Santa Paravia en Fiumaccio
Encyclopedia
Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio is a video game in which each player becomes the ruler of a fledgling Italian city-state around the year 1400. The goal of the game is to become king or queen; to do so the player must manage their city-state so that it may grow.
magazine, (Milford, NH), and was published for sale on tape cassette as a computer game by Instant Software (Peterborough, NH) for the Radio Shack TRS-80
, the Apple II
, TI 99/4,and the Commodore PET
. It has been translated into many languages and has been ported to the Palm Pilot.
Funds can be spent to purchase more land, military forces, or various types of structures. These structures include revenue producing mills and markets as well as prestigious palaces and cathedrals. (The 'soft sides' version had a code error that allowed you to keep all your grain, even when you went bankrupt.
Based loosely on the text game Hamurabi
, Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio was an early God game
. It combined 'guns and butter' economic tradeoffs with graphic development of a kingdom with buildings being constructed and shown on the screen as well as character development, shown as progressive promotions from baron to king.
History
The game, by George Blank, first appeared in the December 1978 issue of SoftSideSoftSide
SoftSide Magazine is a defunct computer magazine, begun in October 1978 by Roger Robitaille and published by SoftSide Publications of Milford, New Hampshire.-History:...
magazine, (Milford, NH), and was published for sale on tape cassette as a computer game by Instant Software (Peterborough, NH) for the Radio Shack TRS-80
TRS-80
TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first units, ordered unseen, were delivered in November 1977, and rolled out to the stores the third week of December. The line won popularity with...
, the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, TI 99/4,and the Commodore PET
Commodore PET
The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
. It has been translated into many languages and has been ported to the Palm Pilot.
Gameplay
The game consists of yearly turns; each turn involves the allocation of grain and funds, attempting to grow the colony in both population and size. A ruler must ensure that sufficient grain supplies are available to feed his people; by distributing excess grain, a ruler can encourage more citizens to move into his city-state. However, often famine and rats cause grain reserves to diminish.Funds can be spent to purchase more land, military forces, or various types of structures. These structures include revenue producing mills and markets as well as prestigious palaces and cathedrals. (The 'soft sides' version had a code error that allowed you to keep all your grain, even when you went bankrupt.
Based loosely on the text game Hamurabi
Hamurabi
Hamurabi is a text-based game of land and resource management and is one of the earliest computer games. Its name is a shortening of Hammurabi, reduced to fit an eight-character limit.-History:...
, Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio was an early God game
God game
A god game is an artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with divine/supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character , and places them in charge of a game setting containing autonomous characters to...
. It combined 'guns and butter' economic tradeoffs with graphic development of a kingdom with buildings being constructed and shown on the screen as well as character development, shown as progressive promotions from baron to king.