Roman Triumph: Survival City Builder News

Hey everyone!

I'm super excited to share some news about what's been going on in the development of Roman Triumph: the religion system! This brings a whole new layer of depth and strategy to your city-building experience, allowing you to interact with and appease the gods in various ways. Gods can either support or hinder your expansion. Let’s dive into what you can expect.

[h2]🏛️ Meet the Gods 🏛️[/h2]

[h3]Jupiter[/h3]
Jupiter is the supreme ruler of the heavens, and he’s pretty strict and commanding. He demands respect and devotion. If you honor him, he’ll bless your city with enhanced production and faster research. But beware, if you neglect him, you might face heavy rains that slow down your construction and production efforts, or even worse, a fierce lightning thunderstorm where Jupiter sends bolts that damage and destroy your buildings.



[h3]Ceres[/h3]
Ceres, the sweet and nurturing goddess of agriculture, ensures your fields are fertile and your harvests are bountiful, and can even ensure your farms yield food in winter (blessing). She’s a bit shy and indecisive but always means well. Build her temples, offer her food, and celebrate her with festivals to keep her happy. Ignore her, and you could see your crops get infected with crop diseases or even catch fire.



[h3]Mars[/h3]
Mars, the god of war, is a bit of a tough character. He’s all about strength and dominance. Make sure to keep him on your side. His blessings can enhance your military defenses, but if you disrespect him, expect increased crime rates, sabotage to your defenses and mythological beasts to be headed your way!



[h3]Venus[/h3]
Venus, the outgoing and flirty goddess of love and beauty, brings joy and prosperity to your city. She loves festivals and offerings of beauty. Keep her pleased, and she’ll enhance your city’s immigration, people's immunity and health, etc.. But if you neglect her, she can be quite vindictive, spreading plagues, causing fires to homes, making people more upset at taxes, increasing workplace injuries and deaths, etc.



[h2]✨ Blessings and Curses ✨[/h2]

As you honor the gods, they will offer you blessings to choose from that come with unique advantages. Each blessing has a specific use case, allowing you to tailor your strategy. However, managing the gods' favor is a double-edged sword. Different gods become interested in your settlement at various population levels. If you feel ready, you can attract their attention early. This can be risky because if you’re not well-prepared, neglecting their needs can result in severe consequences. Successfully managing their favor can accelerate your progression, but failing to do so can bring about disasters.

Additionally, the gods can become jealous if you prioritize others over them. Balancing your devotion is key. However, favoring one god more than others can make them feel special, leading to even greater contentment and more powerful blessings.

[h3]How to Please the Gods[/h3]

• Temples: Build temples dedicated to each god to show your devotion.
  
• Offerings: Regularly offer food and other resources to keep the gods happy.
  
• Religious Festivals: Hold grand festivals to celebrate and honor the gods.
  
• Religious Crusades/Quests: Send your citizens on religious quests to gain favor and receive powerful blessings.
  

[h3]Simulation Updates[/h3]
With the introduction of the religion system, I’ve also added new simulation elements (some tied into the religion system).

• Crimes: includes arson, murders, riots, theft and more. Make sure your city has police stations and a courthouse.
  
• Plagues: people can get sick and spread the plague. Mortality rates of the plague is quite high, make sure you have enough hospitals and doctors to cure these people and prevent further spread.
  
• Heavy rains and harsh winters: affects production rates, construction speed and crop yield.
  
• Workplace injuries and deaths.
  

I hope you enjoyed this development update. Your feedback is invaluable, so let me know what you think :)

Note: the game is still not available to the public. I am simply updating you guys on the progress being done on Roman Triumph!



Thanks for being a part of our journey!

Philippe

Hello Everyone!

Today I'm excited to announce that I've partnered with Forklift Interactive to release Roman Triumph. Forklift specializes in publishing deep, systems-driven games. They've actually been helping out for a few months in the background, but now I'm excited to make this announcement so they can take a more prominent role. You'll see members of the Forklift team in the Steam discussions, posting news, and more.

I'm still largely a solo developer for this project, and Forklift is coming aboard to help with marketing, testing, and many other things so that I can focus on development and design. And I'm not going anywhere; I'll still be posting development updates and responding to questions in the discussions (And in our Discord!)

There will be more news about Roman Triumph soon! Stay tuned!

[h2]Join the Playtest[/h2]

We’re gearing up for a playtest of Roman Triumph this month, and you can apply to join!

We're looking for enthusiasts of the genre who can spend at least 2 hours playing and are able to record their play session for us. If you’re interested, fill out the form to participate.

Please note that we can’t accept all applications, and responses won’t be immediate. We’ll reach out to selected participants closer to the playtest, which will happen in June, though we can’t specify the exact date just yet.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1864880/Roman_Triumph_Survival_City_Builder/

We'll be at Game Access 2024 (Brno, Czech Republic) from May 31st to June 1st! Roman Triumph is ready for you to explore. Our booth is right across from the Tavern. Come hang out and see what we've got!

Hey everyone,

Quick update with some clips and screenshots of enemies and defenses you'll encounter in Roman Triumph!

[h2]Hydra Attacks[/h2]
This giant has woken up thanks to your city’s hustle and bustle. It's so big it needs to knock down walls to get through, especially targeting your noisy production buildings.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Barbarian hordes[/h2]
These guys are after your goods and your people. They’ll try the front gate first but don’t be surprised if they outsmart multiple gates and break through your side walls instead.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]New Defenses[/h2]
I’ve also implemented the Ballistae: Slow but powerful, great for taking down big threats like the Hydra. Not as effective against quicker, smaller barbarians. Customize your defenses (archer towers, ballista, Scorpios) by how they target enemies as well as their ammo types to optimize your defenses.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Catch the details in the video and let me know what you think! (Also don’t worry, there is a setting to decrease/remove the screen shake).

If you want to ask me anything or suggest features for the game, join the discord :)



Thank you!
Philippe

Hey everyone,
I am back with some new exciting updates on how development of Roman Triumph is going!

[h2]🏛 Content and Features 🏛[/h2]

Defending your Empire with Various Types of Archer Towers
Dive into new defense mechanics with the Basic and Fire Archer Towers. Choose from multiple variants - brick archer towers for accuracy and higher rate of fire, and fire archers for their powerful, area-damaging shots which comes with the downside of lower accuracy. You will need to perfect your strategy against ground assaults and aerial threats alike. More Roman defenses are coming in the near future (Scorpio & Ballista).

A Peek at Our Barbarians
Speaking of enemies, barbarians have been brought to life. As you are establishing a roman colony in the northern lands of Europe, barbarians are an ever growing threat.

Here’s a sneak peek of barbarians learning the hard way that your roman city wasn’t built for them to pillage.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Building Models
Don't miss the new models for the warehouse, Roman theater, and blacksmith, vital for your city's expansion, prosperity and defense.



Cabbage Farms
Did you know cabbage was one of the most common vegetables in ancient Rome? In a nod to this culinary tradition, we’ve added cabbage farms. More efficient than wheat farms, they're here to boost your city's food stocks. After all, a well-fed city is a happy city.



Upkeep System
Now, when buildings need maintenance, citizens step into the role of upkeepers, ensuring resources are delivered for building upkeep. Just make sure your granaries and resource storage are well-stocked!

Finally, I've overhauled several systems for a smoother, faster, and bug-free save experience, paving the way for easy content addition.


[h2]🎨 Visual enhancements 🎨[/h2]

Atmosphere Changes
The visuals have shifted from a blueish tint to a warmer, more natural color grading, enhancing immersion, thanks to the community's feedback.

Road Revamp
The roads have received a visual upgrade. Share your thoughts - should the player progress from dirt to stone roads in-game or should the stone roads be available from the beginning?



Terrain and Textures
Enjoy a more realistic terrain with our improved texturing, reducing repetition and enhancing visual appeal of the terrain. This helps avoid "texture tiling" which refers to when textures are copied over large surfaces and patterns can be seen.



Soundtrack and Other
3 new beautiful and immersive tracks were created and added to the Roman Triumph OST.

Save System Progress
The saving system is now implemented and nearly completed.

Quality of Life
Unselect trees and rocks, more optimized grid system for building, and manage your city even while paused.

It’s been a hectic season with university midterms for me, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is this game.

Stay tuned for more development news and thank you for your continued support!
Philippe