Line #26 VideoGame/Hamurabi


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hamurabi-game_9047.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[UrExample This game]] is the ancestor to ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'']]
3
4	->''"HAMURABI: I BEG TO REPORT TO YOU,.."''
5
6	''Hamurabi'' is a text-based and turn-based video game written by Doug Dyment in 1968 in the [=FOCAL=] language under the name ''The Sumer Game'' and ported to BASIC by David H. Ahl. It was inspired by the 1964 game ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sumerian_Game The Sumerian Game]]''.
7
8	This game then was spread, with other games written in BASIC, by the book ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC_Computer_Games BASIC Computer Games]]'', first published in 1973.
9
10	In this game, in order to prevent a [[TheFamine famine]], the player had to manage the production of grain of a city, measured in bushels, by allocating some to planting, some to consumption by citizens and the remainder to stocking in silos, which could be attacked by rats; he was also able to buy and sell acres of farmland.
11
12	At the tenth year, the player was ranked relative to historical rulers, a system which was later reused by Sid Meier in his ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}''.
13
14	This game was a precursor for other management and simulation games.
15
16	You can play [[http://www.hammurabigame.com/ here]] and [[http://www.apollowebworks.com/russell/samples/hamurabi.html here]], the BASIC code source is available [[http://www.moorecad.com/classicbasic/basic/creative/hamurabi.bas here]] and a C99 port [[http://github.com/blt/hamurabi here]].
17
18	----
19
20	!!This videogame provides examples of the following tropes:
21
22	* BlueBlood: Nobility is one of the cosial of ''Santa Paravia''.
23	* TheCaligula: If the player caused many deaths by starvation[=/=]didn't ensure enough land per person, the game will say, at the end, that "[your] heavy handed performance smacks of Nero and Ivan IV" and that the survivors "hate your guts."
24	* CommieLand: Setats Detinu[[note]]UsefulNotes/UnitedStates reversed[[/note]], in the spin-off ''King'', is stated as being a Communist country.
25	* ConstructAdditionalPylons: You might have to buy additional farmland to feed your growing population.
26	* CommandAndConquerEconomy: You allocate the grain production between stocking, eating and planting.
27	** Played even more straight in ''[[http://atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=96 King]]'', where you play [[DirtyCommies the Premier of the Communist island of Setats Detinu]].
28	* TheFamine: The gameplay is centered around avoiding this outcome, and starving subjects can cause the player to have issues ranging from simply losing persons to flat-out losing.
29	* LandOfOneCity: The original version has Ur as setting.
30	* LuckBasedMission: Plagues can make things much easier by reducing how many people you need to feed and increasing your acreage per citizen, but they're completely random. The fluctuations in land prices and especially the size of the harvest can randomly screw you, though handling these situations well when they do happen is part of the game.
31	* MerchantPrince: ''Santa Paravia''. You're a petty knight and try to win the throne through your successful business dealings.
32	* OlderThanTheNES: First version in FOCAL released in 1968 and BASIC version in 1973.
33	* PracticalCurrency: The bushels of grain produced by your fields can be used to [[ConstructAdditionalPylons buy additional land]].
34	* RapePillageAndBurn: Unpaid mercenaries in "Dukedom'' tend to steal grain, kill some serfs and rape the women, [[ChildByRape raising the birth rate]] - the authors even comment "these are not ordinary mercenaries."
35	* TimedMission: For many of the games, the goal is to survive a certain number of years without being overthrown by disaster. ''Santa Paravia'', however, plays this straight; you have only a random number of years before you die of old age, and your job is to climb to the top before time runs out.
36	* TyopOnTheCover: The ancient king was named "Ham'''m'''urabi" but the creator either forgot a 'm' or wanted to keep the name within the eight-character limit. Lampshaded by [[http://atariarchives.org/basicgames/showpage.php?page=78 the presentation of this game]] in ''BASIC Computer Games'':
37	-->''"This error has spread far and wide until a generation of students who have used this program now think that Hammurabi is the incorrect spelling."''
38	* UpdatedRerelease: The 1973 BASIC version, which added an end-of-game performance summary, among other things.
39	* UrExample: This game was a precursor for many of the features of the resource management games.
40	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can starve part of your subjects so as to be able to buy farmland or, simply, to be able to not feed useless eaters. However, ''Dukedom'' punishes players who starve their serfs [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment while there is enough food in the granaries]].
41	* WizardNeedsFoodBadly: If your subjects don't get enough food, they will starve and die.
42	* YouLoseAtZeroTrust: If more than 45% of the population starve in a year, the player is deposed and "declared 'National Fink'."
43	* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: If you don't feed your citizens enough, they will revolt and depose you.
44	----

Context VideoGame / Hamurabi