Dear followers of Rulers of the Sea,
Happy new year!!!
2022 was the year we ‘more or less’ left COVID behind us and would have hoped for at least an economic return to the years before the pandemic.
It worked out differently. The Russian invasion of Ukraine marked the largest war in Europe since World War 2 and this had significant economic effects.
Impact on the energy and food markets revealed the weakness of our economic systems and the lack of governmental control over it, which led to massive inflation. This inflation led to the ever increasing gap between middle- and low incomes and high incomes, and record profits for the shareholders of energy and food retail companies.
Streams of refugees, already fed by other wars and conflicts around the globe and the increasing devastation of climate change in the third world, are increasingly trying to reach western countries.
This is exactly what would have happened in Rulers of the Sea, which contains a full simulation of economies, populations, government, business, warfare and even public health.
Maybe a video game that simulates all these basic principles in a mid 18th century world, when the foundations of modern government and economics were struck, would be more beneficial than ever. To understand better how these fundamentals work and to experiment with them in a simulated environment might just be the thing that will lead to a better understanding and prediction of the future.
Relevant or not, the project achieved plenty of things in 2022, but not to reach a state of funded production.
2023 will be the year of truth for Rulers of the Sea. A funded project is neccesary to make it to 2024. Our volunteer team has stretched it as far as we could, we found a partner for development, we hashed out every detail of the project. It is basically the year of now or never.
But however important that all might seem….it is also the year of now or never for many people within and on the fringes of our societies. We live in strange times and we mostly think of those that now have to live in a world of fear, war and increasing poverty.
We wish you all a very happy, safe and secure new year! We hope you’ll continue to be with us in 2022!
The Deadeye Games team