Table Of Contents
What is Urban Empires?
Urban Empires is a multiplayer 3D gang simulation game. The game has both strategic and action elements. You fight for control over a city with up to 6 other gangs. Importing drugs, extortion, robbery, and other methods allow you to get money which you can use to expand your gang, buy new guns, cars, legitimate businesses, etc. At any point in time, you can jump down and take control of any of your gang members. The game then changes from a strategy game into an action game where you're free to do anything that you want from getting in vehicles to mugging people, you can also complete your own orders that you gave in the strategy mode. Though the player can choose from a number of victory conditions to play to, the game has a sort of open ended / sandbox gameplay.
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Who is publishing Urban Empires?
When will Urban Empires be released?
When it is done :-) I'm working very hard on the game every day. I'll be sure to post information about a release date as soon as I get one set in stone. The game is currently in Alpha status.
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Will there be multiplayer in the game?
Yes. I've decided to make the game centered around a solid multiplayer experience. There can be up to 6 players in a server, each controlling their own gang. There is an arbitrary team system in the game, allowing any combination of players/gangs so you can co-operate with others online. You'll be able to give orders to other players from the RTS perspective, then jump down and help them complete the task.
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Will there be a single player mode in the game?
Yes. There will not be a "story" mode in the game, but you will be able to practice the game offline against X computer gangs. You can use the single player/offline mode to check out the gameplay modes, practice driving/shooting, practice your territory expansion, explore the maps, etc. Or if you don't have an internet connection for some reason, you can always play the game offline.
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Is it true that the game has been created by one person?
While I'm the only programmer/artist/desginer/webmaster who is working on the project full-time, I've contracted artists/actors to create the character/vehicle models, as well as the in-game voiceovers. Though I've written the game's engine from scratch using C++, I'm also making use of some 3rd party libraries [ see Links ]. This project is my first attempt at a commercial game, and hopefully there will be many more to come.
- Danny Green [ Click Here for Bio ]
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How long has the game been in development?
I started with a blank directory on January 15, 2004, and I built the game up from scratch.
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What are the minimum/recommended system requirements for the game?
Minimum requirements:
2.0 GHZ Processor
512MB of RAM
256MB video card
High speed internet connection
Recommended system:
Multi-Core @ ~1.8GHZ Processor OR Single core @ ~3.0GHZ
1GB of RAM
512MB video card
High speed internet connection
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How many gang types can I control in Urban Empires?
There are 3 gang types in the game: Black, Latino, Italian.
I want to have many more types of gangs ranging from the Russian Mafia, Irish Mobs & Bikers to deadly gangs of School Girls...it's simply a matter of funding. I have a laughable budget on this project, and I have to contract the actor artwork out to somebody else.
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What "resources" will I need to manage in Urban Empires?
Your "score" will be the combination of your: money, respect, gang size, and territory size. Your gang size is dependent on your respect level. Your respect level is dependent on your territory size. This is a system of checks to keep the game from progressing too fast, and to discourage rushing the enemy gangs at the start of the game. The actual gameplay dynamics are slightly more complex than that though ;-)
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What kind of orders can I give to my gangsters?
You can give the following orders to your gang members:
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How do I expand my territory in the game?
You start the game with only a headquarters and a few buildings under your control. You'll need to start intimidating territory around your headquarters. When you intimidate a building you increase the respect level of that building. Once a building reaches a certain respect level you'll be able to collect extortion money from that building.
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What kinds of illegal businesses can I setup in the game?
The following illegal businesses are in the game: Headquarters, Safehouse, Warehouse, Illegal Casino, Prostitution, Numbers Racket, Illegal brewery, Counterfiet money press, Loan sharking
Each of the businesses has a unique cost/return associated with it, and all illegal businesses require the building to have a basement in it. There are a limited number of buildings in the city that have suitable basements in them.
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What kind of legal businesses can I run?
The legal business of a piece of property cannot be changed. There are a wide variety of legal businesses throughout the city. The legal businesses provide your illegal business with a front, they also provide you with extortion money.
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What music will be in the game?
I've implemented an internet radio player into the game with about 20 different channels for you to listen to.
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Can gangsters be arrested in the game?
Every gangster has a criminal level associated with them, when the game starts it's empty. If a police officer sees a gangster perform a crime, the gangster's criminal level will increase, if a gangster's criminal level is past a certain point, and a police officer sees him, he will try to arrest him. Once arrested your gangsters go to jail, and can be bailed out via the Legal Overview window.
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What types of managment windows will be in the game?
You'll have an array of windows you can use to control all aspects of your gang.
Diplomacy Window
This is used to set your relationship with the other gangs in the city, you can also pay tribute via this window.
Business Overview
Use this window the oversee all your gang's legal/illegal businesses.
Map
The map window gives you a overview of the entire city, there are serveral toggalable overlays, such as "Territory", "Gangsters", "Drug Demand", "etc.
Weapons Market
This is where you'll buy the weapons for your gang, there are going to be close to 40 weapons in the release version of Urban Empires.
Gang Manager
This is probably where you'll spend most of your time, the gang manager allows you to allocate items to your gangsters, as well as get a overview of your entire gangster payroll.
Legal Overview
This window tells you the legal status of all of your gangsters, and lets you bail them out of jail, settle cases, etc.
Drug Market
The drug market is where you'll go to purchase illegal drugs for your gangsters to sell, you'll also be able to see realtime charts showing the supply/demand of each drug in the city.
Car Dealership
You'll use this window to purchase vehicles for your gang.
Accountant
This window will show you a summary of your gang's financial status.
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What abilities/skills do the gangsters have?
Every gang member in the game is rated on the following abilities, which directly influence how succesful a gangster will be at a particular order.
Health (hit points of the gangster)
Weapon (shooting/weapon ability of the gangster)
Driving (how well a ganster can drive a vehicle)
Street Smarts (how easily a gangster can escape from pursuing police)
Strength (how well a gangster can fight hand to hand)
Intimidation (how intimidating the gangster is)
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Will there be ragdoll physics in the game?
Yes. It's already in game...I'm working on stabalizing the ragolls right now. If I can get them stable they will be a default feature in the game, if not they will be a togglable offline-only feature.
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What are some features of the vehicles in the game?
There are 30 different vehicles in the game, they all feature unique physics characteristics, and damage modeling. You'll be able to order your gangsters into vehicles, once in a vehicle they can perform drive-by shootings or move from location to location. You can purchase vehicles for your gang, though you need to own property that contains a parking lot. If you steal a car from a civilian you need to get it back to your property without the police seeing it in order for it to become owned by your gang.
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