Lugal: Bronze Age Survival Game

About

You are the leader of a tribe → village → city → state. You guide your tribe of hunter-gatherers starting from 10,000 years ago. You discover farming and become the leader of a village. As the population in the region grows, conflicts arise. By 5,000 years ago, you master copper and bronze technologies, crafting weapons. Villages evolve into cities, and a cultural rise is followed by the decline of war. You are now the leader of a city. Cities wage war against each other, but is it possible to conquer and unite them by force into a single state? To become a king, a Lugal, you need legitimacy. A barbarian may have strength, but how do you gain the recognition of the people? In a quest for legitimacy, you invent the technology of the "state." To prove that you are the chosen one, you build a Great Ziggurat. When people recognize your not only material but also moral superiority - then you will become a king, a Lugal. Have you ever wondered why ancient people built massive ziggurats and pyramids? Did they have nothing better to do with their time and energy? Now, as a king, the answer will come to you naturally.

Gameplay

Everything we love about the survival genre: start as a prehistoric tribe, discover technologies, gather resources, craft weapons and armor, and build a base.

• Simple automation. NPC villagers work on your farms, bake bread, and support your settlement’s economy.
• Enemy raids. Hostile settlements send raids, forcing you to build defensive walls and towers.
• Organize your own raid. Craft a siege hammer to breach enemy city walls and plunder their resources.
• Bosses are cities, not some giant monsters. Conquer all cities in the region to become a Lugal, the Ruler of all Four Corners.
• Heroic questline for legitimacy. One thing is to defeat another city, but how do you convince it to submit to you? Appoint a governor? If your army leaves the conquered city, it will rebel. You must naturally invent the "state" technology and build your empire.

Historical Aspects

While prioritizing gameplay over realism, we’ve incorporated historical references. Travel back 10,000–4,500 years ago to the fertile valley of Mesopotamia, the region of ancient Sumer and Babylon. How did people transition from simple nomads to a sedentary lifestyle? And most importantly—why? How did a handful of primitive farmers give rise to civilization? How did the invention of farming and the discovery of clay, copper, and bronze technologies transform the economic structure of the entire planet? Before starting this project the game’s producer worked closely with historians and published a historical book, which provided strong inspiration for creating a game set in the Bronze Age.

Philosophical Aspects

Historians often focus on dates and events, but why did people do what they did? Through the game’s questline, deep philosophical reflections are subtly woven in. Primitive people were completely free, but their lives were harsh, short and full of danger. They sacrificed some of their freedom for civilization, making their lives safer and materially richer. They ate better and lived longer. They gained free time to think, but what did they realize? Now, humans are the property of civilization and its political hierarchy. Material wealth bred inequality and envy. Abundance allowed for more lives and increased population density, but this brought conflicts and brutal wars. The bronze economy gave rise to slavery. Yes, slavery spares the life of the defeated, but isn’t a person willing to give their life for freedom? The game portrays a rarely shown period of history—the transition from a primitive state to the first forms of government. Don’t we, people of the 21st century, ponder the same philosophical questions?