Most gamers will recognize the BreakAway Games name from its hit retail titles. Founded by MicroProse veteran Douglas Whatley in 1998, the company developed such critically acclaimed games like city-builder Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the Conquests expansion for Civilization III. In 2002, BreakAway opened BreakAway Federal Systems, a concept-based development house devoted to serious games. It has developed such varied simulations as a virtual flight deck for pilots and a convoy escort simulator that is being used to train drivers heading for the Middle East. BreakAway has not turned its back on recreational games, but the Maryland-based company has taken advantage of its proximity to Washington, D.C. to expand its skill set and markets.
Yet in spite of its "serious" purpose, A Force More Powerful doesn't stray too far from what may be familiar to most gamers. It is divided into planning and execution phases, requires upgrading of skills and recruiting of workers, and has cut scenes to dramatize major events in the game. It even has a scenario editor, a particularly important tool for a game whose relevance is highly dependent on the portrayal of historical events. And, like many strategy games, it draws its strength from a foundation of academic research and historical interpretation.
The theoretical basis of the non-violent game is founded on two major texts in the movement. First is DuVall and Ackerman's A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-Violent Conflict, the companion book to the PBS series. It examines the evolution of non-violent movements from Tsarist Russia to the post-Cold War world. Second is Robert Helvey's On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking About the Fundamentals, an essential primer on how these resistance movements choose and reach their goals. "We didn't incorporate all the variables from all the models," Merriman says, but this research foundation was crucial in keeping the project on track.
Gupta says, "The ICNC had a panel of academic advisors who proved to be useful as 'reality checkers.'" Since this was intended as a teaching tool, this panel insisted that the game let the player do the initial strategic analysis. The player picks which of many goals to prioritize and how quickly they should be met. It also discourages thinking of crisis situations as "us vs. them" scenarios. Both the government and the resisters are many-headed beasts; not everyone is as committed to the cause as black and white thinking would lead you to believe.
"People in these groups have such lofty goals," says Merriman. "But they don't always do the concrete analytical work that they need." A Force More Powerful is, in his opinion, an important tool in reminding these groups that basic research is the foundation of any strong movement.
The nature of the audience also determined the technical limits of the game. A Force More Powerful is a day planner, organized by dates and assignments. The images are relatively low resolution and animations are repeated ad nauseum. This looks nothing like a modern strategy game. "If we are targeting internationally," Gupta explains, "we need to keep the minimum specs low. This could be running on machines in the Third World." But Gupta is convinced that the low technical requirements improved the final product by forcing the team to concentrate on what was most important. "We were convinced that we wanted to keep the 3-D world for cities. This meant that we needed to find other ways to reflect the national map." The result was a stylized map and an interface that needed little explanation. "These aren't necessarily gamers."
