertainment, we made many compromises. Due to some features of the game mechanics completely abandoned the fleet, although naval battles played a big role in those days. In the final version, the entire line of units looks bright, while the weapons and armor for the most part correspond to historical counterparts, including buckles and lacing on sandals.
For characters, it is important to strike a balance between authenticity and player expectations. The artists, working with historical consultants, tried to achieve the effect of the appearance of the warriors not “this was how it was”, but rather “it could have been”.
Player Policy and Background
Developing the design of the policy (the city that belongs to the player), we wanted to make it realistic and voluminous. Resource buildings were moved beyond the boundaries of the conditional city wall: farms were located in the Fields, sawmills - in the Groves. Instead of the market square, a Port appeared where all merchant ships arrive. Greek cities usually had a stepped structure: the houses of the nobility and strategically important buildings were always located on a hill. Therefore, the Military Council, in which you can view basic information about the policy, is located above other buildings, which creates a three-dimensional effect.
In the player’s policy are all the buildings familiar to the ancient Greeks, including Oracle, Academy, Agora. Remembering where the devil is hiding, the artists studied a lot of materials about the life, flora and fauna of Greece. Both in the policy and on the global map, the player will not find a single plant that does not correspond to the region and era.
The divine pantheon is represented by many altars, temples and statues. Most of the sculptures are made of white marble - this is familiar to the player who does not have a deep knowledge of Greek art. Yes, in ancient times the statues were painted, but natural dyes were quickly washed off by the rain and faded under the sun. So the white statues in the player’s policy are not an anachronism: they simply haven’t been painted for a long time.
In social games, where the user most often interacts with the interface, the style and convenience of the UI are of great importance. When designing windows and icons, elements such as flags, columns, Greek letters and patterns were used.
Starting the development of the game based on historical events, you need to be clearly aware of your capabilities and strike a balance between historicity and fan. Despite the huge number of books read, lectures and broken kiliks, the game displays about 10% of all the knowledge we received. This is what made the Sparta: War of Empires strategy interesting for both ordinary players and history buffs.
Related materials:
Creation of the Spartan unit.
Creation of the unit “Saracen”.
Creation of the unit "Archer".
Creating the Unbreakable Cinematics for Sparta: War of Empires: Part One.
Creating the Unbreakable Cinematics for Sparta: War of Empires: Part Two.
The main question that arises when creating a game based on historical events: how authentic should it be? Where is the line between “this is interesting” and “too boring”? The answers to these questions can vary dramatically depending on the genre, target audience, and developer capabilities. Using the Plarium strategy “Sparta: War of Empires”, I’ll talk about our experience in creating a game with historical elements, which this year was included in the list of the best new games on Facebook.
Concept and setting
The idea to create a game whose action would take place in the time of Antiquity was not accidental: marketing research on the market helps us understand and predict the interests of the target audience even before these interests arise.
Our company employs many people who are trembling in ancient history and mythology. As it turned out, since the time of the release of the first Total War, the art director thought over the idea of creating a game about ancient wars, the creative director reread Herodotus' Muses before going to bed, and several dozen masters in historical sciences disguised themselves as testers and artists. Therefore, everyone met the proposal to create a game in such a setting with enthusiasm.
It was necessary to determine the period and the heroes - and here everything turned out to be somewhat more complicated. Someone wanted a game about Greece, someone voted for Rome, and some ran around the office in red cloaks shouting "Only Sparta!" In such a situation, to avoid disagreements, you can use the
We say "Antiquity" - remember the mythology. In today's dominance of stories about the relationship between people and gods, we wanted to create a game that is closer to historical realities. Therefore, a ton of relevant literature was brought into the office, and everyone began to study.
Characters
For strategies in which a player controls armies, it is very important to make warriors vivid and memorable. But the weapons and armor used during the confrontation between the Spartans and the army of Xerxes cannot be called spectacular or diverse. That is why we had to look for a way to cover a larger time period and introduce into the game the types of troops that at that time simply could not physically be in Sparta.
It was possible to solve this problem by transforming the familiar technology tree into a map of ancient Greek policies and other cities of the ancient world - the player must conclude agreements with them. Each agreement gives access to a new type of troops - Cretan archers, Macedonian horsemen, Thracian mercenaries, etc. We decided to take a conditional time period to cover as many possible military cultures as possible, interesting to the audience.
To create a map showing all the policies with which you can enter into agreements, we have processed a large number of historical materials with descriptions of symbolism, life, characteristic weapons and buildings. There are no random details on the icons, each element is carefully thought out: a hammer with a lily depicts Hephaestus, a sickle and mint - Eleusis, a helmet in the form of a lion's head - Pella.
Before starting to create warriors, we collected a lot of references from various sources - from classical literature and books on reconstruction to amateur mods of strategies.
For each type of unit, a detailed description was created - information about weapons, vestments, a description of combat techniques and the most famous battles with their participation. Serving this content as texts would be too boring, so we used a new format: the history of units is revealed in a number of stylized videos.
Character concepts were developed primarily as spectacular models - in some cases, historicity faded into the background.
Nevertheless, the artists tried to create reliable models (as far as the preserved data on the armor and weapons of that period allowed), and paid special attention to details. The unit’s description indicates where it came from, but this can also be determined by its appearance: the owl and olive on the Hoplite’s shield directly indicate its Athenian origin, the Gladiator, of course, is from Capua, and the Archer with the image of a bull on a linen carapace Crete.
Despite the recognizable image of the Spartan that has developed over the past couple of years, there are no naked torsos in the game Sparta: War of Empires. The only thing that could not be abandoned is the red raincoats.
Most units have authentic names - Cataphract, Triarius, Tureofor, Sarissophor. Some were nevertheless localized due to lack of sound and difficulty in perception. So, Spartan Lohagos turned into Ares Warrior, Hypaspist - into Champion, and Promachos from Sparta - into Spartan Elite. Such a simplification was made only for Russian-speaking users: according to research, Russian-speaking players negatively relate to the authentic names of the troops. In other languages (there are 6 in total), we left the Greek names.
Striving for realism and at the same time entertainment, we made many compromises. Due to some features of the game mechanics completely abandoned the fleet, although naval battles played a big role in those days. In the final version, the entire line of units looks bright, while the weapons and armor for the most part correspond to historical counterparts, including buckles and lacing on sandals.
For characters, it is important to strike a balance between authenticity and player expectations. The artists, working with historical consultants, tried to achieve the effect of the appearance of the warriors not “this was how it was”, but rather “it could have been”.
Player Policy and Background
Developing the design of the policy (the city that belongs to the player), we wanted to make it realistic and voluminous. Resource buildings were moved beyond the boundaries of the conditional city wall: farms were located in the Fields, sawmills - in the Groves. Instead of the market square, a Port appeared where all merchant ships arrive. Greek cities usually had a stepped structure: the houses of the nobility and strategically important buildings were always located on a hill. Therefore, the Military Council, in which you can view basic information about the policy, is located above other buildings, which creates a three-dimensional effect.
In the player’s policy are all the buildings familiar to the ancient Greeks, including Oracle, Academy, Agora. Remembering where the devil is hiding, the artists studied a lot of materials about the life, flora and fauna of Greece. Both in the policy and on the global map, the player will not find a single plant that does not correspond to the region and era.
The divine pantheon is represented by many altars, temples and statues. Most of the sculptures are made of white marble - this is familiar to the player who does not have a deep knowledge of Greek art. Yes, in ancient times the statues were painted, but natural dyes were quickly washed off by the rain and faded under the sun. So the white statues in the player’s policy are not an anachronism: they simply haven’t been painted for a long time.
In social games, where the user most often interacts with the interface, the style and convenience of the UI are of great importance. When designing windows and icons, elements such as flags, columns, Greek letters and patterns were used.
Starting the development of the game based on historical events, you need to be clearly aware of your capabilities and strike a balance between historicity and fan. Despite the huge number of books read, lectures and broken kiliks, the game displays about 10% of all the knowledge we received. This is what made the Sparta: War of Empires strategy interesting for both ordinary players and history buffs.
Related materials:
Creation of the Spartan unit.
Creation of the unit “Saracen”.
Creation of the unit "Archer".
Creating the Unbreakable Cinematics for Sparta: War of Empires: Part One.
Creating the Unbreakable Cinematics for Sparta: War of Empires: Part Two.
