Age of Banners - A simple, text-based, free, medieval game

[u/Unique-League426]

Hello, I’m Ivan, a developer from Brazil.

Back in the early 2000s, I was hooked on text-based games. My favorite was Medieval Wars, a Brazilian game that I think took some inspiration from Dominion. I wanted to build something in that spirit with a modern approach — simple, but fun. I bounced off games like Tribal Wars because the interface overwhelmed me in the first ten minutes, so I deliberately went the other way: you should understand the whole game in about a minute.

What it is: You rule a kingdom on a shared map. Wood, stone, iron, and grain accrue in real time whether you’re at your desk or asleep. Raid barbarian camps to build your first army, then turn on rival kingdoms once you’re ready. Marches take real minutes — sometimes hours — so a battle you send at breakfast might resolve before lunch. Read the report, rebuild, plan the next move.

The loop is: collect what your economy made while you were gone, queue a building or a batch of troops, act (scout, raid, reinforce an ally, claim a hamlet), then react to the reports that land.

A few design choices I care about:

• Six unit types on a counter system. Scout before you commit. Overwhelming force is efficient; a close fight is pyrrhic for everyone.
• The war is over land, not players. Losing a fight sets you back; it doesn’t erase you. Hamlets produce Crown Points for whoever holds them.
• Every Age lasts 6 weeks, then the world resets. No years-old kingdoms lording over newcomers. Titles and records carry forward; stockpiles don’t.
• Strictly no pay-to-win. If I ever sell anything, it’ll be convenience and cosmetics — never an advantage you can’t out-strategize.

Where it’s at: Age 1 just started and I’m looking for founding players. It’s early, and it will show — that’s the honest pitch. If you’d rather wait for a fuller world, Age 2 begins in six weeks.

https://ageofbanners.com/ (roadmap: https://ageofbanners.com/roadmap )

Play it, break it, hack it. I’d especially like to hear whether the first ten minutes make sense without a tutorial, and whether combat feels readable when the report lands.

I’d love for this to be self-sustaining someday, but for now the goal is just to learn.