The developers of Ara: History Untold have posted a blog post on Steam about city growth. They describe how cities grow and expand: You can build new buildings to increase growth, but you also must manage food and other resources to sustain the city. Depending on your management performance, either immigration or emigration will happen, leading to more or less citizens. For all the information please read the post here.
Thanks for posting it on the front page, I nearly forgot about Ara!
The Act structure they mention has been close to something I have been thinking of for a while now, to limit snowballing and place everyone on more even footing.
This was announced a while ago, but I think this is the first gameplay trailer.
It has some unexpected leader choices (Sappho for Greece?)
Looks pretty low budget to me unfortunately. The graphics look a lot like Civ 5 which isn't a great look for 2023. I don't like the aesthetics of the UI at all either.
My thoughts exactly, except the shadows and highlights feel a lot harsher.
I'm also not a fan of the UI, but I think the leaders look alright design-wise, from the limited ones we've seen. A lot of them seem like pretty expected choices identifiable from their looks alone (that's almost definitely Theodora to the left of Sappho, for instance). I'm a little concerned by the fact they all seem to share the same three poses?
Seems to be a Civ 4-style leader bonus system, and there looks to be unique units as well.
I'm also not a fan of the UI, but I think the leaders look alright design-wise, from the limited ones we've seen. A lot of them seem like pretty expected choices identifiable from their looks alone (that's almost definitely Theodora to the left of Sappho, for instance).
Yeah they look OK but even they look like upscaled Civ 5-style models to me…overall it feels like the visuals lack a distinctive personality, as if they were assets purchased from the Unity or Unreal engine asset marketplaces.
The leaders look like a close copy of Civ 6. Weird.
Certainly the graphics are reminiscent of Civ 5.
Not sure what to think of the game. I'm always happy to have an additional historical 4x strategy game to play so no complaints; hopefully, the pull it off better than Humankind.
This seemingly 4X-game (or is it a strategy game?) was just showcased (cinematic trailer only) during the Xbox showcase. The website isn't reachable at the moment, but another 4X game on the market is always good. Not sure this one is one though... What do you guys think? Did anyone see this...
Just read through all of the articles on their website and I like what I see so far. City building looks very interesting. I appreciate their approach to realism. The graphics look nice and the world has a high level of detail. The game mechanics are logical and make sense. The Acts seem to divide a playthrough into mini games so that no one takes a commanding lead. They claim to be doing something different with the tech tree to make each playthrough a different experience. I think this has potential and will be keeping a close eye on development going forward.
A lot of them seem like pretty expected choices identifiable from their looks alone (that's almost definitely Theodora to the left of Sappho, for instance). I'm a little concerned by the fact they all seem to share the same three poses?
- And a Colosseum-type arena built out in the countryside. Don't they realize that 1000s of people had to walk to that thing to see the shows?
- And their version of cities are much too spread out. Look too much like a Classical/Ancient version of modern Suburbia. To be blunt, even worse than Humankind's cities, which might sprawl ridiculously, but at least start out looking like the huddled mass of buildings they should be.
- And If Sappho is their idea of a suitable Leader for anything other than a Poetry Society, then I'm afraid the Dumbass Ideas Factor is off the charts in this game. I suspect they are including 'way too many things just because they are different from Civ and not because they make any sense at all.
- But. The battle scenes look interesting. That many troops in that small a space implies a stacking capability of some kind, and maybe even some kind of 'semi-automatic' Battle Resolution - which I've been arguing for for Civ VII for some time now, so I'll be interested to see how they handle it.
Anyway, this looks kind of boring and weird. Its only a trailer but it doesn't seem to have any particularly interesting mechanics which, you know, should be something at the forefront of a trailer for a new game in a genre that is dominated by one franchise in particular. Can't say I have any interest in finding out more about the game.
And the aesthetics are awful. The UI, map, and character designs and aesthetics all look like they came from a completely different game and don't work well together at all. Its very weird and off putting.
*Also, the idea of an Ancient/Classical Greek leader being tolerant is weird.
Anyway, this looks kind of boring and weird. Its only a trailer but it doesn't seem to have any particularly interesting mechanics which, you know, should be something at the forefront of a trailer for a new game in a genre that is dominated by one franchise in particular. Can't say I have any interest in finding out more about the game.
I think having cultural leaders like Sappho is a potentially interesting idea (and it's not like the immortal godkings of Civ are a bastion of realism), although I will be irked if she's the only one of her ilk. As for the world graphics, I think they're passable, but lacking a certain oomph, and the UI is really a dog's dinner. Overall, the trailer hasn't really done much to change my opinion of Ara; it might well prove a perfectly decent Civ-like, but nothing I've seen really grips me nor do I get the impression that it has a raison d'etre beyond vaguely aping Civ.
Also, I hate to be a pedant, but what in the world is with "Currently, 15 techs remained"?
I think having cultural leaders like Sappho is a potentially interesting idea (and it's not like the immortal godkings of Civ are a bastion of realism), although I will be irked if she's the only one of her ilk.
She is, so far. I was mildly excited too that we could have cultural icons as leaders for their civs (da Vinci for Italy, Shakespeare for England, Confucius for China etc.) but the game also has Paragons (Ara's version of Great Persons) so Sappho is probably just a publicity ploy
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