about me
THe origin of PAX AUGUSTA
It all started in Augusta Raurica. I was 10 years old when the school organized a trip to the archaeological site. This place left a mark on me, together with the video game Caesar II, which I loved when I was a child. Inside the game, there was lots of information, like a little Wikipedia about ancient Rome. I couldn’t study the topic in detail, though. Life led me to other paths: electronics, economy – no more room for Rome.
Yet, the memory of ancient Rome was still there. When I went to work I even saw every day outside my windows the ruins of Augusta Raurica, as a reminder of my old passion. Moreover, a city-building game set in ancient Rome wasn’t released in years. Why not…?
my very own solution
One day I decided. No city-building game? No problem. I’ll do it by myself.
I was very optimistic and I evaluated 6 months of development. How wrong I was. This is the fourth year and I’m still working on it. The reason is not just the enormous workload that the development required: I knew very little of Roman architecture and archaeology and I had to start from scratch.
There was indeed a problem with the game. It was so long that no city-building games came out: what if a big company started to develop a new one? How could I compete? I’m just a single person. Well, I have some collaborators for specific tasks, but for most of the work, it’s just me. I needed to think of a solution. Mine was to create the most accurate Roman city-building game ever. Tons of research, time, and money but that’s it. No company could go into details as I do, because it would be too expensive.
details are key
Above all, I take so much care of details because that’s my goal: creating the best Roman city-building game ever. The game is the one I’ve always dreamt about playing. Since no one completely satisfied me, I’ve been working on a game that tries to fulfill the highest expectations – even the historians’ and archaeologists’ ones!
I started to talk about the game on socials and more and more people loved the project. Their support was enthusiastic: they helped me by sending so many books for my studies that I still haven’t found the time to read them all. And that’s another question.
Time. Always too little for all the projects. Yet, I’ve always thought that’s a matter of priorities; I just needed to choose among them. Besides my regular job, I had a second one (from 19:00 to 22:00) that I decided to quit to focus on the game.
depending on donations
To do that I started to collect donations: I had to find somewhere else the money I lost leaving the second job. I live in Switzerland, where salaries are good, but life is expensive. Crazy expensive, especially around Zurich, where I’m based. Donations are essential to let me work on the game. I couldn’t go on without economic support. I offer the chance to do single donations or regular ones, by joining a membership. Both are important to help me with the costs and allow me to stay focused on the development. The more donations, the faster I’ll be able to release the final game!
accelerate the release
Thank you in advance!
The development still requires a lot of work, but the end is coming closer. I can’t wait to share the result of a long-lasting work with you: if you love ancient Rome, I’m quite confident you’ll like it.
