Majesty
Mac/Windows personal computer game
Capitol Mac's Mac Games Day 11/11/2k

We (my wife and I) found ourselves at hour three of Capitol Mac's Mac Gameday perched on the edge of our chairs, playing the kingdom building game Majesty (soon to be released by MacPlay). It was demo'ed for us here by MacPlay's Jason Whong, who coached us from over our shoulders. Soon, I came to realize that this game was not some amalgamation of genre and game cliche's, but a living, breathing cool idea...The graphics were nice, and the gameplay was better. That being said, this is a glimpse of Majesty taken from the short time I was able to play it...but I think you'll find my observations revealing.

A player's role in Majesty is that of an unseen ruler, but a king or queen mind you, not an assumed god. As you build the components of what you'd like to be your legacy, you'll find the personal style you choose is evident in the evolution of your community. Following a story and/or your whim, you choose the buildings and staff of your kingdom-to-be, watching as your decisions lead to the grandeur or failure of your people. What's nice in this game is the presence of enemy and friendly intelligence. Everyone you recruit has motives and tasks that may or may not coincide with your own. Hire some Rangers from your Ranger's Guild and they might wander and explore. If you want a dark and ominous section explored in particular, (one they seem to ignore) you might have to grease their palms. If you want a monster dead and you don't put enough positive reinforcement (i.e. cash) behind it, you might find them lounging around in one of your Inns instead of protecting the Market from a troll. And finding them is easy and fun. The controls lining the left side of the screen are very consistent and compact. Aside from your major window of work, a small window at the top left provides a radar-overview...the one at the bottom right acts like a "cam" to any part of the world. Pick a warrior and that lower widow is a "Warrior Cam" following him around, while you either watch or ignore and go about your usual business. And that business is the building and managing of all sorts of people of all races, Marketplaces, Towers, Temples (of different religions) and more...

People want to pin games down with inappropriate comparisons that make them feel better about themselves. Majesty lends itself to much of that labelling, so let me dispel a few obvious matchings: Nearly everyone I know who plays the BoreCraftTM series likes to tell me the about first five things they think a player must do to survive. The amusing thing is, each person gives the exact same five things. Now my question is, why don't we just start the game with those five things done? Why waste time fooling me into thinking personal style will get me anywhere when one of the three uninspired races comes a-knocking? Majesty throws those games off their horses...the options in even the most basic beginner game leave a lot to personal choice, and make it a joy to pay attention. So how do you list this in our acronym-flavored game industry? Well, it's a Real Time Strategy game, so RTS right there....and it has Multiplayer, so add an M...then an F for Fantasy....So far we have RTSMF. Would it be that hard for people to come up with some descriptions that start with vowels? Keep in mind that those categories are only as useful as the people who need the limits. (The only appropriate one I've seen is "1st Person Shooter" because invariably in those games you try to shoot the first person you see.)

Playing Majesty in multiplayer (a one-on-one game with my wife, and tourney later) was largely unpredictable given the different styles of governing. Some real game gems shone through in the play, like my "Reward" discovery. Our goal in the tourney was to collect the most gold, and knowing that the Marketplace is a good source of revenue, I set out to destroy the ones owned by my opponents. My boys wouldn't wander into enemy territory, so I sweetened the deal with some gold. I certainly didn't expect what caused a smiling "that guy's mean!" from Jason, as he witnessed my enemy's own men taking my bait and destroying his Marketplace for me. His men saw an opportunity and they took it, demonstrating a really fun bit of bounty hunting. My wife beat me in the tournament, pointing out that I blew all my gold buying things instead of saving, just like in real life. Point taken, but my empire was the coolest looking (says me) and I bought a lot of neat stuff. The differences in four mini-kingdoms made by people that had never played the game before, showed me the real creative diversity this game posesses. The multi-play was smooth, but we were on a LAN, which usually is. The internet play for the Mac will be negotiated through Game Ranger (for you PC users: Game Ranger is--oh, nevermind).

So here's the skinny: Majesty is very, very cool. And very, very different. For us aging punks a good comparison might be a videogame based on all our high-level D&D guys once they had to build a castle (dealing with castle NPC's and doing more than just drawing it on graph paper and shelving the character--you know who you are). My wife, who normally flees from games that people might describe as RTSFM, not only liked it, but learned it fast enough to relish legitimately kicking my butt in a tourney. The requirements are not outrageous, but ample. A decent iMac DV with a chunk of RAM will do ya (and if you're not playing games with at least 64 megs of RAM by now, enjoy your Solitaire Sampler). The PC requirements are: I don't know. Frankly, if you have enough time to put together a component system then go look it up yourself or ask your cow company to look it up for you. But I'm sure this game was already overlooked in the glut of PC games, so Mac users can show up the lost souls on the other side by embracing Majesty for what it is: a great game obviously made and converted by a very competent and creative team.

Related Links:
Majesty official site 
www.gameranger.com
www.macplay.com
www.capitolmac.com

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-Dean Browell