

What happens when a map has very little water? Or when iron is everywhere? Unlike RTS games with well-known build orders that eventually become rote, Offworld has no “best” resource. Random maps create a different combination of resources each time, meaning the market will change naturally to reflect this unique distribution. What makes Offworld special is that each game is unique. Thus, the key to success is predicting which resources will go up in price and which ones will go down. Instead, if they all sell, the price will go down.

If everyone decides not to build farms and just buy food, the price will go up. Instead, every resource can be bought or sold on the open market, with prices fluctuating according to what the players do. Most importantly, players only start with a few claims, meaning that they can’t produce everything. A hydrolysis farm could turn water into food while an electrolysis reactor will split water into oxygen and fuel. Next, players use their limited number of claims to start extracting these resources – maybe an ice condenser right here to get water, or maybe a metal mine over there for iron? Extra claims can be used to create factories that turn these base resources into something more valuable. The game starts with an exploration phase, during which players decide where to found their colonies based on nearby resources and buildable plots of land. The setting is Mars, and each player controls a corporation trying to claim, develop, and exploit its own bit of alien soil. In Offworld, the player’s most important weapon is money, not guns. Indeed, the game has no units to fight with at all, only buildings that turn resources of one type into those of another.

Offworld is economic because, instead of the two or three resources found in a traditional RTS, our game has thirteen different types. We have called Offworld Trading Company an “economic RTS” – what do we mean by that? First of all, Offworld fits the format of a classic real-time strategy game like StarCraft or Age of Empires II, meaning that the game supports up to 8 players, can be played in less than an hour, and is intensely competitive. I am most drawn to games that make me think and adapt and change Offworld does that better than any game I have ever played.

UPDATE : Offworld Trading Company has been revealed! Check out the official website for screenshots, video, and tons of details.įor a game about corporations and colonization, Offworld Trading Company has always been a very personal game for me, a game I have wanted to make since before joining the industry.
