Fantasy Civ Solo: Discovery and Doom

I am ecstatic to announce my next game – Fantasy Civ Solo: Discovery and Doom!

Fantasy Civ Solo: Discovery and Doom is a solo civilization style game where you’ll explore  fantasy landscape full of monsters, discover wonders hidden in the wilds, expand your civilization across the land, and seek to keep your lands safe by exterminating your foes.

By the end of a game of Fantasy Civ Solo, you will have written the story of the rise – and possibly fall – of your civilization.

You can stay up to date with news and updates as development for this game wraps up (as well as release discounts) by signing up to the newsletter here.

Fantasy Civ Solo

Fantasy Civ Solo: Discovery and Doom was the very first game I ever sat down to design.

I remember it clearly – it was 2014, I was sitting at a table (from two houses ago), and realized I just couldn’t find the pencil and paper version of a game I really wanted.

I wanted a game similar to Sid Meier’s civilization or Age of Empires, that focused more on discovery of the environment, and how those discoveries shaped your civilization, from the military units you created to the areas you wanted, or were able to, expand in. Of course, I wanted it fantasy themed as well, but also flexible. Finally, I wanted to be able to use a map of my choice.

It may have been my inability to do Google research at the time, but I couldn’t find a game like that – so I set out to design it.

The game has gone through 5 different iterations, and lots of game nights for playtesting. 

The game starts with you, controlling a civilization, on a map. During your turn you’ll build upgrades, create and move military units, and most importantly, explore the surrounding wilderness. This exploration will give you resources, discover treasure, and unlock more military units you can create.

Exploration will also reveal monsters in the wilds – and many of these monsters don’t like being disturbed. You’ll need to defend your cities, build forts, and attack these monsters with your military units to keep your civilization safe.

Your civilization will be working to complete an aspiration. This is a goal that unites your civilization. It could be one of exploration, combat, knowledge, or something else! If you are able to complete your civilization’s aspiration, you win the game!

However, all civilizations have a doom, and the doom clock is ticking. At some point, your civilization’s doom will be revealed. 

Will your civilization survive the doom, and continue thriving and working towards achieving its aspiration? 

Or will it fall to its doom, like so many civilizations do?

Win or lose, you’ll end the game with an amazing story, a map with in-game history that you’ve helped craft, and a smile from all the fun you’ve had!

Fantasy Civ Solo Timeline

Fantasy Civ Solo has a tentative release date of Tuesday, June 17th. 

The date is tentative, because earlier this year Microsoft announced its plan to stop supporting Microsoft Publisher, which was my main tool for publishing games. I’ve had to learn a new tool (Affinity Publisher 2), which has pushed my timelines back. 

I really want to finish the game by June 17 of this year, so I have time to finish Grim Space by Halloween, but we’ll have to see how the next weeks go.

Progress is coming along nicely. I’ve worked with fellow designer and artist Alex Odinson (check him out on substack and itch.io) and the cover art is complete. The rules are waiting final review and proofreading. And the graphic design is done.

But I still need to add the final content and distribute the close-to-complete version to my playtesters and reviewers.

So there is simultaneously a lot of work, and not a lot of work, remaining.

Connect

I’ll have weekly articles that give more information about Fantasy Civ Solo, and how progress is going, for the next several weeks. If you’re interested in staying up to date with news and updates as development for this game wraps up (as well as release discounts) by signing up to the newsletter here!

You can also join the main newsletter here, which will allow you to receive updates on news around all my games.

Finally, if you have feedback, you can follow me on itch.io or follow me on DriveThruRPG.

Thank you for being a fan of games! I’m looking forward to exploring with you!