It’s been too long since I posted an update here - not because I haven’t been working on Faith, but because I usually blog about Faith when I’m taking a little pause from work and want to think about where it is.
It’s currently Year 642 of the first alpha game (day 26.) There have been dozens of tweaks and adjustments to make the 3-player game playable from a balance perspective, and things are starting to become sane now. There are still hundreds of imbalances and issues, but a lot of massive holes have been filled - things like the ability to make infinite Beings of Worship without any ramifications, or spend money you don’t have on Places of Worship. Eep.
Now that a lot of the features I’d initially planned on adding are present (in some form or another), I’m trying to asess where the gaps are, so to speak. What is there not enough of? What’s missing?
Interaction is pretty poor, which isn’t surprising since Interfaith Relations is still missing some features. There aren’t enough things to spend your “money” on. The game doesn’t change enough as it progresses. Fortunately, I already have features planned to sort those issues out.
One recent interaction feature I added is Animosity. This keeps track of followers’ attitudes towards other faiths. Elephant Man, for example, spent a lot of effort sabotaging my temples, poisoning my water supply, and otherwise harassing my people. Now they hate his guts, and would be thrilled to mount a counterattack.
A couple people have asked me how large Faith games will be. My goal for Faith has been to be able to support a 100-player game, which I still think is possible. Like Asylum, games will vary in the number of people who can play in a game, etc.