

There's exploration, expansion, and exploitation. Offworld, on the surface, has most of the elements of a 4X strategy game. Eventually, we stripped much of this away to get to our current game where each player has his own HQ and only places building with no unit micromanagement. Also, the game had more of a traditional real-time strategy feel in that the player controlled individual units, whether scouts or engineers or even pirates. Basically, the game originally felt a lot more like Railroad Tycoon set on Mars, in that the player transported resources to different neutral colonies and spent a lot of time micromanaging her shipping lanes, which you managed by hand. I go into detail on how the concept changed extensively in the game's Designer Notes, which are published on my blog. How has the game concept changed since you first came up with the idea? I've always wanted to make a strategy game that focuses on economics instead of war, partially from the games I enjoyed as a kid, such as Railroad Tycoon and SimCity, and partially because there simply haven't been any good competitive economic video games since M.U.L.E.-which is a long time ago! When did you first get the spark of an idea to make this game? Soren's own anticipation is palpable in his words, with the official launch of Offworld on April 28 being so near. And even how Offworld Trading Company started off as something more like Railroad Tycoon, but ended up in far less charted territory. You can see in his answers the long train of thought that informs his design process. We chatted with Soren Johnson, asking questions about his latest endeavor. It's a real-time strategy game, but it's not quite like any RTS you've played before: It's an economic RTS. The first game from Mohawk Studios (which he opened in 2013) is Offworld Trading Company. Soren Johnson built the entire AI for both Civ III and IV, so he knows a thing or two about programming from the ground up. Have you played Civilization III? How about Civilization IV? Perhaps you even got sucked into Spore like many of us did, crafting unique creatures, vehicles, and buildings for days on end.
OFFWORLD TRADING COMPANY HQ TYPES FULL
Check out the full interview here.You may be one of the millions of gamers already familiar with Soren Johnson's work. All of these unique elements gives Offworld a truly otherworldly tone. This retro-futuristic score mixes orchestra instrumentals, piano, and synthesizers while utilizing unique pitch-dives and other electronic treatments. Transport yourself to Mars and immerse yourself in the battle for big business with an incredible soundtrack from composer Christopher Tin (Baba Yetu, Civilization IV). With over a dozen different resources available and a constantly changing market economy, no two paths of victory are alike - each game holds a different “key” to dominating your competition.Įnjoy a Rich Soundtrack from a Grammy Award Winning Composer
OFFWORLD TRADING COMPANY HQ TYPES HOW TO
In order to win, you will need to make tough choices on what resources to acquire, what goods to build and sell, how to interact with the planet's thriving underworld, and what stocks to acquire and when. The real-time player driven market is your sword and your shield here. In Offworld Trading Company, market forces are your weapons, not guns or bombs. Strategy is key, and tenuous alliances between rivals are easily broken when the opportunity arises.Ĭontrol the Market before your Competition Controls You Turn your friends into frenemies! With a robust and exciting multiplayer mode that can support up to eight players, no two games of Offworld Trading Company are the same! The market fluctuates depending on which of the four starting corporations you and your opponents choose and what resources you accumulate. Multiple types of CEOs, each with unique traits and abilities, deliver many hours of discovery into their motivations and how they intend to dominate the future of Mars.

Rekindle humanity’s adventurous spirit by leaving Earth behind and make a new name for yourself as a titan of industry on the red planet.ĭiscover the Origin of the Major Martian Businessesĭetermine the fate of the Martian colonization effort in the dynamic single-player campaign mode. With space travel becoming a reality and the easy-to-reach resources on Earth dwindling, hopeful people seeking their fortune are rushing to the next great frontier: Mars.

But you're not the only one that's been invited, other business rivals are here as well and they have no qualms about playing dirty to gain the choicest territories on the Martian surface and driving their competitors out of business. Mars has been colonized and has invited you to lend a hand to make sure the new colony has a shot at success. From the lead designer of Civilization IV comes a new kind of strategy game: Offworld Trading Company, an economic strategy game.
