April 1st Special 🥸
In spirit of April Fools' Day, this dev diary will be on much lighter side. Don't worry, it's not a hoax or a joke - instead, we will take a look at two quite silly prototypes from the early days of development. No in-depth analysis, just many odd tidbits, enjoy the ride!
[h2]Espiocracy as a... 4X[/h2]
It was bold, blue, and wrong. Some versions of the map were overwhelmingly atrocious...
...and other just overwhelming:
The prototype drank a lot of 4X Kool-Aid and tested literal exploration - with solar systems replaced by organizations - which actually turned out to be somewhat fun.
The analogy was taken to the limits, working even on the internal level of organizations, providing network gore in place of border gore:
At the same time, this prototype tested some deeper mechanics around procedurally generated characters via shameless bags of statistics:
Hiring window appealed to fans of sliders:
And the hiring was accomplished by winning in a full-fledged negotiation minigame!
By full I mean: opposite character had simulated state of mind and body language, they could get angry (depending on character's personality), and AI juggled actual negotiation strategies (distribution, integration, compromise, bluff, double bluff, accommodation).
[h2]Espiocracy as a... mobile manager[/h2]
Mobile approach was really a random decision (I can't recall now, probably just curiosity about development process for Android). As a one of the first prototypes, it was also a test of Godot game engine and its scripting language (later ditched for C#), written in two weeks of complete freestyle. What this means is that the code was absolutely disgusting!
Gameplay paid homage to good old strategies from the 90s by providing scenarios instead of campaigns or start dates.
Core loop revolved around weirdly quantified cooperation with the government:
The prototype tested detailed approach to espionage - 54 methods of tradecraft which you couldn't directly use (yay!).
Instead of direct choice, AI operatives were crafting plans, presented later to the player. Needless to say, they usually came up with stupid ideas.
Ultimately, gameplay leaned into survival genre. You were either wiped out in nuclear war, suffered from wave of terrorist attacks, or failed at tasks requested by the government.
The game tested time-based tension in a few places, including game over condition:
Final farewell was rather dense & nerdy:
And this is also where our journey through prototypes ends!
---
[h2]Espiocracy as a... 4X[/h2]
It was bold, blue, and wrong. Some versions of the map were overwhelmingly atrocious...
...and other just overwhelming:
The prototype drank a lot of 4X Kool-Aid and tested literal exploration - with solar systems replaced by organizations - which actually turned out to be somewhat fun.
The analogy was taken to the limits, working even on the internal level of organizations, providing network gore in place of border gore:
At the same time, this prototype tested some deeper mechanics around procedurally generated characters via shameless bags of statistics:
Hiring window appealed to fans of sliders:
And the hiring was accomplished by winning in a full-fledged negotiation minigame!
By full I mean: opposite character had simulated state of mind and body language, they could get angry (depending on character's personality), and AI juggled actual negotiation strategies (distribution, integration, compromise, bluff, double bluff, accommodation).
[h2]Espiocracy as a... mobile manager[/h2]
Mobile approach was really a random decision (I can't recall now, probably just curiosity about development process for Android). As a one of the first prototypes, it was also a test of Godot game engine and its scripting language (later ditched for C#), written in two weeks of complete freestyle. What this means is that the code was absolutely disgusting!
Gameplay paid homage to good old strategies from the 90s by providing scenarios instead of campaigns or start dates.
Core loop revolved around weirdly quantified cooperation with the government:
The prototype tested detailed approach to espionage - 54 methods of tradecraft which you couldn't directly use (yay!).
Instead of direct choice, AI operatives were crafting plans, presented later to the player. Needless to say, they usually came up with stupid ideas.
Ultimately, gameplay leaned into survival genre. You were either wiped out in nuclear war, suffered from wave of terrorist attacks, or failed at tasks requested by the government.
The game tested time-based tension in a few places, including game over condition:
Final farewell was rather dense & nerdy:
And this is also where our journey through prototypes ends!
---