- Dec 14, 1999
- 22.005
- 258.824
Hello, and welcome back to the Sengoku development diary series. I'm Johan, the Producer of Sengoku. Today we'll talk a bit about the map of Sengoku and how we wanted it made. I think you'll all agree with me when I say that maps are among the coolest things that exist, and that we play and make these games because we all love maps. There is this thing with depicting the world and dividing it in different shapes, and then paint it in your own color.
When we first took a look at how to play and enjoy Sengoku we went back to our previous games, and the amount of provinces you can reasonably handle as a major empire while still enjoying the game as a smaller nation. Tying this together with the goal of the game being to conquer the entire map, we had a base number of provinces we thought the map could be divided into. When designing the map we wanted to use a historical setup of kunis from around the time the Sengoku period starts. To avoid having a third of Japan divided into only two kuni, we took the liberty of dividing Dewa and Mutsu into a few smaller ones, using a later date map. We also included a couple of islands not typically perceived as kunis. Each kuni was then divided into smaller provinces - kori - giving us a total of about 350 provinces.
With Sengoku we wanted to create a graphical feel to the map that was distinctly different from other Paradox games - something that gives a unique Japanese feeling to the game - and when you saw it, you would know that this is something new. Adding post effects to our engine allowed us to really do this, and we created a style with something like a sun bleached photograph, which not only made it feel very eastern, but also made the game feel a lot more historical. For the interface we went for a very clean and simple look reminiscent of Japanese architecture. With thin wood frames, paper surfaces and rice carpets, we achieved a look that is very Japanese. With just Japan as the scope, we could also focus on creating a detailed look for the islands, where we have everything from the deep sea to running rivers, rice fields to deep forests.
One thing you may notice in these screenshots is the flags on the map. As you can see here, they have different sizes, all depending on relative rank of the ruler inside the daimyo. As you notice, we do not have any sea zones, and there is no naval aspect to the game.
Of course, the game is soon approaching alpha, but we still have other things for the map planned. Those things include names on the provinces and good looking border textures amongst other things.
Hope you stick around following this game, and next week I'll be back with more information about the game.
When we first took a look at how to play and enjoy Sengoku we went back to our previous games, and the amount of provinces you can reasonably handle as a major empire while still enjoying the game as a smaller nation. Tying this together with the goal of the game being to conquer the entire map, we had a base number of provinces we thought the map could be divided into. When designing the map we wanted to use a historical setup of kunis from around the time the Sengoku period starts. To avoid having a third of Japan divided into only two kuni, we took the liberty of dividing Dewa and Mutsu into a few smaller ones, using a later date map. We also included a couple of islands not typically perceived as kunis. Each kuni was then divided into smaller provinces - kori - giving us a total of about 350 provinces.
With Sengoku we wanted to create a graphical feel to the map that was distinctly different from other Paradox games - something that gives a unique Japanese feeling to the game - and when you saw it, you would know that this is something new. Adding post effects to our engine allowed us to really do this, and we created a style with something like a sun bleached photograph, which not only made it feel very eastern, but also made the game feel a lot more historical. For the interface we went for a very clean and simple look reminiscent of Japanese architecture. With thin wood frames, paper surfaces and rice carpets, we achieved a look that is very Japanese. With just Japan as the scope, we could also focus on creating a detailed look for the islands, where we have everything from the deep sea to running rivers, rice fields to deep forests.
One thing you may notice in these screenshots is the flags on the map. As you can see here, they have different sizes, all depending on relative rank of the ruler inside the daimyo. As you notice, we do not have any sea zones, and there is no naval aspect to the game.
Of course, the game is soon approaching alpha, but we still have other things for the map planned. Those things include names on the provinces and good looking border textures amongst other things.
Hope you stick around following this game, and next week I'll be back with more information about the game.
