Unknown Horizons
Encyclopedia
Unknown Horizons is a genre-mix of city-building game
and real time strategy. It is released under the GNU General Public License
and is therefore free software
.
The game is still under active development. On occasion, a milestone snapshot is released. The current, seventh release is version 2011.3. A first public alpha version was released on October 1, 2008.
Despite its incompleteness, Unknown Horizons already appeared in issue 24/09 of the German c't
computer magazine, as a part of the Heise
software collection 6/09.
Unknown Horizons took part at the Google Summer of Code 2011 as a mentoring organization.
of islands.
The player must provide miscellaneous goods (including food, lumber and tools) and public services for the settlers' welfare.
The inhabitants in return pay taxes which is the main source of income.
When supplied adequately, the population will grow and the inhabitants will rise to higher social classes.
Currently there are six different settlement levels planned and more than 40 different buildings available.
The starting increment is called "Sailors". Players can set up a basic infrastructure and provide inhabitants with resources such as food.
In the second increment "Pioneers", new buildings become available. Buildings begin to look like wooden constructions instead of tents.
Increment 3 is named "Settlers" and progress is shown by half-timbered buildings.
The remaining three increments "Citizens", "Merchants" and "Aristocrats" are designed, but not yet implemented.
as engine and features isometric 2D graphics. Since FIFE also is in development stage and Unknown Horizons is the first major project based on this engine, the developers of Unknown Horizons have agreed to help with development on FIFE.
Python
was chosen as the language for this project because it is the language best supported by FIFE and guarantees cross-platform compatibility. Furthermore, Python allows for very rapid development.
The models for Unknown Horizons are created using Blender
and then rendered in four rotations (eight for units).
Unknown Horizons development currently focuses on implementing more game-play content (buildings, resource production lines). Next major steps in development include usability improvements and an island editor.
City-building game
City-building games are a genre of strategy computer game where players act as the overall planner and leader of a city, looking down on it from above, and being responsible for its growth and management...
and real time strategy. It is released under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
and is therefore free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
.
The game is still under active development. On occasion, a milestone snapshot is released. The current, seventh release is version 2011.3. A first public alpha version was released on October 1, 2008.
Despite its incompleteness, Unknown Horizons already appeared in issue 24/09 of the German c't
C't
c't – Magazin für Computertechnik is a German computer magazine, published by the Heinz Heise publishing house. Originally a special section of the electronics magazine elrad, the magazine has been published monthly since December 1983 and biweekly since October 1997...
computer magazine, as a part of the Heise
Heinz Heise
Heinz Heise is a publishing house based in Germany.- History :Heise was created in Hanover in 1949 as an address and telephone directory publisher, then later expanded to include magazines and loose leaf collections. In 2001, the company was divided into separate enterprises, all of which came...
software collection 6/09.
Unknown Horizons took part at the Google Summer of Code 2011 as a mentoring organization.
Gameplay
The player guides a group of people settling in a newly discovered archipelagoArchipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
of islands.
The player must provide miscellaneous goods (including food, lumber and tools) and public services for the settlers' welfare.
The inhabitants in return pay taxes which is the main source of income.
When supplied adequately, the population will grow and the inhabitants will rise to higher social classes.
Currently there are six different settlement levels planned and more than 40 different buildings available.
The starting increment is called "Sailors". Players can set up a basic infrastructure and provide inhabitants with resources such as food.
In the second increment "Pioneers", new buildings become available. Buildings begin to look like wooden constructions instead of tents.
Increment 3 is named "Settlers" and progress is shown by half-timbered buildings.
The remaining three increments "Citizens", "Merchants" and "Aristocrats" are designed, but not yet implemented.
Development
Unknown Horizons uses FIFEFlexible Isometric Free Engine
The Flexible Isometric Free Engine is an open source, cross-platform game engine written in C++ with Python scripting abilities. It is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License , which allows creating independent commercial games....
as engine and features isometric 2D graphics. Since FIFE also is in development stage and Unknown Horizons is the first major project based on this engine, the developers of Unknown Horizons have agreed to help with development on FIFE.
Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
was chosen as the language for this project because it is the language best supported by FIFE and guarantees cross-platform compatibility. Furthermore, Python allows for very rapid development.
The models for Unknown Horizons are created using Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...
and then rendered in four rotations (eight for units).
Unknown Horizons development currently focuses on implementing more game-play content (buildings, resource production lines). Next major steps in development include usability improvements and an island editor.