Alright, so I got this idea a while back, thought I’d try my hand at something involving a "medieval king." You know, the whole majestic ruler vibe. Sounded pretty straightforward at first.
Getting the Ball Rolling
So, I started by just jotting down what I thought a king does. Big castles, ordering knights around, feasts all the time. That's the picture you get from movies, right? I figured, how hard could it be to capture that feeling? I wanted to build a little interactive story, maybe a super simple game, where you could experience that.
First thing I did was try to sketch out a "day in the life." I remembered reading somewhere that kings would go hunting, which sounded like a good, kingly activity. So, I put that in. Then, I thought, okay, after hunting, what? Maybe some royal decrees? Signing papers? The stuff I read mentioned they'd "do some state business, meeting councillors, signing papers and meeting ambassadors and petitioners." Man, that already sounded less like fun and more like actual work.
Things Got Complicated
Then I started thinking about the other side of the coin. The actual managing part. The stuff about medieval lords "managing their estate—settling disputes between those under their supervision." Suddenly, my cool king idea had to deal with grumpy Farmer Giles complaining about stolen chickens or two nobles bickering over a patch of land. That wasn't in my original "fun king" plan!
I tried to implement a simple system for this. Like, you'd get a pop-up: "Dispute: Lord Ashworth claims Lord Blackwood’s dogs are chasing his deer." And you'd have to pick an option. But then, what are the consequences? Make one happy, the other gets mad. It started feeling like a balancing act, and not a very fun one.
And the feasts! "Hosting other lords and barons for grand banquets in decadent halls." Sounds great. But then I thought, who’s cooking? Where’s the food from? Are the peasants happy enough to provide it? The text I found also mentioned village life was "wearing simple dress and living on a meager diet... trying to grow enough food to survive another year." So, my king feasting while his people were struggling? That felt a bit off.
Hitting a Wall (Sort Of)
It’s funny, I remember trying to organize a surprise party for my buddy once. I thought it’d be easy: get a cake, invite people, done. But then it was, who’s picking up the cake? What if he finds out? Does Sarah know Mark is also coming? It became this whole logistical nightmare. Making this king thing felt a bit like that. Every cool idea, like "going hunting," had a bunch of boring admin attached to it if you wanted it to feel even a tiny bit real.
My little project kind of stalled there. I realized being a medieval king probably wasn't just about wearing a cool crown and looking stern. It was a lot of responsibility, a lot of managing people, and probably a lot of stress. Not quite the power fantasy I initially imagined.
- I wanted epic battles, but got bogged down in supply chains.
- I wanted grand pronouncements, but spent time mediating petty squabbles.
- I thought about glory, but the day-to-day seemed more like project management.
So, What Now?
So yeah, my "medieval king" simulation is currently gathering dust on my hard drive. I spent a good few afternoons on it, starting with grand visions of power and ending up with a headache trying to figure out tax rates that wouldn’t cause a rebellion. It was an interesting dive, though. Made me appreciate that "all in all, medieval lords had a pretty good life" probably came with a ton of asterisks and fine print that we don't see in the movies.
Maybe I'll pick it up again someday. Or maybe I'll just stick to games where someone else has already figured out all the boring bits. For now, I’ve got a newfound respect for anyone who had to actually run a kingdom back then. Definitely not as chill as it looks.
