Help a town evolve from a tribal work-based economy to a modern capitalist market, and use your wealth to control its government
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Help a town evolve from a tribal work-based economy to a modern capitalist market, and use your wealth to control its government
About this project
Our democracy is being sold to the highest bidder, and we’re too busy tapping on our phones to do anything about it. We want to help change that, but we can’t do it without you!
We’re making a game that will appeal to today’s casual audience, and help them explore the roots and causes of our democracy’s systemic corruption.
At first glance Econia is a simple tap-game like Cookie Clicker, but there’s a lot more going on under the surface. Understanding supply and demand, the power of marketing, and using money to tip the system in your favor will be keys to success.
Players start as a farmer in a small frontier town, tapping on crops and struggling to survive. As the town grows into a metropolis, players will collect and sell food, hire other Econians to work their farm, help discover advances in agriculture and industry, and participate in the town’s democracy.
As the player grows he will discover how easy it is under the current system to use his wealth to bend the government in his favor.
And all with super-cute graphics!
- Econia will first be released for iPad and on the browser
- Releases for Android, Steam, etc will be possible if we hit our stretch goals
- Econia should be released May 2016
- Once downloaded, no internet connection needed to play
- Gameplay:
- Hire workers to harvest crops to feed the citizens. Tap on lazy workers to make them go faster!
- Invest in technology to increase productivity. Fire workers you no longer need.
- Manage your product's price, quality, and marketing efforts to outsell the competition.
- Each Econian pursues his own interests. Food, shelter, art and education. What emerges is a society!
- Econians will vote on new laws attempting to improve their lives. Different laws work for different people.
- Recruit an army of marketers to ensure elections go your way.
- Use your wealth to make more wealth! Become the shadowy puppet master pulling the strings of Econia's government.
- Earn bonus stars by answering questions about real-world laws and historical events
- We're not saying there is a time-machine in the game, but do not be surprised if you find a time-machine in the game
We're making a free game. Not the infamous "free-to-play", but just free. Once the game is released it will be available for free on the iOS App store, with NO in-app purchases and NO ads. You will also be able to play on our website.
We believe that things like in-app purchases and ads, while good for business, do not improve the quality of the gaming experience. We believe that artists need a world where their work is judged by how it enriches the player's lives, not much money it can extract from them. We hope the internet agrees.
Oh, and did we mention the game will be released as open-source? Want to program your own history questions, laws, or change how angry people get when they lose their jobs? Have at it!
Scott - Programming, Design
Scott has been working in the game industry for almost 10 years. He has constantly served at the crossroads of art, code, and product, working at studios in California, Ukraine, and Israel. Tired of sacrificing games at the altar of profit, he started working on Econia to put his oddly specific talents to better use.
Dima - Art
Dima is a super-talented illustrator and animator. His beautiful work speaks for itself and you can see more of it on Behance
Ivan - Community, Production
Ivan has served several tours as community manager for several huge games and corporations, at the front-line of the Free-to-Play war. For legal reasons, we’re not allowed to tell you about any of them.
Animus Productions - Sound
Joseph and Daniel from Animus Productions are handling our sound. They have a decade of musical experience and have had their music posted through outlets such as GameSpot, Steam, PC Gamer and Nintendo Life.
If we don’t meet our funding goal, we'll have to go crawling back to our various day jobs, and Econia will be indefinitely delayed.
Even if you aren't able to back us at this time, please help us by telling your friends about the game. Don't underestimate the power of your voice!
Risks and challenges
Game development is a risky business. Thankfully we have an experienced team, a working prototype, and small scope, that should mitigate most of the potential for things to go awry. Should something happen to threaten our progress, we'll be sure to stay in touch with our backers.
Since we are open source and are not making any money, we have nothing to hide and plan to be very public about our progress and challenges we're sure to encounter along the way.
Ivan is also a certified battle medic, should that become necessary.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Would that it were so simple! There's much work to be done to wrestle our freedom back from corporate interests. We believe that raising awareness is the first step. This game will not spark a revolution, but hopefully it will make a few people wonder if they ought to buy some matches.
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Funding period
- (21 days)