The simple answer to this is Lord of Rigel is a 4x space strategy game. However the more complete answer to this question is somewhat longer, and it is one this article will attempt to answer in more detail. The first thing to answer is, why was Lord of Rigel created? Lord of Rigel is a response of two long time gamers who fell in love with Master of Orion 2 during the 1990s. While both had played their fair share of 4x games since Master of Orion 2 including the Master of Orion 3. Both felt that there had still not been a 4x space strategy game that had managed to pull off a true successor to Master of Orion 2.
The discussion about what Lord of Rigel would be began around what Master of Orion 1 and 2 were in terms of game mechanics and design. The conversation then moved forward to what it was about Master of Orion 1 and 2 that made us want a successor and what would be logical steps to evolve the games with. Lastly we discussed what other 4x games had done to improve the genre and what elements from those we felt could be integrated with Master of Orion 1 and 2 to move the series forward.
Our discussion led us to begin writing up a game design document that would incorporate Master of Orion 2 as its foundation. Many of our basic formulas are based on Master of Orion 2. Secondly we took the approach to designing and evaluating features to put an emphasis on rewarding the player. We feel that some games have become overly complex in trying to become realistic, but they have forgotten that in the end we are making and playing games. If a game system isn't rewarding to a player they are not going to use that system. So everything that we focused on with Lord of Rigel's core system focused on keeping the game accessible and rewarding. Ultimately if you provide enough of those types of systems you will end up with deeper, engaging gameplay that engages the player by allowing them to make choices that provide benefits that compel them to want to play.
Lastly we had to name this project. We focused on creating a name that we felt had meaning for us and the player to remind them of the where we are drawing our roots for this game. Rigel is the brightest star in the Orion constellation's belt. We hope that our project will live up to the name we have given it. Throughout the next 17 parts of this 18 part series on discussing Lord of Rigel and its features we will talk about the features of Lord of Rigel, why they are there, and the inspiration that they are drawn from.
