Let's look at the backstage #4
Hello, fans of strategic city-builders!
Today’s update is for all players eagerly awaiting the release of The Whims of the Gods! We’re diving into one of the most crucial gameplay mechanics—the Calendar System. This feature shapes the world of The Whims of the Gods, determining the challenges and surprises that await you throughout the game. This will also be the fourth and final part of our behind-the-scenes series, as our entire team is now fully focused on polishing the game to deliver the best possible experience before launch!
Today’s featured developers:
Błażej Brzykcy – responsible for implementing new features and gameplay systems
Mikołaj Trekner – our Environment Artist
Wojciech Lipiec – specializing in game design
Let’s hear what they have to say!
Błażej:
The Calendar in our game is more than just a simple time tracker. It’s a dynamic system that controls events, shaping the life of your settlement and its inhabitants. Some events will bring advantages—extra resources, unit buffs, or other beneficial effects. Others, however, will put your strategic thinking and management skills to the test. Plagues, natural disasters, or even volcanic eruptions can completely disrupt your plans.
One of the biggest challenges in implementing the Calendar system was ensuring that each event functions seamlessly, regardless of when it occurs. I had to make sure that all events are correctly recorded and can be restored even after a long time—something that’s crucial, especially in long-term scenarios. It was a demanding yet rewarding challenge that deepened my understanding of how complex dynamic event systems are in games.
Among the most interesting events I worked on, you’ll find:
- Plague, which weakens your inhabitants
- Mood Modifier, affecting the overall morale of your settlement
- Consumption Shifts, forcing you to reorganize your food economy
Each event has unique effects and can push you to make tough decisions. Implementing them was incredibly fun—especially seeing how they impact the gameplay in unexpected ways!
Mikołaj:
The concept of the Calendar and how players interact with it evolved. You activate it using kinetic and thermal energy by placing the right buildings nearby. These structures power up devices that trigger activations essential for progressing in the game. We wanted players to instantly recognize the Calendar as an important gameplay element while ensuring it was visually appealing. That’s why it’s positioned at an elevated angle—to better catch the daylight and stand out in your settlement.
During modeling, an unexpected challenge emerged: visualizing how energy is transferred to the Calendar. We wanted to showcase the geometric and spatial aspects of the "cables" delivering energy, assigning distinct colors to the pathways, and creating a visually striking structure. We hope we succeeded!
Wojtek:
The Calendar in The Whims of the Gods isn’t just a gameplay mechanic — it’s also a key narrative element. The events it brings? They are nothing less than the whims of the gods themselves. This system is also a great example of iterative design in action.
At first, we designed events as simple buffs and debuffs. We didn’t want to make things unnecessarily difficult for players. When you first discover the Calendar, you’ll find positive effects waiting for you—such as increased population happiness or more efficient production chains.
We knew what we wanted to display on the Calendar’s rotating rings, but we struggled to find a clear way to present it. Our first concept included multiple rings, each representing a different aspect of gameplay—one for agriculture, another for social life, and so on. Each ring moved at a different pace, influenced by the player's actions. However, we soon realized that while this looked great on paper, it became overwhelming in practice. The system had to be simplified.
In the next iteration, we reduced it to two rings—one for positive events, the other for negative ones—spinning at the same speed. However, event readability was still an issue because the Calendar followed the game’s real-time flow. To fix this, we combined aspects of our previous designs, keeping two types of events on separate rings but making two major changes:
We flattened the Calendar into a single ring where each event appears as a tile, containing all necessary details without visually indicating its duration.
We separated game time from Calendar time. The center of the Calendar now works like a clock mechanism, and the ring rotates only after the internal system completes a full cycle. This means that the new whims of the gods aren’t dictated by in-game day/night cycles but by the gods themselves!
We can’t wait for you to experience the Calendar and see how it challenges your strategic skills!
Don't forget to JOIN OUR DISCORD to talk about The Whims of the Gods with the development team! All the people featured in this announcement are there (almost) every day!