Times Of Progress is a special game for me because it is the first message I have received from Sin Vega, the Prime Minister of Strategy Games. Sin once described writing articles for our former news editor Alice0 (RPS in peace) as practicing back flips for a kung fu master. Writing about a modern city builder at Sin’s instigation is like inviting Julius Caesar to budget for the development of Londinium.
The fear of screwing up – combined with other, more minor distractions like international gaming industry conferences – has kept me from writing about Times Of Progress for months. Today I give up and leave my apartment to make a hesitant speech to the masses, hoping like hell that Caesar is too busy with the latest uprising in Gaul to notice my mistakes.
For starters, this introductory analogy comes from the wrong millennium. Times Of Progress takes place during the Industrial Revolution – the birth of steam engines, trade unions and dense urban development. The first thing that attracts you about it is the presentation and aesthetics. We are in a procedurally generated Isometric Land, where roads and railways connect diamond-shaped city systems. The buildings, terrain types, and overall color scheme are pleasantly pristine – pale earth, red brick, green hill – but not barren. There are some engaging animated flourishes such as smoke plumes and houses that slowly become more intricate.
Nevertheless, you might be tempted to call Times Of Progress “minimalist.” It definitely feels more condensed than most city builders, but there are plenty of systems in place, including a few that result more directly from the choice of time period.
Take scientific innovations and modern technologies such as typewriters, water frames, and electrolysis. You don’t just assign scientists to study them themselves. Rather, they unlock according to a timeline as part of a broader industrial revolution that includes your city and all other AI-run cities on the map. You then spend the points you earn by achieving certain goals (e.g. achieving a certain food production) to import modern technologies and gain access to them faster. Overall, trade seems to be an essential issue in times of progress. There is no military element here, and apparently there is no distinct “cultural” layer either, so your interactions with other metropolises will be primarily commercial in nature.
There is also the issue of employee policy. Employees at Times Of Progress may go on strike if they are not paid (in the form of food) at a particular workplace for several weeks. You can comply with their demands or take police action. Workers can also unionize when related legislation is passed, making it more steep but more productive. People with higher education may be more willing to strike.
I like the balance of Times Of Progress, it seems striking between the joy of building a model train set and a carefully considered degree of historical intricacy. I suspect/hope that Sin will join us in the modern year and write something more detailed about the game. Please look kindly on my early efforts, Sin! Temporarily, you can read more about Times Of Progress on Steam. Developer Pressing Thumbs Games is a solo operator based in Berlin who uses the Rust programming language and the Bevy Engine. The name of the studio apparently comes from the German equivalent meaning keeping fingers crossed for success. Awww.
