Recruitment Banner for Rzeczpospolita Polska 1647

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

My current WIP, "Rzeczpozpolita Polska 1647", or "Polska 1647" is rather... weird in a few ways.

First of all, it has nothing to do with romance or anime, but rather the politics of a nation about to plunge itself into chaos. Secondly, it has no characters except for a narrator and a second-person character who is implied to be the player behind the computer, literally. And finally, it is (as of yet) a minimalistic piece, with all resources taken from the internet until I can recruit artists and composers.

That's right, people, no music and no sprites except for what I could scrounge from Wikipedia.

Synopsis/Setting:

The year is 1647, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth stands at the crossroad of history between glory and ruination. You have just, for one reason or another, come to possess the body of the King of Poland, and is now reigning the kingdom in his stead. Manage your allies, appease your people, treat ethnic minorities fairly, and lead the Commonwealth to the glory it never attained in real life. Alternately, scorn your neighbours, mistreat the peasantry, and treat the ethnic minorities to your whims, and take the Commonwealth to its doom.

(Somewhat) functioning features:

* Maintain a balance between the four social classes - Szlachta, peasantry, clergymen and Fourth Estates.
* Be a fair ruler and gain the respect of the four major ethnic groups - Polish, Lithuanians, Jews and Ruthenians Cossacks.
* Make peace with your neighbours and gain much-needed trade agreements, or declare war, take land and the bounty of war from your foes while balancing your internal affairs.
* Manage your taxes and revenues as well as land assets.
* Take on the role of a dreadlord or a chivalric knightly ruler as you manage the day-to-day business of the Commonwealth.

Planned features:

* Choose between three personalities for your avatar, each with their own speech pattern and behavior that decides the options available to you as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania: a retired university history professor (The default personality), an accountant salaryman (gives more option when dealing with Fourth Estate, economic research and macroeconomic policymaking) and a wide-eyed schoolgirl (Read: Hard Mode)
* Avoid the Deluge that almost ended the Commonwealth, or wrest back the control of the nation from vying neighbours.
* Stay with the Catholic faith, or convert to any of the new denominations like Protestanism or Puritanism.
* Curry favor with the Polish magnates and the Sejm to receive expensive tributes from your adoring nobles. Or be a man of the people and reap the reward of a devoted peasantry. Better still, grant concessions to the growing Fourth Estate and be the first to enjoy the benefit of an industrialized nation.
* Manage funds to develop ground-breaking invention of the early industrial age.
* Wage colonial war and join the European expansion elsewhere on this green earth.
* A range of complex ending, ranging from the Holy Polish Empire to the Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovy Commonwealth. Alternatively, be the first to colonize Asia and become styled as "By the Grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Mikado of Japan".

Where the project's at:

Currently, the project is at March 1647. It is supposed to end either in December 1654 - the historical end of the Khmelnytsky Uprising - should it not happen, or December 1660 - the end of the Second Northern War - should the Uprising take place. There is a long way to go...

What I need now:

* More scripters and writers. Yes, you heard that right - this is not a visual novel/simulation game where graphic is important. We can never have enough writers and scripters period.
* Researchers: I admit I do not know as much about 17th-century Poland as I should. Any help with making this project as historically accurate as possible will be very welcome.
* Legal advisors: Since this project uses a lot of internet resources, it is imperative that we are advised on whether such use is permitted under US law.

Is anyone interested in lending me and this project a hand?

[Greeny]

Sounds like you're working on a full-blown strategy game there. Kudos if you can pull that off.
I do think that the medium is quite suitable.

I'd offer my help, but I kind of have my hands full at the moment. (Read: I don't trust my own attention span.)

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

That's a pity. I could use any help I could get.

Could anyone else interested in history lend me a hand please?

[Greeny]

I changed my mind. I might help you after all, with some things.
Here's what I have to offer. Pick any or all:
- Legal advice. (Not as fancy as it sounds, since the laws concerned are pretty simple.)
- Helping you find good legal resources.
- Graphics. (I'm no artist, but even if I do say so myself, I'm good at editing existing resources once they're found. I can also design GUI elements, but nothing too complicated.)
- Programming. (I'm no expert, but I feel I've in the least surpassed the level of fumbling newbie.)
- Research. (Again, no expert. Especially not history, but I'm a quick learner and can quickly get the gist of large amounts of new information.)
- Proofreading/Rewriting. (I like to call myself a writer, but I lack the motivation to write large amounts of text. I can, on the other hand, proofread and improve sentences.)
- Logistics. (Love that word.)

So there you have it. All I have to offer is an inexperienced all-rounder, rather than a specialist.
Should you be interested, I want you to agree to these conditions:
- Lenient deadlines
- No payment
- No dental plan

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

Terms accepted! *signs*

Okay, now that is over with, let's get right down to business. Right now I've reached the point where I have to decide which direction to take this project - either as a kingdom sim with some hardcoded scripted event, or a linear VN with kingdom sim elements.

If I choose the former, there will be a lot more work, not the least being a monthly random event generator and extensive socio-econo-political model. For instance, implementation of

- Inflation rate (When the player chooses to print money, all money-based variables will be multiplied with the variable Inflation_Rate),
- Interest rate (As a function of the national money supply, national product and national reputation),
- National debts (Can borrow from other countries at either high interest rate or relationship hit)
- Money supply and coinage (Increasable or decreasable through either minting or random events),
- Foreign trade and tariffs (increases national product),
- Research institutes (Self explanatory),
- Extensive relationship with the Sejm and upper nobility (which may or may not include lobbying with EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE EXISTING 20-SOMETHING MAGNATE FAMILIES),
- Revolt risk (If popular support sinks too low, chances for a screwing-you-up random event),
- Land reforms (increase/decrease land supplies),
- Cultural assimilation/segregation (increase/decrease population percentage of a certain ethnic group at the cost of popular support hit),
- Army management
- State Capitalism enterprises (crown-held lands, factories and export enterprises)

among others. Each of the dash can easily eat up hundreds of lines of script.

If I choose the latter, the current level of features would be okay, but we will need to polish (no pun intended) the prose further and flesh out certain events so that they don't sound too cop-out.

I need some opinion.

[Greeny]

I think it may be worth it to try and implement some of these things, and others simplified, with some compromises.
Anyways, I'll need to know what you already have. Via PM. Or email. Whichever works.

[Argeus_the_Paladin]

Very well. I will post a better v0.01 on the main thread after I've sorted out some issues.

Sometime later today, I suppose.