Now that DEFCON set our lust for world domination on fire, BattleGoat Studios is preparing to take us one step further, into the future of 2020. Continuing their geo-political RTS series that began in 2005 with Supreme Ruler 2010, the Canadian developer announced the Supreme Ruler 2020 sequel, due for release in 2007. So we're naturally assuming that Supreme Ruler 2030 will follow in 2009. Unless they will add a Supreme Ruler 2025 expansion in 2008, or something.

Once again, BattleGoat plans to combine political, diplomatic, economic and military strategy elements, in what they're hoping to be the ultimate geo-political wargame / simulation. It sounds a bit over-complicated to me, and as Introversion proved just days ago with DEFCON, sometimes simplicity works miracles!

Although the basic concepts of Supreme Ruler will remain the same in the sequel, the devs are particularly fond of their new Sandbox mode, that lets players customize their playing experience. Here's what Lead designer David Thompson had to say:

"We've taken a look at all the suggestions that have been made to us from the first game and are taking Supreme Ruler to the next level. Every aspect of the game will be improved in some manner. I'm especially excited about the Sandbox mode that will let players focus on the aspects of the game they like best, allowing them to play against the entire World with customizable victory conditions, opponents, difficulty settings and much more!"

Supreme Ruler 2020 is slated for a Q3 2007 release, so BattleGoat has plenty of time on its hands (and horns?) to make the game they want, and hopefully one that gamers will also enjoy playing. If you're not into wargames yet, do try the recent DEFCON demo - you might be in for a very pleasant surprise!

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)