Always cool to see modders make full fledged games
The DarthMod series spent almost a decade tooling and toying with each release of a Total War game. All in all, Nick Thomadis’ mods have been downloaded over a million times. Total War fans and owners previously unaware of these mods can learn more about them here.
The man behind DarthMod found there were things he “could not deliver to players as a modder,” and so he’s making an entirely new strategy game of his own design, Ultimate General: Gettysburg. It’s about the American Civil War, if you didn’t glean that, which is a cool choice. It’s is a relatively unused era as far as games are concerned.
A full run down of plans for the game can be found here. It plans to: eschew rock/paper/scissor design; focus on good, realistic AI without bogging itself down in realism; and a player-inspired development cycle that will take fan feedback into account. Ultimate General is planned for PC, but, also — and surprisingly — tablets, where the aim is for same, full-fledged RTS to play out. Aiming high. You probably had to with muskets to get good range.
One of the most interesting things to me is the “Dynamic Campaign,” detailed a bit lower on the site. Losing too many troops in an earlier battle can affect you nrgatively in the long run, including causing a “a speculative scenario battle which you will be unable to win.” Neat. Consequences ramp up the stakes.