Hello, friends of The Guild!
Welcome to the first dev diary of The Guild - Europa 1410! We are excited to share more details on the development of our game with you, our passionate community, through these developer diaries, by covering various topics that we believe you will find interesting.
The Guild - Europa 1410’s development is underway, and it is no secret that we are taking it back to the roots of the franchise. Since our game will be reminiscent of the original Europa 1400: The Guild, we’d like to share what features inspired us in the first game of the franchise, and which ones we are adding our own spin to.
Europa 1400: The Guild was released in 2002, allowing players to build up their economic empire in an immersive medieval world. In a unique mix of life simulation and economic strategy, The Guild manages to fill a specific niche, garnering a loving and loyal player base to this day. Though it was released more than 20 years ago, this wonderful community and the appreciation for Europa 1400: The Guild are still going strong - which is why, when we embarked on the adventure of writing the next chapter of The Guild, we first took a step back and looked at what made the original The Guild so great. We intend to build upon these strengths by using modern tools and technology while preserving the unique feeling of immersion that The Guild always conveyed.
When it comes to the first game’s features, which we are bringing forward to The Guild - Europa 1410, a notable mention is the way characters are controlled in the game. You, as the player, will get to view the world from your perspective, not by controlling a character and moving it around physically, but rather by controlling the camera. Though this is different from later games in The Guild franchise, we want to bring back the immersive experience of Europa 1400: The Guild and let you feel the heat of managing your businesses and workers!
These screenshots showcase the inner city area of Nürnberg. You will eventually be able to expand outside the city walls!
The Guild - Europa 1410 will allow you to step into a medieval world, vibrant with life and opportunities. Various events will inform you of the things that are happening around you, many of which tell fantastic stories or interesting facts about your opponents. In Europa 1400: The Guild, you were sometimes notified of events, and you could acknowledge them and go about your day. We intend to enhance this experience by introducing more events, inspired not only by history but also by the evolution of the game world itself. Furthermore, you will be able to interact with these events as you like - with consequences, of course.
What about other significant events that happen in your medieval city, such as elections, court sessions or duels? The Guild was always filled with these events, and it was often hard to fit them all into the game’s world, which is why previous games used cutscenes to show the most important events to you, the player.
Our goal for The Guild - Europa 1410 is to create an immersive and believable world that represents what is going on in your game, while at the same time, allowing you to focus on managing your business, dynasty, and political machinations at your own pace. You will see fights on the streets, thieves scouting out buildings, crowds gathering around the bard, and many more events - but we will make sure that the amount of these events doesn’t feel overwhelming. This means that not all events will have a visual representation in the scene, which allows the game to create a plausible and believable backdrop for your gameplay experience. Of course, important events like office sessions are always visualized, and you can enter the Town Hall to watch them, if you like.
Elections ongoing in the Town Hall
Management of carts will get an overhaul, as well as how combat works. Furthermore, we are putting our own spin on the concept of dynasties and families, adding more depth and character to your AI opponents and creating more challenges for you to overcome. We will talk about these and other features in much more detail in our upcoming dev diaries, so stay tuned!
But what about the later games in The Guild series? Will we ignore them and only base The Guild - Europa 1410 on the very first game of the series? Of course not! While Europa 1400: The Guild captured the spirit of medieval life nicely - especially considering the technical limitations of the time - its successors expanded a lot on city life, visual fidelity, and filling the game with hustling and bustling energy.
While you will not be able to directly send your character around, your actions will have a visible influence on the city and its citizens. Together with your opponents as well as your allies, you will have the opportunity to shape your city’s development and rewrite its history with greatly enhanced graphics and, for the first time in any The Guild game, expanding city walls and emerging new city districts.
The various upgrades for your city include your city's walls, wells, pillories, and more.
That’s it for today’s dev diary! Next time, we’ll talk about your first business and your first steps into politics. What are you most curious about - how to build your business, manage your employees, or secure your influence in the Town Hall?