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[Ultima Ratio Regum]

“Ultima Ratio Regum is one of a few ambitious, long-term projects which I think represent the most exciting things about indie game development, about PC games, and about what technology can do for the games of tomorrow.”
- Graham Smith, Rock Paper Shotgun

A roguelike game inspired by the literature of Jorge Borges, Umberto Eco & Neal Stephenson, and the games Dwarf Fortress, The Outer Wilds, and various others.

https://www.markrjohnsongames.com/

Ultima Ratio Regum ("the last argument of kings") is a game designed to combine the massive and varied world of games like Dwarf Fortress or Europa Universalis with the cryptic puzzle-solving and clue following of games like The Outer Wilds and La-Mulana. Set approximately around the Scientific Revolution, the player is tasked with discovering a conspiracy via identifying procedurally-generated clues hidden throughout the world's cultures, religions and societies; the game features extensive procedural generation of everything from tombs and religious altars to (in the future) paintings and sculptures, any or all of which may contain the clues required in a given playthrough. The latest major releases, 0.9 and 0.10, introduce currencies, procedurally-generated items, trade, and ship-board travel. 1.0 is coming soon - watch this space!

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

I've added this week's blog entry about the huge variety of weapons available in the game (roughly 200,000+), and the way they are balanced. I'd love any feedback on whether they seem appropriately balanced or not:
http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2011/10/17/weapons-lots-of-weapons/

[Majestic]

Interesting idea Ultima.

Do you need game music? I am a music composer. I can portray any mood to immerse the player in your game and I can do a wide range of genres

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Thanks for the offer! I'm still uncertain whether I'm going to have any music in the game at all, but I may be in touch if I decide to put some in

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

This week's devblog entry talks about how the character creation system works! I've tried to do something unusual with it by letting you start with items, not just stats, skills, and the like. Would love any feedback - http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2011/10/24/character-creation/

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Massive improvement in the map genearation!

Previously, the map was 1,000,000 squares, and took up about a Gb of RAM. I know, horrifically inefficient, but I couldn't find a better storage method. It was far too small for my purposes, but I couldn't find a way to deal with it.

Now, the map is 1,600,000,000 squares - a 40,000 by 40,000 grid - and takes up only a few hundred MB at the outside. Now the world is vast, and has more than enough room for all the civilizations, dungeons and castles you could want...

[SP9000]

This sounds really cool, complex, and highly ambitious.  Good luck with finishing.  I can't wait to see how this turns out! :D

Also, the Commodore PET is awesome.  Best computer of all time.
(for archival purposes note that I am referring to your avatar).

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

This sounds really cool, complex, and highly ambitious.  Good luck with finishing.  I can't wait to see how this turns out! :D

Also, the Commodore PET is awesome.  Best computer of all time.
(for archival purposes note that I am referring to your avatar).

Thanks! Made a lot of progress on world generation today, too, and will probably end up showing it in my devblog at some point in the near future.
I never had a PET (this image is one I simply like a lot), but I did have a Commodore 64, and I still have it and a couple hundred games for it! Some are pretty obscure, but I'm not someone to sell off (or keep) intact the older, more obscure things; why have them if you're not going to play them? Some truly outstanding games on that machine...

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Here's a spoiler of the World Map:



It's... pretty big. A lot more information can be found http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2011/11/01/world-map-and-battlefields/ in my latest devblog entry. Contains stuff about world generation, battlefields, and how the player actually moves around the map!

[Paul Jeffries]

This looks pretty cool.  How is the strategy side of things going to work?  Will you have direct control over individuals or will it work in a more indirect dwarf-fortressy kind of way?

[sublinimal]

This has potential to be very interesting given the right execution.

[RCIX]

A game that aims to target an unused niched within a sub-niche of a niche game?

  Niche-ception

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

This looks pretty cool.  How is the strategy side of things going to work?  Will you have direct control over individuals or will it work in a more indirect dwarf-fortressy kind of way?

Thanks! You can give orders to those below you, and they will carry them out to the best of their ability. If you control two battalions, and each one contains squads, you can give orders to the battalions, and those in charge will then issue appropriate orders down through the squads. You cannot literally tell Unit X to move to Square Y, both for the reasons above, and because they have a sense of self-preservation and will not just blindly follow your orders

This has potential to be very interesting given the right execution.

Cheers - hopefully it'll work out how I envisage it.

A game that aims to target an unused niched within a sub-niche of a niche game?

  Niche-ception

Yep! But then, I think roguelikes (and similar games) have way more appeal these days than they did in the past, strangely enough.

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

New devblog entry - the role of bosses in Ultima Ratio Regum! Which is to say... well, you'll have to read and find out. All manner of weird and probably-not-wonderful creatures await...

http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2011/11/07/on-bosses/

[happymonster]

Sounds good!

[The Monster King]

i think we both have similar ideas about certain elements of combat
ill be watching this

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

Thanks both! Let me know if you have any feedback on the thoughts so far; I'm very keen to get other perspectives

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

So, I've spent the past little while working on world generation! I've finally got it to a point where I'm pretty happy with the world map.



Check out the latest devblog (with a full size version) @ http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2011/11/15/cartography-in-the-land-of-ultima-ratio-regum/. Let me know what you all think ! Now I just need to get cities, territories, and random things like caves, dungeons etc spawning. That shouldn't take anywhere near as long, though...

[Ultima Ratio Regum]

New devblog entry @ http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2011/11/21/to-quest-or-not-to-quest/! Some talk about 'quests', individuals, factions, and why there's no such thing as an Ultima Ratio Regum quest journal. Let me know what you all think!

[baconman]

There's this thing about questing in adventure games now, where you're always going off to get stuff for other lazyasses, in return for some modest thing you could easily just buy with the cash you got for looting the place to begin with. But this beckons the question to me:

Why are you digging this stuff for other people, rather than simply going out to get something for yourself?