Asterix & Friends (2016)

* App icon
* Logo (Remastered update)
* Logo (original)

## The Game

Asterix & Friends is a mobile / browser game where the player manages a Gaulish village, collects resources, crafts items, fights off Romans, participates in village brawls against other players’ villagers and optionally chats and trades items with other players.

Contrary to the title, the main character of the game is an all-new character named Pointandclix. He is the only character the player can move around and use to gather raw resources. Asterix and Obelix play a relatively minor role.

At the early stages of the game the player must rebuild the village and bring back 6 villagers: elder Lunatix, chief Democratix, blacksmith Ironix, fishmonger Baltix, bard Lyrix and druid Statistix.

LunatixDemocratixIronixBaltixLyrixStatistixThe player progresses through the game by completing quests and earning experience points to gain levels.

Besides managing the village, the player can help Edifis and his workers in Alexandria restore the Palace (which will always collapse after a while).

### Quests

To start a quest, the player needs to select a villager, Egyptian worker, Ekonomikrisis or Edifis with an orange “!” sign and select the quest. Quests consist of tasks such as crafting items, defeating Roman patrols near the village, upgrading buildings and etc. Rewards for completing tasks can be sesterces, Roman helmets, experience points, Resistance points and even items.

Some quests can only be completed once, while others repeat after a period of time (marked with a spinning arrow).

The Egyptian workers provide quests which fulfill their needs when completed, allowing them to continue restoring the Palace.

Some quests are only available during seasonal events.

The player should pay attention to the wording of item-related tasks:

* Have – The player must have the item in their Inventory.
* Deliver – Same as “have”, but the item disappears after quest completion.
* Collect – The player must get the item in any way. Removing the item from the Inventory does not revert progression.
* Craft – The player must pick up the item they have crafted to progress, getting it in any other way does not count towards progression. Removing the item from the Inventory does not revert progression.

The repeating quests The Great Banquet and Visitor Attraction consist of triple sets of tasks and allow the player to send Asterix and Obelix to fight Romans, but only once per quest completion.

Quests buttonVillager offering a one-time quest and 2 repeating questsQuests menu

### Food and Resources

Food is needed for resource gathering and quickly restoring the villagers’ and Egyptian workers’ strength. To get more food, the player needs to interact with the village farm, hunt boars and fish. The player can free the southern farm from the Romans to get more food.

Raw resources - wood, straw and stone - are needed for crafting items and upgrading buildings. The player gathers resources by interacting with the environment objects, such as fields and trees. The player gains 1 resource unit and spends 1 food unit per interaction (unless using potions which double the amount of gained resources). The objects disappear after being interacted with too many times, and restore after a period of time. The player can also get wood and stone from the buildings at the right corners from the village, but only if they are free from the Romans.

The space for resources and food is limited, but can be increased by upgrading the corresponding buildings. If the player attempts to collect food / resources with a full storage, the food / resources will be discarded. Under certain circumstances, the food storage can overflow.

Resource countersFood counterA fishing groundA boar trailA boar

### Items and Inventory

The game contains a great variety of items: from simple and cheap ones needed for building and crafting to the far more valuable ones which require a lot of items and time to craft. Some items become available only during seasonal events.

The items collected by the player are stored in the Inventory (accessed with the bag button). If the player attempts to take an item with full space, they will be notified (if the item has been crafted), or the item will be stored in an automatic message or get discarded depending on circumstances.

All items in the Inventory can be sold to the game’s server for sesterces, and most items can be sent to other players. The player needs to occasionally expand the Inventory with Roman helmets, every expansion costs more than the previous one until the price reaches 500.

### Currencies

The game uses 3 currencies: sesterces, Roman helmets and Resistance points.

Sesterces are the main currency of the game. They are needed for upgrading buildings and buying certain items. Sesterces can be optionally used to:

* buy some decorations for buildings
* construct outposts and extend their duration
* transfer resources to Alexandria
* change opponent in Village Brawls
* create a guild

Roman helmets are the secondary currency. They are needed for expanding the Inventory. Roman helmets can be optionally used to:

* buy items, sesterces and food
* skip waiting times (e.g. in crafting)
* construct permanent outposts
* buy most decorations for buildings
* buy bets lost in Village Brawls

Resistance points are the tertiary currency. The player usually gets them by fighting Romans. They are also generated by the Alexandrian Palace and Gaulish outposts (if there are 2 or more).

Resistance points are needed to train the villagers. They can be optionally used to construct permanent outposts and buy more brawlers.

### Buildings

Buildings in the village and Alexandria have different purposes: some of them are homes (tents near the workplace for the Egyptians), others are storages for food and raw resources, the rest are places for crafting items. The player can train the villagers and Egyptian workers through their homes / tents, while other buildings can be upgraded to contain more food and resources, access more crafting recipes and give small bonuses. The player also can buy (with sesterces and Roman helmets) decorations for crafting buildings to get small bonuses.

### Crafting and Cooking

To craft an item, the player needs to have all the necessary resources and / or other items, then select a building and select this item in the list. With enough materials, the player can queue up to 3 same items in a row to be crafted. Item recipes need to be unlocked by leveling up and bought with sesterces.

Statistix, the only villager who does not fight, can brew potions, which works the same way as crafting. More powerful potions can be brewed at the Druid Circle, if the player has got rid from the Roman camps guarding the bridge and the Druid Circle itself. Statistix can be trained and the Druid Circle can be upgraded to unlock more potion recipes.

Cooking works the same way as crafting, but the dishes can be sold as merchandise in the buildings they were made at, generating more sesterces. Most ingredients for these dishes and some other foods and drinks can be also sold as merchandise.

The blacksmith crafting menuThe tavern merchandise menuStatistix's potion crafting menuThe Druid CircleThe Druid Circle potion crafting menu

### Fighting Romans

The player needs to fight Romans to access more objects, gain Resistance points for training the villagers and get other rewards. Resistance points increase the player’s Resistance level, higher levels provide higher multipliers for the points. If the player fails to defeat a patrol, camp or a part of a legion, they still deal damage, but less.

To attack Romans, the player must send the villagers with enough total strength, higher strength leads to higher chance of victory (shown with percentage). The villagers can be equipped with weapons, shields and headgear, all these items are marked with a sword and shield icon. Weapons increase their strength, shields lower the damage they get, headgear speeds up their recovery. The items have different durabilities, a fight decreases the items’ durability by 1. At early levels the villagers can be equipped with only 1 item at a time, but as they get trained, they can be equipped with up to 3 items at a time. A training session permanently increases the villager’s strength by 1 and levels him up. The player needs items and Resistance points for training.

Roman patrols and camps surround the village and the Alexandrian Palace, guarding various objects and preventing the player from accessing them. Guarded objects have a red outline when hovered on. The patrols and camps return after a period of time. The player can build outposts to prevent the Roman camps from returning. Constructing outposts and extending their duration requires items and sesterces. If the player has a large amount of Roman helmets or Resistance points, they can build a permanent outpost.

The village is occasionally approached by Roman legions. They require more strength to be defeated and usually need to be attacked more than once. A legion stays for a limited time, and if the player does not defeat it soon enough, the legion will disappear anyway, but the player’s Resistance level will drop back to 0.

If the player has completed quests The Great Banquet or Visitor Attraction, they can send Asterix or Obelix to fight Romans. Asterix and Obelix are always guaranteed to win, but can only be used once before completing the quests again, and cannot be equipped with any items.

A Roman camp and nearby patrolsThe village with a legion nearbyEquipment menuAttack Romans menuA Gaulish outpostTraining menu

### Alexandria

If the player has demolished the Roman camps near the bridge and the pier, they can travel between Gaul and Egypt using the small boat at the pier. There is also an Egyptian cargo ship which can be used to transfer raw resources to Alexandria, but the player also has to destroy the camp near the pier in Alexandria to unload the ship.

In Alexandria, the player can collect (while harvesting) and craft items which cannot be obtained these ways in Gaul, such as dates, rock oil, blocks of marble, shovels and etc.

Edifis has to rebuild the Palace in Alexandria, and his workers will occasionally stop working until the player gives them water, food (generated “Food”, fish and dates) and tools. There will be only one worker at the beginning, 4 more workers need to be brought back by constructing tents for them. The workers are also afraid of crocodiles, which makes the restoration slower, but can fight them if the player orders them to. The player can send raw resources to the construction site to increase the restoration speed. Getafix can be found nearby: if the player brings him certain ingredients, he will brew potion for the workers which will greatly boost their efficiency.

Edifis also offers tasks, the repeating ones can be changed by revisiting Alexandria.

The player is rewarded when the restoration is complete. The Palace collapses again after several days, and restoration repeats.

The mapThe Gaul pier with the cargo ship and the boat for travelingA Nile crocodileGetafixThe Palace after restorationFinishing the restoration

### Village Brawls

The Village Brawls are PvP fights. The player can attack another player’s village (which is randomly selected) and defend their own. Attacking and defending require the player to select 3 villagers, in the case of defending the selected villagers will be used until changed by the player. Giving them brawling weapons (marked with a trophy icon) and potions increases chances of winning.

To attack a village, the player must bet an item (craftable items and brawling weapons bought at the merchant’s shop cannot be bet). If the player attacks and wins, they will get 2 units of the item they bet and other rewards with a chance of items, but if they lose, the bet will transfer to the defender and there will be a small chance of getting simple items. The player can optionally rebuy the lost bet with Roman helmets. The fight can be skipped.

For defence, the player only needs to choose the villagers. They will be notified about the fight’s results.

The brawls make up a tournament, which ends after a while and restarts, and the player gets rewards depending on their rank.

The player can optionally unlock 3 more characters for brawls - an Egyptian worker, Edifis and Ekonomikrisis - by paying large amounts of Resistance points.

The boxing ring used to enter village brawlsAttacking another village menuBrawlingWinning as an attackerDefending own village menu

### Events

The treasure chest button opens the menu for 2 events: Centurion Punch Tournament and The Race Through Italy. These events end after a while and restart, and the player gets rewards depending on their results. Dishes won in the Events can be given to Obelix in exchange for wreaths, which are needed for training the villagers; these dishes and wreaths cannot be given to other players.

Events buttonEvents menu

#### Centurion Punch Tournament

In Centurion Punch Tournament the player needs to select a villager, direction, angle and strength (depends on the villager and his weapon) to launch a centurion. Centurions function as items, every punch deducts 1 centurion from the Inventory. If the villager has a weapon against Romans, launching a centurion lowers the weapon’s durability by 1. Optionally, the player can increase the villager’s strength with beer, wine or malted water, and extend the centurion’s flight a bit by hitting him with a stone block, grindstone or menhir. The further he flies, the more points the player will get. If the centurion lands on a target (Roman tent or ship), the player will get bonus points and multiplier increase (no increase if the target has been hit before). The centurion can be forced to land sooner by pressing the button "Land Now!". Rewards for launching a centurion include Roman helmets, food and items.

Selecting a villagerSelecting directionSelecting angle and strengthThe centurion flying

#### The Race Through Italy

In The Race Through Italy the player needs to select from 3 tasks, where they deliver items for the race. The better items they deliver, the further they will move in the race. The distance can be doubled by delivering 3 apples or 3 carrots (decided by the game randomly). New tasks are offered after a period of time, the waiting time can be skipped with Roman helmets.

Selecting a taskWaiting until the next task

### Guilds

The player can optionally create a guild or join an existing one. A guild can have up to 16 members. Villages in the player's guild are always shown on the map. As the guild members fight Romans and other villagers and get event rewards, they gain guild XP, which increases the guild's level and provides benefits. The guild also has its own chat. Guild ownership can be transferred to another player. The guild can be disbanded forever, which results in the loss of its benefits.

## Production

### Engine

The PC version of the game used Adobe Flash engine until the switch to Unity on January 11, 2021. This is due to Adobe ending support of Flash on December 31, 2020. The Unity version is currently unfinished. A launcher with an integrated Flash player was released earlier, in the end of 2020, however it suffered from poor performance and now does not work.

### Early and unused content

In 2012 the game was known as Asterix: Rise of the Gauls.

A modeler for the game named Emmanuel showcased his character models. The models of Asterix, Obelix and Getafix were not finalised yet. Vitalstatistix, Unhygienix and Fulliautomatix were modeled, but did not make it into the game. Curiously, Ironix was modeled as well, but he had a vastly different design, looking much like Fulliautomatix. Other models include 3 unused Gauls – Carnivorix, Forrestix and Vegetarix, and the unused muscular centurion.

Early Asterix modelEarly Obelix modelEarly Getafix modelUnused Vitalstatistix modelUnused Fulliautomatix modelUnused Unhygienix modelUnused Gaulish character - CarnivorixUnused Gaulish character - VegetarixUnused Gaulish character - ForrestixUnused centurion modelEarly Ironix model, heavily redesigned afterwards
### Remastered Update

In September 2021 previews of new content were shown on the game's website. The game would receive a new villager and a minigame. The villager would be a woman named Gardenia, similarly to most of the villagers she would have her own quests and be able to fight against Romans and other players' villagers. The minigame would be a new event called Journeys, where the player would be able to send their villagers on missions in Corsica, Britain and Hispania, and win items and decor for the village.

The upcoming features could be tried out on the game's test server (now defunct). On the test server players received a large amount of Roman helmets and Resistance points for convenience. Progress made on the test server had no influence on the live server.

All these features have been added in an update on February 23, 2022. The game's logo has been updated as well: a papyrus scroll spelling out "Remastered" has been added below.

## Trivia

* Most of the villagers strongly resemble canon villagers: Lunatix resembles Geriatrix, Democratix – Vitalstatistix, Lyrix – Cacofonix, Ironix and Baltix – Fulliautomatix and Unhygienix (with swapped jobs / body types), Statistix – Getafix.

* Centurions in this game look very similar to Voluptuous Arteriosclerosus from the comic Asterix and the Soothsayer (1972).
* In Alexandria, the other side of the river has resource objects, which can be highlighted and show units, but are impossible to reach.
* The animation for villagers or Egyptian workers fighting always uses the same animation with Pointandclix appearing in the dust cloud, even when he is not in the fight.

## References

The game's website: https://www.asterix-friends.com/en/

Forum with the early game title and description: https://forums.newtek.com/threads/asterix-rise-of-the-gauls.129867/