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Farming and forni-WHAT!? (Pachter)

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GTM:
This is the first part in a Let's Play series covering the Bay12 72-Hour Roguelike Contest.  For those of you who haven't been following the thread here, it's a contest to make a roguelike game within a miniscule 72 hour time limit.  It's being administered by biag over in the Creative Projects forum.  The theme of this month's contest is "the director" - we're channeling Dwarf Fortress in that the player provides orders to units instead of taking direct control. 

Because of the time limit, the games are going to be quick and simple, and often unfinished. 

Today's game is Pachter, which is written by Siquo.  It's about being a rental farmer in medieval northwestern Europe.  Imagine being the villagers in Darklands, but nobody has satanic rituals in your town square.  Then again, they do give birth to full-grown humans in your town square, but we'll get to that soon enough...

Strike the soil! Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Pachter begins on a verdant stretch of fertile land with convenient access to nearby ASCII squigglies.  Our sanguine pair of farmers immediately bolt off to the left, and I'm seized with a fear that they're going to run off the screen- until I realize they're approaching two grids of packed dirt. 

Grave digging? Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Then, they stand there for a second, and suddenly two brown boxes appear. 

Mystery construction... Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I have no clue in hell what they are, but the farmers are crapping their pants with happiness, triumphantly wiggling around their brown boxes.

Unfortunately for them, I'm their freaking God and I have plans.  The readme gave dire warnings to get a food economy going ASAP, and since this isn't really a funny Let's Play, I figured I'd actually pay attention.  I commanded my peons to gather lumber and grains, lest they starve and plunge into cannibalism.

I'm a firestarter Spoiler (click to show/hide)It turns out that those brown boxes are houses, and once the farmers get back to them with their swag, I get 3 wheat and 2 wood as you can see at the top of the screen.  We've got 1000 food, which isn't much.  These guys are mediaeval ingrates and can't appreciate good sashimi, so it's time to build a roaring hearth for cooking.  I get to choose where the bonfire goes, so I'll put it near the houses to violate fire codes.

An auspicious beginning... Spoiler (click to show/hide)The fire is blazing, casting a warm glow on my little village, and my peasants are laboring and toiling on a new farm plot.  The little green dot is a vegetable to keep them from getting scurvy, and next we'll plant grain, hopefully to bake up some rich focaccia or a scrumptious baguette...   or not.

I can't feel my face Spoiler (click to show/hide)Unfortunately for our heroes, winter falls just in time to coat their wheat in snow.  This is refrigeration at its finest.  A few more farm plots have been designated, since ancient winters were cold as balls, and these farmers need some gargantuan rolls of fat to shield them from the elements.  Those porkers have gobbled through most of the comestibles already, so we need to get baking.

Timberrrrrrrrr Spoiler (click to show/hide)We spend all spring and summer dripping with sweat under the blazing sun, but the farms teem with swaying wheat and erupt with the flowering of crisp cabbage.  Next winter is going to be awesome as long as we don't get devoured by slavering wolves like delectable little dumplings (and hopefully, 72 hours was not enough time to code in predators...)
Also, consider the brilliant crimson of the autumn foliage.  Until this point, the trees went undetected, blending with the grass, but a cruel deity sees red and thinks CARNAGE.  This forest is about to experience the power of urban sprawl.

Wood you help me over here? Spoiler (click to show/hide)And truly, as winter falls again, what nobler way to stay warm than through relentless labor?  Now, for those of you who have played Minecraft, you've may have raged at punching trees when the damn leaves get in the way.  Historical Earthlings knew better - they punched trees down in the winter, when all the leaves were dead.  Chalk one up for the good guys.

A sordid affair Spoiler (click to show/hide)With stockpiles of lumber, the farmers are able to erect a few more houses around the village.  Idle hands are the Devil's workshop, and with ample food and shelter, our farmers' thoughts wander into sin and depravity.  The lady farmer giggles coquettishly as she waits for her paramour in one of the new houses...

The birth of an empire... well, maybe a village. Spoiler (click to show/hide)And a moment later, two full-grown farmers leap forth from her head like Owl-Eyed Athena.  Rather than give them time to learn and grow, they're immediately put to work toiling in the frozen fields.  They make short work of the bountiful harvest, and then everyone gathers at the bonfire to ponder the future.  At this point, the settlement has food and farms and genetic diversity(?), so things are looking good for our heroes.  Will they make the most of their rented land and emerge wealthy and prosperous, or will they fade from the annals of history?

~~

Funky town Spoiler (click to show/hide)Here's a shot of a better-played settlement.  I ended up with a final score of 10957 on that one.  I encourage all of you to beat my score, or better yet, make a better Let's Play.  Time-permitting, I'm going to try to do one of these for every submission to the contest.

Ultimately, Pachter was a lot of fun for a quick, unfinished project.  It's inspired by a board game called Agricola, which I've never played.  Pachter is technically not qualified for the competition since it was made before the starting date and took longer than 72 hours, but it's a solid example of the Director concept gone right.  With a little polish, this would be a great coffeebreak game to keep on a USB.

Siquo:
Wow, thanks for the laugh, and the verdict :)

There's a small update which shows your current year next to the season top-right, so you can anticipate the 10-year limit to get a higher score (planted grains and veggies gets you no points). I'll upload it when I get home (in 9 hours-ish).

I'm not really sure whether I should continue on this project, initially there was supposed to be fishing, cattle, personalities, names and crafts and special buildings as well. Creatures weren't finished, that's why you can make your babies work.

Edit: Oh, and you can resize farm plots when placing them using shift+arrows.

Edit 2: There it is: Pachter v0.0.2.

breadbocks:
Please do finish it. I looks like a great idea with a healthy base. Just flesh it out some more, and it would be awesome.

Biag:
Haha, I totally didn't see this thread until today. Excellent! Siquo, I look forward to bestowing your award. :P

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