This page is about the software which connects Gods and Goddesses to their heroes and heroines. For other uses, see Godville (Disambiguation)

Godville Developer Godville Games Ltd. Publisher Godville Games Ltd. Programmers Mikhail Platov

Dmitry Kosinov Series Godville Platforms iOS, Android, Windows, Web Release Date May 10, 2010 Genre Zero-player game Mode Online multiplayer Distribution Download Address Unit 702, 7/F

Bangkok Bank Building

No. 18 Bonham Strand West

Hong Kong Email support@godvillegame.com Website www.godvillegame.com

Godville is a zero-player game created in 2010 by Godville Games Limited. Unless otherwise specified, this article applies to English-Language Godville.

Gameplay

The distinguishing aspect of Godville is the unique form of gameplay where the player does not have direct control of the character, known as a hero. Instead, the player can only influence the hero to do certain things. The benefit of this is that the hero is semi-autonomous, meaning the hero will quest and grow without influence of the player; the player does not need to actually play the game to advance.

The general concept of Godville is that a hero exists in an unspecified medieval time period. The hero conducts quests, fights monsters, gains gold coins, and uses those coins to buy equipment and other things, such as beer. The player is a God or goddess to which the hero is a religious follower. The hero sees various supernatural events caused by the player and those shape the spirituality of the hero. The hero then logs the perceived events and through that, the player sees the hero's activity.

At the start of playing, a god can influence a hero in one of three ways: encourage which can heal the hero, punish which can help the hero fight, and voice command which the hero may or may not follow. Influences have a varying degree of success which include the hero doing exactly what the god influences, the hero completely ignoring the influence, the hero reacting in a way the god did not intend, or nothing at all. For example, if a god encourages a hero, it can heal the hero, it can heal the monster the hero is fighting, or it can form a rainbow in a nearby field (aka nothing happening).

As a hero progresses, additional activities are opened up including fighting in the arena, gaining a pet, submitting new ideas for the game, fighting boss-monsters, constructing a temple, visiting dungeons, constructing an ark, and retirement.

Development

Godville was created by Dmitry Kosinov and Mikhail Platov. Their goal was to create a video game that did not involve actual gameplay. They called this a zero-player game. The inspiration for Godville came from a game the two discovered in 2003 named Progress Quest. Progress Quest is a parody of EverQuest and other massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

After "slowly nurturing various ideas," said Kosinov, the pair began development of the game. They also took inspiration from the Terry Pratchett book Small Gods, which is a satirical look at religious institutions. In Small Gods, the power of a deity is defined by the number of people who actually believe in them. One of the Disc World's main deities experiences an unpleasant surprise when he realizes his herd now counts a single faithful monk. The last believer embarks upon an adventure to reform the church and save his god from becoming nothing more but a voice in the desert. The central theme of this philosophic fantasy-parody is "what happens when belief in God is replaced by mere religious ritual?". Godville also draws inspiration from Pratchett's books for content - for example the multi-legged luggage appears in many of the stories as the company of a talentless wizard. If you like Godville's humor there's a good chance you'll enjoy the works of the late author.

The first version of Godville began gameplay on November 21, 2007 and was entirely in Russian. That version is now referred to as Russian Godville or OriGV (ORIginal GodVille). It was only playable on a web browser at www.godville.net. A few months later, the pair was approached to create an English-language version and, with the help of volunteer translators, www.godvillegame.com came online on May 10, 2010.

The name Godville was chosen for two reasons: because it explains the idea of the game and it sounds good in both English and Russian. While the -ville may appear to be inspired from Zynga's Farmville, Cityville, and a host of other similarly named games, it is not. In fact, the first version of Godville, in 2007, predates the release of Farmville which was released in 2009.

By July 2010, after three years of release, an iOS version was being finalized for launch. Up to this point, the game had been free to play and without advertising. In other words, there was no profit model. "Godville has never been ad-supported and we hope it will never be" said Platov in 2010 to GamePro.com.

However, increasing popularity of the game and related increasing server demands necessitated some form of income. The game added a donations button, and while that did offset some operational costs, it was not enough. Eventually, god power charges were offered, which to this day, account for the vast majority of income to the game.

With the income from charges, the development team hired an extra person to handle the android app which went live on March 17, 2011.

It is believed that Kosinov, Platov, and the unknown android app employee all have full time jobs apart from Godville. "And as for balancing work and life, our formula is very simple: all time left after work and family goes to Godville." said Platov in 2010.

Reception

Godville has received generally positive reviews. It has received praise for its humor and the longevity at which people play the game. Unlike most game apps that people play for a few weeks, reports of people playing Godville for years is not uncommon.

As of November 24, 2014, Godville averaged 4 stars on the iTunes store with 5678 ratings, about 4.25 stars on the Google Play Store with 15,070 reviews, and about 4.5 stars on the Windows Phone site with 146 reviews.

Reviewers have described it as: