An alternative timeline for a computer game...

I guess this is as good a place to start as any.
I'm making a computer game with an alternative history setting called Vinland: 1936.
It takes place in a world where, in 878 the Danes defeated Alfred the Weak and conquered England. They used the country as a jumping off point to settle more extensively in North America (Vinland).

By 1936, technology levels are similar to the same point in our own timeline but the main players are quite different due to the way some earlier events played out.

My main reason for choosing an alternative timeline is because I'm bored of the OTL WW2. We know all the tanks and the weapons, we know who wins and who loses. There are no surprises. I want to create a game which changes that, with new factions, new vehicle designs and an ongoing history which will unfold over the course of several sequels or side projects. Oh, and no Nazis. :)

The game is a turn based tactical sim, representing small scale actions. It will eventually feature a dynamic campaign with procedurally generated missions, and also a vehicle builder where players can customize their tanks and support vehicles as well as creating new designs.

I'm looking for some feedback on my timeline and also some ideas / suggestions for visual elements like flags and names for factions / locations which i haven't filled in yet. I don't have a lot of time to work on the history since I'm also developing a complete computer game on my own.
 
Well, I'm always felt that one of the most interesting consequences of a lasting Vinland could be the survival of one or more Mississippian civilizations. The possibility of access to a trade network stretching to Europe but passing through a bottleneck too narrow to allow the spread of disease could really benefit the complex chiefdoms and proto-states of Eastern North America. So maybe in your world the strongest North American power would be a Native nation descended from the Mississippians with Vinland (OTL Canadian Maritimes and New England) as a battleground between them and some colonial European power. Maybe this alt-WWII starts as an attempt by the Native state to expel all Europeans from North America (an ideology roughly analogous to Naziism but more palatable to the OTL public? Just spitballing here.
 
Neat game! The turn-based tactical gameplay looks interesting.

Although the UI and assets are in progress, I would recommend making the visuals brighter and more colorful, or adding some visual accents in the otherwise grey environment. The color scheme of Magicka or Northgard are good inspiration for a Norse setting.

Do you have a timeline and factions already decided? Perhaps there are 5 factions: 2 Vinland factions in civil war, maybe one democratic and one communist. 2 Native American factions, maybe an Aztec-esque empire and an Algonquian empire. And an intervening European power (maybe Spain to mix it up?). The 2 Vinland factions, the Algonquians can share a significant number of visual assets in terms of buildings and scenery.

Since the world diverges from our own over a thousand years ago, some liberties could be taken in terms of technology for the time. Helicopters could be a fun addition with a special tactical role. Of course, that would need a lot of new assets and balancing if they are part of the customization feature. (First DLC idea?)
 
Some basics of the timeline. These are just rough notes, specific characters, dates and events would be fleshed out in future.
Early events which deviated from OTL:
North America:
  • Danes and Norsemen conquered England in the 9th century.
  • Scandinavian settlers spread further south from the initial Vinland settlement.
  • They had increased contact with Native Americans, trading technologies such as iron working and introducing an early resistance to smallpox and other European diseases.
  • They brought slaves from England, Scotland and Ireland.
  • They forced an English monk to write a revised Bible which merged North Mythology and Christian tradition.
  • This new religious ideology enforced strict separation along clan lines and emphasized the tradition of slavery.
  • The Little Ice Age cut off this new nation from Europe for several centuries during which they diverged significantly from their European peers.
  • Vinland at this time is a patchwork of minor kingdoms surrounded by Native American tribal states.
  • After reestablishing contact with Europe, The country is briefly united under an elected Emperor, with a kind of Imperial Republic modeled on a European style.
  • In the Early Modern Era there was a slave uprising.
  • The Celtic and English slaves formed a new nation in the South and after several humiliating military defeats Vinland was partitioned and the Imperial Republic broken up.
  • The slaves still followed the Vinland Bible and refuse to marry outside their clans.
  • As the biggest clan, the Anglo Saxons form an elite which controls the Southern Nation.
  • At the end of the 19th Century a Celtic uprising occurs against the ruling English elites in the south. The leader rejects religious tradition and encourages Celtic Nationalism.
  • The Southern Nation is partitioned with a great deal of ethnic violence.
  • Many people are relocated.
  • The Celts end up sitting on one of the world's biggest oil reserves in OTL Texas.
  • They go from being a very poor nation to being something like the gulf states of OTL.
  • A new King reunites Vinland and begins an economic liberalization program.
  • Trade with the Celts benefits both partners.
  • At the start of the 20th Century, Vinland is emerging as an economic and industrial powerhouse.
  • Fearful of the wrath of Rome, which has threatened to bring Vinland's Christian population back in to the Holy Church by force, the leadership begins arming for war, with a focus on a probable battle in the Atlantic and amphibious invasion.
Europe:
  • Otto the Great fell from his horse and was killed while breaking the siege of Toulouse.
  • The battle of Tours was an inconclusive draw with the Umayyads unable to expand in to France and the Franks unable to invade Iberia.
  • From this point, the Muslim invaders would consolidate their gains on the Iberian peninsula and the Franks turned their attentions eastwards.
  • With that in mind, the (entirely political) marriage of Irene of Athens and Charlemagne resulted in a temporary reuniting of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires.
  • The Empire didn't endure long, but it left a lasting religious change, with the schism between east and west reduced considerably.
  • Later attempts at uniting Europe under a Holy Roman Republic were more successful.
  • More coordinated efforts were made to protect Byzantium from the Turks and they didn't expand as far north as in OTL.
  • With less Scandinavian attention focused on Russia, attacks from the east (first from the Mongols and then by the Turks) gobbled up much of the steppes and introduced Islam as far North as the Urals.
  • By the Modern Era, the Arabs, Iberians and Turks form an alliance which surrounds the Roman Catholics in a crescent from the Black sea to the Pyrenees.
  • Colonialism is barely a footnote in this history. Like China in OTL, the huge continental states have little interest in naval warfare or intercontinental trade. Without the Reconquista, the Europeans didn't absorb Muslim naval sciences as quickly and lacked interest in exploring to the West.
  • The Iberians do settle some colonies in Central America and the Caribbean. They open trade with the Celts and Vinland.
  • Trade between Vinland and the Europeans follows, but is highly regulated because of the restrictive nature of the Theocratic state's economic system which puts restrictions on trade in ideas and scientific literature.
  • Iberian traders as well as European and Vinland vessels travel around the world establishing mercantile routes and mostly engaging in peaceful trade.
  • There is some pirate activity which drives advances in naval technologies.
  • There are some naval wars in the Atlantic, mostly related to disagreements in trade.
  • Overall, there are periods of peace and trade but the main theme is warfare, centered in the middle east.
  • All three factions are roughly similar in population, economy and industry and have powerful armies.
  • The Europeans and Muslims clash near Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20th Century in a war of trench warfare which grinds to a halt for nearly 10 years.
  • The Holy City is mostly destroyed and many Holy sites are razed to the ground.
  • The Europeans introduce tanks and use aircraft to drive the Turks back as far as Cairo.
  • The war ends and the Turkish Arab Empire capitulates and breaks up.
  • Harsh reparations are levied against the Muslim states for damage done to holy sites in the war over Jerusalem.
  • Holy Roman troops initially occupy several cities in the Muslim states but are forced to withdraw because of guerilla activity and problems at home.
  • The Vinland Bible spreads across the old world, popular not so much as a religious document, but as a source of Ethno Nationalism.
  • The Arab / Turks embrace this new philosophy wholesale, moving from a theocratic style of government to a series of more secular Nationalist states.
  • Minor rebellions break out across the Holy Roman Republic.
  • The main threads are economic liberalism, anti-feudalism and ethno nationalism.
  • The 3 Popes and Roman Emperor, seeing the danger of a break up of their powerbase decide to launch a crusade against the source of the heretical document.
  • The first invasion, in the North of Vinland, is a failure.
  • The HRR has better technology and a more mature industrial base, but extended supply lines and is terribly vulnerable to naval interdiction.
  • A ceasefire is signed.
  • The English Settlements to the South East of Vinland (OTL The Southern US states) appeal to Rome for help in their conflict with the Celts. They agree to convert to Roman Catholicism and allow the Romans to establish military bases South of the Vinland Border.
  • The Roman Expeditionary force, with English Auxiliaries, prepares for face off against Vinland and their Celtic Allies.
The rest of the world:
  • As previously stated, colonialism is not a strong thread in this history.
  • A few divergences from OTL happen in Asia which should supply other interesting arenas for the looming global conflict however.
  • The Mongols were successful in their invasion of Japan.
  • Japan and Korea were united at one point, though they broke in to a number of smaller states afterwards.
  • As with Europe, this served to create a closer bond between the two regions which would have far reaching effects.
  • By the 19th Century the two countries are culturally united with a shared alphabet (but different languages) and cultural traditions.
  • Both are aggressive in keeping out foreign religions but their exposure to the Mongols made them more receptive to technologies such as gunpowder and sailing.
  • Invasion by sea is a cultural sore point for the Japanese and they develop a strong naval tradition.
  • Muslim traders bring other advances in naval technology.
  • The East Asians begin settling throughout the Pacific, setting up several colonies on the West coast of Vinland.
  • In China, an early edict that Muslim immigrants be forced to marry ethnic Chinese is abandoned during trade negotiations with Iberian traders from Europe.
  • Over the centuries the spread of Islam across China breaks the mono culture and leave the region prone to conflict and regional warlord states.
  • By the 20th Century there is a massive conflict between a southern Chinese state (mostly Muslim) and a coalition of smaller Northern States allied to the East Asians.
The Asian part of the timeline is very under developed since it's just a side show to the real action.
I've written some short stories set in the era immediately before the Vinland Crusade, but they are subject to change as the timeline gets filled in more. They were more thought experiments to see how changes on the ground would affect the big picture.
 
The main idea is to create a timeline which diverges in terms of factions and ideologies, but retains a similar technological base.
Most games like this have mechs and blimps and time traveling werewolves and whatever. I want this one to be a little more grounded.

There's room to explore an African time line too, with an Africa not subject to colonialism, but I haven't had time to flesh that one out. My thought is that they would mostly be interacting with the Arab Turkish Empire and their effect on Vinland / Rome would be minimal.

I do kind of think that Civilizations like the Mali, had they not been crushed by European colonialism, would have made significant contributions to Science and technology. It's one of the reasons I feel that the overall technological level wouldn't have fallen too far behind despite the more regressive political and economic models dominant in the scenario.
 
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Well, I'm always felt that one of the most interesting consequences of a lasting Vinland could be the survival of one or more Mississippian civilizations. The possibility of access to a trade network stretching to Europe but passing through a bottleneck too narrow to allow the spread of disease could really benefit the complex chiefdoms and proto-states of Eastern North America. So maybe in your world the strongest North American power would be a Native nation descended from the Mississippians with Vinland (OTL Canadian Maritimes and New England) as a battleground between them and some colonial European power. Maybe this alt-WWII starts as an attempt by the Native state to expel all Europeans from North America (an ideology roughly analogous to Naziism but more palatable to the OTL public? Just spitballing here.

But they wouldn't be "Europeans" in the sense we'd think, they'd likely be "Mestizos" more or less with some places (Vinland i.e. Newfoundland itself) having more "pure" Europeans (more blond hair/blue eyed people). The Mississippians could easily wind up as whatever the author wants them to, since they had such a wide range and all. A successful post-contact Mississippian empire, given European tools, domesticates, etc. could like conquer all the way to the Rockies, and later on use the Plains as a source of food (when the right plows are introduced) and for resources (oil).

If there needs to be a "United States" equivalent, put a Native American Empire with its territory as the entire Mississippi watershed, from the Appalachians to the Rockies, and its capital probably St. Louis (a major Mississippian site and not far from Cahokia). Or if it needs to be divided, put the dividing line as the Ohio River, and maybe have some conflict between the more "southern" government (maybe based around the Tennessee or Cumberland Rivers in Muscle Shoals AL/Nashville TN respectively--both are great places to base a Roman-type civ) and the northern government which would once again be based in St. Louis.

There's obviously a problem in that Mississippian civilisations in their diversity are only given a few centuries to evolve, and a good deal of time will be spent fighting off disease--likely not as bad as OTL granted. It would be interesting to see a general collapse of their civilisation not long after the Vinlanders show up--mix of drought and disease--and after the "Mississippian Dark Age" they re-emerge far, far stronger.

  • As previously stated, colonialism is not a strong thread in this history.
  • A few divergences from OTL happen in Asia which should supply other interesting arenas for the looming global conflict however.
  • The Mongols were successful in their invasion of Japan.
  • Japan and Korea were united at one point, though they broke in to a number of smaller states afterwards.
  • As with Europe, this served to create a closer bond between the two regions which would have far reaching effects.
  • By the 19th Century the two countries are culturally united with a shared alphabet (but different languages) and cultural traditions.
  • Both are aggressive in keeping out foreign religions but their exposure to the Mongols made them more receptive to technologies such as gunpowder and sailing.
  • Invasion by sea is a cultural sore point for the Japanese and they develop a strong naval tradition.
  • Muslim traders bring other advances in naval technology.
  • The East Asians begin settling throughout the Pacific, setting up several colonies on the West coast of Vinland.
  • In China, an early edict that Muslim immigrants be forced to marry ethnic Chinese is abandoned during trade negotiations with Iberian traders from Europe.
  • Over the centuries the spread of Islam across China breaks the mono culture and leave the region prone to conflict and regional warlord states.
  • By the 20th Century there is a massive conflict between a southern Chinese state (mostly Muslim) and a coalition of smaller Northern States allied to the East Asians.
The Asian part of the timeline is very under developed since it's just a side show to the real action.
I've written some short stories set in the era immediately before the Vinland Crusade, but they are subject to change as the timeline gets filled in more. They were more thought experiments to see how changes on the ground would affect the big picture.

I think for the interests of worldbuilding (not so much plausibility), you probably want East Asian colonisation along the West Coast of North America where it procedes inland (to the Continental Divide). In such a world, I could see Japan colonising Kamchatka and perhaps pushing inland to the Lena River basin. If you don't want East Asian colonisation, then you'll have some sort of indigenous civilisation there instead.

Japan and Korea used the same writing system IOTL (minus the whole deal with kana and later hangul). Maybe some conflict between China and Japan IOTL could see Korea become a battlefield of the Far East like how Belgium IOTL was in Europe (have two separate Koreas which is a nice parallel with the current situation in Korea). Korea is incidentally rich in natural resources like Belgium, so that's another interesting parallel.

The main idea is to create a timeline which diverges in terms of factions and ideologies, but retains a similar technological base.
Most games like this have mechs and blimps and time traveling werewolves and whatever. I want this one to be a little more grounded.

I gotta say mecha are too fun to ignore, just go with 4-6 meter tall mechs (i.e. Code Geass, VOTOMS, etc.) instead of Gundams (16-20 meters+) or whatever. Even if realistically by the time a 4-6m mecha is reasonable to build, it's way more expensive to construct than a typical MBT and thus impossible to mass produce.
 
I'm interested in having a bigger role for some technologies which were marginal in our own timeline because of being unconventional, or not having a clear place in traditioal military doctrine, like helicopters and APCs, but I want to steer clear of purely fantastical elements like mechs.
Even with 21st century technology, mechs are just not practical. They are slower than wheeled vehicles and less mobile than tracked ones. They are expensive and incredibly fragile.
Of course they are cool, but it's disapointing how any alternative ww2 timeline inevitably includes them, despite all the logical reasons not to.
 
Considering it’s a game, you could play a little bit fast and loose with the alternate history and theme it a little as “people who didn’t colonize the Americas now did.” So a Vinland, a now-independent Chinese West Coast, independent native states in the Northeast/Midwest/Great Plains, and maybe France in the Southeast. Should give you some cool factions, especially if there is an aggressive, powerful South American* Union or something invading from the South halfway through the game to spice things up.

I would also recommend having a very clear, simple map of North America for the player on the macro-campaign with only necessary details
 
Considering it’s a game, you could play a little bit fast and loose with the alternate history and theme it a little as “people who didn’t colonize the Americas now did.” So a Vinland, a now-independent Chinese West Coast, independent native states in the Northeast/Midwest/Great Plains, and maybe France in the Southeast. Should give you some cool factions, especially if there is an aggressive, powerful South American* Union or something invading from the South halfway through the game to spice things up.

I would also recommend having a very clear, simple map of North America for the player on the macro-campaign with only necessary details

Thanks,
I don't want to get too bogged down in the Alternative History aspect of the game, that's for sure. Mostly it will act as a background, with names and personalities and factions which are different from OTL.

On the other hand, it's fun for me to explore this part of the thing in more detail, separately from the game.
When coming up with the idea for this game, I was inspired by Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191. I thought it was great that he had this whole parallel timeline where events played out very much like our own, but with different players and events. I wanted to create a world that seemed like it could be real, not just a cartoon where "Viking" soldiers where horned helmets in a battle against thinly disguised Nazis.
It's possible that not many people will like the idea, but it's enough for me that I like the idea and enjoy working on it.

I've also posted the first Chapter in an extended work of fiction that I have been working on while programming the game. It helps to be able to step back from game development once in a while and spend some time on something completely different, otherwise it can feel a bit too much like real work. This is all just a hobby for me, so I'm not constrained by a need to make something popular or with mass appeal.
 
Thanks,
I don't want to get too bogged down in the Alternative History aspect of the game, that's for sure. Mostly it will act as a background, with names and personalities and factions which are different from OTL.

On the other hand, it's fun for me to explore this part of the thing in more detail, separately from the game.
When coming up with the idea for this game, I was inspired by Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191. I thought it was great that he had this whole parallel timeline where events played out very much like our own, but with different players and events. I wanted to create a world that seemed like it could be real, not just a cartoon where "Viking" soldiers where horned helmets in a battle against thinly disguised Nazis.
It's possible that not many people will like the idea, but it's enough for me that I like the idea and enjoy working on it.

I've also posted the first Chapter in an extended work of fiction that I have been working on while programming the game. It helps to be able to step back from game development once in a while and spend some time on something completely different, otherwise it can feel a bit too much like real work. This is all just a hobby for me, so I'm not constrained by a need to make something popular or with mass appeal.
You’re doing great, and the gameplay video looked fascinating. Keep up the good work!

The only concern I would have is in regards to the UI, and similar to previous posters’. The final UI should probably be brighter (but not garish, maybe some sort of silver or bronze?) and the buttons more obvious and clickable, as well as maybe being across the bottom of the screen, with unit-specific options appearing either around the unit or at the bottom of the screen upon clicking the unit, similar to the industry standard.

Also, I would love to see some sort of cover system for infantry units if that’s not something already there. Really squishy infantry units that can tactically use cover combined with tanks and such that are much more resilient but can’t would be a very interesting gameplay option I think. But that’s just me, and you should do whatever you like with you’re game! After all, it’s yours. :biggrin:
 
Thanks. :)
The cover system is in, you can see a small shield above each unit which shows the direction(s) which the unit is covered from. Units in long grass or shrubs, or those in buildings, can enjoy all round cover which makes them harder to target and stops them taking extra damage from flanking attacks (those attacks which come from the rear 180 degrees).

Like all the UI and in-game graphics, the cover shields are just placeholders. When I was working on earlier versions of the game, I spent too much time on the UI and other graphics and it too long to get a working prototype of the gameplay. When I finally realized that the gameplay was dull and repetitive, I had already wasted hours on producing graphics assets. I will be able to use a lot of those assets again with the new gameplay, but a lot of the UI and other assets will need to be completely redone.

I talked about UI design back in 2016 on my blog while I was working on the first version of the game... as you suggest they are more button like and clearer so that they can be smaller and more detailed. The black ones you can see in the video are taken from a massive set of free icons which are great for developers who are working on a prototype of a game and don't have time to come up with a final design for an action or order button which might change or be removed by the time the game play is finalized.

It's kind of rare for a game developer to show their game in such an early state, so although this kind of development is pretty standard (using placeholder assets) it's not something people are used to. All the code is present, so once I've got the gameplay fully fleshed out and have adjusted it based on playtesting, then it's just a matter of replacing the "programmer art" with something better.
 
If you want alternate war styles, motorbikes could be used as something of a hybrid between offensive guerilla fighting and nomad tactics.

Building on the idea further, you could have Parthian style rule but from motorbikes. An upper class/ethnicity which lives a neo-nomadic life from bikes whilst supported by a sedentary (in this case industrial) civilization. In essence, a state ran by biker gangs.

It sounds crazy but could be quite effective given the right societal setup. Hypermobile with human wave like numbers + the ability to function in scorched earth conditions quite well.
 
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