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Game Preview: Costantinopolis
by Andrea “Liga” Ligabue & W. Eric Martin
28-06-2007
Publisher: Homo Ludens
Designers: Giancarlo Fioretti
Players: 2-5
Ages: 12+
Playing Time: 45-130 minutes (approximately 25 per player)
Release Date: Nuremberg 2008 (!)
For this first preview, we’ll take a general look at Constantinople and see what the designer had in mind while creating the game; later, Liga will post a full review of the game based on the almost finished prototype.
The game takes places in the sixth century BCE, when the city of Constantinople was the greatest trade center of the Byzantium Empire. Opportunities for commerce are expanding rapidly, and handling the export of local goods by sea to nearby cities is an ideal way for local entrepreneurs to increase their own riches. The players are entrepreneurs in the city of Constantinople, trying to use government functions to increase their own business activity and the production of assets in order to trade them away, sell them in Constantinople at markets, and ship them to other cities through fleets.
Designer Giancarlo Fioretti says that in the early stages of Constantinopolis he was trying to develop a game of production, resource management, and resource trading. He wanted a game with different types of ships that would evolve during the game into a real small commercial fleet.
“The idea of using the ships came from an old Amiga game, “Ports of Call,” where players travel the world with their ships trading goods,” says Fioretti. “The first mechanism developed indeed was the sea transport. I was looking for a sea system without a board where you move the ships, but something related to the time spent to complete the travel. The game was all developed around this system of travel.”
Says Fioretti, “Thanks to the help of the members of the Associazione Culturale Bisanzio, I was able to reconstruct the game’s background in an historical way, bringing the theme from an idea to a final game.” The game tiles are written in Latin, both to refer to the highest moment of progress of Constantinople and to make the game completely language independent.
“This is my first board game. and I’m really excited,” says Fioretti. “When I first met the Homo Ludens lads, they were stunned by the game and from there we’ve been in agreement as to what the final game has to be. I’m really satisfied about their work.”
He adds, “I believe the game has a good longevity and is quite deep; I think it will be good mostly for core gamers.” That bold claim might sound like one you’ve heard before from other designers, but Fioretti notes that he’s played Constantinopolis more than 120 times! As he told Liga, he’s trying to balance and tune all the different aspects of the complex economic system behind the game in a perfect way to eliminate the possibility of a single winning strategy. More on whether or not he succeeded when Liga gets a chance to play and report on the game.
© 2007 Andrea Liga Ligabue
Posted by Andrea Liga Ligabue on Jun 28, 2007 at 12:00 PM in Previews / 2682
Comments:
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To have an idea of the game, here some picture of the prototype ... of course the graphics will change since almost all of the buildings pictures are taken from other games:
http://www.liga3m.it/minimod2007/mm2007_0056-1-0-1.html
the guy in the middle in the second picture is Giancarlo, the designer
good play
Posted by Andrea Liga Ligabue on Jun 29, 2007 at 10:05 AM | #
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A few corrections: Should be 6th century AD. Constantine the Great, who founded the city, wasn’t even born until 280 AD. Also, Byzantines used Greek, not Latin. This split still continues today with the Eastern church clergy still using Greek while the western church clergy use Latin.
An interesting lecture series for english speakers about Byzantium that goes on sale for *much less* from time to time
Posted by Stanley Bourgeois on Jul 2, 2007 at 02:45 PM | #
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