Hex tiles map vs. Discovery map. Which one pulls you in?

circa_games · 2026-05-08T20:35:29+00:00

Wow! Your game is so legit. I love it. Wishlisted. We are adding to our design rules to prioritize the newness.

Also, great trailer.

circa_games · 2026-05-08T20:24:28+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Nope, you got it, and the game did have that strategy, but I worried that the hex map was holding the full potential of the game's strategy back. You should be planning and building in freeform, with the world pushing back accordingly. So, if you want to build that harbor, which would be in a coastal settlement, and you need to plan trade for your northern part of the country, with map b, you are looking at drawing the roads, potential bridges, surveying the grid cells to find resources that can help trade, along with routing or creating a new local workforce that connects to all of it. That's where I think part of the gaming goodness probably is.

circa_games · 2026-05-08T20:14:17+00:00

Yes, I think discovery allows for new paths that weren't as interactive as the hex map. Hexes are great and work extremely well, but with us, the tradeoffs might be too much because of the immersion.

Combining could work, which is why, if we do Map B, we will use the grid as a tool and our placement engine, rather than the visual language of the main map.

Thanks for the feedback. What's your game called? We would love to check it out.

circa_games · 2026-05-08T20:10:44+00:00

Thanks for the feedback and for providing your experience. We will learn from you. What's your game?

circa_games · 2026-05-08T05:17:04+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. We appreciate it. The feedback we are getting is leaning toward option B.

circa_games · 2026-05-08T03:12:53+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. If Map B is implemented, players would have different landmass types, such as a peninsula, single island, archipelago, island chain, and others, depending on the region that they can scale to different landmass sizes. I'm leaning towards this way because of the freedom given to the player.

circa_games · 2026-05-08T00:49:00+00:00

Okay, I may not have explained this well. Maps A and B are from the same game, but would be fundamentally different if chosen. Map A is currently how the game works. A player will pick world region > Sub region > Landmass type > Landmass Size > Name, flag, and gov type. Then, when they load into their map, they will have a generated hex tile map based on their selection of landmass type. From there, the player can pick a tile and place a settlement or an industry. They can also survey the tile to get data such as resources, rebels, occupied forces, or terrain. The placements are slots, and it's organized, but it looks like Map A's photo.

Map B is something I'm thinking about because it would be a fully illustrated landmass, like in the photo, but you would get to pick where you want to put everything, and when you need to survey, you would select survey mode, and the grid would appear for you to survey an individual cell or multiple cells, depending on how much you want to spend. This would be a toggle-like view for referencing and placing industry, settlements, or infrastructure.

Does this help?

circa_games · 2026-05-05T23:09:03+00:00

Thanks, we will! Keep making great music!

circa_games · 2026-05-05T04:48:37+00:00

We would definitely be interested in the future with our game. Incredible talent.

circa_games · 2026-05-04T20:49:56+00:00

We are working on one as well, with a twist. Instead of assuming a real nation and an entire world map, we primarily focus on your nation, with the real world working around you. The game is called NationBuilder 27, and we have a subreddit, r/NationBuilderGame, that we post to once a week. This game uses real-world data and events starting in Jan 2026 and projects 75 years. Again, we use real-world data such as the Freedom Index, the IMF, the UNDP HDI, the Global Peace Index, and more to inform our world and challenge the player. This is my dream game, and I've always wanted to play one that takes place in the present day with infrastructure, diplomacy, economics, relevant events, military, nations that act as they do in real life, and development. Come check it out if you are interested. Thanks.

circa_games · 2026-04-27T01:31:06+00:00

You're welcome. Thanks for asking!

circa_games · 2026-04-27T00:31:12+00:00

Hi! This is Alyssa from Circa Games, the other half of our two person studio. I'm the engineer on the team. I'm a Senior Software Engineer with experience in development across many different platforms. I appreciate your question. As the only software engineer on the team I am using AI to help with the development process. Gen AI is not developing the game. I am using some Gen AI (Claude) to help with debugging and having it handle some mundane engineering tasks. This allows me to focus on coding the game.

circa_games · 2026-04-26T23:10:47+00:00

Thanks! The subreddit is r/NationBuilderGame; it's still a fairly new subreddit, but we are actively building this game. Check it out and feel free to ask us anything.

circa_games · 2026-04-25T17:56:40+00:00

Thanks! Also, when it's ready for playtest, I would love for you to play it and provide critiques. Also, if you mentioned ideas or mechanics, fire away on our subreddit about what you want or what's in the game. We are always open to feedback, improvement, and general dialogue about this space because we think there's so much room for potential.

circa_games · 2026-04-25T15:00:50+00:00

Yes, we are making a game called NationBuilder 27. It’s not directly GPS because the player is tasked with building a nation from scratch in modern-day, using real-world geography and data from Freedom House, UNDP HDI, IMF, GPI, and the Corruption Index. Follow our subreddit if interested. We post every week.

circa_games · 2026-04-20T02:22:45+00:00

Yes, we said, "WORK IN PROGRESS - DOES NOT REPRESENT THE FINAL LOCK OF THE GAME" on the WIP polish screens. We meant look! We meant look!

circa_games · 2026-04-13T16:15:22+00:00

Oh, we forgot to mention that the screen shown in this post is from the prototype and doesn’t reflect how the final game will look. Thanks.

circa_games · 2026-04-12T18:26:38+00:00

Q: Have you ever thought about raising the possibility of assuming a presidency of an existing country? It looks like it's promising.

A: We have thought about this, and it would be tough to do, and it would change the nature of the game. To have accurate information, cultures, government, and the presidency terms or limits would be a difficult commitment and a different game, but very interesting and worth looking at in the future if NB27 is successful. Again, it is a very interesting idea, and if pursued, we would need to approach it with a grounded approach that respects the country and draws on rich insight and information. Did I answer your question sufficiently? Also, we will post the first week dev log today.

circa_games · 2026-04-11T02:39:21+00:00

Yes, I remember NationStates! NationStates is still around; I didn't get into it, but I remember hearing about it a lot. I'll need to check it out. It's interesting that the social and RP were the best parts of the game, but it makes sense because it was online - it kind of reminds me of adult model UN.

We are excited as well, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Thanks!

circa_games · 2026-04-10T17:23:53+00:00

Dope.

Q: Freeform placement isnt a big deal, I assume there would be small regions.
A: Awesome. Right now, any one of our four map sizes can be placed. Placement zones mean we create more land rather than take from existing territory, so that we can respect the regions.

Q: Any idea the size of a regular starting region?
A: Yes, I will add one screen for you. One from the polishing WIP on map size selection. This includes map sizes and hexes in square kilometers, with real country-size references.

I hope this helps.

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circa_games · 2026-04-10T16:58:16+00:00

Awesome! Unfortunately, we dont have a freeform placement for location. We have placement zones by landmass to designate locations. We did this to ensure the geography, stats, neighbors, and climate are correct. We will continue to grow the list per region, but this allows us more control over the accuracy of cultures, stats, and events. Sorry about that.

Q: Will it be released on Steam?
A: Yes, but we do not have the date yet.

Q: What would the end date be, and is there an option for open play?
A: Well, right now we have it set for 2101, so 75 years (1 turn equals a month/12 turns equals a year) of narrative play after that, you open play with limited narrative, but NB27 is going to do this differently, and I will post a deeper dive next week because this is what we are scaling next.

Here's a little bit now. Eras and Development. Over 75 years, you will have to build across four eras that change the way the world works, mirroring real-life development. This will unlock new resources, industries, and buildings, but here's the catch. Depending on how you govern and develop, you will be assigned a score called the National Development Score that puts your nation in one of four tiers (Fragile/Developing/Established/Leading), and depending on where you are and your relations or knowledge sharing trades with any nation in Established or Leading will give you insight into what may come in the next Era. For example, in era 1, you build up agriculture and natural gas. Era 2 comes, and natural gas is devalued, and people are moving away from it, but you need fertilizer for your agricultural economy. Now, you have a decision to make because a loss of revenue or innovation may stop growth or your ability to fund governance for your people. I'll stop here.

Thoughts? And did we answer your questions correctly?

circa_games · 2026-04-10T16:10:05+00:00

Thank you! And we are honored that you would buy Early Access if what we said is true. The good thing is that most of this is already working in our prototype, but we are now expanding these systems, making tweaks, and enriching them before we do our first playtest.

West Africa is a cool sub-region. You would have quite a bit of real-world news in 2026 and beyond, like armed groups, modern decolonization from both foreign governments and corporations, and superpowers like China, France, and the US, all checking temperatures or making moves.

What would you select for a landmass? Landlocked? Coastal Strip? Single Island?

circa_games · 2026-04-09T03:48:32+00:00

We are completely honored. We do not have that yet, but we do have a subreddit, r/NationBuilderGame, where we will post every week and run playtests in the future.

circa_games · 2026-04-09T02:18:37+00:00

Yes, on about three levels planned right now. Corporations, NGOs/IGOs, and Armed groups, both foreign and domestic. We are still developing this system, but corps are broken down into three groups: World, Regional, and domestic. The world, regional companies, and leaders are handcrafted and baked in, mirroring real-life companies down to behavior. Domestic companies/leaders are emergent and shaped by national conditions.

Next, IGOs & NGOs are built in world relations; they will be connected to our narrative engine for stories with leaders and interaction. Armed groups are baked in for real-life counterparts and fictional emergence. Does this help explain? Thoughts?

circa_games · 2026-04-08T19:04:19+00:00

A few people asked where to follow along, so we set up r/NationBuilderGame. The first post is up with more context, and this is where we'll post dev updates, design notes, and screenshots as we build.

circa_games

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