Medieval Merchant Game

Software	OO language
Covers	Design and development of a game
Skills Required	Programming, game design, interest in history and/or economics
Challenge	Conceptual ?? Technical ?? Programming ???

Brief Description

The aim of the project is to develop a game in which the player builds a trading empire and gets rich by making investments in buying and shipping and selling a range of raw materials and commodities and products, which might or might not pay off. The game mechanics will focus on the information that the player gets, as messages from general gossip or from confidential agents, and what decisions the player makes about what commercial ventures to invest in. In a more elaborate game, players might invest in producing raw materials, on in banking (how a few people in early modern Europe got really rich, but dangerous if your local king loses his war and defaults on his debts).

Elaborate graphics are optional... especially since (depending on the scenario) the real life merchants the game is based on would make very little use of graphical displays of information. Part of the challenge is coming up with good ways to display information visually so that people can assimilate and use information efficiently so they can enjoy the gameplay. Another challenge is handling the range of events that might impact the success of various ventures.

Variants

If this is a relatively non-visual game mostly relying on textual information, it might be designed to suit the small screens on smartphones. It could be designed as a standalone program or as a game designed to run over the web. A multiplayer game would be a more ambitious undertaking.

The nature of the game will depend on the scenario. Different possibilities exist both within real Earth history and on imaginary worlds.

Medieval Europe: Be one of the great trading houses of Europe. Cope with long and arduous overland trade routes, rivers that are navigable but go where they want, nor where you want, and a fragmented and unstable political landscape - with possibilities to exploit war and political manoevring for profit.
Early Modern Overseas Trade: Sail ships to faraway places to trade in spices and exotic commodities like silks and porcelain, perhaps even slaves.
Trading Outpost: Be a trader in a newly discovered land (or island archipelago), where you may struggle to persuade the locals to do business with you at all, you don't know what they want, or what they have that you want, you don't understand the local politics and religion, you don't even know the geography of the region.
Starship Trader: Ship luxury commodities around the galaxy, maybe even do business with aliens.

The nature of the game will also depend on the nature of the maps or lack of them that people have for the regions they are trading in. Complete, accurate and using Mercator Projection aren't the only possibilities for how to show the geography traders need to deal with.

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