Theocracy (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Theocracy is a real-time strategy
game for the PC
developed by Philos Laboratories
and published by Ubisoft
in 2000
. The game takes place in Mexico
and Central America
in the 15th century. The player controls a tribe in this region, and has 100 years to prepare for a Spanish
invasion by expanding their territory across the Central American map, by conquest, or by allying and trading with other tribes.
The game also allows players to play through several "Chronicles", a set of objective-based missions detailing supposed heroes of Aztec history. These mostly serve for tutorial purposes rather than being a serious part of the game however.
In province view, the player view a particular province under their control/attack. Here they assign tasks to their persons, however time stands still here, and the player must go to realm view for time to move and his/her actions to take effect. There is a time-scale in realm view, along with a hand-drawn map of Central America, showing all the province borders, and using colour-code to show which of the eight factions controls it.
The player's tribe is represented by the colour blue, while other tribes are red, yellow, green, purple and cobalt. Provinces under control from a random tribe with no possible relations to others are paper-coloured, and provinces controlled by the Spanish (once the Spanish arrive to invade) are grey. Each tribe has a unique 'personality' dictated by its AI; the red tribe the Izhuacans for example are an 'aggressive and warlike theocracy' and will generally be the first tribe to make an aggressive move in the game. The green tribe, the Huaputecs, are more peaceful and will never attack the player unless the player has already initiated hostilities. Tribes also have varying military tactics and units, the Yellow Tribe has an army consisting of almost entirely sword units supported by spearmen, jaguars and nature priests, while the Cyan tribe, the Teotitlans, have enormous crossbow units known as Wonderbows and soul priests supporting their warriors.
Players can also build Aztec-style pyramids to harness the power of magic from the five spheres of Magic: Sun, Star, Moon, Nature and Soul. The amount of magic available to the player is limited and measured in "Mana", Mana is used by Priests to cast spells, this Mana can be recharged by performing sacrifices at the Pyramids where priests are trained, the amount of Mana per unit depends on the Unit type. Each sphere of magic has different spells available with a vague focus on a specific type. Sun Priests specialise in attack spells, Moon in defensive ones, Nature Priests in Healing, Star Priests in 'debuff' or distraction and while Soul Priests are equally skilled in all fields.
The time scale can be used to determine how fast time passes. It can be paused to make time stand still, and at slowest rate, a year passes in approximately 10 or so minutes, and at fastest rate, a year passes in approximately 20 seconds.
The majority of the population of each realm is made up of slaves, basic worker units who can undertake any task except fight and transport resources between realms. There are a certain number of new slaves born each year depending on the level of health in the province, how much food the province has and what the current population of the province is.
Note: resources are stored in stockpiles in each region, thus resources for one realm can be used anywhere in that region no matter where they are stored, but must be manually transported to another region in order to be used there. The exceptions are jewels and mana.
hired several new employees who had previous experience developing the game Perihelion: The Prophecy
. It was decided that they would develop a new strategy title, with the goal of merging aspects of the games Command & Conquer
and Civilization. The setting was decided by the game's graphic artists, deciding on an Aztec
theme. Development continued for two years, with a planned release in spring 1999.
However, in March 1999 publisher Interactive Magic
had decided to abandon boxed releases for their future titles, putting Theocracy in jeopardy. Philos eventually managed to buy back the publishing rights, and started updating the game to allow for a future release. These changes included redrawing most of the games graphics, switching the game resolution to 800x600, and the addition of "chronicles". The French
publisher UbiSoft
picked up the publishing rights, and work began on finishing the game for release. The game was finally released for both Windows
and Linux
on March 30, 2000. There was consideration towards a follow up, focusing on as then undecided new civilization
and using features thought up after the original game's development entered feature freeze.
, with one reviewer stating that the game's "mix of real time and turn based strategy means that Theocracy takes place on a far larger canvas than a purely real time game ever could." The reviewer praised its wide scope and original ideas, separating it from many of its contemporaries. The British publication PC Zone
was also impressed with the games originality, describing it as being "as refreshing as a pint of lager
after a chicken vindaloo, and definitely worth shouting about." Other members of the press were less impressed, causing the game to only score a 72 on MobyGames
. Reviewers criticized the game as being simple and archaic, while at the same time others thought that the interface was cumbersome and the learning curve was too steep.
Even though it was mostly unknown outside of Europe, the game managed to sell well enough, especially on Linux
where it became a best-seller. One reviewer of the game's Linux port stated that "the game is a world apart from a lot of the linux games I've been playing lately. It's solid and feels nice to use - the buttons click with a satisfying sound played at the right moment, and it feels... professional." The port was also plagued with negative comments however, with many complaining about installation problems and about various technical faults (such as only being able to play the game in 16 bit colours and the lack of a proper full-screen mode). Even with these problems, it still holds an average of four out of five stars at The Linux Game Tome
.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
developed by Philos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories was a Hungarian computer software development company known for working with producer Ubisoft and CDV Software Entertainment....
and published by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
in 2000
2000 in video gaming
-Events:* May 11–13 — 6th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo ; the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³* June 26 — International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association...
. The game takes place in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
in the 15th century. The player controls a tribe in this region, and has 100 years to prepare for a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
invasion by expanding their territory across the Central American map, by conquest, or by allying and trading with other tribes.
Story
In Theocracy, the player is the leader of the Atlan tribe (a fictional tribe), who has escaped from oppression under the Axocopans, and now must improve his/her tribe in order to survive in Central America. As the player's empire's borders expands, the player is able to conduct diplomacy with other tribes. The player must also eventually defend themself from the invading Spanish.The game also allows players to play through several "Chronicles", a set of objective-based missions detailing supposed heroes of Aztec history. These mostly serve for tutorial purposes rather than being a serious part of the game however.
Gameplay
There are two modes of playing: province view, and realm view.In province view, the player view a particular province under their control/attack. Here they assign tasks to their persons, however time stands still here, and the player must go to realm view for time to move and his/her actions to take effect. There is a time-scale in realm view, along with a hand-drawn map of Central America, showing all the province borders, and using colour-code to show which of the eight factions controls it.
The player's tribe is represented by the colour blue, while other tribes are red, yellow, green, purple and cobalt. Provinces under control from a random tribe with no possible relations to others are paper-coloured, and provinces controlled by the Spanish (once the Spanish arrive to invade) are grey. Each tribe has a unique 'personality' dictated by its AI; the red tribe the Izhuacans for example are an 'aggressive and warlike theocracy' and will generally be the first tribe to make an aggressive move in the game. The green tribe, the Huaputecs, are more peaceful and will never attack the player unless the player has already initiated hostilities. Tribes also have varying military tactics and units, the Yellow Tribe has an army consisting of almost entirely sword units supported by spearmen, jaguars and nature priests, while the Cyan tribe, the Teotitlans, have enormous crossbow units known as Wonderbows and soul priests supporting their warriors.
Players can also build Aztec-style pyramids to harness the power of magic from the five spheres of Magic: Sun, Star, Moon, Nature and Soul. The amount of magic available to the player is limited and measured in "Mana", Mana is used by Priests to cast spells, this Mana can be recharged by performing sacrifices at the Pyramids where priests are trained, the amount of Mana per unit depends on the Unit type. Each sphere of magic has different spells available with a vague focus on a specific type. Sun Priests specialise in attack spells, Moon in defensive ones, Nature Priests in Healing, Star Priests in 'debuff' or distraction and while Soul Priests are equally skilled in all fields.
The time scale can be used to determine how fast time passes. It can be paused to make time stand still, and at slowest rate, a year passes in approximately 10 or so minutes, and at fastest rate, a year passes in approximately 20 seconds.
Province View
Each region can be closely managed in the province view. Here activities can be undertaken such as construction, training and allocation of slaves.The majority of the population of each realm is made up of slaves, basic worker units who can undertake any task except fight and transport resources between realms. There are a certain number of new slaves born each year depending on the level of health in the province, how much food the province has and what the current population of the province is.
Food
As a bare minimum, each province must produce enough food to feed the entire population of the realm. There are two types of food, corn and meat. Corn is produced from small and large farms, and is produced faster and in greater quantity than meat, and is also required to feed llamas. Meat, while taking longer to produce, requires less slaves and is more nutritious than corn, meaning it can feed more people than the same amount of corn. It is therefore more economic to produce meat in a province than corn. Meat is also required to feed tamed jaguars.Resources and storage
There are a number of different resources that can be used in different ways. The most basic are meat and corn, used to feed people and tamed animals. Next is wood, which every building uses in construction, and is also used to create Wonderbows (similar to ballistas). Also used in construction is stone, which is used to build more advanced buildings. Finally, there is Gold, Jade, and Jewels. Jewels are used as a currency, and to decorate the most advanced buildings. It is made out of Jade and Gold. Either one can be used to create jewels separately, but used together they produce a much greater quantity than when used separately. Corn is produced from small and large farms, meat from ranches (pig farms) and fishing huts. Wood is produced from lumberyards and stone, gold and jade are mined from quarries. Jewels are produced in a workshop from gold and/or jade. There is also mana, however it functions differently to the other resources in that it is used to cast spells, can be accessed anywhere, and is generated from temples in a small continuous trickle. Sacrificing slaves will generate much more and faster, but slaves are the only means of production so they must be sacrificed carefully so as not to ruin the economy of a region. There is a different stockpile of mana for each sphere of magic.Note: resources are stored in stockpiles in each region, thus resources for one realm can be used anywhere in that region no matter where they are stored, but must be manually transported to another region in order to be used there. The exceptions are jewels and mana.
Buildings
There are a number of different buildings, which can all be broadly categorised into three main types:Production Buildings
These buildings produce resources, but must be manned to do so. These include ranches and fishing huts, which produce meat, small and large farms, which produce corn, quarries and mines which produce stone, gold and jade and lumberyards, which produce wood.Training Buildings
These buildings train new types of workers and warriors from slave recruits. They include schools (small, medium and large) which train workers, who speed up production of a particular resource but specialise in that resource. Small schools can train only basic workers, medium schools can train most types of workers and large schools can train any, and train them faster. Small and medium schools can only train one type of worker, but large schools can train every type, but only one at a time. Another type of training building is the barracks: small, medium and large. The small and medium barracks produce warriors from slaves, but can only produce one type of warrior. The medium barracks takes less time to train warriors than the small barracks. The large barracks can produce any of the three types of warriors, but only one at a time. They also train warriors much faster than the small or medium barracks.Storage Buildings
These buildings store all resources except mana and jewels. There are four types, in order of size and cost to produce they are: provision stores, small stores, medium stores and large stores.Construction
To construct a building, slaves must be sent into an unfinished building. They will build it automatically, using the resources that realm has stored. If the realm does not have enough of one or more particular resource, they will use whatever there is stored, then wait until new resources are delivered to the realm, which must be done manually.Development
The development on Theocracy began when developer Philos LaboratoriesPhilos Laboratories
Philos Laboratories was a Hungarian computer software development company known for working with producer Ubisoft and CDV Software Entertainment....
hired several new employees who had previous experience developing the game Perihelion: The Prophecy
Perihelion: The Prophecy
Perihelion: The Prophecy is an RPG developed by Morbid Visions and published by Psygnosis in 1993 for Amiga computer. The player controls six characters which are supposed to save the realm they live in from an evil being which is slowly materialising into their dimension...
. It was decided that they would develop a new strategy title, with the goal of merging aspects of the games Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer, abbreviated to C&C and also known as Tiberian Dawn, is a 1995 real-time strategy computer game developed by Westwood Studios for MS-DOS and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first of twelve games to date to be released under the Command & Conquer label, including a...
and Civilization. The setting was decided by the game's graphic artists, deciding on an Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
theme. Development continued for two years, with a planned release in spring 1999.
However, in March 1999 publisher Interactive Magic
Interactive Magic
Interactive Magic was a developer and publisher of simulation computer games during the 1990s which was founded by MicroProse co-founder Bill Stealey in 1995 after the buyout of MicroProse by Spectrum Holobyte...
had decided to abandon boxed releases for their future titles, putting Theocracy in jeopardy. Philos eventually managed to buy back the publishing rights, and started updating the game to allow for a future release. These changes included redrawing most of the games graphics, switching the game resolution to 800x600, and the addition of "chronicles". The French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
publisher UbiSoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
picked up the publishing rights, and work began on finishing the game for release. The game was finally released for both Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on March 30, 2000. There was consideration towards a follow up, focusing on as then undecided new civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
and using features thought up after the original game's development entered feature freeze.
Reception
Theocracy received mixed reviews upon its release. It's strongest praise came from EurogamerEurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
, with one reviewer stating that the game's "mix of real time and turn based strategy means that Theocracy takes place on a far larger canvas than a purely real time game ever could." The reviewer praised its wide scope and original ideas, separating it from many of its contemporaries. The British publication PC Zone
PC Zone
PC Zone was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. PC Zone was founded in 1993.The magazine was published...
was also impressed with the games originality, describing it as being "as refreshing as a pint of lager
Lager
Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
after a chicken vindaloo, and definitely worth shouting about." Other members of the press were less impressed, causing the game to only score a 72 on MobyGames
MobyGames
-Platforms not yet included:- Further reading :* Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media; 2 edition , ISBN 0-07-223172-6...
. Reviewers criticized the game as being simple and archaic, while at the same time others thought that the interface was cumbersome and the learning curve was too steep.
Even though it was mostly unknown outside of Europe, the game managed to sell well enough, especially on Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
where it became a best-seller. One reviewer of the game's Linux port stated that "the game is a world apart from a lot of the linux games I've been playing lately. It's solid and feels nice to use - the buttons click with a satisfying sound played at the right moment, and it feels... professional." The port was also plagued with negative comments however, with many complaining about installation problems and about various technical faults (such as only being able to play the game in 16 bit colours and the lack of a proper full-screen mode). Even with these problems, it still holds an average of four out of five stars at The Linux Game Tome
The Linux Game Tome
The Linux Game Tome is a website which provides a comprehensive list of games for Linux.- History :The site was started by Tessa Lau in 1995...
.