Just like I created the Ars Magica Manager web app because I was annoyed at there being no real alternative (that did not cost $60…), I am now in the very early stages of designing an Ars Magica PC game. Cause…apart from Archmage Rises and a few Minecraft mods, I do not see any options. But I thought I would check in with the community: would you be interested to play something like this?
The game would be a single player, PC based covenant management simulation RPG set in Mythic Europe. Players guide a fledgling Hermetic covenant through decades of magical research, political intrigue, seasonal challenges, and narrative adventures. The covenant - not individual characters - is the enduring protagonist. The game blends resource management, long term strategy, narrative choice, and simulation systems rooted in the Ars Magica ethos.
I am thinking 2 game modes: for those who love Ars Magica and want to use the rules as close to RAW as possible and those who just want to play the saga and not be too fussed over (for example) the magi lab totals.
To manage expectations: this is not going to be some AAA 3D game with parties of characters running around on a map. I am not a professional game developer (or even a professional developer!), and doing this mostly for fun and because it is an opportunity for me to learn new skills. So it would be a 2D game inspired by the likes of Crusader Kings, Cultist Simulator and Archmage Rises. You are the covenant and have a selection of magi, companions and grogs. You plan your seasons, interact with story events, find vis, advance your magi, build reputation and clout within the tribunal - while having to deal with faeries, mundanes and the Church.
The obvious answer is of course. At worst it turns out terrible which would be bad for you due to having put in all the work but for the rest of us a terrible game is basically the same as no game which is the state we are in now.
A more serious answer is that it feels difficult to reconcile some of the beauty of Ars Magica in a computer game. Covenant resource management / builder is straightforwards but the creative use of magic to solve problems or to work on individual long term goals might be harder to capture. For example King of Dragon pass might be a good inspiration but I found it became repetitive because while I wanted to try different things and react to the world the seasonal events became repetitive and mechanical.
I doubt a PC game could ever do Ars Magica true justice. And yes, the trick will be to avoid it becoming repetitive, ensuring that there is replayability, that tribunals actually feel different, etc.
I’d go with the obvious answer of ‘Yes please of course yes’ as well.
I had been considering something similar to a Covenant Manager solo game - I’m not any kind of real programmer, I was going to use it as an excuse to try and learn some coding. I really also planned to use King of Dragon Pass as the sort of inspiration.
My personal game biases would have actually leaned it away from the canon version of Mythic Europe, and added a slight roguelike element where you could ‘found’ a new covenant and your older retired covenants would become the tribunal NPCs for politics.
Rambling aside, if you haven’t seen King of Dragon Pass, while it can be repetitive (and replays are not ‘new’ feeling), its council and seasonal/yearly mechanics are a good inspiration.
In my opinion there are three components that constitute the essential nature of ars magica :
the setting : the order of hermes, the realms, the aristotelian medieval paradigm… a simple renpy or twine engine game could be enough there to evoke the settings with a well written story. The technical challenge is minimal, but those “simpler” game engines have some serious limitations…
the covenant, having a cast of characters playing the long game (seasons, years, characters growing old…) : medium technical challenge, a well designed crusader kings 3 (or similar game) mod could even work, and as said above it’s not far from the gameplay of a king of Dragon Pass/Riders of the Wind. I often think that it could also be a good mod project for “Going Medieval” (version 1.0 today)
the freedom and emergent nature of the magic system : this is in my opinion the trickiest to implement technically speaking. How would it be possible to code such a magic system without being overwhelmed by the infinite number of possibilities ? I think there may be a solution by doing something similar to what Dwarven fortress or other roguelike such as IVAN does, but it’s most likely a huge challenge.
An arsmagica video game could only incoporates one or two of the components and still be a good game, but if it would be possible to have all three… this is the holy grail !
Whatever you choose to do with your project, I will follow this endeavour with great hopes !
I have often dreamt of doing it myself, but I arrived at the conclusion that for now it is wiser for me to muster my ailing strength and motivation on smaller and more humble projects…
Yes of course. I would explore something like cultist simulator as you indicated, or their other game books of hour which is very different (more micro management so closer to am ) but with similar mechanics
It would be great to use Ars Magica and Mythic Europe lore to build a video game system to emulate a TTRPG saga. I wish it for a long time and, I think I’m not alone…
These two projects are however aborted. It is not easy to build a video game, and this requires not only good programming skills, but game design skills first.
So, you might gather a small crew and some ideas to first build a covenant that will aim to such an ouvrage.
Feasable or not feasable? That’s not the real question. The relevant question will be how far will you stick to the Ars Magica role playing essence? Will we play alone or multiplayer as in a pen and paper?
I think you could first develop a kind of an ‘analog’ version of a game to be played solo. Then use computing to add automatisation and visuals and AI.
With the advent of Generative AI and the ouverture of the game lore and content to the world, y’a moyen de se faire plaisir!
I would be interested in playing, but the implementation is going to be a bear. A big part of the beauty of ars magica is magic is open ended, which is going to be very, very hard to pull of in a video game. potentially impossibly hard.
My focus will be on the setting and covenant and I have a few ideas about how to at least bring a sense of familiarity when it comes to the 3rd aspect, but no, a full-blown coverage of all three is beyond my capabilities. Maybe when I am retired someday I can throw all waking hours at it, but at this time I still have Ars Magica Manager to maintain too
What I certainly will be doing is hunt feedback from this community soon as I have a playable ‘demo’ to see if I am doing the setting justice.
I was soooooo excited when I saw that Kickstarter. And crushed when it died.
Since you would technically be ‘the covenant’, it is not really designed for multi-player. I also need to make sure I stay very strict on scope and not let the project spiral into all the nice-to-haves that I would love as a player, but would need years to implement. I am gunning to build this within a year. My husband is going to help me create content (he is a brilliant ST) but I work best when I can get lost in my own head and just forge onwards. AI is tempting, but that has a sleuth of IP issues that I cannot really afford to get trapped in. At best, I will use AI as I do with my web app - help me fix broken things and show me how to improve my code. Art will be last on my list to sort out and at that time I might hunt down a freelancer or two. Depends on finances. Thanks for the input!
Please do not use generative AI. Even if you personally are ok with it, many people are not and it is PR poison. Atlas Games themselves had to adjust their GenAI policy due to the legal issues re: plagiarism.
I would love to see even a “bad” Ars Magic PC game. Covenant management simulation similar to Crusader Kings sounds about right. I’ve also wondered how to build a Solo Play ars magica game.
I think you’re smart going the “covenant management” route. Something like Football Manager for wizards sounds a lot more doable with an indie Dwarf Fortress level of sophistication than some kind of RPG. Implementing the Ars freewheeling magic system in a video game like that would be AAA title budget territory, I’d think.
FWIW I’m both a Crusader Kings player as well as an Ars Magica tabletop player, and I suspect there’s a fair bit of crossover, so I think you’re also going to be attracting some of the same simulationist type of gamer.
