Introducing the coming Android strategy game - Rising Empires

[Netherlords]

Hi,

I would like to introduce an Android game project my brother and I are working with. It's called Rising Empires and is a civilisation building game with a focus on conflicts:

Rising Empires is a massive multiplayer online turn-based strategy game in a fantasy setting intended for Android phones. The goal of Rising Empires is to expand and strengthen your empire by developing your cities and research new technologies.

Six races with unique abilities struggle to survive on the Surface and deep in the caves of the Netherworld. There is a constant conflict for territory between empires as well as in between their demanding gods! A rich technology tree allows each player to mould his empire and troops to suit his playing style. All empires play in the same world and interact with each other.

We have just published a new issue of our newsletter and it looks more closely into one of the main features of the game. It can be downloaded here:
Norberg bulletin - Issue 7

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

We've just uploaded a new issue of our newsletter:

Welcome to the eight issue of the Norberg bulletin. In this issue we will discuss Rising Empires more generally. What is the setting and what setup can we expect for a starting empire? We will also discuss how the game will be played. If you believe this is a game for you we are also looking for beta testers. Details can be found at the end of the bulletin.

The bulletin can be downloaded at:
Norberg bulletin - Issue 8

 

[Slachter]

We've just uploaded a new issue of our newsletter:

Welcome to the eight issue of the Norberg bulletin. In this issue we will discuss Rising Empires more generally. What is the setting and what setup can we expect for a starting empire? We will also discuss how the game will be played. If you believe this is a game for you we are also looking for beta testers. Details can be found at the end of the bulletin.

The bulletin can be downloaded at:
Norberg bulletin - Issue 8

Sounds like a great game. Can't have too many good massive strategy games on Android!

 

[Netherlords]

Hi everybody!

It's been a while now and we've finally managed to get an artist to do all graphics in Rising Empires. I would like to show two screenshots from the Empire menu. These are still WIPs and will be further improved (the white buttons is only temporary for example) but I thought it would be nice to show some progress...

For more information or if you want to keep yourself updated on our progress please check out this thread in our forum:
The weekly Rising Empires update

Have a good weekend,

Netherlords

 

[Netherlords]

We've just published one more issue of our newsletter:

Welcome to the ninth issue of the Norberg bulletin. An important aspect of all Empires is their economy. Incomes and expenses must be balanced or even the largest Empire might fall from glory. In this issue of the Norberg bulletin we'll look at the economical system in Rising Empires as well as the economy of a small Empire.

The bulletin can be read and downloaded at:
Norberg bulletin - Issue 9

Cheers!

 

[TylerYork]

This looks cool . Not sure how you're going to monetize though. Have you thought about that yet?

 

[Netherlords]

Thanks TylerYork. Yes, we have given it some considerable thought as Rising Empires will require our daily maintenence and lots of work. Turns must be processed each day (even if relatively automatic this must be overseen) and we see ourselves continueing to upgrade and add new features even after the game is launched. Employing two artists to help us with art and graphics also cost a few euros... When we get closer to launching Rising Empires we'll let you know the details.

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

I believe it's time to introduce the Rising Empires team and those around us. On and off we are up to six people that work with different aspects of Rising Empires.

My name is Peter Norberg. My brother Johan and I initiated the Rising Empires project in the beginning of 2011. After a few planning sessions we started to write the first lines of code in February. Rising Empires is not the first game we design and code. We started working on a PBeM game called Fate of a Nation (Fate of a Nation) early in 2009 which was nominated at the Origins awards earlier this year. Fate of a Nation is written in Java and this, of course, made the move from PBeM to Android much easier since Android also uses Java. We both live in Sweden, Johan in the city of Gothenburg and I live in Sollentuna which lies a bit north of Stockholm. We are both dedicated to Rising Empires and Johan works more than half-time on the project. I work mostly on evenings and weekends.

We have divided the work between us and Johan does most of the code for the application (GUI) and I work more on the back-end code which processes each turn. I also do all documentation like rules, newsletters and such. We've found that this is a good setup for us and it allows us to make the best use of our different skills.

We have four people around us that I also want to introduce (in the order they became involved in Rising Empires):

• Sara, who is my wife, is excellent at languages and marketing stuff. She gives us important support rangeing from proof-reading to art issues. She also gives our newsletter her blessing and transforms it from simple letters to a good-looking bulletin. Check out the pdf-versions!
• Glom is an old friend of ours and he is the main game tester. He participates in all our trials and tests and gives us important feedback.
• Robin Chyo (robin-chyo.com) does our artwork, including the start screen (we won't show it yet!). He is just about to start on character and portrait images of all the races in Rising Empires and we are really looking forward to seeing his interpretation of our background stories.
• Nina Olsson (Morgis Art & Design) does all 2D-graphics. Up till now she has mostly been doing icons and buttons but she will soon start with all the map graphics; stuff like fleets, armies, roads and cities. One tough nut to crack for her is different army graphics for all races.

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

Hi everybody!

Attached is a screenshot with two examples of the army screen. This is where you see all information about an army as well as give it orders. In this weeks 'Weekly update' we discuss this screen and what it contains:
Weekly update - Army screen

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

A new issue of the Norberg bulletin has been published. In this issue we talk about the ground combat mechanics:

In the tenth issue of the Norberg bulletin we'll look more closely at the ground combat mechanics. Although there are many paths an empire can walk, all empires will be involved in conflict to some extent, even if it's only against neutral bandits roaming the countryside. Rising Empires is a strategy game with a focus on conflicts. War is inevitable...

I've attached the bulletin to this post.

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

Hi!

We've now presented the first of the six races that populate the Rising Empires universe - the Dwarves:

Their racial description can be found in this post on our forum:
Dwarf racial description

I hope you like the image.

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

We've now presented the second of the six races that populate the Rising Empires universe - the Elves:

Their racial description can be found in this post on our forum:
Elf racial profile

Follow the development of Rising Empires on Google+. Add us to your circles!

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

We've now presented the third and strangest of the six races that populate the Rising Empires universe - the Ende:

Their racial description can be found in this post on our forum:
Ende racial profile

Follow the development of Rising Empires on Google+. Add us to your circles!

Johan and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

 

[Netherlords]

Hi!

We've now presented the fourth of the six races that populate the Rising Empires universe - the Greenskins. Greenskin is a collective name for a couple of races living in the caves below the earth. The most common of these are the Goblins, the Orcs and the Ogres:

Their racial description can be found in this post on our forum:
Greenskin racial profile

Follow the development of Rising Empires on Google+. Add us to your circles!

Cheers!

 

[Netherlords]

Hi!

Attached is a screenshot with an improved list for selecting technologies. We have a lots of news in this weeks 'Weekly update'. Both from the new alpha test that we are running and new stuff in the game itself:
Weekly update

Next week we'll also present the next race - Humans...

I hope you all have a good weekend!

 

[Netherlords]

Hi!

Humans are the fifth race in Rising Empires to be presented and they are, well, humans...

Their racial description can be found in this post on our forum:
Human racial profile

Follow the development of Rising Empires on Google+. Add us to your circles!

Cheers!

 

[earthcrosser]

looks very cool, I've been working on a strategy game too, it's still in it's early versions though it's a simple strategy game with only two sides, Earth and Mars. There are four different types of ships to build and the idea is to simply build a fleet fast enough and strong enough to gain the upper hand on your opponent and destroy their planet. A complete game takes about 15 min... I view it as a strategy game for beginners, but I have a lot of additional features I'm working on adding, and I've got a ton of feed back already.
Earth vs Mars

 

[Netherlords]

Hi earthcrosser,

Sounds like a more fast paced action-strategy game. Our game, Rising Empires, is focused on long term strategy and development. Where a strategic choice can have consequences further down the road... An empire can evolve in a multitude of directions and no path is the 'right' path. You can play and perform well wether you focus on economic development, or military tech, or a mix of both. Each empire design their own troop types and give them abilities and combat values. Can you make troops that are effective in combat against you enemies troops?

Cheers!

 

[earthcrosser]

Your right, EVM is a little faster paced, but not in the beginning it starts out a little slow... that's one complaint I get fairly often. And I just don't have the depth of functionality you would expect to find in a more advanced strategy game.

But eventually I'd like to add some of the kinds of features you've included in Rising Empires, for instance researching technology is one idea that I'd like to eventually include in my game.

By the way I had a room mate in college that was obsessed with Age of Empires II .... so I'll be sure to tell him about your game, I'm sure he will love it

 

[Netherlords]

A new issue of the Norberg bulletin has been published. In this issue we discuss our experiences from the new alpha test:

Just in time for the one year anniversary of the Rising Empires project we started our first ‘real’ play test of Rising Empires. A lot has been happening during 2011 and although progress hasn’t been as quick as we originally thought we are getting closer to completing Rising Empires. Or to quote Johan J, “The game is fully playable but some parts are not complete yet, there are hints around the game of missing functionality.” This issue, the eleventh, of the Norberg bulletin is a report of the first 20 turns of the play test...

The bulletin can be downloaded at the Rising Empires forum:
Norberg bulletin - Issue 11

Cheers!