Warsim Dev Q&A (Fan questions answered)
Hello everyone,
Huw the developer of Warsim here, thank you for all the awesome questions I've picked a bunch of the best in my opinion and tried my best to honestly answer!
THE QUESTIONS
A: Yup, there are a few hidden and rng ways to find me, in my bedroom in a hidden secret place in the game. I can then grant you a wish :)
A: I was a total programming noob using no engine and trying to code stuff by scratch (which meant output straight to a cmd window). Warsim was one of those test projects but it got a bit out of hand.
A: I've got a few favourites. The Explorer gives you a permanent chunk of free lands beyond explore chances which is so awesome early game. The Neighbour Invader start gives you an instant day 1 vassal which is a fun one. I also quite enjoy The Tournament Winner cause it starts you with 2 decent champions.
A: I was learning to code and ended up making it feel more and more like a game, I got addicted to the feeling and kept expanding it and expanding it, eventually getting constant fan messages of support, bug reports, and feedback it grew and grew. The inspirations in gaming are Dwarf Fortress, Mount and Blade, and the Elder Scrolls Series predominantly, all of which are incredible games. And insanely Warsim is now in a bundle with Dwarf Fortress on steam (Thank you dearly Kitfox Games!)
A: Oh god so many, Infinitely explorable seas beyond with proc gen ships, islands, enemies etc. A huge religion system with proc gen religions and effects spreading to multiple kingdoms. The ability to have more than 5 kingdoms, bandit groups etc and the ability to have games without the current core factions. A 2D actualised map, family trees, I could seriously go on for a long time...
A: I've honestly had to fix so many 1000 that no one bug sticks in my mind... Once they're fixed I move on mentally.
A: Probably a flashy 3D version of the game I'm currently working on Slumbox. I've always loved RPGs and I really want to make a big fat feast of an RPG full of clever proc gen and moving systems.
A: Not in a billion years. It was a test project not for human consumption back then, and even when it started getting a few followers for all I knew it could have died in a heartbeat and never become anything. I am still to this day amazed by how many people worldwide have played and continue to play Warsim.
A: If money was no issue and we were making an insane budget Warsim II, It would have the ability to swap perspectives between Ascii and 3D. Would be crazy
A: Maybe it's because I've played 10k plus hours of Warsim, but the stuff that still holds up for me is the proc gen novelty: Exploring the lands beyond, Arena stuff, Fight Pit Stuff, Inter-faction Warfare, Adventurer's Actions, etc
A: Warsim is everything to me, from passion project to buying me a house and allowing me to go all over the world to gaming events. Took me out of unfulfilling work to being able to support myself indulging in making a dream game. The impact is immeasurable. I even got a Warsim character tattooed on my arm. I'd say I most like the chaos of it, and my dislike most is probably the hard lock on having 5 kingdoms at a time and not random and unlimited amounts.
A: A few questions here. So biggest difficulty was probably making the first draft of the combat update. It was such a massive overhaul it felt never ending and hung over my head for over a year throughout the games development.
Most difficult thing to make beyond the combat was probably the lands beyond exploration system as there were so many proc gen variants of almost everything it got a little out of hand.
My favourite location is hands down the Cave Gnome village (post gambling discovery)
More necromancy stuff is definitely a possibility, there's some expansion notes floating around on my laptop!
A: Absolutely, there have been 2 that stuck in mind the most over the years. One was when I saw a weird blue skinned monster and was certain 100% I had not designed it. Then realised I was looked at the leader of the Blue Orc Kingdom. It was so funny but for a split second I thought my game had gone sentient. The second time was when a kingdom of Deatheaters had become so strong It was nearly mathematically impossible to beat them and we were at the event horizon. Hadn't experienced a strong deatheater kingdom in any testing cause of the millions and millions of different races that appear instead.
A: Good old 2,147,483,647, And given that a terraton is a billion gold that's 2 quintillion gold.
A: I'd like to think quite a few in proc gen, random events, and also in the general philosophy of how I design games.
A: Listen to your community, build it for yourself out of passion, take your time, and don't be afraid to share it!
A: Never lmao
A: I don't remember exactly when it first went on itch.io possibly late 2015 early 2016. I think I was just putting it up there cause I thought it was cool, but figured I'd get 1 or 2 random stragglers. Over time the community grew and so did the game.
(Already answered the unltd time/money below)
As for the Warsimlikes, I feel like so many are covered I really love it when I see something completely left of field, a trading game, a drug dealing game. There have been so many off the walls ones already, genuinely can't wait to see what comes next.
A: I originally planned to try and do my own take on the Mordor game Nemesis system, but of course it was famously under copyright at the time by Warner. I also wanted to add a crazy system of proc gen sea exploration with proc gen islands, and proc gen boats but it was too large of an expansion.
A: I do not ever truly want Warsim to cease development but life is crazy. I am actively developing a brand new game Slumbox which admittedly is the main focus now, but Warsim means too much to me to ever truly stop, especially with that 2000 feature to do list floating around.
A: Movie SLC PUNK, Book Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
A: Obviously the creator of one of CK3's most insane mods and arguably one of the best original worlds in a total conversion mod in gaming
A: When I first started Exploration was just one single straight line of unlockable locations until I eventually split it up into regions.
Thank you
Cheers for all these questions and the many that I didn't get to answer! I appreciate you all a ton and your love for Warsim means the world to me <3
Cheers to the redditors and discorders who asked!