Cults In the previous issue, we were talking about the difficulty of turning historical events into a game. But back then we purposely avoided talking about religions, because there is enough information to create a separate issue. Here we go! In the Egypt Old Kingdom, we will present a new cults menu with 12 Egyptian deities: Horus, Seth, Hapi, Sokar, Ptah, Bastet, Seshat, Neith, Hathor, Ra, Thoth, and Osiris (see the picture below). They are divided into two equal groups: worshipping the first group of gods will supplies player with some quick bonuses for a short period, and worshipping the second groups will instead provide a steady growth of all stats. From the start of the game, only 3 gods will be available for worshipping: Horus, Seth, and Hapi. The rest of them will gradually appear later, after discovering the new technologies or after certain historical events.
It took only a few minutes to describe, but the actual R&D (so to speak) process tool quite a lot of time and efforts. The problem was to choose those gods, who were mostly worshipped in Memphis during the Old Kingdom period and then determine their functions in the game so that we could adjust the balance. Existing historical sources gives us some idea about Egyptian gods, but at the same time, there are lots of spaces which don't let us to exactly determine the relationships between some gods, their functions, their position. Besides their functions often overlapped. Most gods had several forms and names, acted illogically, could be good and bad at the same time... to put it short, were quite unpredictable and complex. Some gods were more popular in certain areas, some less... One example will explain it better than tons of explanations. We had to choose between Bastet and Sekhmet, who were often identified as each other. But it's not until the New Kingdom that their images will finally gain more difference: Bastet will become a kind cat-goddess of home and hearth, and Sekhmet will stay a fierce lioness, exterminator of king's enemies. During the Old Kingdom, period cats were not associated with home yet, they were half-wild, and Bastet was also pictured with the lioness' head and was considered to be the "light" side of Sekhmet. In order to avoid unnecessary complexity, we decided to feature Bastet in the cults menu and to give the player a chance to "tame" wayward goddess from time to time. Worshipping this goddess will lower a number of disasters cast by the evil Seth. Sekhmet:
Bastet as a lioness:
There are some other gods whos complexity made it difficult for us to define their place and functions. Sokar, for example. He's a patron god of Memphis' necropolis, and also had other functions, he was a very important deity for Memphis. But due to his diversity, it was difficult to fully reflect his nature in the game, so we had to limit his abilities in order to adjust the balance of cults menu. Worshipping Sokar will give the player +0.2 points of "Loved by gods" stat per each turn. Here we will also speak a word or two about the rest of the gods from the menu so that their names would not sound completely meaningless :)
Worshipping cults not only will help the player to engage in the world of the Ancient Egypt and to realize the meaning of the religion in their lives, but also will make the game more diverse. Depending on the strategy, the gamer can choose to worship the gods with quick bonuses, in order to swiftly solve problems. On the other hands, if the player prefers a stable and sure growth, he might prefer to worship the gods who give long-term bonuses. In this case, he will have a steady growth of all stats regardless the circumstances. Besides the direct worshipping of gods, there will also be a possibility to choose one patron god of Memphis. This function is available at the beginning of the game in the prologue menu. The player can choose among three gods: Horus, Seth, and Ptah (this would be the historical choice). This choice will greatly influence the style of a game - each god has his own tasks and bonuses. Horus:
Ptah:
Seth:
Choosing Ptah, the player will be able to speed up the construction of buildings. Horus will enable the player to swiftly mobilize the army to keep the country safe. Seth will show the player all treasures hidden in the dunes. Each god, being the patron of Memphis, also has his own unique features and options. Imagine, there is a caravan of merchants came to your city. They are hoping for good deals, but poor merchants have no idea that god Seth is the patron of your city, so over next few days they find their merchandise is stolen and you have no shame for doing so Bwahaha! >:] So if you choose Seth as the patron, you'll get the chance to rob merchants or even curse people, but we'll hold more cards close for now! (wink) But honestly, I can't wait to play for Seth! Maybe it has something to do with me watching Thor: Ragnarok a couple days ago and falling hopelessly in love with Loki yet another time XD But I guess I can summon some patience and wait till the first playable version which should be out soon for a beta-test!