Tag Archives: Vijayanagara

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The Eight Games of Vijayanagara: The Bots Have Risen

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The base game of Vijayanagara is a raucous three-player event set in medieval India. But we all know the feeling of not having the right player count in a given moment to pull a particular game off the shelf. Or maybe a player has to leave the game early, or you prefer to do your interactive history exploration alone over a cup of tea, savoring the decisions at precisely the right pace.

If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you may be pleased to hear that we have been very hard at work on cutting, sanding, and polishing three Non-Player Factions (bots), capable of running each of the player Factions in the game when you need them to step in. The bots are card-driven, similar to the Arjuna system for Gandhi, the Tru’ng system for Fire in the Lake, and the upcoming Calixto system for Cuba Libre, but streamlined and tailored for Vijayanagara.

Chief among the design goals for the bots was to retain the overarching narrative of the game in any configuration, while also seeking to create a streamlined interaction. After a lot of great playtesting efforts from the community and continual improvements, we are feeling pretty excited about where things stand.

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Influencing the Deccan Kings in Vijayanagara

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Introduction

So far in this series we have described the factions in Vijayanagara, their primary means of attaining their historical (or ahistorical) “victory,” and the combat system in the game. In this article we introduce another dimension relevant primarily to the upstart Deccan kingdoms, the Bahmanis and Vijayanagara, namely the respective influence that each faction has throughout the southern peninsula.

Deccan Influence measures the pliability of regional rulers and their populations to be swayed towards allegiance and service to either the Bahmani Kingdom or the Vijayanagara Empire. Influence can be changed through Events representing the flourishing and dissemination of empire origin stories and foundational myths, and through direct actions (“Commands”) by military and economic means. Stronger influence in the region has a number of immediate benefits, and the Influence level is also added to the final victory point total for these two southern factions.

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Never Tell Me the Odds: Strength-Dependent Risk Mitigation and the Combat System in Vijayanagara

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Introduction

In the previous articles we introduced some of the main modeling choices in Vijayanagara, and presented the central features representing each Faction’s goals and their means of attaining them. In this article we turn to the game’s combat system.
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Commands and Decrees of the Deccan Empires: Aims, Means, and Victory Conditions

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Introduction

In the last article we introduced some of the main modeling choices in Vijayanagara, in particular the concepts of Tributary and Independent Provinces, and Obedient and Rebelling Units. Having identified three major actors in the region during this period of Indian history, we set out to identify the central features representing their distinct goals and their asymmetric means of attaining them. The game is won by the player whose Faction’s victory condition is highest at the end of the game, with ties broken by comparing Resources. (A second, optional tie-breaker is a short match of Aadu Huli Aata, an ancient asymmetric hunting game found etched into temples where Vijayanagara once stood. This will be the topic of another article, and a copy of the game will be contained in the Vijayanagara box.) Each faction in the game has a set of standard Commands and special Decrees  which they may choose at different times in the game. We will now explore the unique goals and actions available to each faction in turn.
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It’s Not Easy to Be the Sultan: Modeling the Collapse of the Delhi Sultanate in Vijayanagara

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Introduction

With Vijayanagara we are seeking to present a detailed look at an epic period of medieval history, and in a region and time which has seen scant attention in the historical gaming community, or in entertainment media, or even in educational domains. We have yet to meet a single person not of Indian descent who has heard of any of the important figures of this era, or even the names of the once-great kingdoms and dynasties that appeared in the time covered by this game. And yet centuries later a nation of over 1.3 billion people has emerged from this turbulent past, with modern perspectives still influenced by an ancient history.

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What is the ‘Irregular Conflicts Series’?

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As COIN Series Developer, I see a lot of cool prototypes. One of the hard things about my job is determining which prototypes will work well as COIN games, and which prototypes belong in a different series. There are lots of reasons that a game may not be perfect as a COIN Series game, but often it’s as simple as a game not adhering to a well-established and specific COIN conflict model. What is the COIN model, and why is it so important that a COIN game fits into the model advanced by Volko back in Andean Abyss? If COIN can portray the Gallic Revolt against Caesar or the American Revolution, why can’t it work for conventional warfare or purely political conflict? There are many great games that aren’t COIN games, and it is hard to determine how best to organize them!