Fief: The Medieval Manor Simulation.
A rogue-like 2D turn-based game in which you play the role of a most lowly knight who has inherited a fief through some fortunate circumstances. However, the land appears to be nothing more than a tangle of wild country awaiting a strong-willed individual to turn it into a thriving village manor. Build your manor house and attract peasants to work for you in exchange for your protection. Begin your great dynasty, destined to rule the known world.
Here’s a very “fun” early tutorial of the game:
About the Game:
- Programmed in Java 6 to allow maximum support across any operating system. Future releases will use libGDX with a possible Android version.
- Realistic gameplay with a traditional 2D overhead Rogue-like experience.
- Maintain personal experience throughout: explore your castle, walk the streets of your town, rule your kingdom from your golden throne. Town and Kingdom management will be mostly limited by maps, reports, and first-person experiences. Send your spies to collect information about individuals, have your counselors perform data reports, and have your guards maintain crime reports.
- Research arc allowing you to develop new technologies that unlock new recipes and work your way upwards.
- Allows great flexibility and customization through the use of rulesets: custom items, creatures, buildings, constructions, crafts, plants, biomes, etc. XML data is easily modifiable. Multiple rulesets supported!
- Future support for complex mod-sets: magical or space worlds.
Game Goal: Four Concurrent Tiers of Gameplay
Tier I. Survival
Game Type: (Survival game)
Game Pace: By the Second
- Attempt to survive on your new fief by hunting, crafting tools, and collecting resources as you build a first home.
- Learn the lay of your homeland and discover the resources that your land has to offer.
- Begin agriculture and livestock management.
- Craft tools and workshops to get the most out of your resources.
- Start your dynasty: find a spouse and begin your family dynasty. Continue play after your character’s death as your children and children’s children.
Tier II. Fief Management
Game Type: (RTS-like Strategy)
Game Pace: By the Day
Additional Viewpoints: Use the manor map as an additional overhead top-down viewmode for planning constructions and directing peasantry labor.
- Peasants begin to come to your fief for your protection, giving their labor in return.
- Defend your manor from bandits and thieves, as well as monstrous creatures (e.g. wolves, bears) that may threaten your peasants.
- Larger-scale agriculture and resource gathering are performed by the peasantry when you assign professions and land to individual peasants.
- Watch the town grow and peasants live realistic lives as independent people with desires, needs, and preferences.
- Breed livestock and manage the grazing and crop lands with seasonal crop rotation and timely grazing patterns.
- Place building construction plans and watch your peasants work from season to season on building projects (e.g. windmills, watermills, a stone manor house).
- Be sent to war to fight for your king, or pay for a replacement to stay home on the manor.
Tier III. Town Management
Game Type: (City simulation/politics game)
Game Pace: By the Month
Viewpoint: Use maps for an overhead view along with reports from your administration to govern your towns and cities effectively.
- Build a town from your peasantry and rising population.
- Work with guilds and labor groups to balance economic issues and maintain trade and profits for your growing coffers.
- Deal with crime, plague, fires, storms, and other disasters.
- Use your land and labor for the production of luxury goods for nobles and the royalty.
- Organize fairs and tournaments for your peasantry and to improve your own prestige and honor.
- Acquire additional fiefs through combat against bandits, enemies of the state, or through favors and espionage with other nobles.
- Lead your soldiers to fight in battle with you, or send soldiers with commanders that report to you.
- Build favor and support from the nobility to gain prestige and fame.
Tier IV. Kingdom Management
Game Type: (Kingdom management game)
Game Pace: By the Season
Viewpoint: Use maps from an overhead view along with reports from your administration to govern your kingdom effectively.
- Acquire multiple cities and towns as your dynasties’ demesne grows larger.
- Grant a charter to cities to allow auto-management of the town’s needs. Apply negotiation skills to create a profitable charter and maintain some control of your cities.
- Go to war with other nobles and enemy factions. Eventually claim the crown for yourself and rule over the entire kingdom.
- Deal with a large-scale economy as goods travel around the world through your kingdom.
- Expand your kingdom as you battle against other kingdoms and empires in your expansion as you conquer the world.
