Thuull

Rumors of War has just entered Prototype Testing Phase I. This is our first "public" test, where we are inviting testers from outside our immediate circle of irl friends. We have just completed a game reset, wiping all old test data and have a completely fresh world to start in. Rumors is a medeival fantasy online strategy game, using Googlemaps APIs so that the world, literally, is our game board. The intent here is that ultimately (when we have thousands of players) the players will play the game in or near their real world locations, battling for control of their home towns. The game is designed so that players can interact on many different social levels, as well as compete economically, informationally, politically and militarily. It focuses more on the prelude to war than on the war itself, using classic fantasy hirelings (Spymasters, Priests, Brigands, Assassins, Merchants, etc) to interact with each other, prepping the battlefield for the "units marching" phase of war. We've built systems in the game to get around the classic problems of online strategy games where new players are steamrolled by those who have been around for a while. The game is designed for players to interact with each other on much more than the "conquer other player's cities" level, with the ability to work together within a fuedal system where players swear fealty to others and work together as a large Kingdom. The core new system we're bringing to the genre is our Rumors system, which makes the game feel more alive. Most online strategy games don't do a good job of making players aware of the other players around them, until such a time as a gargantuan army shows up at your doorstep and burns your towns down. In Rumors, everything that the players do can create rumors...nuggets of information that other players learn. You can increase the rumors you gain about other player's actions by hiring Spymasters to dig into things, take your hirelings to other player's towns and interact with their populace, and more. If you're interested, know going into it that this is a prototype. It is NOT an "A Title" game...yet. We have bugs, and we have incomplete systems. There's lots of work for us to do to take the game to where it needs to be to be massively successful. But we think we have something here. We get a lot of feedback that this could be the next Big Thing. We're planning on taking it there, but we need help testing out the concepts, and we need more feedback about what is good and what isn't, what needs more work, and even new ideas that we can incorporate that would make the game better. If you're the tester type, come help us out! Thanks! Starter links on our forums with information about the current test phase: Prototype Phase I Info New Player Info In Game Help system (can be viewed without an account): Rumors of War Help System VERY IMPORTANT: If you're the type who likes to just "jump right in", please make sure you create your first town in the Philadelphia area...specifically northwest of Philadelphia about 20 miles or so...in the Valley Forge PA area. Rumors relies heavily on other player interaction, so starting somewhere where there are no other players will at this point in the game be an incredibly boring experience! The Game

Hey all, Have a game we've been working on for going on three years now. We're beginning a prototype test phase this weekend, inviting outside testers for the first time. Rumors of War is a persistent feudal society strategy game played in real world locatoins via googlemaps APIs, with a focus on player interaction (positive and negative) through economic, political influence, information and military warfare. The final code push to make the prototype gameplay complete goes in this weekend. Major systems include fealty system, caravans/trade routes(upcoming), army management, city view building interface, hireling maanagment and associate hireling skills (assassination, preaching, interrogation, scouting/exploring, etc), rumors subsystem (collect rumors about the things that your neighbors are doing, spy on them directly, interrogate their hirelings, etc), player messaging, economic warfare, political influence warfare...and a bunch more. Any interest? Thanks!