Development Diary #1 - 1st April 2011

Sengoku lets you take control of a noble daimyo in feudal Japan, with the eventual goal of uniting the fractured nation under one Shogun, namely YOU!

At Paradox we have a tradition of making games that we want to play ourselves. Sengoku follows this tradition very closely, and people familiar with our games will instantly recognise what we are trying to do create here. This is a game in the tradition of Crusader Kings and EU: Rome, a game based more on playing characters than countries. I would not call it as much a strategy-RPG as Crusader Kings is, but somewhere in between Rome and CK when it comes to character interaction.

There are over fifty different clans at the start of the game, clans that a player can either be a lesser part of or rule in their sprawling entirety, with control over multiple daimyos. This clan mechanic is something we'll delve into more detail with in future development diaries, but in short it can be described as a cross between a feudal hierarchy and alliances of convenience.

The game is played out on what is, so far, probably the most beautiful map we've made here at Paradox. This detailed map depicts historical 15th century Japan in beautiful detail, where you'll see everything from rice fields to fortresses.

Where we in previous games have relied upon concepts like stability, infamy and prestige to balance internal and external relations, Sengoku features the new concept of Honor. Honor is both a way of keeping score and a resource that can be used for various actions that may be more or less shady. Be warned though, as losing all your honor has dire consequences.

You need to balance the influence of foreign factions to not rely on just one, and avoid antagonizing a faction enough that you won't get its benefits. Do you rely on the Christians or the Buddhists? Which one will make your rule the most efficient?

Diplomacy in Sengoku is different from what you have seen before, with not just alliances and wars, but also with completely unique new concepts fitting a Japanese style game. There are multiple development diaries in the works which will go into detail about all these intriguing options.

The game also contains provincial management, where you have to build up the economical capabilities of your domains, or you may choose to focus more on a military buildup, or a mixture.

Finally, you also have to deal with your personal relations with your family, your clan, the members of your court, your potential lieges and vassals. Personal opinions matter almost as much as strategic interests when it comes to who fights who.

Our goal with Sengoku is to create a game where your actions matter, where you truly act like a Japanese noble in the struggle to become Shogun, with our focus on playability and easing the learning curve while still being a deep and complex Paradox game. What truly makes Sengoku unique is the free flowing way of switching alliances and conquests in contrast to the long-term build-up of your holdings and your relations. Maybe it is better to manuever for the future than to spend resources fighting now.

And always remember.. "Double cross your enemies in an honorable an auspicious manner".

 

Very interesting and intriguing!

 

Can't wait for these extended diplomatic options.

 

Very nice.

I was kind of unhappy about having to wait so long for CK II but I think Sengoku will fill that slot of time nicely. Maybe I'll even end playing it more than CK II

 

Good stuff. I get the impression this will be an almost totally diplomacy-focussed game, which I like. As a guy from a large family of contantly-shifting alliances, intrigues and feuds, I think this may be the first ever Paradox game I'll be good at. I know this stuff inside-out already!

Can't even bigen to speculate what all the icons and such are, so I'll repeat for the twentieth time: that map is pure class.

 

Very nice.
The diplomacy system seems unique and different

 

I imagine what it would be like if one replaced the campagin map of Shogun 2 with this game. One would get a good (as opposed to crappy) strategy game and an excellent tactical battle game.

 

Now that is an awesome map

 

OMG this looks soooo goood.... Just like i would see this game! My fav games from Pdox are EU:Rome and CK!

 

releasing a dev-diary on april 1st, isn't really the best idea...

 

it's april fools, don't believe it!!!

 

I like how some of the catle icons have little moats around them

 

Well, I will read the next dev-diaries but at the moment I'm not amazed, honestly.

 

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there's no cattle in this game...

 

Badass.

 

Where are the Gaelic Football pitches?

EDIT: ah, I can see them in the last screenshot.

 

Nono, it's genious. I read very carefully to not get any joke lost on me.

 

Is that a running river (as in, animated running water) in the 3rd image?

Can a (npc-)character be non-clan-affiliated and recruited? or are all born into a clan. And can one switch clans? (note: I'm still not sure what clans are. Are they like dynasties? or groups of dynasties?)

I just hope the diplomacy isn't chaotically fluid (I hated Shogun I, the AI was your ally one turn, in two turns you'd be at war) -as long as everything makes diplomatic sense it's all good

 

It sounds nice, you seem to aim to reinforce the roll-playing aspect of your games. Which is an aspect I personally really enjoy.

 

It looks good, I do notice the city menu with the many open building slots?, I will be curious to see what kind of buildings will be available. EU3 type classification? i.e economy, stability, military etc?, named with local flavour of course