If we hope to realistically rejuvinate the RTS genre for Gen Z’s then we have to take into account what they are interested in. Kids these days love to equip their characters with different skins to make them look cool. We could accomadate by adding some customization for units and buildings that you earn through acheivements, progression through the campaigns, special events or purchasable in an in-game store. Not only would it make the younger auidience feel more engaged, it would also address some of the concern people are having where they wish different cultures had a more unique look to them.
Wouldn’t it be cool if completing the rise of moscow campaign unlocked a unique look for your stone walls and a cool uniform for your strelets that looked more historically accurate? Yes, although you might be wondering why they wouldn’t just give us that from the start. The reason is, that a lot of people, especially the younger people, love to earn cosmetic upgrades, a little bit more choice when it comes to colour scheme and slight variation to how everything looks is huge to them.
None of the changes would affect gameplay, (only purely graphical) and they should not affect readability either, so long as the focus is on making the units look more realistic to the faction they are associated with.
Making the mongol infantry look unique, giving veteren knights capes and shinier armour, or changing a chinese town center to have a more traditionally chinese looking roof tile could be some good examples.
What do you guys think?
