Who has not wanted to be the king maker of their own empire? That is what the Vortex Competition was this year for the guys at Fun Forged who came full circle with an idea they had made into a game.
They participated in Vortex back in 2007 and returned this year to launch the official beta for the Empire Game, the game that they had spent the last 2 years developing. I had the chance to talk with Ante Bralic their GUI Engineer to reflect on what they have been through and where they want to go with the Empire Game.
Fun Forged started out as the University of Toronto with the Game Programming Club, which are now the U of T Game Design and Development Club. A few members got together and had an idea that soon began to take on a life of its own.
So what exactly is this game about? Bralic describes it as “a massive multiplayer online game where each player takes control of an empire.” He says you should think of it as a turn based board game with a game session happening in real time and lasting for 30 days. The main difference between this game and others is that players can stack turns and play at their own pace, and you can play in teams. You can join more than one session at a time and your progress gets saved to your account.
They found in the very first beta that they had in the summer that the politics involved in the game became very engaging and that players didn’t know what was happening with other empires. They are considering incorporating news about daily activities, to keep players aware of interesting events within games.
The two main elements of the game are your domestic policies and foreign affairs. The domestic policies govern taxation, productive output, land usage and technological development. While in foreign affairs you can create alliances, trade with teammates, crush your enemies or backstab your friends.
This is a game where you are awarded a turn every 2 hours and where you can stack turns to a limit and play them at your leisure without penalty. Add in thousands of players playing at the same time and it gives you a snapshot of how the Empire Game plays.
The rules of this game give players more flexibility to play at their own pace without fear of being put at a competitive disadvantage. Bralic describes this “as a game for busy people” who may not have time to devote to games like World of Warcraft.
Fun Forged also takes advantage of wikias which act as a user generated reference point for new players on the game. Bralic says that it would be a collaborative work where the most knowledgeable players could contribute their strategies for the game.
Bralic says the game is web based with a flash interface. Since they are in beta they are using the feedback from it to help them get to version 1.0 which they hope will be ready by year’s end. The game is platform independent with the front end interface for the beta using Flash due to its penetration online.
Currently, they continue to work on responding to feedback as they work towards greater efficiency on the leader boards, enhanced searching for other players and working on possibly segmenting players in the future.
They are also considering some more social networking integration and are looking at facebook. These powerful social media tools would be used to engross users in their game and bring the game into some of their other online activities.
Players could be informed when something is going on with a player on their team or of interesting alliances through their facebook news feeds or could play the game through a client that is run as a facebook app.
So how this game pays the bills? The game has a virtual currency called funcoins. Players use these to enter into games and players receive more funcoins over time. Bralic went on to say that the game is based on a micro transaction system where you can buy funcoins with some additional ways to gain them if you want to play more than one session at a time.
The guys at Fun Forged are also starting to think about their next project. The ideal would be for the team to continue to iterate on the Empire game and eventually have more than one project going at a time. They are considering using 3D in browsers, Xbox Arcade and the other platforms for future projects.
One of those guys is Jarett Cale their lead designer of ROFLMAO Productions who is also the lead actor and a producer on Pure Pwnage a web mockumentary that shows the life and adventures of Jeremy a stereotypical gamer and his cohorts. Having Jarett as their lead designer has helped to give the game a huge initial boost from the start and draw in the Pure Pwnage fan base to play their game.
These are dedicated gamers who have been a valuable resource for the team, giving them great feedback and have allowed the team to stress test their game and the server even before launching their official beta.
This has been a long journey for the guys at Fun Forged, with some starting at school to others coming on board later. Now they have come full circle having launched their game at Vortex this year after participating themselves 2 years ago.
They have many ideas of where to go with the Empire Game. So if you want to check the Empire Game out, click here see their newly redesigned homepage and start playing.
