The demo’s over. Thanks everyone who helped test the game!
You can purchase it here:
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hostedgames.warforwest
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1137400/The_War_for_the_West/
The War for the West is a game based on the idea of letting the player create and manage a House and a Domain in a low fantasy setting with some grimdark elements.
ABOUT THE GAME:
Summary
It has been inspired by games such as Crusader Kings 2, Medieval: Total War, Reigns and Swamp Castle, but it also does its own thing, focusing more on the narrative possibilities and the long term consequences of your decisions. You are still expected to manage your finances and spend resources wisely, but the game won’t go into too much detail about the “boring parts” of the administrative aspects.
There is no evident magic or sorcery in the world, only dubious prophecies and the reinterpretation of natural events according to religious biases. That doesn’t mean that people don’t believe in the supernatural, or that consequences of such claims won’t be impactful; The War for the West might be fought as much in the minds of people as it will be on the battlefield.
The games happens on a portion of land called the Western Peninsula, which has been added to the Kingdom of Ludland around eighty years ago, during the Annexation War. Other than your own House, there are four families with their own detailed backstories, plots and ambitions struggling for power on the region.
Counting Time:
Most of what you do(or make others do) in the game takes time, and as it progresses the calendar advances. Every month you collect taxes, and different events(or versions of them) might happen according to how many days have passed or what season you are in.
The timeline that describes the important events of the world is affected by your decisions, be it retroactively from character creation or from the further important choices that might be made later in the game.
Relations:
The main religion, as well as the other Lords and Ladies, will often have their own opinions on the things you do, especially if they are directly affected by it. In order to maintain alliances and commercial treaties with other provinces, you must decide who do you want on your side and how to keep them there. People will hear of your actions, and this might also influence other factors such as Civil Unrest, which determines the likeliness of a rebellion.
You also have a council of advisors, each one of them with their specialties. They are there to advise you on many matters, but they might also have their own secret agendas.
Holding Court:
As a ruler, it is expected of you to mediate disputes, hear pleads, deliver justice and many other things. These type of events are semi-randomized from a pool, and there are currently 40~ of them. The goal is to have at least 50 by the time the game is shipped.
Other than Holdings Court Events, there are also many other things to do, like spending some time with your spouse, going on a hunt, attending a feast, promoting a tournament, etc.
Character Portraits:
Every important character will get a portrait, and the image might change according to some events. If someone lost an eye or got scarred during a battle, its portrait will be changed accordingly.
Marriage:
As you start the game as a young regent of a prosperous province, there are plenty of people interested in offering you political marriage. You must secure a heir, but you can also have some fun on the side.
Secret Societies:
You might have started playing now, but there are people and organizations playing the “long game” for quite some time. You must uncover their secrets if you want to guarantee the survival of your House in the Western Peninsula.
The War Itself:
Whoever said “War Never Changes” certainly never played this game more than once. War is (almost) inevitable here, but it can come in many different ways:
It can catch you unaware as you and your army were busy somewhere else, making it so you have to lead a resistance movement and rally the populace to retake your lands from the invasors.
It can be fought in the open field, where climate, terrain and strategy greatly affect the outcome of the battle.
It can be fought in your castle, as you withstand a siege from the invading forces, using every resource available to try to repel them.
It can be fought against someone else, as you decide to ally with the invading forces and make their cause yours.
Or it can be avoided, be it with marriage or promises bound to be broken.
Also, there are three main stats:
Combat: Determines your personal combat expertise.
Knowledge: The amount of information you have gathered regarding many subjects. Often gives more detailed descriptions.
Social: Your ability to present yourself to others, persuade them and perform well during social events.
These stats might provide new options to the player and, sometimes, more than one Stat can be used to check the availability of an option or the outcome of an action.
CHANGELOG:
Summary
(likely to be) Final update:
-Added the different colors to the character’s clothes and weapon in the image during the fight with Noyedas.
-Added many news endings.
-Reduced the amount of Cardeed hands required to start gaining Social.
-Fixed the interaction with the White Wizard.
-Fixed numerous bugs and typos reported.
26/02/2019
-Slightly reworked the map and added a different version if you conquer Sielccia.
-Added a third map which shows detailed locations in the Western Peninsula.
-Fixed bugs and typos reported on the thread.
23/02/2019
-Fixed bugs and typos reported on the thread.
-Fixed a bug related to Vayden if you have a bad relation with him near the end.
-Added versions missing for bad relation to a very specific branch of losing your province to a rebellion.
19/02/2019
-Fixed a bug for romancing Kenrir.
-Added a date with new female RO.
15/02/2019
-Added the Ball event and one new RO for females.
-Tweaked taxes again.
11/02/2019
-Fixed a bug around marrying Noyedas and having his child, and connected this path with trying to press claims on Sielccia afterwards.
-Added late game consequence for same sex lovers(needs to be tested).
-Fixed some minor bugs and spelling errors.
05/02/2019
-Made it so Cardeed now grants +1 Social every 100(+10 per tier) hands, to a maximum of +5 points.
-Fixed an interaction where your spouse could be kept captive and the matter would have been ignored by the game.
-Fixed an event which was not considering the relationship between the MC and the MC’s spouse.
-Fixed the event of marrying Lady Nellasha to your cousin popping up before visiting Boglan.
-Reduced tax gains by around 30%.
-Fixed spelling errors and other things reported.
04/02/2019
-Added many revisions provided by the lovely TeamCorvid.
-Added the possibility of having a “bad romance”(sic) with your spouse. From the wedding night forward, you can make it clear that this is a loveless marriage. Your relationship can either become antagonizing or entirely political. Sometimes it can turn around as well.
-Added around 28~ short dreams of for your character to have during playthrough. Every couple of days they can appear. You can discuss them with Meybuk twice(once before learning about your heritage and once after it). This serves the purpose of wrapping up the “Sight” plotline.
-You now gain a few warriors if you marry with one of the northern princesses.
-Added an official family tree for Houses Sielcner and Sielc.
-Added a couple of small events.
-I’m certainly there is more stuff, but I don’t remember them.
28/12/2018
-Fixed a missing branch of dialogue when talking to Prince Lodka about his religion. Thanks to the kind soul who reported it on the Stats Sheet.
27/12/2018
-Added a few more ways to gain stats in the continuous attempt to balance that part of the game. You also gain stats depending on your father and family origins when creating your character.
-Changed the way events are picked so as to facilitate new ones coming up and avoid the bug some people were getting.
-Added a couple of small events.
15/12/2018
- Added a few branches where you and Jenneth can finally be together after the Summit, and a few more things regarding your final interaction with her. High Social(60) might be require for most attempts.
- Added the segment that was missing if you managed to fight two members of the Triple Chalice instead of three.
-Fixed grammar mistakes such as “despise” instead of “despite” (I have a tendency of using the wrong one).
13/12/2018
- Fixed a bug regarding some conditional stuff not being available even if you are married with a member of House Dullac.
12/12/2018
- Added a few scrolls that can be read at the Library.
- Added the resolutions to the Lords Summit and the main endings of the game.
- Added a few titles for the character at the end of the game depending on previous actions.
- Fixed bugs and typos reported, including one regarding the passage of time at the start of the Summit.
09/11/2018
- Added more content to the meeting prior to the final voting.
- Added interactions where you can try acquire the votes of the other lords.
- Added the ability to create your own religion on another instance.
- Added an interaction with the White Wizard.
- Added an interaction with King Jeohr.
- Added a secret ending/epilogue.
02/10/2018 - Added the start of the second agenda of the meeting.
15/09/2018
- Implemented the introduction to the first agenda of the meeting with the other nobles during the Lords Summit. A version where Governor Bluden exists and another, shorter, in which he doesn’t.
13/09/2018
- Added a segment where you can speak to the other nobles before the Lords Summit starts (it took longer than anticipated because there were many possible scenarios and relationships you could have with them at this point)
25/08/2018
- Fixed the game skipping the consequences for your captive spouse if you had Noyedas assassinated(might need some testings).
- Fixed a few typos and bugs reported.
20/08/2018
- Added the option to “Ride out of the gates and face the enemy” during the Siege.
- Fixed a bug which was preventing the dialogue with your designated assistant at the Summit from appearing.
- Fixed an old bug that sometimes prevented people from losing the final battle.
18/08/2018
- Added the road towards the Lords Summit.
- Fixed some bugs and typos reported.
12/08/2018:
- You can now build a leather armor from the hide of the Abyssal Spawn.
- You can now have a second child with your spouse regardless of your gender.
- You can now die due to the poisonous humors of the your starblade, unless you’ve ordered the proper research done beforehand.
- Post battle epilogues should have a better flow to them now.
- Fixed a few bugs related to naming your children.
06/08/2018:
- Fixed the bug where Ullus would appear in battle even if he was a hostage.
- You can now have a brief interaction with him after the battle if he was your hostage.
- The mercenaries only change sides in case they think that they can turn the tide of the battle.
- Fixed a few bugs, typos and grammar mistakes reported.
04/08/2018:
- The ending checks if you had lovers and presents the possibility of further interaction with them.
- Added the possibility of having bastards.
- Fixed typos and grammar mistakes reported.
- Fixed a bug where the cost of recruited troop wasn’t being deducted.
- Some small tweaks to character creation, mostly adding more name options.
- Added the months to the Glossary of the game.
- Added consequences for allocating troops(or not) on the northern region of your lands.
- Added consequences for asking Jenneth to find out who was behind the attack on Emyria.
Cardeed changes:
- More descriptions for the opponent’s actions and tells.
- The opponent will now fold if you bet too heavily and he has a weak hand.
27/07/2018:
- Added a few late game consequences:
- Soldiers will remember if you said that you would pay them during your speech at the battle.
- Consequences for keeping the child from Emyra alive.
- Consequences if you haven’t paid your loan by the time of the final battle.
- Consequences for ending the game with too much money on the negative.
- A few endings regarding that, including one or two secret ones. These endings, despise being “bad”, can carry on huge consequences for your save on the next game.
- Consequences if you haven’t paid your loan by the time of the final battle.
- Fixed a few typos.
20/07/2018
- Added a few lines to the game’ first part of the ending, regarding your spouse and the possibility of an heir.
10/07/2018
- Added a scene with Wyneva.
- Added a “secret ending” and a new achievement.
- Added dialogue with the remaining council members if you kill Meybuk.
- Fixed the bugs reported on the thread.
04/07/2018
- Added a brief segment of deciding what to do with King’s End after the war.
- Fixed a few things related to troops management according to the “new” model.
- Fixed a few bugs related to outdated files on the host.
- Fixed a bug related to being able to see your stats before fully creating the character if you were randoming it.
- Fixed a few bugs with the Siege.
- Fixed a few typos.
30/06/2018
- Added the option to spy on some provinces.
- Added a few more talks with Spymaster and events related to it.
- Changed the amount of money granted each time taxes are collected.
- Added a new Hold Court event.
- Fixed a few bugs.
19/06/2018
- Adding a small segment. It’s not the end of the game yet, but it’s a somewhat important consequence presented on it.
18/06/2018
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A thousand troops are removed from the enemy if you manage to take the mercenaries for yourself or convince them of not going to the battle. They also can also be added to your proper numbers.
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You now need to speak to the quartermaster in order to have boulders to throw at the enemy during siege. It was always suppose to be like this, but I forgot to remove the testing boulders from the siege scene.
17/06/2018
- Did some tweaking to events in Hilltown. Adding the possibility to gain Knowledge if hearing all the tales from the Storyteller as well.
- Fixed some bugs reported on the thread.
15/06/2018
- Added a brief continuation event for Lady Petka in case you haven’t properly named the horse when you went to the stables with her.
14/06/2018
- Added an event regarding Lady Nellasha in case she stays in your lands and you are a married male. You can send her away, marry her with your cousin or make her pay you to allow her to stay.
- Added a few things in the “revolt” scene.
- Fixed a few bugs, as well as this one: Some people were getting the “dysentery” event during the feast in Dullis even if they did not eat all the food available.
11/06/2018
- Added some missing branches.
- Fixed some other bugs.
05/06/2018
- Added a brief interaction with Lady Danna if you married her.
- Think I solved an old bug some people where experiencing where the screen with “…” would repeat it self time after time without any event popping up. Please inform me if that isn’t the case.
- Solved a bug that was preventing NPCs from betting on Cardeed if they felt like they had a good hand. This also adds more possible reactions(and “tells”) for them when they see their cards.
- Added “Bluffer” personality to some of the players. They might try to bet when they have nothing or even change their betting patterns to try to confuse you.
- Added a money pool to each NPC that plays Cardeed. Any money you lose to the NPC will be added to its pool, and any money you win will be subtracted from it. NPCs with 0 money will not play for thirty days, until they manage to scrap some more money.
- Fixed some other bugs.
04/06/2018
- Added some Cheats to the options.
- Fixed a few bugs.
03/06/2018
- Created new icons for the Great Houses.
- Fixed a few bugs.
02/06/2018
- Created new icons for the troops.
- Added the segment about your Spymaster being suspicious of your wife(if you married Hereya), and the beforehand mentioned possibility of cuckoldry. Further consequences of your decisions here affect the later part of the game when it becomes available.
- Fixed a few random bugs.
29/05/2018
- Added the option to recruit troops by talking to your military advisor.
- Opened some paths previously closed for the last battle.
- Fixed the limit of things you can do at the quartermaster.
- Updated the portraits in the game.
- Fixed some things in character creation.
24/05/2018
- Fixed a bug related to upgrading knights.
- Fixed a few bugs regarding your “date” with one of the northern spouses.
- Implemented the option to duel with the leader of the rebellion.
- Added a Glossary to the game options.
23/05/2018
- Fixed lots of bugs on the open field battle, mostly related to troops numbers.
21/05/2018
- Added a few more parameters to randoming a character.
- Added the option to upgrade your troops at the training grounds.
- Added the possibility to create your own religion(very specific path ATM)
16/05/2018
- Added a few ways to gain Social/Knowledge while attending to the Day or Night Mass at the Temple.
- Making it so you auto-equip the “Starblade” when you get it, as well as putting a warning that you have to equip new weapons at the Armory wen you first get a weapon in the game.
- Adding the possibility to gift the Ancient Sword to Vradnir.
14/05/2018
- Added new events.
- Deep modification of the prose and punctuation method used in the whole game in order to adequate it to certain standards and make it less quirky.
- Many changes at the Tournament. You can now fight all the battle and win it if you have enough Combat.
- Removed most of the monetary requirements for purchases and options. You can now spend money you don’t have, adding a new layer of management to the game; if you spend too much time bankrupt, the likeliness of rebellion and civil turmoil will increase greatly.
- Added money lending options at the Court, with usury and long term possible consequences for not paying.
- Complete overhaul on Cardeed minigame, adding personality traits and tells to your possible opponents and changing the dynamic of the game.
- Reworked some elements from the Character Creation.
- Implemented the option to face the forces from Sielccia on the field of battle rather than let them siege you. This battle takes into consideration the time of the year you’re in and it can affect the morale of your troops and conditions on the battlefield.
- Changed the language of the game to American english rather than British.
- The date of the “Sielcner Invasion” now is randomized between 50~200. I’m still testing to see what’s the best way to present this in the game, but I think the later the better.
- Added a whole segment where the invasion can come earlier if certain conditions are met.
- Fixed the Armory and the buggy weapon names.
- Fixed events rerolling when you go to the Show Stats screen. Unfortunately, now there’s a transition screen that shows “…” when you chose to Hold Court(as this was necessary to fix the bug). If anyone have a better idea, I’m open for suggestions.
- Fixed a lot of bugs reported on the thread.
- Added more interactions with some spouses (Dannel, Petka and Hereya).
- Added revolt event if you spend too much time with the treasury on negative.
- Lots of revisions. It never ends @.@
FAQ:
Summary
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When will it be done, you slothful scoundrel?
My aim remains to finish the game by JULY(oops). Then it will be a matter of revision and fixing any bugs and grammar mistakes that people end up reporting. -
Will it be free?
I need to eat! -
Is this the first chapter? Will there be a sequel?
I was working with the idea of making the game in chapters, but it got too big, so I decided to make it a whole game instead. My plan is to make a sequel, though. -
Why do you want to make a sequel?
To put it short, there are many, many things learned to do while making this game, and many things that I think I can do better in a next one. I want to play more with the passage of time, make it so you can pick different counselors, expand on many lore elements, give more possibilities to the player and overall raise the stakes of the game.
