Why Early Access?

“This game is a sandbox world simulator, still in a fairly early stage, but the framework is already in place, allowing it to simulate, at varying depths, mechanics for military, diplomacy, economy, house, characters, politics, culture, and climate.

The game was originally inspired by WorldBox, Fantasy Map Simulator, and a series of Paradox Interactive games, all of which I'm a devoted player of. But the biggest influence on me is probably Tynan's RimWorld. I love its "storyteller" concept, through careful design of game mechanics, a series of stories unfold naturally and give players all kinds of subtle emotional experiences. I want to craft a "digital bonsai", not only can players watch the colors shift across the map, but they can also zoom in on a single house, or a single person, and observe what stories unfold for them within the tide of history.

The framework and main gameplay are complete and playable. We've chosen Early Access in order to gather valuable feedback from real players, which will help us enrich the content, tune the balance, and polish the game to its best.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We expect the game to remain in Early Access for about 2 years.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“During Early Access the game can already simulate mechanics for military, diplomacy, economy, house, characters, politics, culture, and climate—but there's still a lot of room to deepen each system and improve how they interact with one another.

Going forward, we'll keep expanding the depth of the content. A core vision for the game is that every single person on the map, whether a soldier, a merchant, or a noble, can live a distinct, memorable personal story. These stories stem from carefully designed events around war, national politics, and economic development (and, perhaps in the future, modders). But when these events interweave and collide across different times and places, they can evolve into one-of-a-kind individual experiences far beyond what was designed.

Religion and churches, fantasy races, and a tech tree are also on our roadmap, and we'll continue refining map visuals and performance.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is still in a fairly early stage, and a good portion of its mechanics may see major changes in the future.

The game ships with a map generator driven by a dozen or so parameters. On top of it, players can modify the generated map with a high degree of freedom, shaping the provinces they like, adjusting attributes such as temperature and humidity, and customizing the map's style and display.

On a finished map, players can set the distribution of nations, then either watch their created world evolve from a god mode or take control of a single nation and lead its development. Military, diplomacy, economy, houses, characters, politics, culture, and climate are all implemented and interactive, though the connections between these systems are still relatively loose, and that's a key focus of my future work.

As for the current version, I once came across this kind of event in a character's memory: a noble's homeland had been conquered by another nation decades ago. When the capital was under siege, the nobles who survived fled to various cities, and this noble's house was among those refugees. A dozen years later, the city was rebuilt. The noble's spouse was coincidently appointed as the city's governor, and so she returned with her spouse to a homeland she had never set foot in, yet felt so strangely familiar with. Around that same time, public discontent ran high in the city. She seized the moment to become the leader of a restoration uprising, leading the resistance of the conquered. And this event was nothing more than a simple combination of the existing marriage, migration, governor-appointment, and uprising systems.

One thing to note, simulating very large maps can currently cause some lag, and performance optimization is still ongoing.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We expect the price to rise as the game's content becomes more complete.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“I plan to stay in close contact with players across multiple platforms. I'll regularly gather feedback on mechanics, balance, and content direction, and use that input to keep adjusting my development roadmap.”