You can read about what Syphilisation is here and the manifesto for the game here.

Work Done

The two features of this week were both fairly minor. The first one was a quick story moment. Adding story events does two important things for the game; it helps make the players feel like people, which helps put across the core idea of holding countries to ethical standards and it forces players to adapt their plans due to unforseen circumstances and so keeps them from just executing a plan without resistance. I still need to figure out how disruptive this can be and figure out what kinds of disruptions feel plausible and which do not.

The second feature was to actually implement colonial wars. This is very important because of how important colonialism is to the game. Also, there are a lot of systems in place that support understanding colonialism. However, the literal expression of it will probably only have limited impact on the players. I expect most games will go by without any actual colonial wars at all. While they are powerful, this is not a game that encourages that kind of approach.

Besides that, this week was all playtesting and adding facts. I’m going to extend the play group a little bit today. The game seems reasonably stable at the moment, but I still have yet to get very deep into it. Also, it’s getting to the point where I will need to do a performance run and an AI pass very soon.

Finally, I’ve been playing a little Frostpunk. I played the first two scenarios and I think I might be done. I’m not really into the whole difficult times force difficult decisions trope as much any more. I want to see games that speak more about the benefits of keeping humanity rather than immediately jumping to the idea that it should be discarded.

Interesting Fact

During World War 2, Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Facists was released from prison due to a mild sickness, but Kasturba’s heart attacks didn’t warrant the same treatment. prompting a local paper to write “the fat, strong Oswald Mosley hated by all people, suffering from slight indisposition was not good in detention and had to be released’ - one paper on the release of the leader of the British Union of Fascists from prison while Kasturba remained under confinement despite her heart attacks.”