The 90s... the 'Golden Age' of RTS games. After being introduced to behemoths like Age of Empires, Warcraft, Starcraft, Command & Conquer, there was no turning back for us. Base-building RTS became our favourite game genre. The obsession became so strong that we dreamed about making our own RTS game one day! But then, somewhere in the mid-2000s, the number of RTS games released each year started to dwindle. What happened?
The Research
We spent about 10 years thinking about making an RTS game before TFC. We made a few attempts. It turned out that they are notoriously hard to make. So we hacked away at other projects, hoping that one day we would become competent enough to make one.
Another thing we did during this period was trying to figure out what made big publishers steer away from RTS games. Was it MOBAs? Too little innovation? Maybe 3D graphics are too hard for the brain to process when so much is happening at once? We looked up discussions about what players like and dislike about RTS games. Maybe the learning curve is too high for most casual players? Maybe it's too niche?
After doing all this research, we decided we wanted to go back to the roots of what made the classics so fun. However, they are still masterpieces. There’s no need for us to remake them. So we wanted to make something different that stands on its own. We also wanted to make a few changes that could streamline the genre a bit.
Humble Beginnings
In 2017, we started our next attempt at developing an RTS game, and we decided to merge our love for RTS games with our interest in ancient history. We knew that there is little attention paid to the Bronze Age in contemporary media, and with our fascination for that era, we decided it would be a good fit and a unique setting for the game.
Knowing how challenging it can be to make an RTS game, especially for a small team, we initially developed it for a small scope. We didn't actually have a grand vision for the game at this point. The plan was just to make something. To tick off the fact that we were able to make an RTS game!
Saying that, we also wanted to see if we could make a small game that includes the best bits of what makes RTS games fun to play while also trying to innovate it somehow.
Pixels
Our first choice for the game was for the art style to be in 2D and with isometric tiles. This would ensure that TFC has that 'classic' feel.
Next, we decided to draw the game in pixel art. And we'll be honest about the reason here: we are not (or at least didn't see ourselves as) artists! Pixel art is something we could do. Also, we thought it would be a bit unique for an RTS. We saw that games like Stardew Valley and Terraria had major success, being in pixel art, so why not try the same for an RTS?
To make sure it would work, we produced a mockup image to showcase what it could look like:
You can see our inexperience as artists here: there is limited shading, and the environment is completely flat. However, we received good feedback from an art director we had previously worked with, and we thought it looked cool.
Prototyping Interconnected Food Mechanics
After defining the art style, we went straight to work! We made a few crude design documents, but mostly we just wanted to enjoy playing around with different ideas to see what was fun and would stick.
The screenshot below is the first we took during development. You can see a lot of “random” ideas in the top UI.
As we started implementing basic RTS mechanics, like a villager moving to a construction location to construct a building, we pondered on what would be the main focus of the game. We read history books about the Mesopotamian Bronze Age, seeking inspiration for game mechanics.
Back then, even after metallurgy was invented, the economy was largely a barter economy. Coins weren’t a thing until the Iron Age. It was a food surplus that was the main driver of the first large-scale urbanization in human history, and food surpluses were used as a sort of currency. Empires often thrived or declined on the basis of their food stores.
Above: landscapes with different soil fertility were one of the first features we prototyped.
Thus, history books inspired us to prototype interconnected food mechanics. We wanted land to have soil fertility so that it matters how you lay out your base, and people should consume food, so that a village can crumble by starvation. You need to continuously maintain your army. Like barbarians pillaged the lands of civilized people back then, having your farms pillaged in TFC means you might lose even if your army is the strongest. And just like how food surplus led to specialization back then, in TFC it leads to increased village growth and knowledge generation.
As we continued prototyping, the food mechanics became closer to what you can play in the newest version of TFC. You can see different variations of the top UI as we progressed:
After a few months of prototyping, we finally landed on “Food Surplus Levels” that would affect knowledge generation and villager training speed:
Iterative Development
It’s worth mentioning that at this point in development, TFC was a hobby project. We had day jobs, and so we worked on TFC at night and during weekends. We have also never completed an RTS prior, and so there has been a lot of new concepts that we had to learn. This is part of the reason the game has been in development for so long (since 2017), in addition to us being a small team with (now) large ambitions.
We also make sure we spend adequate time experimenting with different mechanics and features, that what we end up implementing is fun and works well with the rest of the game, and that we keep iterating upon those mechanics. It is a meticulous process and has been a long (and at times painful) grind for us. However, we think it has been worth it!
Above you can see an early version of the Technology Tree.
As you can see, if we stopped at the first iterations, TFC would be a very different game!
We have learned a lot from working on this project. We’ve become better game designers, better artists, and most importantly, we keep getting better at making RTS games!
Itch.io and Community Feedback
One of the most valuable lessons of developing TFC, has been how valuable community feedback is.
The best decision we made was to release early builds on itch.io. This meant that we received feedback early on what worked and not. It also provided us with confidence that players enjoyed playing TFC and that there was huge potential.
Above: yet another iteration on the UI.
You can try out an early version of TFC on itch.io still here:
https://lincread.itch.io/the-fertile-crescent
Multiplayer Came First
A Discord was quickly requested. So we created that:
https://discord.com/invite/9nGpUe2
That’s when we held a community vote: should we focus on multiplayer or single-player content first?
Multiplayer won by one vote!
Thus, we released playable multiplayer all the way back in September 2018, which is a decision we do not regret. It means that the game is built for multiplayer from the ground up, and that we could add a feature like online co-op Horde Mode per community request.
However, since refining the core gameplay loop through multiplayer games and various tournaments up until recently, the time has come for us to focus more on single-player content. We can’t wait to release TFC with a Campaign Mode!
Several amazing artists from our publisher The Knights of Unity, have helped refine the art style. This is what the game looks now!
Did you enjoy learning about the origin of TFC? Let us know in the comments!
- Team TFC