Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom

Knights and Merchants:
The Shattered Kingdom

Developer(s) Joymania Entertainment
Publisher(s) (WIN)
(WIN)
Linux Game Publishing (LNX)
Designer(s) Peter Ohlmann, Adam Sprys
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, MorphOS, Mac OS, Linux
Release date(s)
  • EU September 18, 1998
(WIN)
  • JP September 18, 1998
(WIN)
  • NA October 1, 1998
(WIN)
March 13, 2007 (LNX)
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution CD (1)

Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom is a medieval-time based real-time strategy (RTS) video game. It was developed by Joymania Entertainment (since changed to Joymania Development) and published by TopWare Interactive in 1998. The player takes the role of the captain of the palace guards and leads the soldiers and citizens to victory. The game did not receive a strong critical or popular reception in the UK and the US, but elsewhere it was more popular, consequently a follow up game was released called Knights and Merchants: The Peasants Rebellion.

Gameplay

Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom has a single-player campaign that consists of 20 scenarios with scenario length ranging from around 5 minutes up to 7 hours or more depending on difficulty.

The game offers a multiplayer mode by using either IPX, TCP/IP or Modem where up to 6 players can play. There are 10 different scenarios to choose from including a number which focus specifically on the combat element of the game.

Plot

Knights and Merchants recreates the era of the Middle Ages. Apart from the purely fictitious geography of our world, all game elements and scenes are based on the European, but more particularly, the Anglo-Saxon period, around 1200 A.D.[1]

Economy

The economy is very complex in Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom, more so than most other RTS games, with a greater range of resources and a need to combine basic resources in a number of ways to create a functioning economy. For example, in order to get loaves of bread, the player is required to first build a farm to get wheat, then a mill to get flour and also a bakery to bake loaves of the flour. The many different resources in the game require a large amount of corresponding buildings and units in order to fully utilize them requiring greater than usual micromanaging for an RTS.

Every citizen and soldier must eat in the game meaning that the player needs to produce a great deal of food creating a more naturalistic limit on army size. There is no population limit in game, instead population is limited by how much food is produced. If a unit is not fed for a sustained amount of time it will die.

The every day life aspect of this game is considered a notable feature. Many different structures can be placed, forcing the player to consider where and when to place each structure, this is also dependent on terrain and territory. However for new players this greater complexity can lead to a process of trial and error but once experience has been gained it becomes an interesting take on RTS economics.

Sequels

Knights and Merchants: The Peasants Rebellion (2001)

Fan remakes

Several attempts[2] were made to extend game engine's capabilities and fix its bugs. The latest and largest currently are the unofficial 1.6 Patch.[3]

The whole engine rewrite was also made, called KaM Remake,[4] it includes complete original game experience expanded with multiplayer mode, map editor, additional campaigns and buildings.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.knights.de/us/
  2. ↑ Fan Creations – Knights and Merchants NET
  3. ↑ Knights and Merchants NET :: Fan Creations - 1.6 Patch
  4. ↑ About « KaM Remake

External links