Supreme Ruler 2020 developer interview

We here at Gamezine have been getting pretty excited about the latest game from BattleGoat Studios, almost erotically so.

Today we spoke to David Thompson, lead designer and co-founder of BattleGoat and ex-Liverpool and Blackburn midfielder (joke), about his company's new game, Supreme Ruler 2020, described by Mr Thompson himself as "SimCity meets Civilization meets Panzer General - all on steroids".

Here's what he had to say:

What made you decide upon a near-future scenario for the series? Do you think it will help your game stand out from the crowd?

We thought that it would give the game some additional relevancy to players. They can play with “what if” situations from their own corner of the globe, and they can use the knowledge they have of their own country’s economy and military. I’m not sure if this will help our game “stand out from the crowd” but it definitely will give players a good frame of reference.

How does your game compare to others in the genre and, specifically, your previous game (Supreme Ruler 2010)?

Compared to other games in the genre? I think we’ve almost created our own genre – the "Highly-detailed geo-political socio-economic with tactical warfare real-time strategy game!" Seriously, I really can’t think of a single game that incorporates the scope that our game achieves.

We have the economic depth of a management simulation tied to the strategic elements of a war game and all wrapped up nicely in politics and diplomacy. Whenever I’m asked to compare our game to another title, I answer “SimCity meets Civilization meets Panzer General –all on steroids”.

Most of the differences between this and our previous (Supreme Ruler 2010) reside in the amount of polish we’ve applied to the game.

The Graphic User Interface is a lot more intuitive to what the player is trying to do; the Unit Sprites have all been replaced with 3D Models; the satellite imagery is at a much higher resolution; there is a nice subtle soundtrack that changes depending on the region you’re playing from; and much more…

That said though, the absolutely biggest difference between SR2010 and SR2020 is that with Supreme Ruler 2020 the whole world is involved right from the word go! In SR2010, the scenarios were limited in size and scope – at most there would be 31 regions involved, and usually there were between 2 and 6 regions involved in each step of a campaign.

Now with SR2020, scenarios exist as part of the complete world and there can be anywhere from 180 to 250 other regions involved! For example, we have one similar scenario in both SR2010 and SR2020 – “German Advance”.

The object of this scenario is, playing as Poland to survive a German invasion and prevent them capturing Warsaw for six months. In SR2010, only Germany and Poland were involved. The rest of the world was essentially “off limits”. Now in SR2020, you can still interact with other regions diplomatically and they can actually get involved.

For instance, the last time I played the scenario I immediately opened up negotiations with the United States to acquire some missile and unit technologies that I could use in the defense of Poland, negotiated with Saudi Arabia for a guaranteed source of Petroleum so that my tanks wouldn’t run out, bought some Military Goods from China to supply my army, and even got a good deal on some food from Canada. Once I ensured the economic survival of Poland, I sent a reserve force through an allied Czech Republic to surprise Germany with a flanking move.

All the scenarios essentially live within the larger sandboxes we’ve created for the game, and players can decide at any point to go off on tangents with the rest of the world rather than worrying about their little corner…

What core principles in the game are unique to Supreme Ruler 2020?

There are many single features that are special: the ‘whole world’ sandbox I just mentioned is a big one; our Supply Model creates strategic challenges for military operations; our use of AI Cabinet Ministers to help run your government; the fact that if your government is a Democracy it will have to face an internal election every four years regardless of what else is going on in the game; and much more… But what really sets SR2020 apart is the way all of these features inter-relate to create a unique playing experience.

Is diplomacy important in the game, or have you focused more on the action side of things?

Diplomacy is CRUCIAL in the game! Now that you can deal with anyone in the world, regardless of where you are starting from, means that your relationship with all other regions in the world can impact even a small regional battle. Whoever is getting support from the international community has the distinct advantage! The player can negotiate with other regions, and the AI regions will also make offers to player, as well as negotiating trades and alliances amongst themselves.

As PC players become more aware of their systems and what they need to run games, how does Supreme Ruler 2020 address the concerns of gamers with slower machines?

We are still targeting SR2020 to run on older machines. It provides good performance without requiring high end video cards, and it will adjust graphics quality to match a user’s system. Our biggest recommendation is 1GB system RAM so that the map scrolling and gameplay will be smooth, though systems with 512 MB will still be able to run the game.

Are there any plans to continue the series or will you be working on new projects after Supreme Ruler 2020 has been released?

We’re not quite ready to announce our future plans publicly; however there will definitely be more in this series – of course now we might start looking to history instead of the future…

Will the Shattered World or the World 2020 map prove most popular among players? Personally, I like the idea of being able to rebuild the world from a political cataclysm. Do you think most players will agree or not?

I prefer the Shattered World sandboxes myself, but surprisingly early indications are that the majority of our players prefer to play with existing world regions. Of course playing as the entire United States or Russia or China, gives beginners an easier campaign as opposed to playing from Oklahoma or Moscow, or Manchuria. Maybe as players become more familiar with the game and look for bigger challenges, the Shattered World might become the preferred Sandbox.

What would you say inspired you most during the making of the game?

Many things have helped keep us going during the development of SR2020, but to my mind the most important was the continued interest and accolades for SR2010. Three years after release, SR2010 still sells regularly through online digital download, and our forum members continue to discuss the game quite actively and make great suggestions for future changes. It definitely makes us want to make the game even better for them!

Finally, do you have a message for any people who may be undecided as to whether to buy the game or not? What do you think would convince the fence-sitters?

That’s a tough question… Everyone’s idea of what they find entertaining is different. We developed Supreme Ruler as a game people can think about and learn from and be challenged by. It is not a casual game by any stretch of the imagination. If you are looking for a game that will challenge you to think before you act and not just stress out your trigger finger, and maybe at the same time cause you to learn from your actions, then we have an incredible experience for you!