Populus Romanus by Bauke Regnerus
Populus Romanus is an ancient Roman city builder in which you have to balance all classes of society to keep them in line. Delay the city's inevitable downfall as long as possible. Inspired by Reigns and Caesar 3.
Controls
Just the mouse! Alternatively use the keyboard to control the camera (arrow keys or WASD to move, Q and E to rotate).
Instructions
In this game society is represented by four classes, each with a meter that shows how satisfied they are. You have to make sure these meters don't hit the absolute minimum or maximum. In other words, you have to keep them satiesfied, just not too much. Either way it will end your reign as governor.
Each turn you have to choose a building to construct, that will be followed by a number of residential zones you can place. There are four kinds of residential zones, each corresponding to a society class. The buildings you construct when placed will impact the classes that live inside their range, tipping the balance one way or another. You can only build adjacent to other buildings.
Additional credits
Music tracks “Convivium” by Adrian von Ziegler.
Music tracks “Truth In The Stones” by Kevin MacLeod.
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Color palette is “The Y Gigante Reverte” by yedamameday.
https://lospec.com/palette-list/the-y-gigante-reverted
Most buildings were created using only a few building blocks.
| Link | https://baukereg.itch.io/populus-romanus |
| Link | https://baukereg.itch.io/populus-romanus |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/populus-romanus |
Ratings
| Overall | 211th | 3.93⭐ | 59🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 241th | 3.798⭐ | 59🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 348th | 3.64⭐ | 59🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 580th | 3.75⭐ | 60🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 200th | 4.271⭐ | 61🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 625th | 3.04⭐ | 52🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 364th | 3.798⭐ | 59🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 50🗳️ | 56🗨️ |
I love the art for this game, the UI is also very nice. I was pretty confused on what to do and what the point of the game was. Maybe it's because of my lack of knowledge on these types of structures and how they work. Not quite sure what I was doing.
The mood of the game was really nice though and I think that the way you went about the theme was clever as well. great work :D
But yeah, the execution is solid and the game feels nice. Good job!
This game reminded me of Islander (which is a good thing.) The mechanic is clever and easy to grasp. I love the simple art style and the portraits, it gives it lots of personality. Good job!
Great job :)
Good job on making it difficult to cheese the system; I tried segregation of different demographics each time to see if there was a "winning" formula and couldn't find an obvious mechanic skip.
I'm a sucker for low poly art style, so this presentation drew me in very nicely.
Well done!
Other than that, really solid for a game made in such a short time. The graphics are beautiful and apart from the aspects stated above, the gameplay is really polished.
Great work!
The mechanic was simple enough to get the hang of quickly but still required a lot of planning and thought.
More distinct buildings between the population types would be a good addition.
I managed to break the game.
Good job!
Really nice game for the rest!
Post-Jam polish wishlist:
- Group-specific "you died because they were too happy" and "you died because they were too unhappy" end screen messages
- The houses of the different groups being more visually distinct at a glance
- Number indicator for the approval next to the approval bar
- Little icon representing the group next to the +/- indicators, for easier overview of whose favour you're gaining or losing
Also two elephant avatars in a row. Achievement unlocked!
(Also, just managed to "break the game" and beat it 8) )
Love me a city builder. Took me a little while to internalize that buildings only trigger when they're built. It was kind of neat that different buildings had different shapes. I almost want an option in the menu that shows all the buildings that exist and the probability of each coming up if they're not equal, to think about planning.
Unless there's a random element, it might be nice to just show a shadow on the power meters of "what will happen if I place this building here" to help expose the mechanics.
I could see the shape of future development with the different terrains. Not sure you needed those special buildings, but it would be interesting to see what the game is like with more variety.
Some small suggestions, a visual preview of the building about to be placed would be nice, and I think you could add the effects of each building type directly on the card as it makes it easier to compare which type of building you want to place without having to click again on each card.
It would also help if the different residential zones were slightly more distinct, currently this would be very hard to play for colour blind persons!
I hope you keep updating this as I would love to play more!
One thing I would have loved more though: Don't stop the game (at year 10 i think it was), but let the player play until the board is full.
If you’d like to rewatch the playthrough, you can find it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1450167991?t=04h10m14s
Good luck on your ratings! :D
💜 Elysia Griffin AKA Button Feedback Lady
https://www.twitch.tv/elysiagriffin
I also loved the multiple ways you displayed information via the UI (which townspeople would like/dislike buildings you put up), although I did find myself wanting to know some things before I committed to a decision. I never felt like I TRULY understood how much the bars would move until I placed a building, which was a little frustrating, but maybe it was also part of the learning experience you wanted the player to go through?
Regardless, this was a very novel entry, and I really enjoyed it!