Galactic Throne

Last year some time I started work on a turn-based space strategy game with tactical battles, a là Master of Orion. There are several reasons why I should work on Galactic Throne, rather than on Nation Builder (working title):

• Less graphics programming means more game programming.
• It can already scroll, zoom and detect what I click on.
• It is much less ambitious.
• I am more certain on what I want to achieve with it.

Talking about what I am trying to achieve, here are my goals so far:

• It should feel real. The planets and the galaxy should feel alive. I believe that this can be achieved by giving the people in the game a will of their own, and giving them a world to interact with.
• It should feel big. In a real galaxy there are billions of stars with billions of planets and it is billions of years old. While my game will not be that big, it should feel like it. To achieve this, I will either make the map really big, or create events and/or game play that relate the map to the rest of the galaxy. To make it feel ancient, there will be remains of ancient (but not necessarily dead) civilizations and the after-effects of long gone cataclysms.
• It should add a bit to standard 4X game play, maybe even add another X. Usually in this type of game you are either a powerful all-conquering emperor, or a member of an alliance fighting against such empires. However you unite the galaxy, you win. I will add a third way to play; spies everywhere manipulating politics and economies, even the planets that you rule will not know that you do. An important upgrade to the game play, which will make this possible, is the separation of government and people. This also ties in with giving people a mind of their own.