I decided to work on a computer version of Clash of Empires in HTML5, which will allow people to play the game in a web browser without having to download a plugin.

I was originally developing the game in Java and Scala. I was at the point where I had a playable prototype, but I was running into difficulties because of extra work necessary have the application run as an applet or on an Android phone. I wanted to show it to other people for feedback, but many computers did not have Java applets enabled. By having the game in HTML5, it will be easier for people to play Clash of Empires because they will not have to worry about installing a plugin or making sure that it is active. Also, it might be necessary for me to develop on a computer that isn’t my laptop, and setting up an environment to develop HTML5 games is significantly easier than setting up an environment to develop in Java. For example, my laptop had an issue with its charger several months ago, and I did not have access to another computer where I had the ability to setup a Java and Scala development environment. However, I did have access to university computer labs where I could do JavaScript development.

I decided to attempt a 4 player game to test the new rules with me playing as all 4 players.

It seemed like attacking is a lot less rewarding because a defending player can allocate all their troop tokens against the player that attacked them. In a 4 player game, if two people fight, this means that the conflict will go on for several rounds before a clear winner emerges like in the test with two players. Even if a clear winner emerges, that player will be weak and vulnerable to attack from another player.

However, many games such as Diplomacy also have the issue where a 1 one 1 fight is not going to lead to a clear winner for at least a few rounds, which gives other players opportunities to intervene. Games like this encourage players to attack with an emphasis on making deals and alliances with other players. Something similar would work in Clash of Empires, but that means that the game would take significantly longer because of the negotiation that is going on.

Yesterday, I informally tested out the new combat rules with a 2 player game between Russia and France. Each player started with 11 territories, 4 generals, and 20 unit tokens.

Starting board position

The pieces to the top right and left of the board represent unit tokens.

Game after 3 rounds. Russia appears to be in trouble.

Game after 5 rounds. Russia now appears to be winning.

I continued the game for a few more turns, during which Russia gained even more territory. Afterwards, I ended the game as there was no hope for Germany.

The new combat rules appeared to add a significant amount of strategy to the game without adding excessive complexity. The uncertainty of combat due to the mechanic of bidding troop strength and the importance of positioning generals made thinking about each move important. Simply attacking with all your troops was not enough to maximize the chances of an optimal outcome. However, turns took significantly longer than I expected, which could be a problem if I want to make this game for more than 2 people. Also, I realized that the new combat rules meant that a two player game did not become too quickly one-sided with one player almost guaranteed to win. It seemed like Germany was “dominating” the game at the end of the third round because they had more troops and territory. However, Russia emerged as the clear winner by the end of 5th round.

The current attrition based combat mechanics for Clash of Empires have been well-received by players, but player feedback suggests several problems with the game which could be fixed by changing the combat mechanics. The combat mechanics require a large number of pieces to be placed on the board, which has led to undesirably long setup times. The number of pieces also caused problems during the game because of the time spent on moving the pieces and making sure that they stay upright. Another problem with the combat mechanics is that they do not work well in 2 player games because it involves attacking with as many units as possible without any need to make strategic decisions. This is a similar problem that certain games such as Risk have as well. This was not an issue in games with more players since attacking one player with as many units as possible leaves you vulnerable to attack by other players. In order to solve the issues with too many pieces on the board an a lack of strategy in 2 player games, I will be testing out new combat rules that I will describe below.

Each player will start off with 4 generals on the board and 40 unit tokens, which will not be placed on the board. Each turn, a player may move each general one space. Combat will be initiated when a general moves into an enemy territory and will be resolved with the help of the unit tokens. During combat, each player secretly plays a certain number of unit tokens and the player who plays the highest number of unit tokens wins. However, players will have to be careful when playing unit tokens because unit tokens played during a battle cannot be played in another battle until the following round. Also, to prevent players from being too reckless when attacking, each player will lose some unit tokens during the battle. To further encourage players to play unit tokens wisely, losing a round of combat will force you to lose additional unit tokens and retreat, and successfully attacking will give a player victory points in addition to giving players control of the territory they attacked.

Because each player will only have a few units on the board, setup will be significantly faster and players will not spend to much time moving pieces around. Combat will be more interesting, and will not be an automatic win for a player with more units because of the need to secretly allocate troops during each battle. The game also has the potential to take significantly more time because of the time players could spend figuring out how to best allocate their troops.

Welcome!

This page will contain updates about the development of Clash of Empires.