A new game has been teased recently called Kiełbasa Empire, which has been developed for almost a year. Set in rural Poland in the late 80s/early 90s during times of hyperinflation and the end of communism, people have been left without jobs overnight as the government closed down the PGRs (state-owned agriculture companies).
Kiełbasa Empire’s main character inherits a small farm with hopes of making a living and aspiring to farm crops, feed pigs, make Kiełbasa (Polish sausage) and then sell it.
The game mechanics include “real-time” with an active pause. This includes having a day/night cycle with nightfall changing during the year. There is a task-based system (similar to the one from Dwarf Fortress, Going Medieval or Sheltered) that has priorities. Characters can pick tasks up from a task queue, based on priority. Each character will also have some RPG-like skills that will affect the outcome of the tasks. There is also weather-related mechanics using real weather station data (temperature/water levels) which is adjusted randomly on a week and day level. There are four kinds of crops to yield (potatoes, lupine, wheat and corn) with their own growth cycles and dependencies as per the temperature and water levels. In addition, the crops have three growth phases, each with different dependencies. Essentially, the player will need to sow at the right time to benefit from the weather conditions.
Apart from growing crops and managing tasks on the farm, some mini-games have been included. The first one is based on “the war against the potato beetle”, (which was a campaign launched in Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War to eradicate the Colorado potato beetle. It was also a propaganda operation that alleged that the insect was introduced into Warsaw Pact countries by the United States as a form of entomological warfare). This mini-game is called ‘Pigsle Command‘ where you will shoot parachuting potato beetles.
The game is being developed using DrMortalWombat‘s compiler (Oscar64) and is being made for the EasyFlash cartridge format and supports both English and Polish with an avenue to support more languages as required.
The project is slowly progressing, with the engine being in an advanced state. Many factors behind the slow progress such as the game developer learning C (in addition to being a complex project with cartridge support, bank switching and other challenges) in addition to spare time. However, despite this, the game is making steady progress with the development team having some fun on the journey in this non-profit project! Additionally, Sepa tells us that they also have further plans:
“One of the aspirations for future versions would be to make it mobile-friendly (text menus replaced by icons, light pen support to enable touch on mobile devices). But that’s just a very, very far away dream.”
The team are looking for help in making this game, so if you want to be part of this pig-farming empire, contact them on Discord Sepa#7406.
