What is Epoch: Alternate History?

Epoch is a grand strategy game focused on simulating world history. In the future, you will be able start in a wide range of different historical scenarios. From the earliest human societies to modern day.

Every playthrough generates a completely unique alternate history, shaped by AI leader personalities and your choices.

At early stages of the project there was no interactivity and it was not even meant to be a game. Just kind of an ant farm you could watch. It was inspired by a Facebook bot I saw a long time ago where countries would randomly grab territory from eachother. Then it turned into a game one day when I added the ability to declare war and I realized the potential of this project. 

I also draw inspiration from the Civilization games and many of the Paradox Interactive titles. Particularly a mod for Civilization IV called "Caveman2Cosmos" really inspired me.

About me

Hi! I’m Markus, a solo developer from Norway. I started working on Epoch on June 1st, 2019.  I am very interested in history and geography which is why I am able to work consistently on this project. Ever since I was a kid I have always been designing games in various forms. From board games made out of paper to fully working PC games. A lot of my games never got to a point where I felt satisfied enough to release them.  Epoch still hasn't reached that point in my mind, but I am releasing it regardless. I really don't see a future where I abandon this project. In a way I am making the game for myself too.

For me, Epoch is a passion project. The strategy game I always wanted to play. There's always another thing to add or adjust. It's an infinity project. A lot of people ask me when the game will be finished. But my goal isn't to finish it, my goal is to make it fun and interesting to play. I have no plans to quit working on the project or end the development.

Currently I work another job so I am only able to work on the game on the side. My dream is to be able to work fulltime on my solo-projects, but regardless of if I am able to achieve that goal or not I will keep making games.

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DISCLAIMER: THIS GAME IS IN DEVELOPMENT SO THERE MAY BE BUGS, PERFORMANCE ISSUES AND A LACK OF FEATURES

Features:

• 136 playable countries - In a present day scenario starting in 2019
• 100 000 BCE scenario - Featuring completely different gameplay
• War - Ability to wage war with armies and fleets moving on the map
• Construction - Build bases and other structures within your borders
• AI Leaders - The AI takes into account lots of factors in their decision making. Each time you start the game their traits get randomized across the world.
• Rebellions - Instability can lead to rebel uprisings
• Federations/Unions - AI countries can join together to create a larger, stronger nation
• Every Citizen Simulated - Simulates political opinions of every single person in the world

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F.A.Q

Q: When is the Steam release?

A: Probably in a while. The quality of my game needs to be up to a certain standard for me to want to do a Steam release. I have a list of things that the game needs for the release, like music and connecting the earliest start to the latest so you can play through all of human history among others.

Q: Why do some countries on the map not have their actual flags in the 2019 scenario?

A: As a solo developer I have to split my attention between many different areas of development. Because of this I have decided to give lower priority to scenario editing while keeping my focus on adding new game mechanics. So the 2019 scenario is very unfinished and getting slowly improved. I also have a flag rework in my plans so making new flags might be a waste of time at the current stage in development as I might have to re-do it later anyways.

Q: When is the next update?

A: Itch.io only receives the major updates (like 0.14 - 0.15 - 0.16) while Patreon members get all the dev builds in between. (like 0.15.3. - 0.15.4 - 0.15.5). The dev builds get released around once a month but there may be different wait times between updates. While major updates get released when they are done.

In addition to gaining access to dev builds, patreon membership also allows you to take part in polls regarding the future of Epoch's development.