Supreme Ruler 2020 Developer Diary #3 – The World is Your Sandbox

While some of the maps in our first game, Supreme Ruler 2010, had as many as 30 regions involved, most maps only had between three and ten regions in play. As it turned out, the bigger maps with the larger number of regions turned out to be very popular. There was a desire by many players to play longer games, experiencing diplomacy and the challenges of good government over the span of many in-game years. The early design of Supreme Ruler 2020 expanded the region limit to 64, and used a system of ‘regional blocks’ to help divide up the world and keep things manageable for the engine – it was important for us to maintain the ‘no limits’ design of SR2010 that allowed for big maps and big armies. As we began implementation of this new system, we discovered that with some adjustments we would be able to support over 200 regions – which would be enough to allow us to simulate all the existing countries in the world at once.

The result of this change is one of the biggest new features in Supreme Ruler 2020, our new ‘Super Sandbox’ mode. In the world maps that we are including with the game, there are between 180 and 253 independent regions. We’re shipping with two primary maps – “Shattered World”, and “World 2020”. The Shattered World map is based on the game storyline of economic and political chaos, where instability and collapse cause the decentralization of the major powers. Players can choose to start in an American state or Canadian province, a divided Russian or Germany, or political hotspots such as Kosovo and Tibet. The alternate map, World 2020, simulates a world much as it is today – play as the United States superpower, resource-rich Russia, ambitious China, or work to turn around struggling economies in smaller African or Asian regions. When you aren’t actively engaged in a war that demands all of your concentration, you can pursue any number of diplomatic relations and trading opportunities.

The ‘whole world’ maps of Supreme Ruler 2020 also allow us to significantly improve the commodities market system that has been an important part of the Supreme Ruler design. The new market is a closed system, meaning that goods such as oil and food are only available to purchase if other regions are willing to sell them. The fact that the modern world uses more uranium than it mines becomes more than just trivia when your country’s nuclear reactors need to shut down due to raw material shortages. As demand increases or supplies dwindle, prices will go up. An over-supplied market may cause prices to fall, leading to a decision to subsidize your production to keep industries active, or shut down unprofitable facilities and take the economic hit of unemployed citizens.

Diplomacy also becomes of greater importance, both for trade and for treaties. Even seemingly inconsequential alliances could provide a strategic benefit that can be used later on. You may be playing as the United States and as the game develops you become aware that it will eventually lead to a showdown between your region and either Russia or China; alliances that you might have made with European regions, Japan, Taiwan, or even India could provide an incredible advantage – such as launch points for surprise invasions... But you’re not limited to dealing with just significant regions and if you have trouble arranging an alliance with them, you could instead look towards Vietnam, Laos, Afghanistan or someone else to use as a staging area for Asia. With so many regions involved, it is likely that you’ll find someone willing to deal with you.

Whether playing a peaceful, diplomatic game or a military campaign across continents, Supreme Ruler 2020 and its Super Sandbox design give players a level of detail and scope that is unmatched in modern strategy games. Manage your military, economic and diplomatic choices wisely and then maybe you can be Supreme Ruler in the year 2020.

Supreme Ruler 2020 is a strategic and tactical geo-political game where direct control of the military and the policies of a nation becomes the key to survival. The original Supreme Ruler was a text-based economic strategy game released in 1983. A new vision of a groundbreaking economic, political and military strategy game was realized with the release in May 2005 of Supreme Ruler 2010.

Will your leadership take you to new heights of power or will you be nothing more than a footnote in history?

Key features:

• Control any department within your government or delegate decisions to your Cabinet Ministers
• Sophisticated Military Strategic and Tactical Command System
• Select from hundreds of actual military vehicles to research, build, and deploy
• Choose conventional warfare or develop your nuclear weapons program
• Detailed Economic and Political Models
• Flexible Diplomatic Interface allowing sophisticated negotiations
• Play any one of over 250 Regions world-wide
• High Resolution Satellite imagery provided courtesy of NASA
• Single Player or Multi Player support
• Includes Map Editor and extensive modability
• Varied Game-play options include Regional Battles, Missions and Campaigns
• Next Generation AI
• Introducing BattleGoat's new Super Sandbox Mode for unlimited customization and replayability

The game is scheduled for release in Q2 2008.