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Markos and I traded some PM's about maybe writing a piece on Candle'Bre, and I thought for a long time about what exactly I wanted to say.

By outward appearances, things have been somewhat quiet of late on the CB forums, and I suppose that could lend the appearance that the project is dead or dying. Nothing could be further from the truth! Signs of activity and progress are everywhere, and we're drawing steadily closer to having our alpha build ready for its initial testing. By degrees, we're getting there!

I guess some folks would say that the turn-based genre is slowly dying, and that even attempting to make a game in the same genre with the Civ series is pure folly. To that, I'd say that although TBS doesn't get as much press time as RTS, I think the genre is quite far from dying, and our little game just might provide a few surprises for those who are a bit jaded by other gaming experiences of late.

So... what will make Candle'Bre different? Well, the proof will be in the pudding, of course, but what I'm hoping that difference will be is really compelling game play with a huge immersion factor. In my mind, that goes way beyond the "just one more turn" syndrome. Immersion is that point when you actually begin to connect with your empire. Actually start caring about your units a bit, taking special pride in, and note of their various achievements, and my vision of Candle'Bre has tons of that. So how specifically do we plan on competing with the titans of the genre? By incorporating things like:

- A resource system that makes sense and requires strategy on the part of the player (examples: herds are "semi-renewable" in the sense that if you leave them be, they'll replenish themselves over time, iron is non-renewable, but unlike some—unnamed—games, in CB, you'll know upfront, or at least have a good idea, how much Iron you've got. Likewise, resources don't vanish "just because." Resources only get reduced as they get used.

- A combat system that requires both tactical and strategic level thinking, rather than just shuffling units around on the map.

- Multiple *viable* paths to victory that are engaging and fun to play (how much fun is it to win a UN Victory in Civ3, for example? Or to win Culturally? Those victory conditions have always run hollow to me).

- Less busy work, and more decision-making! Don't you dearly wish for a game that took care of all the grunt work for you, and let you focus on making the decisions that really MATTER in your game? Well, I can't say that every single scrap of busy work will be killed off in CB, but it's our goal to keep the focus on the good stuff, and automate the grunt work.

- A dynamic society, not made up of generic "citizens", but rather, made up of population groups, each with their own aims, desires, goals, and ambitions.

- Light handed methods of bolstering the AI to keep the game at a point of imbalance for a longer than usual period of time (on the thinking that games become a whole lot less fun once you know you've got them locked up... at that point, it's a mop up, and can get tedious. On the other hand, it's not much fun when the AI uses heavy-handed cheats to muscle its way over you... .that's annoying, and so a balance must be struck)

In my mind, those are the kinds of things that will make all the difference. Those are the kinds of things that will (I hope) keep people coming back for more Candle'Brew...

PS. Some links:
- Societal Model Thread: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=52785
- Combat Model Thread: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=51333
- Econ Model Draft (with more early societal work): http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=52479
- Honor and Infamy work: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=49795


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About the author: Head of the Candle'Bre project and author of the SMAX Guide

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