As wide and deep as the strategy genre is, you would think that we would see more variety in the settings for the games. The push for a familiar world to put the player at ease means that most games just repeat the same moments over and over again. Games with a broad historical sweep aside, strategy games today generally fall into four major groups:

Roman
Medieval
World War II
Cold War gone hot

There were once lots of Civil War battle games and games that dealt with Napoleon, but the golden age of wargaming is long past. So these settings, though still popular with players, are a little out of fashion. As ancient themed games have grown in popularity, these early modern and modern themes have faded.

The Age of Discovery is also a common them in games, but is not a perennial favorite like revisiting D-Day is.

I have a few periods that could use the attention of a talented designer. I am not suggesting that people stop making games about familiar or popular topics – I need legions to command – but would a little change hurt?

Ancient Middle East – Besides Chariots of War, no other game has really dealt with this fascinating period. Though the tech tree would be simple, and largely focused on organizational stuff, the diplomatic setting is complex and deep. You could plop the player in as the King of Assyria, armed with the greatest military force ever seen or as the King of Judah, caught between Assyria and the Egyptian superpower to the south. There is probably a good Christian/Jewish religious game in here somewhere. Can you keep your faith and your kingdom?

Renaissance Italy – If you want diplomatic wheeling dealing, this is the setting for it. The Merchant Prince/Machiavelli games dealt with some of the scheming that the author of The Prince was talking about, but put some foreign and military policy in there. This was a cockpit of all kinds of fun. If Paradox is smart, they’ll package the Machiavelli variant with their Diplomacy game now in production.

Exploration – Someone on another forum had this idea, and I think it’s a good one. Let the player be an explorer in the opening of a great Continent. Randomize the world setting, put strategic decisions in his/her way (negotiations, supplies, speed, competition for renown) and let people act out their inner Livingston.

Creation of China – the Shogun Era of Japan has been done a few times, and Koei dealt with the early Chinese empire way back in the Golden Age of strategy gaming. The success of recent Chinese movies with the expansion of Qin as a backdrop may mean that there is an audience for this kind of historic strategy epic.

Trade Empires – Yeah, Frog City already did a game called this. But someone should revisit it and make it fun. Add multiplayer. Maybe if Frog City wasn’t too busy making a GTA drug lord ripoff, they could do it.

Ideas are a dime a dozen in the game industry, and I am sure that smarter people than I have proposed ideas similar to these to their bosses. None of these ideas is purely original, just underdone.

And, familiar settings means a ready made audience. Which means money. Most great games are variations on a theme – nothing way out in left field.

But take this chance to pitch the strategy game you want to see. Maybe somebody will listen.