We recently had the opportunity to meet Dmitry Glaznev, game designer and head of London-based studio Long Jaunt, who are preparing the interesting medieval simulation title Norland for us later this year. In the game, we will manage a noble family that owns a city inhabited by dozens of characters from different classes: peasants, slaves, soldiers and criminals. Each citizen has their own needs and complex behaviors, which will depend on their social status and individual characteristics, and often their behavior can be deadly for your family.
In addition, complex relationships between us and other members of noble families await us in the game through love, hatred, friendship, envy, jealousy, betrayal and lust for power. We will be able to punish criminals and quell any bloody riots that may occur during your reign. We will also be able to build our army and defenses and then make decisions whether to fight or ally with other kingdoms. Various ambiguous decisions await us during events on the global map, the possibility of absorbing knowledge and technologies with the help of books, and production chains, payment of salaries, determination of prices on the domestic market and trading with upcoming caravans.
In fact, this may all already sound familiar to you, because Norland was inspired by games such as RimWorld and Crusader Kings. If you are a fan of such titles, then be sure to visit Norland's official website and Steam page to better familiarize yourself with the development process of this game. We will, of course, follow this title with great anticipation.
Let’s focus on the studio first; how many people are currently working on Norland and how did this journey of developing medieval sim game start?
Besides me, there are constantly three other programmers, a part-time artist, and a community manager working on the game. Since the game system is complex and constantly evolving, we often bring in people for outsourcing to tackle various tasks, such as sound.
What’s the inspiration behind Norland? It is obviously inspired by titles like RimWorld and Crusader Kings, but are you trying to create more of a unique game or something that players can relate to?
It's more like RimWorld than Crusader Kings - I'm not a big fan of grand strategy games. Some people mention the vibe of The Guild or Majesty. Some even bring up Sims. The latter is more accurate - the game is primarily based on semi-automated actors, which first appeared in Sims. While Sims operated at the simplest social unit level - families, and DF and Rimworld expanded it to the tribe level, our idea is to take it further and create the next stage of societal development based on such actors - city-states. They are characterized by social stratification, bureaucracy (including managment class per se), as well as organized religion. All of this is present in the game.
What would you say is unique about Long Jaunt? What’s the idea behind the studios’ name?
Well, those are titles of a Stephen King story that our lead programmer likes. My suggestions for names were rejected by other members of the team, so why not. I believe the name of the studio isn't the most important thing by itself - it gains meaning through the games that stand behind that name.
How long has Norland been in development, and when can we expect it to get released?
With limited resources, we started development about 5 years ago. We currently plan to release Norland in early access by the end of this year. A few days ago I posted extensive update on the game's Steam page detailing what we've achieved since the demo and what we'll be doing in the near future. You can read it to get an idea of what awaits you.
What would you say is unique about your game? What kind of feedbacks are you getting from players, positive or negative ones?
I don't even know where to begin! The system itself, where dozens of semi-autonomous characters from different social classes live and interact in a city with a monetary economy, politics, and religion, is a significant challenge for game design. We had to rethink many traditional gaming systems. For example, our knowledge system is open-ended, based on books, and not a traditional technology tree.
As for the feedback, yes, the vast majority of it was positive, but we don't delude ourselves on that front, keeping in mind that those who didn't like the game probably didn't leave feedback on our internal survey but might leave it on the game's Steam page. So, it's not very reliable, although it's inspiring. Thanks to everyone who took the time for this!
About replayability, what measures have been taken to ensure that players can have a unique gaming experience with each playthrough?
First of all, I want to say that we don’t have map generation. We did it differently. Regarding the initial settings of the game, you can customize your family of lords and their skills. Then you can choose one of the 8 provinces on the world map (they currently only differ in resource composition and geography, but when we introduce seasons, there will also be climate differences). You can fully customize all other provinces – their ethnicity, riskiness, ambition, strength, names, and initial relations with you.
Additionally, you can configure the political map – create empires and kingdoms of different sizes with various national compositions. You can even make provinces abandoned and embark on the colonization of a forsaken world on your own. Furthermore, diversity will come from politics and trade on the global map – we’re just starting to work on that aspect.
What strategies can players employ to maintain order and prevent chaos within their city?
If any social stratum is unhappy, they can incite a rebellion – sometimes, this includes your dissatisfied lordlings. To meet their needs, you need a different approach. If you have many fanatics, you need to watch the king’s sinfulness, how the Matriarch of the Church (who is the highest authority for fanatics) regards him, and ensure there are enough temples of Saint Sophia.
If you have many loyalists, you need to watch their standard of living. Nectar-addicted people require a steady supply of nectar for local dens. Warriors love victories and money – and dislike defeats, etc.
You mentioned that the acquisition and management of knowledge and technology is related to books. However, can players actively engage in research and innovation?
In the game, technologies are tied to books as mentioned before. To build a new building, you need to purchase the required book from a trader and have one of your lords read it. You can also obtain books and knowledge from neighbors. Books can also be transcribed, and sometimes lords pass on knowledge orally or have insights while working on specific tasks.
If a lord who possesses knowledge of a particular technology dies, the building related to that technology will deteriorate, and your technological level will decline. Therefore, maintaining knowledge is a separate task, considering that neighbors can also steal your books, and fanatics may burn your library. Some books in the game will be written in different languages, so you’ll need to learn these languages before acquiring and reading those books.
Can you discuss the art style and aesthetics chosen for the game, and how they contribute to the overall atmosphere?
Honestly, this style doesn’t really create the atmosphere we’re going for because the cartoonishness of the characters makes the game seem less serious than it actually is. However, it’s the only way to simultaneously provide players with an architectural camera to view buildings in the city builder aspect and maintain a focus on the characters. To achieve this, their faces need to be distinct as well.
Were there specific historical or cultural references that influenced the design of the medieval kingdom setting?
We intentionally move away from historical accuracy and create our own game world to avoid limiting gameplay with history. In general, historical accuracy in games is a complex and perilous genre. I'm wary of historian gamers; they've already rejected one of our helmets as too late for our period, despite the fact that we have a fictional universe.
Can you describe how dynamic events are introduced in the game and how they affect the player's decision-making process? How important will the events be?
Apart from obvious climatic events that can cause famine and, consequently, peasant uprisings, the main source of problems right now is the global map. Your enemies are bribing your lords and bandits, trying to steal your money, or attempting assassinations. Incoming guests can challenge someone to a duel or try to seduce your best general. Furthermore, global crises develop on the world map. Currently, it’s the Unholy Horde, which is ravaging city after city in the land of Norland while you deal with neighboring squabbles.
Are there plans to support modding or player-generated content within the game, allowing the community to expand upon the experience?
Absolutely. We will start working on mod support after the early access because we need to finish the core game first; otherwise, mods will quickly become outdated and lose compatibility.
What about the combat experiences, it’s very similar to the RimWorld one, how did you approach this and how important will the skills be in this situation?
Well, we focus more on close combat involving dozens of soldiers. Each of them can receive various types of injuries from different weapons, and their skills affect the likelihood of dodging attacks (although this doesn't work if a character is attacked from behind).
Currently, we’ve added more tactics to battles, along with archers. Archers are very effective against unprotected soldiers, but armor and shields provide good protection against them. You can learn about the composition of your neighbors’ armies and assemble your own army to counter them effectively. You can keep your commander behind the lines, although this will lower the morale of your troops, which is influenced by your general’s leadership skill. You can also use different types of weapons in different situations. For example, axes are very effective at breaking armor, while swords provide additional defense against dodges.
Let’s talk about numbers; how many people have wishlisted Norland and how many have played the demo version of it?
At the moment, we have collected about 250,000 wishlists, and 120,000 people have played the demo.
What kind of content can we expect in the future? What are your plans for the game?
For early access, we hope to significantly expand the global map towards complex diplomacy, alliances, and trade, introduce different ethnicities and languages, add starting scenarios and modifiers, allow building rotations for more human-like city architecture, implement dynasty prestige, and much more. We'll see if it works out, but those are the plans.
At last, what do you hope players will remember most about their experience with this medieval kingdom sim game?
To be honest, I haven't thought about it. This game is a complex, multi-layered sandbox strategy genre where stories akin to historical chronicles (or Game of Thrones, if you will) should be generated in each session. We would like to provide players with a unique experience every session while keeping the entry level low.
We would like to thank Dmitry for his time and for giving us the opportunity to get to know this game better. We, of course, wish them success in their further development and hope that Norland will get the success it deserves.
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