Strategema

Strategema is a real-time strategy game set in the Modern age. It was released in 2020 and was developed by mag on Roblox.

Gameplay
The player has control over a nation and guides it through research and expansion to accomplish a specified goal. In the standard gamemode, the primary goal is to conquer the battlefield. Players must research technologies, build cities, and conduct diplomacy to satisfy an end-game criterion. While the most common method is by Domination, there are numerous other methods to win the game.

The game is rendered in a three-dimensional isometric environment and the camera can be rotated about a fixed axis. Instead of controlling individual citizens, the only units in the game are military based. Buildings are constructed according to a predefined amount of time for each respectively. There is a ramping cost associated with the increased number of each building a nation has.

Like any RTS game, resources must be collected for a nation to thrive. Two primary types of resources are available: plastic and food. These are required for the construction of units, buildings, market transactions, and common diplomacy. Research does not require explicit resources and is instead based on the number of Research Centers a nation has.

Singleplayer
Practice and the Map Editor are the two methods of singleplayer. In Practice, the standard ruleset is enforced and the Domination victory condition is disabled.

The Map Editor allows users to create their own maps according to the generation rules. These maps can be loaded in Multiplayer servers by selecting Custom 1-4. Players cannot access eachother's maps, but many custom maps have been added to the official roster by the creator.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer matches, up to six players can simultaneously play against each other. There are numerous pre-set gamemodes that players can choose from. Additionally, the standard ruleset can be modified by players. The game utilizes a lobby system in which players can host their own games.

Upon being defeated or completion of the match, players receive XP which contributes to their level. If a player leaves early, their nation is auto-defeated.

Competitive
In competitive matches, the game must be played with the standard ruleset and gamemode. In addition, lobbies are forced to be public. Otherwise, this is identical to the Multiplayer mode.

Upon being defeated or completion of the match, players receive CP which can raise or lower their rank. If a player leaves early, their nation is auto-defeated and they automatically lose 200 CP.

Development
The game was created as a relaxed, passion project in the style of classic real-time strategy games. It draws inspiration from many titles, including Age of Empires II, | Rise of Nations, Civilization III, RimWorld, Rollercoaster Tycoon and other Chris Sawyer games.

Originally, the game was a survival real-time strategy game where the player would establish a colony. This was a proof-of-concept which was created in 2018, but did not progress beyond this stage. The basic user interface created for this game would later be used during the development of Strategema.

In early July 2020, mag created a perlin noise terrain generator as a thought experiment. Inspiration struck as a result of this to develop an RTS game as a passion project. Development for this military strategy game officially began in late July 2020 and started as a spiritual successor to The Little Men, another Roblox real-time strategy game, which became defunct in roughly 2014. Although the 2018 survival strategy game was revived for as the basis for this project, only the user interface was reused.

By mid-August 2020, the beta version of the game was functional and under testing. The game officially launched to the public as version 1.0.0 on August 28, 2020. The community discord was launched the same day.

Soundtrack
The music is from two defunct games from the early 1990s: Treasure Master released in 1991 for the NES which was composed by Tim Follin, and Lagrange Point released in 1991 for the Japanese Famicom which was composed by Akio Dobashi.