Empire of Sin - Brenda and John Romero's turn-based Mafia strategy

[Aemar]

Muh Women. Muh black ppl. Dude stfu and focus on the gameplay.

What are you? Gay?

Which segment of my initial observation actually bothers you?

What are you? A banjo player or a woman?

 

[Mustawd]

What? I don’t remember addressing you.

 

[LESS T_T]

Dev diary #1: https://www.empireofsingame.com/blog/post/2SK4D5uYJa68CkqKQw0WEs

WHY BRENDA ROMERO NEEDED TO MAKE EMPIRE OF SIN

I am fascinated by criminal empires, and I have been as long as I can remember.

I grew up in Ogdensburg, New York, a small town on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. It’s a beautiful little city, and on perfect summer days, you can hop on a boat and go clear across the river to Canada. That’s where my mother’s family was from, a pitstop on their journey from Ireland to New York. In the winter, my grandfather crossed the icy river on foot to work in the glove factory. The river wasn’t as deep then (they would later dredge it for ocean going vessels) and he was one of many people who crossed it by foot or by boat throughout the year. Turns out the St. Lawrence River was handy for transporting more than just my grandfather to work.

I first found out about Prohibition and my city’s role in it when someone claimed that a bar called The Place was the longest continuously operating bar in the United States. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know. I didn’t have access to the internet then, and the tidbit was so delightful to me that not knowing was okay. As locals told the story, it never shut its doors during Prohibition, and even played host to notables like boxer Jack Dempsey and, in the late 1950’s, John F. Kennedy. It’s still open and looks today much like it did then. The creativity The Place lacked in its name it more than made up for in its history.

What fascinated me most about The Place was how the bar stayed open and served and sold alcohol during a time when alcohol was clearly illegal. Brazenly so, even. The Place is on Ford Street, one of the busiest streets in the city. It has large windows in the front. It seemed impossible to me that the police wouldn’t know, and so I asked my mother why they didn’t just shut it down.

IT TURNS OUT SHE WAS UNCOMFORTABLE GIVING ME AN ANSWER.

Telling me the truth -- that people turned a blind eye toward it, that it was making money, that the politically powerful and members of law enforcement drank there -- wasn’t something she was keen to do. She was what you might call a good woman. She went to church, she wouldn’t lie, and she’d clearly not introduce her curious future game designer to the inner workings of something like this. Later, I discovered my grandmother was a genuine flapper, and I wish I had saved her dress. I kept asking questions all the time. Where did they get the alcohol? Why didn’t the cops put boats out on the river? Why didn’t the cops arrest the politicians? Why didn’t the politicians boot out the cops? The questions were endless, and my mother’s near refusal to answer them only made me more curious.

This fascination is something that’s stayed with me for years. How do you build an empire in the shadow of the law? How do you use the law to do your bidding? How do you gather close a crew of criminal associates? How and why did this whole thing work? Thankfully, Paradox is giving me a chance to answer this question. I love playing strategy games, and given my history on games like Jagged Alliance and Wizardry, it felt like the perfect match.

During E3, you may have seen some of the headlines about the game, that I’ve wanted to make it for over 20 years, and it’s all true. It has deep strategy, role-playing, story, empire building, tactical combat, all set in a rich historical backdrop of 1920’s Chicago. I look forward to sharing lots more with you as we head toward release!

So why Chicago and not Ogdensburg? Capone. C’mon. It’s Capone.

 

[Jimmious]

New EoS interview with interesting tidbits

JR: Empire of Sin’s engine was started from the ground up to be a moddable architecture. The game can be fully modded on the PC, including programming. We will be releasing lots of the game’s Lua code as a starting point for modders.

Well that's pretty awesome

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/empire-of-s...ld-one-xcom-style-combat-encounter-at-a-time/

Empire of Sin lets you take over Chicago's underworld, one XCOM-style battle at a time
Alcohol is everything in Romero Games' prohibition-era strategy game.

Empire of Sin was perhaps the most pleasant surprise of my E3 this year. Announced as part of the Nintendo Direct stream, I had—entirely unfairly—assumed it would be a casual, console-friendly strategy that would offer little to PC enthusiasts. Having now seen it in action, I can confidently say I was wrong.

It's the '20s, prohibition is in effect, and wannabe kingpins are jostling for a slice of Chicago's booming bootlegging scene. In Empire of Sin you pick one of 14 such bosses, most of whom are based on classic American gangsters such as Al Capone, Dean O'Banion and Stephanie St. Clair. Each boss will offer their own unique traits, including combat abilities, and empire and diplomatic bonuses.

In a hands-off demo, designer Ian O'Neill picks Al Capone, and immediately proceeds to show off one of his signatures: his Thompson submachine gun, aka the Tommy Gun, aka The Chicago Typewriter, aka Big Al's Chonky Bullet Friend (OK, I made that last one up.) After establishing his HQ, Capone immediately walks over to a speakeasy run by a neighbouring gang, the Meat Packers. Pulling out his gun, the action switches to a move-'n-action turn-based combat that will be instantly familiar to all XCOM fans.

One of Capone's moves—thanks to his signature weapon—is the sweep attack, firing off bullets in a wide arc and instantly bringing down one of the Meat Packers' goons. Capone finishes the other off with a brutal, execution-style kill. O'Neill explains that Empire of Sin features dynamic behaviours, and, by overusing execution attacks, characters will gain the cruel trait. And, if they continue to do it, they'll actually become serial killers.

I perk up at the mention of traits and dynamic behaviours. I've seen plenty of XCOM-a-like combat systems, but the real meat of a great strategy game is a detailed simulation ticking away in the background. Empire of Sin seems to realise this: as you build your empire, you'll meet what Romero Games is calling RPCs—recruitable player characters—who can fill roles in your underworld org chart. These characters will all have their own dynamic traits and relationships—and will react to the choices that you make and the promotions you hand out.

Based on the roles you assign RPCs, characters will also gain access to new combat abilities. We make one RPC who joins after Capone takes over the Meat Packers' speakeasy, Maria, the Underboss of the organisation. This gives her the bodyguard trait, meaning, as long as she's with Capone, she'll always be able to act in the first turn of combat.

The simulation governs what other bosses in the city will be doing, but also the actions of city factions such as the FBI. Federal agents will be working to uncover your illicit activities, just as rival factions will plot to undermine your operation. Your rivals may even try to work this to their advantage—having your grunts targeted by police who will attempt to flip them against you. Cops can even show up mid-combat, thanks to the world turn that triggers in each phase, pushing forward the simulation while you battle.

As you play, your empire will grow to include speakeasies, breweries, brothels, unions and protection rackets, and, as well as fighting with other factions, you can ally with them too. Romero Games is promising full mod support and DLC add-ons, too. I went into Empire of Sin assuming it would be a lightweight turn-based battler. I leave hopeful that it'll be a full-fledged strategy game, with plenty of dynamic surprises hiding beneath its deep simulation of '20s Chicago's seediest movers and shakers.

 

[Volrath]

Will this game be shit?

 

[Mazisky]

I really like this because it seems one of the very few attemps to make an Xcom like game (strategic+tactical layer), beaside Xenonauts and Phoneix point. Last game like this before Xeno and Nuxcom was Ja2.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I really like this because it seems one of the very few attemps to make an Xcom like game (strategic+tactical layer), beaside Xenonauts and Phoneix point. Last game like this before Xeno and Nuxcom was Ja2.

You didn't play Vigilantes?

 

[Mazisky]

I really like this because it seems one of the very few attemps to make an Xcom like game (strategic+tactical layer), beaside Xenonauts and Phoneix point. Last game like this before Xeno and Nuxcom was Ja2.

You didn't play Vigilantes?

No, because i don't like how it looks. If i wanna play a game with 20 years old graphics, i'll just stick with Ja2 or Open Xcom.

 

[True Ukrainian]

I really like this because it seems one of the very few attemps to make an Xcom like game (strategic+tactical layer), beaside Xenonauts and Phoneix point. Last game like this before Xeno and Nuxcom was Ja2.

You didn't play Vigilantes?

No, because i don't like how it looks. If i wanna play a game with 20 years old graphics, i'll just stick with Ja2 or Open Xcom.

Vigilantes is really grindy. This game had better show some better variety in missions and strategy overview.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Great Deceiver]

"What Romero Games is calling RPCs - Recruitable Player Characters"

"Walking the streets can be risky"

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

New EoS interview with interesting tidbits

JR: Empire of Sin’s engine was started from the ground up to be a moddable architecture. The game can be fully modded on the PC, including programming. We will be releasing lots of the game’s Lua code as a starting point for modders.

Well that's pretty awesome

I expect nothing less from one half of the autists who made Doom. Good on Romero. Maybe this will be the game to make me John Romero's bitch?

 

[Great Deceiver]

Pretty sure Brenda made John her bitch a long time ago. You're too late, pal.

 

[Mazisky]

The game looks good but, permanight?

 

[UsernamesAreOverrated]

"In Empire of Sin you pick up one of 14 such bosses"
It would be good to also have an option of making a custom boss and choose their appearance and traits.
I do realise of course getting even a third of the stuff in the article would be fabulously optimistic, but a man can dream.

 

[Nutria]

What really depresses me about this is the interview before where it turns out that she actually does care about the history of that era, but basically the only way to get this game made was to make it about being a gangster, because there's a generation of fucking retards out there raised on GTA who really believe in this shit. Like selling heroin and gang-raping sex slaves is the way to... empower... your... community... or something.

Welcome to the 21st Century.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

The Mafia, while a great subject for movies & television, just never intrigued me for video/PC games. However, I always admired and respected John and his acknowledged culpability for his failures in the industry, like Daikaina, which is not really a terrible game at all, just disappointing because of all the ridiculous hype, yet taught us an important lesson in life - that even talented modders generally don't make good professional game developers. Wishing him the best for his Mafia project however. Btw, "Empire of Sin" sounds like the title of a Nagisa Oshima film.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[A_boring_GOG_bot]

Will this be an Omerta: City of Gangsters clone ?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

The Mafia, while a great subject for movies & television, just never intrigued me for video/PC games. However, I always admired and respected John and his acknowledged culpability for his failures in the industry, like Daikaina, which is not really a terrible game at all, just disappointing because of all the ridiculous hype, yet taught us an important lesson in life - that even talented modders generally don't make good professional game developers. Wishing him the best for his Mafia project however. Btw, "Empire of Sin" sounds like the title of a Nagisa Oshima film.

I don't really give two shits about the theme in general, but I like the *possibilities* it thematically brings into the genre. It's really easy to imagine a diverse set of units plus a lot of management options, plus emergent gameplay - without too much overhead in explaining why X is significant or why Y is the enemy.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Mazisky]

The atmosphere is really great i have to say

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Game looks quite good if a bit too consolised. I still reckon Crusader Kings 2 but the Mafia would be an awesome game. But this will do.

 

[Makabb]

I wonder what Cleve has to say about Brenda making a game.