Inspirations behind The Anarchic Kingdom

A few people have asked about the inspiration behind The Anarchic Kingdom, since it superficially resembles some other games. There are quite a few influences over this game, and it has been around for quite a long time as an idea in my head or an unfinished project on various platforms. So I may as well talk a bit about the project's history.

Originally this game was going to be released for the Psion Series 5 pocket computer of the late 1990s. It was partly inspired by some old BBS door games: Solar Realms Elite and Barren Realms Elite. These games had scrolling text interfaces, and had players lobbing missiles and other things at each other in order to steal each other's territory and destroy each other's military, much like you do in The Anarchic Kingdom. This project was almost completed in the mid 2000s and then dropped as I moved on from the platform.

These games seem to have been inspired by the game Hammurabi which appeared on many platforms and in many books of type-in programs. I developed a version myself as a sample game in my Tiny BASIC compiler project. That game has its roots in the 1960s. It has no military element, but concentrates on the economic side of kingdom management.

The visual style of The Anarchic Kingdom was mostly inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th century depiction of the conquest of England by the Normans. When experimenting in the past with the different 4-colour palettes you can get out of a CGA-equipped PC I came across the combination of red, green, brown foreground with white as a background colour, and it reminded me of this art style. So the idea of making a game based on a tapestry (or embroidery) art style lodged in my mind.

Finally, a little inspiration came from the game Civilization. Specifically the idea of having a palace that grows as you do better in the game. You don't choose the elements of that capital city on the horizon as you do your Civilization palace, but you do see it grow larger as you go up in the game's rankings.