The game of reality: how we created the historical strategy

“No Centaurs!” - the first thing we decided when we began work on the strategy. To learn how to make a game based on historical events and not to overreact 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"? Answers to these questions can vary dramatically depending on the genre, target audience and developer opportunities. Using the example of Plarium’s Sparta: War of Empires strategy, I’ll tell you 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.
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Concept and setting

The idea to create a game that would take place in the days of Antiquity was not accidental: market research helps us understand and anticipate the interests of the target audience even before these interests arise.



Our company employs many people who are in awe of ancient history and mythology. As it turned out, the art director, since the release of the first Total War, thought through the idea of ​​creating a game about ancient wars, the creative director reread the Muse's Herodot at bedtime, and in the studio successfully disguised themselves as testers and artists with dozens of masters in historical sciences. Therefore, the proposal to create a game in such a setting was met with enthusiasm.

It was necessary to determine the period and the characters - 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 screaming "Only Sparta!". In such a situation, to avoid disagreements, you can use the test of a duel A / B testing. Three focus groups of players on Facebook helped us determine that users are most interested in 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 more close to the historical realities. Therefore, a ton of relevant literature was delivered to the office, and everyone began to study.

Characters

For strategies in which the player controls armies, it is very important to make the warriors bright and memorable. But the weapons and armor used during the confrontation between the Spartans and the army of Xerxes, can not 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, which 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 make agreements with them. Each agreement gives access to a new type of troops - Cretan archers, Macedonian riders, Thracian mercenaries, etc. We decided to take a conditional time period to cover as many possible military cultures as possible for interesting audiences.



To create a map showing all policies with which agreements can be made, we have processed a large amount of historical materials with descriptions of symbols, way of life, typical weapons and buildings. There are no random details on the icons; each element is carefully thought out: the hammer with the image of a lily symbolizes Hephaestia, the sickle and mint - Eleusis, the helmet in the form of a lion's head - Pella.
Before proceeding to the creation of warriors, we collected a lot of references from various sources - from classical literature and books on reconstruction to amateur mod strategies.



For each type of units, a detailed description was created - information about weapons, vestments, a description of combat techniques and the most famous battles with their participation. Submitting this content in the form of texts would be too boring, so we used a new format: the history of units is revealed in a number of stylized videos.



The concepts of the characters 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 armor and weapons of that period allowed), and paid particular attention to details. The description of the unit indicates where it came from, but it can also be determined by its appearance: the owl and the olive on the shield of the Hoplit directly point to its Athenian origin, the Gladiator, of course, is from Capua, and the Archer with the image of a bull on a linen shell comes with 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 red cloaks.



Most units have authentic names - Cataphract, Triaria, Tureofor, Sarissofor. Some were still localized due to inconvenience and complexity for perception. So, the Spartan Lohagos turned into a Warrior of Ares, the Hypaspist became the Champion, and Promachos from Sparta to the Spartan Elite. Such a simplification was made only for Russian-speaking users: according to research data, Russian-speaking players have a negative attitude to authentic troop names. In other languages ​​(6 of them altogether) we left Greek names.

Striving for realism and entertainment at the same time, we made many compromises. Because of some features of the game mechanics completely abandoned the fleet, although sea battles played a large role in those times. In the final version, the entire line of units looks bright, while the weapons and armor mostly correspond to historical counterparts, right down to the buckles and lacing on sandals.



In terms of characters, it is important to keep a balance between authenticity and player expectations. The artists, working with historical consultants, tried to get the effect from the appearance of the warriors not on "that was how it was," but rather "it could have been so."

Player Policy and Background

In developing the design of the policy (the city that belongs to the player), we wanted to make it realistic and voluminous. Resource buildings were carried beyond the limits of the conditional city wall: the farms were located in the Fields, sawmills - in the Groves. Instead of a market square, a port appeared where all merchant ships arrive. Greek cities usually had a stepped structure: noble houses and strategically important buildings were always located on the dais. Therefore, the Military Council, where you can view basic information about the policy, is located above other buildings, which creates the effect of volume.



In the player's policy are all the buildings familiar to the ancient Greeks, including the 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 would not correspond to the region and the era.
The divine pantheon is represented by a multitude of altars, temples and statues. Most of the sculptures are made of white marble - this is customary for a player who does not have in-depth knowledge of Greek art. Yes, in ancient times, statues painted, but natural dyes quickly washed off by the rain and faded under the sun. So the white statues in the player's polis are not an anachronism: they have not 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 paramount importance. The design of windows and icons used elements such as flags, columns, Greek letters and patterns.



Starting the development of the game based on historical events, you need to clearly understand your capabilities and keep a balance between historicity and the fan. Despite the huge number of books read, lectures heard and broken kilik, the game displays about 10% of all our knowledge. This is what made the strategy of "Sparta: War of Empires" interesting for both ordinary players and history buffs.

Materials on the topic:
Creating a unit "Spartan".
Creating a unit "Saracen".
Creating a unit "Archer".
Creating the cinematics "Enduring" for "Sparta: War of Empires": part one.
Creating the cinematics "Enduring" for "Sparta: War of Empires": part two.