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u/AldermanBeneke01

Image 1 — I commissioned a hand-painted watercolor map for a 15th-century project. I wanted to avoid generic digital maps and capture the authentic, tactile feel of an old parchment on a captain's desk.
Image 2 — I commissioned a hand-painted watercolor map for a 15th-century project. I wanted to avoid generic digital maps and capture the authentic, tactile feel of an old parchment on a captain's desk.
Image 3 — I commissioned a hand-painted watercolor map for a 15th-century project. I wanted to avoid generic digital maps and capture the authentic, tactile feel of an old parchment on a captain's desk.
Image 4 — I commissioned a hand-painted watercolor map for a 15th-century project. I wanted to avoid generic digital maps and capture the authentic, tactile feel of an old parchment on a captain's desk.
Image 5 — I commissioned a hand-painted watercolor map for a 15th-century project. I wanted to avoid generic digital maps and capture the authentic, tactile feel of an old parchment on a captain's desk.
▲ 34 r/mapmaking

I commissioned a hand-painted watercolor map for a 15th-century project. I wanted to avoid generic digital maps and capture the authentic, tactile feel of an old parchment on a captain's desk.

This is a map I commissioned from an artist (Indira) for a historical Mediterranean project set in 1400. I could have used standard digital tools or 3D assets, but I really wanted to capture that organic, imperfect, hand-painted aesthetic of the Renaissance era. The watercolor style gives it a warm, tactile feel that digital renders just can't replicate perfectly. We intentionally kept some of the geographic proportions slightly stylized to fit the "old portolan" vibe. What do you think of the color palette and the hand-painted approach?

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 15 hours ago
▲ 32 r/worldbuilding

What do you think of this hand-drawn watercolor map an artist made for my strategy game? I intentionally altered the geography for a specific reason

Image Credit
This is a hand-drawn watercolor map commissioned by me, created by Indira.

Project Name
Dominus Orbis Maris: Mare Nostrum 1400

Main Premise This is a historical trade and naval strategy game set in the 15th-century Mediterranean. The world focuses heavily on a bottom-up dynamic economy and realistic naval physics, where wind direction dictates the balance of power between sailing ships and rowing galleys.

Image Context This image represents the global overworld map of the Mediterranean, where the entire grand strategy layer of the game takes place. When designing this mapped area, I had a huge dilemma. I tried building a standard digital 3D topographical map, but it felt too "modern". I wanted players to feel immersed in the 1400s, so I commissioned this traditional watercolor map instead.

However, there is a catch in the worldbuilding and cartography design. If you look closely, the geographical proportions are not 100% accurate. I explicitly asked the artist to draw the "straits" (like the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bosphorus, Messina, etc.) disproportionately wide and open compared to reality.

The reason is pure Game Design and world mechanics. In my world, these "Choke Points" are incredibly important. Empires and mercantile factions will fight bitterly over them, setting up massive naval blockades and demanding heavy trade tolls. Widening them physically on the map allows players to deploy entire fleets inside these straits without the ship icons overlapping into a messy graphical nightmare.

I really want to hear your feedback on this:
What do you think of this compromise between cartographic accuracy and world mechanics (widening the straits)?
Do you prefer strict geographical realism, or do you appreciate stylized maps that serve the rules of the world?

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 22 hours ago
▲ 7 r/gamedesign

UX Design dilemma for a hardcore trading simulator: Historical Immersion vs Pure Data Readability Spreadsheet style?

Hi everyone, I am currently struggling with a core UX design choice for my game and I'd love to hear some thoughts from a game design perspective.

I am developing a naval management/trading simulator set in the 1400s Mediterranean heavily inspired to Patrician.

Initially, I built the UI using a parchment and wood style to favor historical immersion. However, to test the economic engine, I recently threw together some raw, tabular spreadsheet-style dark interfaces for my alpha testers. To my surprise, I realized that manipulating the data and actually playing the game felt incredibly smoother and more efficient with the clean tabular UI.

At this point, I am facing a classic UX dilemma: In a hardcore, data-heavy management game, is it better to prioritize graphical immersion (which can sometimes make reading huge amounts of data fatiguing), or does brutal visual clarity win out for long play sessions?

Since my day job involves living on Excel, I might be heavily biased toward raw data tables, but I worry that a spreadsheet UI might completely alienate players by ruining the 1400s atmosphere.

How do you usually balance thematic UI vs functional clarity in complex simulation games? What direction would you take?

Thanks for your insights!

reddit.com
u/AldermanBeneke01 — 4 days ago
▲ 103 r/italygames

Sto sviluppando un gestionale navale hardcore sul Mediterraneo del 1400 - Parti da semplice marinaio e arriva a cambiare la geopolitica di intere nazioni.

Ciao a tutti, da 2 anni sto sviluppando un gioco, oggi voglio parlarvene e sapere le vostre opinioni. Il nome del gioco sarà: Dominus Orbis Maris 1400 (DOM).

Sono cresciuto giocando ai grandi classici come Patrician, Port Royale, Anno, HOI, RTW. Da anni fatico a trovare titoli che mi prendano come fanno questi titoli che però iniziano ad essere un po' datati, e ho pensato di creare un gioco che sia non solo un tributo a questi capolavori, ma anche un gioco che possa dare quella profondità che avevano i gestionali di qualche tempo fa.

Il gioco si svolge nel Mediterraneo del 1400. Inizierete come semplici marinai con una piccola barca e potrete scegliere la vostra strada: diventare i più temuti pirati o i più potenti mercanti del mare.

Ecco alcune delle cose che potrete fare nel gioco:

  • Gestire la geopolitica e la logistica: le vostre navi cambieranno il corso della storia. Se una città alleata è sotto assedio, potrete forzare i blocchi navali nemici per rifornirla di cibo, armi e truppe, salvandola dal collasso, facendo soldi e scompaginando le tattiche del nemico.
  • Costruire città e gestire le relazioni con gli altri personaggi: potrete acquistare terreni e creare intere filiere produttive, ma non sarete da soli. Gli altri personaggi hanno le loro agende commerciali e politiche e cercheranno di ostacolarvi.
  • Combattere in battaglie navali: le battaglie in 2.5D tengono conto della direzione del vento. Ci saranno navi a remi, e ogni scafo avrà una sua diversa reazione al cambiare del vento; servirà essere furbi e pianificare le mosse prima che il nemico vi sovrasti.
  • Scalare la gerarchia: il vostro obiettivo non è solo accumulare oro, ma costruire la vostra influenza e diventare Doge, Governatore o Pascià. Una volta raggiunto il vertice, potrete gestire gli eserciti di terra e dichiarare guerra per conquistare altre città e nazioni, con combattimenti simulati in stile HOI4.

Il gioco è ancora in sviluppo e sto lavorando per migliorare la grafica e trasformare le città in veri e propri sfondi isometrici dipinti. Se siete interessati a questo tipo di gioco, potete iscrivervi alla lista d'attesa per non perdervi il lancio della pagina Steam ufficiale.

Il sito provvisorio e la lista d'attesa si trovano qui: https://dominusorbismaris.com/

Essendo uno sviluppatore solista, i vostri feedback sono molto importanti per me. Critiche, consigli o idee sono ben accetti! Vorrei sapere cosa ne pensate e se avete feature che vi piacerebbe avere in un titolo del genere.

Buon Vento!

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 4 days ago
▲ 18 r/RealTimeStrategy

[RTS Grand Strategy Hybrid] DOM: Mare Nostrum 1400 - I'm developing a spiritual successor to Patrician and Port Royale. What do you guys think?

HI. For the two years I have been working on DOM: Mare Nostrum 1400 by myself and I have not said a word about it. I used to play games like Patrician and Port Royale when I was younger. Those games are really good. It has been a long time since they came out. I thought it was time for a new game to come out that's similar to them and can take their place in the world of the Mediterranean in the 15th century.

A part of DOM: Mare Nostrum 1400 is building and managing your own trading company. You get to build cities like Venice or Genoa set up ways to make things manage your storage and try to stay alive in an economy where the people who live there really affect the prices of things.

To keep your company safe you need to be good at fighting at sea. When someone tries to stop your ships the game changes to a view from above where you have to make decisions. You get to control your ships and tell them what to do. The wind is a deal in this game: you cannot just sail in a straight line. You have to turn your ship to catch the wind take care of your crew use the oars and put your ships in the place to attack the other ships while stopping them from using the wind to their advantage.

I just started talking about my game on Reddit. I am really happy with all the interest and nice comments I got. It made me want to work on it time. My goal is to have DOM: Mare Nostrum 1400 finished by the end of this year.

Here is a quick look, at how the fighting works and what it looks like from above. What do you think about this way of doing things? I really want to hear what you think it will really help me.

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 9 days ago
▲ 28 r/BaseBuildingGames

Looking for a true hardcore trading game similar to Patrician/Port Royale? Here is the vision behind Dominus Orbis Maris 1400

Hi everyone. For the two years I have been working alone on Dominus Orbis Maris 1400 a game about building cities sailing ships and trading goods.

I used to play games like Patrician, Port Royale and Anno when I was younger.. I always thought they did not really show what it was like to be a merchant in the Mediterranean during the 15th century. I wanted to make a game that shows how big and tough it was to be a merchant then.

So what is Dominus Orbis Maris 1400 about?

The setting is the Mediterranean in the 1400s. This was a dangerous time. Big cities like Venice and Genoa were fighting against the Ottoman Empire. The world is divided into four groups: Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims and Jewish merchants. Your religion is important because it can stop you from trading with cities. If you are a merchant and you try to trade with a Muslim city during a war they might charge you a lot of money or even take your goods. Then merchants had to do whatever it took to survive including being diplomatic paying bribes and smuggling goods.

The map starts with 30 cities and each city has its own way of making goods and its own special features. Ships are also special to each region. You will not just buy a ship. If you are sailing in the Adriatic you might want a Galea Sottile, which is good for sailing against the wind. If you are trading in the Levant you might see Arab Dhows or big European Carracks.

The game has an economy that is driven by the people living in the cities. The people need food and other goods every day. The market can be fragile. Bad things can happen, like plagues, famines or sieges which can make it hard to trade. These events can also make you rich if you are smart. For example if a city is under siege you can try to sail past the blockade with your ships and sell food to the people inside at a very high price. You can even hoard food during a famine. Become very wealthy but this would be at the cost of people suffering.

You can also build your city in the game. You buy land. Build industrial areas, mines and houses on a grid. You are not the only one building the city. Other merchants and the city itself will also. Grow the city. The city will. Grow even if you do not do anything.

The game has naval combat with a special wind system. If you sail a ship against the wind you will be, in trouble. To protect your ships from pirates you need to have galleys to escort them. These galleys use rowers to sail against the wind and can ram enemy ships. They are expensive to maintain and cannot carry many goods. You have to balance protecting your ships with making a profit. You will lose money.

The goal of the game is not just to make money but to become a merchant. You start with a ship and work your way up. As you become richer you can climb the ranks. Become the leader of a city. Then the game becomes a grand strategy game, where you can raise armies annex territories declare wars and sign peace treaties to shape the Mediterranean.

https://dominusorbismaris.com/

What do you think? I would love to discuss with you what kind of features you would like to see in a hardcore game like this.

P.S. The game engine is entirely data-driven. I am actively building it to be 80% moddable from day one, so players will be able to tweak the economy, create a thousand different historical experiences, and eventually grow a strong modding community around it.

Follow me on reddit for news!

Buon Vento!

reddit.com
u/AldermanBeneke01 — 10 days ago
▲ 22 r/StrategyGames

Looking for a true, hardcore trading game similar to Patrician? Here is a first look at Dominus Orbis Maris 1400!

Hi everyone! I would like to share a game I've been solo-developing for the last 2 years: Dominus Orbis Maris 1400, a historically accurate economic and naval strategy game set in the 15th-century Mediterranean.

If you grew up loving the hardcore trading mechanics of classics like Patrician, Port Royale, or Anno, this is the spiritual successor I am trying to build. I wanted to move away from arcade mechanics and create a ruthless, deep simulation.

Here are the 4 core pillars of the game (swipe through the gallery to see them in action!):

  1. A Ruthless Bottom-Up Economy: The economy is entirely driven by the local population who consume resources daily. If you are smart, you can exploit this: buy all the wheat in the Mediterranean, hoard it in your private warehouse, wait for a city to starve, and sell it back at a 1000% markup.
  2. Dynamic, Living Cities: Cities grow organically over time. You can build houses and industrial factories on the grid to expand your empire, but so can rival AI merchants and the city itself. The world is alive and the city evolves even without the player's intervention.
  3. Religion & Politics: The Mediterranean is divided into 4 cultural blocks (Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, and Jewish merchants). Being a Catholic merchant trying to dock in a Muslim port during a war means paying heavy tariffs or risking cargo confiscation. Diplomacy and bribes are just as important as gold.
  4. Physics-Based Naval Combat: I implemented a physics-based wind system. If you sail a heavy Carrack against the wind, you won't move. To survive pirate ambushes or rival merchants, you will need Mediterranean Galleys, using your rowers to maneuver perfectly and ram the enemy regardless of the wind.

I'm still deep in development and polishing the UI, but I would love to hear your first impressions.

Are you guys looking forward to a deep trading simulator like this? Let me know what you think of the art style and the mechanics!

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 10 days ago
▲ 2 r/StrategyGames

Hey everyone! I'm a solo dev building a historical simulator set in the Mediterranean (think Patrician 3 or Port Royale, but with deeper tactical mechanics).

I wanted to share some recent progress on the Combat Interface and the gameplay

-The New UI: I recently overhauled the interface based on community feedback. I switched to a historically accurate font, increased contrast, and added a colorblind-friendly wind-speed indicator

-Galley Navigation: Unlike sailing ships, Galleys rely on stamina. Here you can see the unique Galley UI managing oar power. You have to carefully balance speed with rower fatigue

-The Ambush: My galley gets ambushed by three smaller sailing ships (Navicelli). You can see the UI elements tracking damage and tactical action buttons in real-time.

About the Game: The core of the game is a "bottom-up" dynamic economy. There is no magic respawn of items; populations consume goods daily, and prices fluctuate based on real scarcity.

If you are a veteran of strategy or trading games, I'd love to hear your feedback!!!!

u/AldermanBeneke01 — 16 days ago