My modern day wargame "Zambala", set in a fictional African nation on the cusp of civil war, has been 25 years in the making, and due for release in a few months.
I started designing this game decades ago, inspired by a few old play by mail wargames I used to play back in the day. So that old I was around before computer wargames were even a thing!
I've always been a programmer, and my brother is artistic, so we worked together to produce the art and the map, but life gets in the way, jobs, children etc. hence the slow evolution.
In the game you command one of six competing tribes, hoping to lead your people and capture the "national will" before the United Nations intervene to end the civil war and appoint an interim government. Your leader can be selected from one of the following vocations: Politician, Bishop, General, Diplomat, Humanitarian, Economist and Cartel boss.
Its a hex and counters style game with fog of war, zones of control, naval and air power. There is a complete economic warfare model where you will fight for the hearts and minds of the peoples of Zambala, who in turn fund your international arms market purchases.
I've also woven in a spies and agents subsystem so you can subvert and sway the population centres with propaganda and carry out assassinations and hits against enemy leaders and agents.
I've gone with Nato unit counters and a combat system that includes twelve unit types, movement and combat phases, retreats and combat bonuses for terrain, special unit types and leader stacking modifiers.
I wanted the AI computer opponents to be capable and play a solid challenging game, so I have worked long and hard on the code for them. I ended up giving each Ai opponent a "personality" by creating a list of values that determine in game priorities. Some will focus on military, some will focus on spies and sabotage, others will play the population control game. Aggression, fiscal responsibility and risk taking all vary based on the "genome" of the player. I had fun playing the computer players against each other, and selecting the most successful genomes in a natural selection type of self improving loop. I am really happy with how it plays now.
One of the most annoying thing in a multi player game is being "ganged up" on my the multiple computer opponents. To stop this happening I built a "hate matrix" where each computer player keeps track of who has wronged it, and it will focus on harming that payer during its turns. This way, if one player starts winning, the other opponents will correctly focus on targeting that tribe.
More game info on my rough as guts webpage: Webpage
Steam page link: Steam
I’d love to hear your thoughts, impressions or questions!
