The Legends Are True, and the Paperwork Is Nearly Done

Conquest is the working name, and we’re holding it loosely. Say a title often enough and it becomes permanent, which, as it happens, is also how roads work in this game.

It’s a real-time strategy game for PC, Mac and mobile, set in a mythic past: the legends are true, the ruins are real, and nobody is casting spells. No fireballs, no glowing sky. Whatever happened here left its evidence on the ground, and you build among the remains of something that already fell.

The design document is nearing final, the setting is settled, and the pillars are locked:

• A new map each time. Five civilisations, four ages, three ways to win, and a map you don’t get to see until you’ve committed to who you are.
• Roads are permanent. Every road you build becomes part of the land for good, and it carries your rivals exactly as well as it carries you.
• Control is temporary. Territory is never bought and never held for keeps. It lasts as long as you’re there to sustain it.

Put those together and you get the question the whole game hangs on: this road links my quarry to my frontier, and it also opens a route into my heartland. Do I still want it?

The civilisations differ in kind rather than in numbers. One can’t produce, so it takes. One can’t march, so it builds its way forward instead. The rest can introduce themselves when they’re ready.

To be frank, all of this is on paper. Specified, not validated. Paper is step one, and it’s the cheapest place to find out an idea doesn’t work, so we’re leaning on it hard before building anything. Next stop: Systems.