Mandate Eternal
A next-gen grand strategy game set in the Ming dynasty of China.
Context
Mandate Eternal is a game set in the Ming Dynasty of China, exploring events that unfolded in one of the pivotal eras of East Asia.
The game is set immediately following the disastrous Tumu Crisis, where the numerically superior Ming army lost to the northern mongolian hords, with the emperor taken hostage.
You play as the "will of the nation", make decisions on behalf of the emperor, interact with your court and push for reforms that will have profound impacts on your nation, lead your army personally in conquests against foreign foes. Utilize the rich and detailed economic system to obtain wealth from within.
The fate of China is at your hands.
Robust economy simulation
The game features a robust economy system, recreating mechanics that accurately represent the agrarian economy of Ming China.
Population - People are the core of any economy. ME features a population system that subdivides people to county levels, separating them by culture, age, social class, anything that would make a difference in their earnings. The system can simulate a Farmer from Fujian working in a county in Guangdong, producing grain. A dought might turn the farmer into a nomad, whom receives aid from the government.
Trade - When good are produced by the population, they are first consumed by its local population. Then, the goods are delievered around the country by merchants. Travelling merchants move through municipalities, exchanging goods whenever they rest.
Tax - Taxes are crucial to the Imperial System. Maintaining the world's largest bureaucracy requires unparalleled budgets. Taxes are also a source of discontent, Grain Tax, Salt Tax and Merchant Tax, the three taxes are deeply integrated into Chinese society.
Advance map system
Mandate Eternal features a beautiful map, made only possible by GPU tessellation and compute shaders, it is incredibly optimized and can draw details down to county levels.. I was responsible for developing this system for the game.
Read more about how the map is developed.
Real-time strategy
Typically, Grand Strategy Games present combat through numerical modifiers and 'dice-rolls' where an entire army would be represented as a single dot on a map. Mandate Eternal however, features a real-time strategy system that aims to recreate 1:1 battles to truly allow players to turn the tide of war.
ME features a terrain generator that is capable of dynamically generating terrain based on map data. This allows for players to engage on a 1:1 scaled terrain on any geographical location.
ME also utilizes ECS (see below) and Vertex Animation to render the vast number of soldiers. On a mid-to-high tier PC, the system can handle over 100K soldiers, each with individual animations and combat calculations. I have even contributed to a Github Project that made this possible.
Complex political system
The sheer scale of Ming China meant it needed a colossal bureaucracy. However, this often led to internal rivalries, with factionalism growing out of control in the late-Ming era. Other times, politices and reforms are tied back by corruption and bureaucracy.
ME features a proposal system that simulates the Ming courts. An official may propose a new policy to the emperor, who has the ultimate power to approve it. However, you are playing as the "nation's will", which means there is a bit of work to gain enough support from the imperial court to actually pass this policy.
Enacting a decree isn't the end of it. To what extent are policies successfully implemented across the nation is up to local officials, many of whom have their own agenda, alignments, and interests. The player will have to interact with the many factions that make up the bureaucracy, passing policies to occasionally appease them, and othertimes make compromises to make ends meet.
Entity Component System
Mandate Eternal features simulations at depths previously unattempted. Thus, traditional methods of programming could not meet the performance requirements.
Powered by Unity Engine, Mandate Eternal utilizes the DOTS technology stack, which features the Entity Component System. This system is heavily optimized for multi-threaded and massive parallel calculations - perfect for ME.
Check out my blog on making the game Total Mobilization, where I gave an indepth coverage over this system.