Great Houses of Calderia News

This article is a recap of what happened in 2022 for us at Firesquid, a young publisher of strategy games. Read about our exciting year!

We are an indie publisher focusing on games that include strategizing and thinking. Whether it is a grand strategy game, a city-builder, or any other game where the brain is the most important muscle. Our goal is to empower diverse teams and offer players games that make their eyes shine.



We started the year with the announcement of our first game Great Houses of Calderia, a modern generational Grand Strategy game set in the fantastic land of Calderia inspired by the Renaissance.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812910/Great_Houses_of_Calderia/

We received a warm welcome from the strategy game community, especially on Twitter. Players seemed to be intrigued by the Crusader Kings III and Game of Thrones mix and joined our Discord server. We organized a few playtest sessions with our community in the following months. Players shared insightful feedback and we carefully listened.

In June, the game was selected and showcased at the PC Gaming Show in front of thousands of viewers with an exclusive gameplay trailer.

The day after was the beginning of the Steam Next Fest, where the game was showcased. We shared a new demo and had two live streams by the developers at Resistance Games. The reception was good and gained us thousands of wishlists.


In the Summer, Léa and Igor joined us as game testers for an internship where they could learn QA testing, and work on all our games. Thanks to their hard work and passion, they helped the teams tremendously.


At the same time, we were working on another big project: TactiCon. TactiCon is a love letter to strategy games of all kinds. With our partners Hooded Horse, we wanted to celebrate this genre that’s so close to our hearts.

TactiCon is a five-day Steam festival showcasing a carefully curated list of exciting upcoming and recently released or updated strategy and tactics games across a number of different subgenres (grand strategy, 4X, RTS, turn-based tactics, and similar). It also features a series of unique talks, panels, interviews, and let’s plays given by experts from the genre in addition to showcasing the games themselves in a dedicated sale. The event is covered by streamers and the media alike and hosted as a weekend sale on Steam.

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TactiCon

In total, 116 games were featured with 48 demos, and 58 games on sale. Two dozen speakers took part in 9 panels around strategy games, with the videos available on Youtube. The Steam page received +2.1M unique impressions and +1.5M unique visitors and a significant wishlists (among 62 respondents) and sales boost for the games participating.



In parallel, to take advantage of the TactiCon momentum, we announced our second game, USC: Counterforce. USC is a turn-based squad tactics game inspired by XCOM, Space Hulk and Aliens, featuring in-depth skill & combat systems and multiple game modes. The game invites you to discover the truth behind the demise of colony MC83-A, and to protect Humankind from an ancient alien threat.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1574870/USC_Counterforce/

We ran a first playtest session on the demo and new tutorial that was really promising. The developers, Angry Cat Studios, and us are eager to add new features and modes to the game. The community members will be able to test new exciting features in advance of its release.

We then prepared for December’s TurnBasedFest, a Steam strategy game event created by the turn-based community. USC: Counterforce participated with a demo including a new tutorial, new missions, and major visual changes.

We’ve been attending many events in 2022: Game Camp (Lille), Gamescom (Cologne), EGX Live (London), Game Connection (Paris). We plan of going to a few more in 2023, starting with the Game Developer Conference in March (San Francisco). We’d love to meet you there and listen to your pitch!

2023 is going to be very promising for us as a publisher. We will release our first games Great Houses of Calderia and USC: Counterforce, announce new partnerships, hopefully, have the second edition of TactiCon, and more!

[h3]
In today's news, the Game Designer Antti will explain the vision behind the diplomacy in Great Houses of Calderia, especially being wards, squires, or court members.[/h3]

A savvy ruler knows that sometimes the best diplomacy comes not from words, but from actions. As you navigate the intricate world of alliances and rivalries in the game, one powerful tool at your disposal is the ability to send members of your family as wards, squires, or court members to other rulers as a sign of goodwill.

When a child reaches the age of 5, they are eligible to become a ward. This is a common practice where a young noble is placed under the protection and supervision of a guardian from another fiefdom. The ward will live with their guardian and receive training in various areas, such as literature, etiquette, economic skills, fighting, horsemanship, and courtly manners. Although it may seem harsh to be parted from your child, it is also a tradition expected of all noble families. After all, what better way is there to signify and seal a bond of trust between two families than by giving your own child into their care?



When a child is born in the game, they have a chance to have their skills increased every year until they reach the age of 20. This chance is determined by the child's parents, but if the child becomes a ward, the skills of the guardian are also added to the chance pool. This makes wardship a very beneficial gameplay mechanic. Wards will also write letters home, providing valuable information and acting as "little spies" for your family. Additionally, wardship grants a huge bonus to the diplomatic relations between the two families.

At the age of 10, a ward's time with their guardian ends. However, at this point, they are old enough to become squires. Squireship functions similarly to wardship, but instead of learning a wide range of skills, squires focus on training to become knights. They will serve under another noble as an apprentice, learning the skills and techniques of knighthood. Squires are responsible for caring for their noble's armor and weapons and attending to their horses. The same rules apply as with wards, but only the squire's military skill has an increased chance of improvement.



Finally, we have court members. These are adult members of your family who have been invited to join another family's court. Being a court member involves attending court functions and events, and potentially serving the ruler in some capacity. This grants a significant bonus to intrigue and information. However, it also means accepting that there may be a spy in your midst.



Overall, sending a member of your family to another ruler is a serious and meaningful gesture, but it can have long-term consequences if the relationship sours. Choose wisely and use this tool with caution.

Join our Discord to get involved in the development of Great Houses of Calderia: https://discord.gg/vsxD6n8P8J

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -

[h3]Rising in the Ranks of Calderia[/h3]
We’ve used that phrase on several occasions and put it even in the trailer as a slogan. But what does that mean exactly? Well as it happens, it means two things.

For most strategy games there is a big discrepancy between the early game and late game on the amount of things to manage. That you start off with few resources and few things to do, but in the late game you’re very busy handling all the matters at hand. For us strategy game developers, this is one of the key elements we ponder early on – how do we design the inner workings of a game so that it wouldn’t end up feeling like micromanagement or overwhelming at the end while at the same time making sure there’s enough to do in the early game. So early on, we made a decision that I think was quite bold. There are no full-scale enemies in Calderia. No one who would belong to another kingdom or empire. Your enemies are part of the same empire as you are. And that you only control one fiefdom, one city. This allows us to make the player's home castle a bigger, more important part of the game. But how would you get a sense of progression, and power increasing, if you cannot do the usual ‘map painting’ by conquering other regions?



[h3]Feudal Level & Honorary Titles[/h3]
In Great Houses of Calderia, you try to rise from low nobility to royalty by gaining claims on higher titles and then besting them on the battlefields. But when the nobility levels rely just on 4 steps, barons, counts, dukes, and viceroys – then it is clear that jumping from one of these levels to another is a major step and occurs rarely. How else can you rise in the ranks of Calderia then?



Ranks of Calderia are sets of honorary titles varying in levels of importance. Those who have watched their Game of Thrones or are familiar with feudal societies – these mean the “hands of the king”, “cupbearers” and so forth. However, in the world of Calderia, these temporary titles are family related. So the question is which family holds each rank in the council. These ranks are appointed by the Emperor himself instead of the viceroy and when the Emperor does not live in the Calderia, it is challenging to influence his decisions alone. For that, you need to put out a good word.

[h3]Why should you care & how to get one?[/h3]
Each rank has three major things to consider. The effect is of course the main motivation – what do I get out of it if I am selected? Holding these ranks will grant you all sorts of bonuses and benefits from special units to special abilities and beyond. The second thing is what gives you the “score” to compete with it. If the rank you’re aiming for is clearly militaristic, like wanting to become the Fist of the Empire, then you gain score (or power as we call it) from all sorts of militaristic decisions. From your militaristic buildings to battles won and wars declared. Always the personal abilities of your head of the family also matter. So basically in the semi-short range of gameplay, it helps if you plan ahead. Certain playstyle makes it easier to gain certain ranks. But the same is true for the opposite. Certain rank makes certain playstyle more beneficial. So perhaps a big push you want to make is best done after you’ve won a specific rank first.



The third, but in no way the least impactful element about the ranks, is how it ties into diplomacy. As it is the Emperor who grants the title - and Emperor comes for a visit to the Calderia for the ranks selection – then you want to be known as something. But personal reputation, the news of your deeds is just one thing. You could try to influence others to put out the good word for you. The higher their rank, the more influence their opinion might have on the emperor. But of course, the others who are aiming for the same rank as you are will be doing the same thing. Resulting in relations to key families playing a major role in how likely you are to get the honorary rank you were aiming for. And if you aim too high you’ll have more powerful families aiming for the very same rank.



To sum things up, Ranks of Calderia is one way to dictate who is who in the realm. To compete and see who stands as a more important family in the eyes of the Emperor and boost backstabbing and flattering of other families. At the same time, you can either use it to boost your playstyle or use certain ranks as stepping stones to climbing up on the feudal levels of Calderia.


Join our Discord to get involved in the development of Great Houses of Calderia: https://discord.gg/vsxD6n8P8J

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -

Today, we're introducing an important topic in Great Houses of Calderia: Trade. Trading will be a central element in the game, discover everything about it in the following points.

[h3]Reinventing Trade[/h3]
Trade trade trade... exchange of goods. Changing one resource to another with other factions in a game. Trade often is the necessary evil in games. Something that needs to be there but isn’t at the core of the experience and therefore is done with very little inspiration. For the sake of the game’s economical balance or to block players from being stuck; to allow players to get access to something their choices otherwise wouldn’t allow, it needs to be there. But rarely trade is anything more than a brief click to get back to the main thing. A mathematical problem where you basically just teleport your resources to the other player or to an arbitrary “market” with a price loss so that it is more beneficial to produce stuff yourself, at least in the long run. If there is interaction with the AI players, there is a clear-cut line where you get the maximum deal from that specific AI, the search for that optimal point does not entail anything more than that. Just a decision is it a yes or a no? So in the worst-case scenario, it is tedious to search for that optimal point by changing the price tag one click at a time.


For Great Houses of Calderia, trade, like other elements need to entangle, to tie into other game mechanics to create an interesting mix. Therefore it was clear from the beginning that trade must be more than just the exchange of goods. It needs to tie in with how players play. Why they choose certain buildings to be built, why they want to improve relations with specific families, and how they could ruin their rivals' businesses. But to understand how trade will become a major part of the politics of Calderia, let’s start looking at how we deal with the most obvious situation – the initialization of trade talks.



[h3]Other families decisions[/h3]
One thing players will be quick to realize is that in Great Houses of Calderia there are multiple things at play when it comes to trade. Valuation of the items is based on supply and demand like they should and there isn’t anything special about that. However, what is more revealing is the other main element on top of valuating the price of the goods – the Willingness meter. Willingness meter shows how happy the other family is about the deal on the table. It combines all the elements what makes the opponent happier or unhappier with the deal and valuation of items is just one part of it. Families that like each other are more willing to trade with one another and if there is a crucial need for resources then the willingness is higher.

Willingness meter is also a reflection of potential outcomes of the trade proposal. If the willingness is at the center, probably the resource exchange is all there is. But if you propose a trade deal with high willingness – you know you’re probably going to get other benefits in the process. If the opponent is about to build an upgrade and therefore needs the associated resource and you’re willing to give that – the willingness is going to go higher and probably an extra outcome is improved relations. If you’re proposing a trade with low willingness, you might not get a deal and if you do that might come with extra strain on the relations also. So we wish this to transform the trade into something more than just exchange of goods – into exchange of partnership as well.


In Great Houses of Calderia, nothing teleports in the game. Transferring large amounts of resources from one part of the map to another doesn’t just happen – it takes time. So most trades that families initiate are actually trade routes that run their course, going back and forth. And when there are caravans going around the map – that opens space for good old Intrigue. Attacking other families caravans is one way to gain resources that wouldn’t belong to you otherwise. But if one is particularly successful in those attempts, they might cause a strain in the relations of the associated trading partners when goods did not get delivered. After EA launch we hope to push this even further and help these types of attacks also impact the relations of the fiefdom owner, where the attack took place.



[h3]Not so mercantile society[/h3]
Part of the design goals of our game is that we don’t want the game to be a “multiplayer solitaire” like many grand strategies often are. This means that player would be mainly just dealing with his own realm and would only deal with other factions via warfare. We want dealing with other families to be a meaningful and constant part of the gameplay and trade also has a role to play there. For that we are trying to balance the in-game economy – as well as AI behavior – to favor situations where it is better to provide a surplus of some resources and trade in the resources one lacks. When this is the optimal way to play, grow and gain influence, it means your growth is dependent on other families as well. And if that is the case – then diplomacy has a bigger space to operate as well. Angering others would reduce their willingness to trade and therefore you would be forced to produce your own resources. But when that is clearly an inferior strategy – then you would have to swallow your pride and try to make relationships better with at least selected families. But we don’t want a trade to just impact your own diplomacy, it should influence your scheming as well.



[h3]Bigger than the sum of its parts[/h3]
With grand strategies that operate as “system soup”, or different mechanics bumping into each other, being impacted by each other and influencing the overall balance, these are all not easy tasks. How impactful trade, or some other part, plays is a result of balancing work of the other elements as well. While trade is nowhere near the most important part where we use our Conflict resolution model – it is easy to showcase how we want players to play-through the most important moments in the game. Same is with trade – that those tricky moments when haggling might go one way or the other – we want to let the player and his family have the final say. This final say is in the social conflicts which we of course use for many other elements as well. There, the player uses their family members and companions to debate the trade deal to a favorable outcome.


Trade... trade is a perfect example, for us, how we want to integrate different systems to operate with each other. How you deal with your own fiefdom, what you build, and what you produce should be impacted by trade opportunities. How you deal with other families should be part of who you want to befriend and who is fine left with less attention. And trade, like other systems, should be part of the conflict resolution model we use.

Join our Discord to get involved in the development of Great Houses of Calderia: https://discord.gg/vsxD6n8P8J

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -

[h3]We read carefully your feedback and made an update on the current demo. [/h3]

Your bug reports, suggestions, and comments are extremely valuable to us developers. We encourage you to continue sharing as much feedback as possible. Our goal is to create a game that you understand and to your liking.

Register for our playtest here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf72WXhSHkAOPsynQ1XM9u_1g3yHhTs8dCf5ayRhayw9YHuNg/viewform?usp=sf_link

[h2]Patchnote[/h2]
[h3]Additions:[/h3]

• Enhanced tutorial with plenty of extra steps
  
• Objective system added, guiding player forward
  
• Lots of new tooltips
  
• Ability & profession unlock icons
  
• New events
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Event illustrations
  
• AI behavior on wars & intrigue
  
• Start building situation of different fiefdoms
  
• Spaces allowed in family names
  
• Action Prompt: Unmarried click goes to action menu
  
• New outcomes on some events, allowing then more varied selection of events to launch
  
• Profession unlocks
  

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• Problematic event outcomes
  
• Building progression
  
• Recruit spy message on diplomatic event
  
• Problems with trait tooltip during social conflict
  
• Information duplicate in other fiefdom view when clicking on a portrait
  
• Raise Army Overlapping Scroll Bar
  
• Bourg Title In Wrong Location
  
• Able to see dev buttons in locations view
  
• When starting a new game, all fiefdoms have the same name
  
• Official Visit Error
  
• Opponent unit in social conflict act on starting point like it was a neutral slot
  
• Tax Level Increase - Social Conflict Not a Victory
  
• On army creation, message "click on unit" doesn't disappear after clicking on unit
  
• Can accuse endlessly
  
• Caught a Spy! event make wrong house and spelling mistake
  
• Resource view is showing wrong data
  

Share your feedback in the comments, and on Discord: https://discord.gg/vsxD6n8P8J

- Great Houses of Calderia Team -