Overview
In Lightning Rod, players manipulate the weather. Whether they want blistering hot sunshine or a swirling maelstrom is totally up to them. Players can choose to intensely balance air currents and flows, or attempt to create a second ice age - whatever their heart desires.
Core Mechanics
Players are initially presented with a 3-D representation of Earth, and are guided through manipulating air currents in order to direct air flow around the planet. When players mix a certain direction of air with a heat node, it creates an effect. These effects can range from creating a swirling tornado, to just dispersing heat over an area. Where player strategies develop is through the balancing of these nodes with air currents in order to avoid situations like cyclones and tornadoes. Players can direct air currents through rain nodes, dispersing rain over an area if it is too hot. In addition to this, if a player disperses a rain node over a cold area, it creates snow. If a player does either of these too much, it can cause snowstorms and flooding, damaging populations in a certain area. Some scenarios require players to keep consistent weather patterns over a length of time, while others require players to create a specific weather pattern. Wind patterns and heat pockets shift constantly, forcing players to constantly manipulate weather patterns in order to complete their objectives.
Wind Mechanics
The wind in Lightning Rod sometimes takes on a mind of its own. Because it is constantly moving and shifting, players need to keep track of which directions a strong win is moving. If a strong wind moves into a pocket a player is trying to manipulate, it may cause unintended side effects. These side effects could range from a giant storm to a simple raincloud over a dry country. In order to fully take advantage of the wind, players need to micromanage the assets they have moved, as failing to keep track of them will lead to disastrous side effects.
Players create and manipulate storms and weather effects. Much to the displeasure of the population.
Overview
Master Media Mogul sees the player take control of one of several failing media businesses and propelling it into the 21st century. From cutting-edge fax machines to state of the art web streaming, players experience the growth of the media industry from the latter half of the 20th century to the new era in the 21st. Everything is managed by the player - from the placement of office furniture to the broadcasting choices of a tv station.
Core Mechanics
Players begin by selecting an industry they want to start with. Print and early TV are the only types available in the latter part of the 20th century. Once players progress past the first few years, they are able to set up an R&D department to begin researching alternative ways to get their media to the masses. This can range from polling for interests to developing new broadcasting technology. As players progress further through the timeline, sequences like awards shows, real-life events to cover, and other issues confront the player. Reporters and representatives can be sent to events, and their skills depend on how well the company's coverage is received. A by-person simulation is also a core component of the game, with star members of a station or newspaper requiring an entourage and incentives to keep them happy. Players have to balance keeping their staff happy and therefore productive with all of their other expenses, which forces them to make important decisions. Because events cost money to cover, players also have to balance the possible financial impact vs the potential rewards.
Style
Mogul's style changes through the time periods - with each era being distinctively different in both presentation and approach to news coverage. The different eras require different presenters and reporters, and for those characters to have different skills. A more story-aggressive writer might thrive in the 21st century, while a charismatic newsreader might succeed in the 1960s and 70s. The visual style changes as well, both in appearance and the aesthetic. Characters might swap their muted suits and visually desaturated style for smart casual on-site reporting gear and stylistic fashions in the 21st century.Game is laid out in a similar fashion to the simulation game The Movies.
Gaia is a 'God game', taking place over the life of a village. In the vein of similar titles like Populous or Reus, Players take control of a ruling force or deity that influences the way that the people of the world interact. While players have limited physical interaction with the world, the primary way they encourage villagers to act is through ideas. Players craft ideologies, comprised of base ideas, that they then 'select' an individual to champion. As villagers ascend the hierarchy of their little village, more and more residents join that ideology. These ideals come from various categories, and the more inclined to one category they are, the village will appear and act differently. For example, if the ideology contains might and strength as cornerstones, the village will be more warlike and hostile. In contrast, if a player opts for more mercantile beliefs of mass production and advanced economics, the villagers will become traders and merchants.
These ideologies influence the way that a village develops as well - if scientifically advanced, a village's end goals will revolve around them achieving a particular development. If militarily inclined, the village's goals will involve dominating the surrounding villages.
Features include:
Power Incarnate - rather than shaping the world, shape the people that inhabit it through their ideas and visions for the future. Create the perfect society.
Responsive Civilisation - experience a civilization that changes according to the choices that you make, and not always in the ways that you expect.
Procedural Goals - Depending on the values you instil in the villagers, they will change and adapt to the ideals that you instill in them.
Image of a similar game, Populous.
(Image sourced from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/Amiga_Populous.png)
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