Ancient Trader: Difference between revisions
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A reviewer from Gaming Union awarded the game a score of 8 out of 10. He elaborated that "The only disappointment is the lack of an online scoreboard, which is to the detriment of the game's replayability."<ref name=gamingunion/> |
A reviewer from Gaming Union awarded the game a score of 8 out of 10. He elaborated that "The only disappointment is the lack of an online scoreboard, which is to the detriment of the game's replayability."<ref name=gamingunion/> |
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Clouds gently waft over undiscovered territory. Ships and sea monsters bob gently. Waves break in the ocean. Look, a dolphin leaps here! A whale breaches there! It's all ink and vellum and cursive script and layers of lovingly drawn facades drawn on plywood and stacked up for a 19th Century stage production.<ref name=fidgit/> |
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Revision as of 20:35, 4 April 2014
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| Developer(s) | Fourkidsgames |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Fourkidsgames |
| Designer(s) | Peter Levius |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 |
| Release | 'Microsoft Windows'Xbox Live |
| Genre(s) | Strategy game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Ancient Trader is a nautical turn-based strategy video game developed by Fourkidsgames. It was released in 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.
A sequel, Fortune Winds: Ancient Trader, was developed by Legendo Entertainment, and released in 2012 for Microsoft Windows.
Gameplay
Ancient Trader is a turn-based strategy video game played from a two-dimensional perspective. The player controls a ship, and their main mission is to collect three powerful artifacts needed to challenge and defeat the game's main antagonist, a sea creature called the Ancient Guardian.[1] However, before being able to locate these artifacts, the player must explore the map to gather amounts of three different commodities: tea, spices, and fruit.[2] These can be exchanged for gold, which can be used to buy upgrades for the ship.[3] The amount of commodities the player can gather depends on the cargo capacity of their ship, which can also be upgraded with gold.[2]
The map consists of a main sea surrounded by land, filled with several islands, ship wreckages, sea creatures, enemy ships, ports and whirlpools. Islands and ship wreckages usually reward the player with commodities and upgrades after being explored. Sea creatures and enemy ships appear randomly across the map as they challenge the player for gold or loot in a card minigame.[3] Ports (stylized as puertos) are trading and safe zones where the player can sell their ship's cargo for gold, buy upgrades for the ship, and take on side quests.[1][4] Whirlpools act as teleports, doubling the number of steps the player can take on the following turn. The player can also encounter message bottles that, when found, clear away previously clouded areas of the map to reveal hidden ports.[1]
At the beginning of the game, the entire map is covered by wind clouds that dissappear from areas explored by the player. The ship can be moved across the horizontal and vertical axes, but not diagonally. The player makes a set number of steps each turn, and then the artificial intelligence (AI) does the same for non-playable characters (NPC). If the player's ship is not located at a port at the end of a turn, the player can be attacked by an enemy ship or a sea creature. If so, a card game is triggered to decide if the player loses gold to a rival ship or cargo to a sea creature.[1] The card game consists of both the player and NPC drawing cards; the highest-numbered card wins each turn, unless presented against a powerful color. The strongest hue receives a two-point attack bonus.[1] The player's following turn starts at the end of the minigame.[1]
After sufficiently upgrading the ship and exploring the map, the player will be allowed to buy the three powerful artifacts needed to defeat the Ancient Guardian and win the game. Additionally, defeating the Guardian awards the player with the mythical treasure, which consists of additional loot and upgrades that were previously not available in the map.[4] In multiplayer mode, the price to get the artifacts constantly increases as other players buy them.[2] To win, the player must use the artifacts to track down the Guardian and defeat it at a card minigame to achieve victory.[2]
Ancient Trader does not include a saving feature, which means that the progress will be unrecoverable if the game is closed.[1] An online multiplayer mode is also present in the game. It allows for several players to simultaneously play the same map, chase the artifacts and defeat the Guardian. In this mode, the player can check the wealth of other players, as well as the artefacts they find.[1] Ancient Trader also includes several alternative game types, which focus on reaching a set total wealth a particular cash tally before other players.[1]
Development
Ancient Trader was developed by a team of six members led by
"a simple, easy entry strategy game suitable for all ages, which originally came to life as a board-game design."[3]
"Artist Petr Vcelka, one of just six names listed in the credits, has taken inspiration from 16th- and 17th-century cartography - most obviously, Abraham Ortelius and his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (the first modern atlas) - and crafted some beautiful, imaginative and exceptionally detailed art across the game's ageing, weathered maps."[1]
Reception
Edge included Antient Trader in its 2010 list of the Best 20 Indie Games available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. The magazine aknowledged that the game was "ambitious, devious and surprisingly hard to fault."[5]
Lorenzo Fantoni from Eurogamer Italy gave the game a score of 8 out of 10. He elaborated that "the final result is a quite simple title, which will last long enough to make you feel happy of having invested your money in this indie title."[6]
Indie Game Reviewer commented that Ancient Trader "deserves a look, as it definitely makes for a great, quick, casual distraction."[4]
Eurogamer's Chris Schilling gave the game a score of 8 out of 10. He commented that although Antient Trader was not as comprehensive and expansive as other Xblox Live titles such as Risk: Factions, it deserved "the opportunity to do business with the big boys rather than risk getting washed away with the shovelware tide." Schilling also expressed concern that "a game so elegant and accomplished should have to be dredged up from the depths of Indie Games."[1]
Gus Mastrapa from Wired commented that Ancient Trader was well worth its price "for its art alone." He also praised the game's overall style, "borrowed from centuries-old maps [...] more handsome than any other game you’ll find in the Xbox Live indie category."[7]
Tom Chick from FidGit compared Ancient Trader to other recent genre-related video games: "Think of it as Seven Cities of Gold or Pirates, but a little shorter." He also compared it to other indie games such as "the sci-fi space operettas Strange Adventures in Infinite Space or Flotilla, but wind-powered and sepia-toned."[2] Like most reviewers, Chick highly praised the artistic design. However, he also mentioned the game's atmospheric music, commenting that it "lends touches of Oriental and New World flavor, played over the constant murmur of surf and gulls."[2]
A reviewer from Gaming Union awarded the game a score of 8 out of 10. He elaborated that "The only disappointment is the lack of an online scoreboard, which is to the detriment of the game's replayability."[8]
Clouds gently waft over undiscovered territory. Ships and sea monsters bob gently. Waves break in the ocean. Look, a dolphin leaps here! A whale breaches there! It's all ink and vellum and cursive script and layers of lovingly drawn facades drawn on plywood and stacked up for a 19th Century stage production.[2]
Sequel
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Schilling, Chris (9 August 2010). "Ancient Trader". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g Chick, Tom (30 March 2010). "Who would believe the astonishing beauty of Ancient Trader?". FidGit. Sci Fi. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|work=(help) - ^ a b c IGN Staff (3 August 2010). "Beautiful Looking Indie-Game Released on PC and Xbox 360". IGN. J2 Global. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
- ^ a b c "Ancient Trader – It's the simple things in life". Indie Game Reviewer. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
- ^ Edge Staff (16 November 2010). "Best 20 Indie Games". Edge. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- ^ Fantoni, Lorenzo (10 August 2010). "Ancient Trader". Eurogamer (in Italian). Italy: Gamer Network. p. 2. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
- ^ Mastrapa, Gus (1 July 2010). "Ancient Trader is a Hidden Xbox Treasure". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- ^ Lee (6 July 2011). "Ancient Trader Review". Gaming Union. Retrieved 4 April 2014.