Island Paradise (personal WIP)

This project was started because I played one of my favourite old games. In fact one of the three first games I got at Yule with my first PC : Maxis' Sim Isle.

I have been meaning to remake this game for some time, but with my recent advance in UE4 and Blueprint, I decided I would be able to do anything I needed to do in order to make this, entirely my myself in Unreal.

I started by deciding which skills my 'Agents' would need. Agents are essentially the player characters which perform actions. A limited number of agents can be employed at once, and each has their own set of skills and abilities.

The setting is one of pristine natural surroundings. An untouched island with native inhabitants and a wealth of abundance waiting for the right taker. The trick with this game is to manage conservation, the opinions of the inhabitants and the limited number of resources available in order to get ahead without destroying the island.

First, the Agency Headquarters, where agents are hired and fired, and where a player can observe all information about all agents in one place.

Next, I made all of the functionality that the agents and HQ would need. Despite this being a relatively simple building, the data it handles is gathered from a number of sources, and forced me to refine many of the agent properties down to efficient forms even at this early stage.

Next, I created Villages, where unskilled employees can be found. These employees are required to operate many of the other buildings in the game. Logging camps, small farms and docks and so on will all require workers from these villages.

If a village is well-fed and well-trained, the population will rise and the number of employees available will increase. Interfering with Village populations in any way is nearly always unwelcome, so hiring people to work in industry is not well-received.

If an Agent with 'Local Culture' ability travels to a village, they can train them to be better farmers. This is still an interference and has a penalty, but over time the rewards will outrank the small drop in happiness.

The next building is the logging camp. Here, employees from villages chop down trees and convert them into wood, fruit and fibre. Wood can be sold later and also is used for construction. Fruit is either sold or dispersed among villages. The latter will increase happiness and population. Fibre will be used for several thingsa, but can also be sold to another building which will integrate with villages and allow them to make baskets and other crafts. This will eventually increase the tourism attraction level and so on.

It is important to note that each individual tree matters, and that clearing an area of forest can be done in several ways. A bare patch of ground can be created, or the player can plant a particular type of plant in the space. The player can even clear and replant as they cut the trees down, so that an area of forest recovers over time. Challenges such as islands with limited trees or space for farming will be important.

Wood can be turned into timber, which is the main resource used for building low-tech buildings. this is performed by the Tmber Yard.

Having this completed, I moved onto the world at large. Planting tree foliage which turn into blueprints when cut down and so on. I also created the sea and the day / night cycle.

I continued by creating the explorer compass watch, which always shows north and the time as dictated by the sun, and the descending-text output box, which informs the player about everything which happens.