Greetings future Governors!
In many previous instances we've mentioned something called „Stories“ in Kaiserpunk. Since then, we've received a lot of questions regarding them – what they are, what purpose they have and how they are supposed to function at all?
I know, I know – the word „stories“ might sound like something small or simply attached to specific isolated parts of the game as spice. Well, that's not the case in Kaiserpunk, and in this dev blog we'll explain everything in more detail.
The usual recipe
The majority of city builders add a couple of standard features to expand the gameplay and provide additional backstory – localized events like disasters and expeditions to cover a wider scope of events beyond your immediate surroundings. And that works pretty well in most cases. This mechanics fits well into the city-building genre and offers a good number of possibilities while not damaging the expected flow of gameplay. Heck, we've used it ourselves in previous games too, nothing to be shy about. What's wrong with shattering complacency of your city by throwing in a fire or two, hurdling a tornado or destroying crops with pests? Hey, it keeps you vigilant and tests the preparations you're always doing anyways ːsteamhappyː .
With Kaiserpunk though, our plans went further, much further. The basic idea of events, disasters & expeditions is still here, but they are now combined into a much more evolved system that includes multiple branching storylines, player decision making and much more.
What do stories look like?
That depends on what kind of a story you encounter, but in the majority of cases, they will appear as a random event triggered by something (and they can be triggered by many possible reasons – something you've done, something you've missed doing, something you've come across, something happening on the global stage, some development stage you've reached…). Usually, you'll have a cutscene followed by a small conversation that asks players to make a decision on how to react. On the surface, this might seem benign, but the trick is – it can snowball into a long multi-stage event that spans in-game months or years.
One decision will require another and so on. In the end, a seemingly insignificant event can trigger major things years down the road. And it is possible to realize a perfect decision you've made early in the game turns out to be the worst one you could have made. Every decision you've made at any stage of an event will be remembered and the final outcome will be very hard to predict. We believe that will be one of the main appeals of stories.
Bear in mind that we also didn't want to warn players in advance what stories are „important“ and what are just short local events. You'll never know in what direction a story can go, so you'll need to be careful not to easily dismiss any of them without giving it at least some thought. To make things even “worse”, a lot of times we won’t be able to know how a story will work out either, which, in our minds, make this even more appealing.
An example or two
• An event occurs in your city. It is clearly marked and ready for your attention.
• Starting the event initiates a short cutscene to set the stage. A small group of malcontents are
gathering in the streets, demanding you reduce taxes.
• You can decide to cave in and agree to their demands or you can instruct your police to clear
them out.
• The event, it seems, is over no matter what you choose to do, but let’s say you decided to stand
your ground.
• Fast forward a couple of in-game weeks and a fire breaks out in one of your factories. The fire
causes a chain reaction, and the factory goes up in a nice vibrant explosion. While your firemen
are rummaging through the ruins, they find evidence that the fire was intentional. The police are
instructed to investigate further.
• After a bit of time, the investigation manages to link the fire to that same group of malcontents
you dissed weeks ago. This opens another avenue where you can send your stationed military to
break the group up in their holdout. More destruction is likely.
Now let’s imagine you take the other route and give the malcontents what they requested:
• You seemingly resolve the situation at the expense of your city income, but it’s nothing you can’t
handle.
• After several weeks, the malcontents are back with further demands. And let’s say you give in
again.
• After more time, they’re back again at which point you’ve had enough and instruct the police to
disperse them.
• This time there is no fire, no explosion. This time, the malcontents break into your depot, steal a
bunch of rifles that you’ve had produced for a new army unit, and they leave your city (reduces
population).
• After a short while, you’re notified that the malcontents have reached a nearby region and joined
the locals, strengthening the region garrison.
The above is a very short example. We’ve created an entire system and tools to craft these stories. The real stories will be an intricate web of branching storylines playing out depending on your direct choices (as shown in the above example), your actions in the game (what you do, what you build and when) and other factors (changes on the global map).
Or how about this one, one less guided:
• You’ve planned on expanding a certain part of your production and, since you’re not a newb
governor, you’ve made sure to have the needed workforce ready to go. The housing is done,
they’ve come to your city, eager to start earning their wages.
• Unfortunately, you’ve overspent a bit and you’re strapped for cash at the moment, so your plans
are kind of falling through. … You still have all those unemployed Manufacturers in your capital.
Sure, they’re content for now, but soon they’ll start asking the difficult questions.
• In this scenario, you’re not offered a direct choice via a dialogue. Instead the game will simply wait
for you to do what you wish.
• Option A: Start building any production facilities to reduce the unemployment rate. It’s
a method
quite known to some, more centralized regimes in history. We’ll leave you to judge how that pans
out. It could work… or it could fail miserably. You might win big, or you might go bankrupt even
faster. And bankruptcy is not something that people like.
• Option B: Demolish some housing and in that way force some of the residents to leave.
It’s brutal,
but effective. You’ve taken care of unemployment, but you’ve also possibly riled up a big angry
mob ready to show you who’s going to leave the city.
• Option C: The Army can always use new muscle. Assemble new army units or entire
new armies.
Even if you don’t intend to go on a bloody campaign of conquest, you’ll reduce unemployment. Again, it might work out nicely. Sure, you’ll spend a lot of resources to supply your troops, but you’ve had a lot of supplies in the warehouse anyway, so you can handle it for awhile. But… are you really sure the other global actors will look at you amassing armies and think don’t worry, he's taking care of unemployment, or will they go more along the lines of oh crap… They’re gonna attack us. We should attack first! Yeah… both, and more, can easily happen.
• Option D: Do as the politicians usually do: ignore the issue, hoping it will go away. As
said earlier:
not making a choice is still a choice and the game will react. Unemployment can lead to crime,
crime can lead to unrest, unrest can lead to rebellion, rebellion can lead to your head on a pike.
Emphasis is on can, not will 😉.
The point of the second example is to show / describe to you that choice don’t have to be made by clicking on a literal choice. It’s not a multiple answer quiz. Stories evolve whatever you do, even nothing.
What is the purpose of stories in Kaiserpunk?
When discussing the main purpose of stories, it is important to observe them as a whole. They all have the same set of functions, even if they come in different versions – longer, shorter, more or less complex, some with a big impact on gameplay while others only have a limited impact. Each story is bringing a little (or more) something in the following areas:
• Increases replayability (due to the number of variables impacting more complex stories, it will be
very hard to repeat the same events, decisions and outcome more than once)
• Adding depth to the experience, since stories react to what you do
• Helping better describe the setting and world of Kaiserpunk
• Increasing immersion
• Giving players multiple choices and more direct control over various events
• Sometimes they have a direct impact on a situation and stability of your city/state
Besides the clear tangible goals stated above, there is another, a bit less simple to describe – creating a sensation of control and governance. Kaiserpunk is a game of strategy and control, both on the local city level and the global world stage. We don't intend to give players micromanagement tasks, but their job will be to oversee everything from „top dog“ perspective. Difficult situations will require your decisions – instructions what you want done.
The same goes for global decisions – you'll react to the changing world by ordering a course of action (similar to what you do on global map in military terms). The responsibility for every decision lays on you alone. Will you attack someone and try beating them into submission, will you direct your state towards military dictatorship or modern peaceful society and economy powerhouse? That is the golden standard in Kaiserpunk and the main mindset we want to create with players. Stories will work to emphasize this mindset as well – you're the decision maker, you reap the rewards of wise choices or try countering the aftermath of bad ones.
In short – you hold the power, but making potentially life changing choices is not easy and you don’t have a crystal ball and the power to divine the future. After playing Kaiserpunk, you might reconsider your childhood desire to be the King one day ːsteamhappyː
Some final thoughts
I've left one final moral dilemma for the very end. By now, you're all aware that the real world isn't black and white. Stories in Kaiserpunk will make this reality also abundantly clear. At times, you'll have an easy task recognizing what course of action will be „good one“ and which one will be a „bad one“. However, as stories branch out and take new twists, a „good choice“ can turn out to be the opposite of it. Your burden is to accept the consequences and try to adapt to whatever happens. In extreme cases, you might encounter a story that seemingly doesn't have a positive choice at all, only a series of bad ones. But even in that case, the choice must be made and you are the one making it. Even not making a choice is making a choice. Do the best you can, be ready to adapt and remain vigilant at any incoming consequences. As wise man once said: „it's not over ‘till it’s over“.
As the master strategist of your people (and possibly neighbors too, if you so choose), you must realize there is no script set in stone for success. Lead, govern, make choices, be bold and decisive. Kaiserpunk probably won't let you be flawless and perfect, but the path to greatness never ends with a single decision. It's a lifelong quest covered with victories and failures. Make sure you have more victories and you should be fine…
Until next one!