Blog | About | Contact | Submit Mod | Join Mod DB | Site Map | Media Kit | Desura | RSS
© 2002 - 2013 DesuraNET Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 2626 modders.
Ultima Ratio Regum is a middle-ground between roguelikes, RPGs and strategy games. It has no fantasy elements and seeks instead to be closer to a realistic history simulator, and a strategy/4x game which just happens to be in ASCII. Combat is rare and deadly - whilst these mechanics are modeled in detail, exploration, trade and diplomacy factors will have just as much effort put into them. URR aims to eventually be a fusion of roguelike and strategy two genres - rather than a strategy game where you command with omniscience (even in ancient eras), you instead command as an individual character also in the game. Orders must be issued in person; you can lose contact with distant armies; but the same mechanics affect the AI players who also lack omniscience and depend upon the knowledge of situations they themselves can garner. Worlds can be generated over a vast array of sizes, climates and types, but all ultimately with no fixed objective but a world full of civilizations and factions to be allied with or battled against. It aims for depth in character development and world events, but with much in the 'middle' - constructing buildings, city growth, resource management - abstracted out (as other games exist which handle those well). Political and social dynamics will be modeled via a complex system that aims to generate both a history for the world, and the current state of political affairs when your game begins.
Latest Screens
Latest News: Ziggurats, Skulls and Puzzles
0 comments by UltimaRatioRegum on Mar 5th, 2013
Things are progressing further for 0.3, the first URR release with some actual gameplay! I've created about half a dozen new block designs, and I've started the level generation for ziggurats. The current situation is that you can find your way from the bottom floor, to the top, via a number of procedurally generated riddles and puzzles, which have a selection of blocks, pressure pads, gates, clues inscribed on the wall, and the puzzles get tougher and tougher as you go upwards. The gate-pad-block triumvirate is coded fully, and can be expanded to any potential puzzle. Currently only the easiest levels of puzzle generate (2-4 blocks), but I'll be working on tougher ones in the near future.
Naturally, in the future there will be much more there, but each thing would require new mechanics. If I want treasure rooms, I need an inventory system; if I want bosses, I need an NPC system; etc. You get the idea. So, for now, they will be puzzle-focused, but completing specific ziggurats will give you... let's be vague... a component of a clue, and when you have enough of the components, then there will be some hints towards what later versions will hold. That's vague enough for now. There will be things to "accomplish" this release, but many will hint towards later offerings.
For those who don't follow on Facebook or Twitter, I'm aiming for the summer of this year for this release (probably/hopefully the most new content yet), to coincide with a talk I'll be giving at the International Roguelike Developers Conference. I'm not sure what exactly will be in 0.3 yet in gameplay, but there will at least be puzzles to ponder, and something snazzy to find on the top floors of the ziggurats. In the mean time, here's a picture of the "skull" block. I can't recall how many different procedural variations of this image are possible, but it's probably around a dozen:
You can keep up to date on my devblog, Facebook page, or Twitter feed. The devblog is updated weekly or fortnightly on Mondays, Facebook a few times a week, and the Twitter roughly daily. Any thoughts, please leave them in the comments! Version 0.3.0 is now in the works, and will generate languages, myths, histories, coats of arms, flags, and entire civilizations. It'll be a big one, but I'm hoping to keep the updates coming regularly. Stay tuned...
Post a Comment
Profile
Icon
Platform
WindowsDeveloped By
UltimaRatioRegumEngine
Custom BuiltContact
Send MessageOfficial Page
Ultimaratioregum.co.ukRelease Date
TBDGame Watch
Track this game
Style
Genre
RoguelikeTheme
RealismPlayers
Single PlayerProject
IndieBoxshot
Twitter
Latest tweets from
It can take up to a few hours for tweets to begin appearing.
Statistics
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
Blog | About | Contact | Submit Mod | Join Mod DB | Site Map | Media Kit | Desura | RSS
© 2002 - 2013 DesuraNET Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 2626 modders.
Blog | About | Contact | Submit Mod | Join Mod DB | Site Map | Media Kit | Desura | RSS
© 2002 - 2013 DesuraNET Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. 2626 modders.
do you plan to make a graphical version of the game ?
This IS the graphical version : )
Basically, no, I intend to stick with ASCII. I find graphical tilesets for games like this really diminish from the gameplay, and simply don't look as good. I'm sure I'll put in the option for adding one, but I don't plan to make one.
What a shame you feel that way. I hate looking at ascii, makes me feel blind.
It was fine for games like ZZT, but the games people are making nowdays just have too much information to present to be adequately represented by a wall of abstract symbols.
I'm glad to see you're sticking traditional! Not enough people develop proper roguelikes these days!
too right :D
Probably missed something, but how modable will this be? Will it be easy to mod?
I really want to make an Avatar: The last airbender mod for some reason.
Not sure yet. Probably not going to be easy; it's a very, very low priority for me. We'll see, though :)
You have to remember for when you start letting people play, mods can easily raise the life of a game to years ahead, even decades.
Mmm, true. But you imply I'm not going to be working on it that long myself! :)
That seems... pretty accurate! Though reaching the top of armies by killing those above is going to be interesting. Some creatures will respect the strongest and immediately follow whoever fights their way to the top, while others might be shocked and disgusted by that kind of immorality :)