Interview with the Creator of Xemerys

Xemerys is a browser-based game strategy game which goes farther than most I have seen in the number of wheels you as a player need to keep balanced and spinning. Rather than merely deal with increasing your population and keeping them fed and more than just building the right buildings for trade and war, Xemerys keeps the player busy dealing with monetary inflation, steep transport costs, happiness and pollution metrics, and the ability to both cast spells to help yourself and allies and hinder opponents as well as spread propaganda in the same fashion. In the realm of PBBG strategy games, I believe Xemerys is a step in the right direction.

So you can imagine I was pleased when Mike, its creator and the sole proprietor of the game agreed to answer some of my questions about what it took to create the game and what it now takes to keep it running.

What influenced you to make a strategy game like Xemerys?

Well most of the browser based strategies like Travian and such aren't really strategies since you don't have to actually come up with a strategy in order to play them properly.

They're very simplistic and repetitive and I wanted something more. I wanted a browser game where you would actually have to think and where there would be multiple ways to be successful. That is the basic principle on which Xemerys was developed. My main inspiration came from Civilization 4 and Caesar (with a pinch of Guild Wars magic) and I think I've managed to capture some of their strengths and adapt them to the browser platform.

Another strong wish of mine was to make a game where one would train their management-related skills without it necessarily being a strict business simulation game. A place where people would come to play, and be left with useful observations for their real life. Things like how did the market and competitors react to lower prices; when were fixed price agreements ignored by your customers and when were they enraged by it; how did you juggle competition and maintaining good trading relations with the same player. These are all part of a valuable experience one would pick up by playing and apply in their real life.

Xemerys financial display

Why did you choose to make a web game, as opposed to a game mod or one in another medium altogether?

My experience is 99% web based and I wanted to do something different than the usual Travian/Ogame clone formula.

If you have made any other games, what are they?

Xemerys is my first game.

What type of server and scripting technologies did you choose to create Xemerys?

My background is in web development, started with php but nowadays I've switched to asp.net mvc.

I've used asp.net (3.5) mvc 1 with sql server 2008 express.

Why did you choose that setup?

First because it suits me well, second because I had to maintain a persistent and active world in memory and the architecture of asp.net allows that. To do something similar in php wouldn't be possible without writing C modules or having a specialised application.

Do you have issues with cheaters/exploiters; did you design Xemerys with this in mind?

You'll always have people who try to cheat or think about ways to exploit even more than playing the game itself. Part of that is human nature I guess... Yes, I've tried my best to prevent cheating and exploiting.

Did you develop the game on your own?

I've designed and coded it myself, while my girlfriend gave me a hand with the graphics. I don't think the web was ready to see my graphic skills just yet

The Governing screen allows you to choose the style of government of your city.

Do you currently run the game on your own?

Yes.

About how long did it take for you to get it to a playable stage

From inception to deployment, it took me about 10 months give or take. I've deployed directly the beta version.

How would you characterize the workload of development?

Hard, it was very stressful to design it to be different and to overcome the technical challenges.

What are your experiences maintaining Xemerys?

One of the most important things I've learned is that you can't please everyone and the people who appreciate what you did will always be less vocal than those who have complaints.

What is the workload like since the game went live?

In the beginning it was quite a lot, I had to balance production, spells and civics quite often.

Do you have an advertising budget, and if so how does it compare to the game's overall budget?

The game's budget was $0 (nothing) and the advertising budget is the same amount. I did run some ads for a very short period, but they were pretty useless because they didn't bring the intended target.

How would you sum up your general experience making and running Xemerys?

Very hard work, but it builds you character and you develop nerves of steel.

Shizotypal and Addicted to Urban Planning

I just thought the title sounded funny, if you must know. In reality I am procrastinating from writing control methods for the "book" module in Project WOTAN. I should be doing it, but I am having issues that, strangely, are not preventing relatively clear and lucid writing.

Also, I think I finally groked Xemerys, the web game billed as a "Hardcore Old-School Online Economic Strategy Game."

Xemerys is fairly hard-core in the sense that it holds no hands for the beginning player. More like slaps them down with a ruler like a frustrated nun. Which is why after having stuck with it now for nearly two weeks, I think I am finally understanding it.

The game is not difficult to learn - anyone familiar with strategy games and especially strategy PBBGs can get started with no trouble and it uses the familiar city-building and empire-managing tropes. But to really get into the flow of how the game works requires some tenacity and a lot of patience. I believe the game's "hard-core" label comes into play here.

Between the industries to produce 20 raw and refined goods, the (somewhat Ikariam-like) transportation system that you actually pay upkeep for while it is active, the multiple levels of Quality of Life that directly affects your ability to tax citizens, to the ability cast offensive and buffing effects on your own city and others, to ... well there are a lot and this isn't a laundry list - you get the picture.

The numerous game mechanics all work together in a sort of mad dance to generate the sort of complexity that I welcome in a web game. It is packaged with the rather unforgiving ratios and durations that stave off instant gratification. It even provides and example of the disassociated PVP that spices up web games without turning them into bullying-grounds.

When I say "disassociated PVP" I mean that players can hurt and hinder each other, but it occurs through an indirect mechanism. As an example, in Nile Online players can attack each others' monument sites but not each others' cities. The capture of a monument has a directly negative effect on the player, but it is not devastating by any means and is really more of a minor hindrance.

As a contrast, in a game like Travian players are expected to conduct PVP directly against each others' establishment and this is supported by an elaborate social heirarchy. In Travian, if you are alone and a new player, your settlement is invariably "farmed" to death. More advanced players and their alliances will conintually attack your settlement to get any resources you have accumulated and aren't protected. This makes advancing your settlement difficult at best; your only recourse is to join an alliance that is strong enough to defend you and, more importantly, is actually willing or motivated to do so.

Xemerys offers an interesting take on the former style of PVP in that it lets you spread offensive effects (hex spells) which cause percentage decreases in various aspects of a player city, be it production, pollution levels or the degree to which your citizens are happy about life, among others. "Propaganda," which is similar to spells but costs in-game money and lasts longer, provides a second means to carry out this activity.

I view these as being more indirect because, while in Xemerys you are only able to have one city and thus the actions are carried out directly on you, they ultimately only serve to reduce the rate at which you are able to be successful - not annihilate your ability to do practically anything in the game. Your city still has the wine or aphrodisiacs or what-have-you that you already produced and so there is no real incentive to habitually cast hexes on new (and therefore insignificant) players. And at the end of the day, Xemerys even provides spells and propaganda to lessen the effects of hexes cast by cantankerous fellow players.

Getting into the flow of the game can be rather difficult for many, though. So while I would recommend giving Xemerys a try, I also recommend to be ready to be patient and read the FAQ and Beginner's Guide. But mostly with the patience, which will be rewarded in the end.