rising empires, a new civ-like turn based strategy game for android

[Netherlords]

We don't have a video on our website and Rising Empires haven't been released yet... We get plenty of screenshots though.

[Netherlords]

Hi everybody!


The second beta of Rising Empires continues as planned and we've now played 10 turns (2 weeks). The setup has forced all empires to build lots of fleets in order to move troops and settlers from their capital. All empires combined has built 68 fleets with some 279 ships...


The beta will run for at least 4 more weeks (20 turns) and we believe we'll see plenty of action before the end. The player of one empire has decided to not participate and if you are interested in taking over this position please let us know (reply to this post or send a PM).


I spent last weekend in Gothenburg with Johan and a couple of friends, incl. Glom which is our main game tester. Johan and I discussed how we are going to proceed with implementing the last features in Rising Empires. Rising Empires is, in its current version, a complete game but we want to add more diplomatic options as well as the Heaven level before we release it. The first we will add is non-aggression pacts allowing empires to be more friendly towards each other.


We have also designed a new research view and removed the research selection from the empire menu. Research is such an important feature in Rising Empires and we believed it needed its own view where all data on technologies can be reached.

Thanks!

[MrFun]

I have an Android smartphone, and after visiting the website, I just might become interested in buying it.

[Netherlords]

Hi!


Johan visited me this weekend and we had plenty of time to discuss Rising Empires and even write a few lines of code. One or two beers went down as well... We had very good discussions and talked through the last features that we need to complete before we can publish Rising Empires on Google Play. These discussions were detailed as we talked through each step of, for example, the process when setting up a new empire. We also took the opportunity to discuss stuff like price levels on subscriptions. The next time we'll meet 'in person' to discuss Rising Empires will be in the middle of September.


All new empires will start in a trial (or test) world where they can play up to 20 turns (with one turn each day this equals a month) for free and without encountering any other empires. Yes, that's right, no interaction between empires is possible during the trial period. During this period players will be able to start developing their empires, explore their neighbourhood, research technologies and build military companies. Then, when the player start his first subscription, his empire (and starting map) will be transferred to the game world. After 20 turns of game play his empire will be prepared for encountering neighbouring empires...


We also had time to work a little on the code and it's now possible to create empires in the app. When the player (i.e. you) have selected race and religion type as well as entered name and password the empire is created together with a starting map. Then the player can issue his first set of orders immediately and do not need to wait for us to process a new turn. When the player uploads his first set of orders details about the new empire as well as the starting map is sent to our server allowing us to add the empire to the game world. I'll post some screenshots of the 'Create empire' screen when Johan has tidied it up a bit. We also got some work done on the map generator (see screenshots) and it's near completion. The only thing remaining is to create corridors between the different caves and to add rivers.


All in all we were very satisfied with the weekend.


Cheers!

[Netherlords]

This wednesday we did a major update of Rising Empires, adding the diplomatic system and an in-game tutorial:

• Diplomacy – It is now possible to create non-aggression pacts (NAP) with the AI controlled empires. Lots of factors influence how the AI respond to these proposals (or if they send one themselves). For example your race and religion is compared to their race and religion, have you recently burned down one of their watchtowers, do they have NAPs with other empires and much more. We are really interested to hear your comments about the diplomatic system and how the AI perform now that it will focus it’s efforts against a smaller amount of enemy empires instead of just lashing out in all directions…
• Tutorial – The in-game tutorial will help new players get used to the interface and learn the basics of the game. Rising Empires is a relatively complex game and it’s not easy to jump right into it. We hope this new feature will help new players learn the game and find it more enjoyable.

Lots of smaller changes and additions has also been made, for example automatic terrain improvement for those that don't want this level of micro-management. Give the game a try and let us know what you think. It can be downloaded at Google Play (search for Rising Empires).

Enjoy!

[Spaced Cowboy]

Apparently won't run on my Nexus 7...crashes on start.

[Netherlords]

There seems to be a problem with Nexus 7 since we've got multiple reports of this, but only on Nexus 7. We are working to locate and fix this problem. Thank you for trying!

[Netherlords]

Apparently won't run on my Nexus 7...crashes on start.

We just uploaded a fix update that should solve the problems which Nexus 7 and some other tablets had with Rising Empires. Please give it a try again and let us know if it works. Thank you!

[Spaced Cowboy]

At least it will load now. I will see if I can spend some time with it later tonight.

[Netherlords]

Johan and I are currently working on the next update for Rising Empires and plan to release it on the 1st of July.

In this update we'll add a number of new features, for example the new Military Academy building will be activated allowing emperors to recruit generals for their armies. A general gives a number of bonuses to the troops in his command, boosting their combat efficiancy and morale. Another new feature is that empires will be able to build settlers and militia from the races that they've conquered. The computer controlled empires have been able to do this for some time but now you can do it as well. This makes conquered towns and cities more useful.

We also hope to improve the AI further and are focusing on making it able to defend itself better. Previously the AI have had problems with defending it's capital due to it being unable to change it's priorities once a project (task) has been assigned. Now we're giving the AI the ability to cancel a project worked on in a threatened settlement allowing it to focus on its own defence instead. We've come a bit forward on this work but there are still some circumstances where the AI fail to defend itself.

[Spaced Cowboy]

All I can tell you is that it did not grab me. Hard to tell what was going on, icons are not clear. I only played 10 turns of so though.

[Netherlords]

All I can tell you is that it did not grab me. Hard to tell what was going on, icons are not clear. I only played 10 turns of so though.

Did you play it with the tutorial active (can be set in the world tab when you create a new game)? That will help you get started and understand the basics of the game.

Thank you for giving it a try.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Yeah, i think it was active.

A couple of things about the interface really bugged me as well, like closing the screen was on the left top corner not the normal right top or bottom center.

Since the Nexus 7 has the home button in the bottom center, I would keep closing the game just trying to close the screen.

This is not unique to this game. I also did not feel like turn flow was good either. I could build a lot of units but only move them one square.

[Netherlords]

Yeah, i think it was active.

A couple of things about the interface really bugged me as well, like closing the screen was on the left top corner not the normal right top or bottom center.

Since the Nexus 7 has the home button in the bottom center, I would keep closing the game just trying to close the screen.

This is not unique to this game. I also did not feel like turn flow was good either. I could build a lot of units but only move them one square.

You can always use the back button to close down a screen. Works on all screens except for the start screen where you must press on the quit button.

About moving armies, movement orders are saved and each army will continue to move each turn until they reach their target sectors (or something else happens). The green dots show how much they will move the current turn. That means you don't need to issue new orders each turn.

A player who reviewed the game on Google Play said:

Basically this game is a mix of total war strategy map game phase and civ.

Cheers!

[Netherlords]

The new update of Rising Empires has now been available on Google Play for a couple of days and we’re awaiting the first comments about it. There are a lot of new features and improvements. For example it’s now possible to recruit commanders for your armies in cities with the Military Academy building and you can train militia and settlers from races that you’ve conquered. This will make conquered towns and cities more useful. We did also tweak the AI quite a lot and improved it’s defensive capability.

Praise from a current beta tester:
This is the first functional 4X game built for Android that I have seen, but it is so much more than that, too. It is something much rarer than a mere first. It is truly engaging. This game offers interesting challenges and a fascinating world background; a unique slant on imperial religions; and a worthwhile learning curve, among many other virtues.

If you've been playing Rising Empires before please let us know your thoughts on the new AI. Do you notice any difference? Is it better at defending itself? Has it ever left the cover of the high walls to hunt down your intruding armies?

I’m now preparing the code needed for training the AI. Each turns the AI evaluates a number of possible actions and selects those that gets the highest priority. These actions might be relatively simple, for example building a new patrol army, to quite advanced, for example using several settlements to create a big army that will be sent to the other level to capture an enemy city. The first one might take 1-2 turns while the other action could take 20+ turns... When training the AI we’ll try to optimise how the AI sets it’s priorities. This is done by letting different versions of the AI play against itself. I’m really looking forward to this!