🏪 Merchant Realms

A medieval open-world merchant simulation built with HTML5 Canvas and vanilla JavaScript.

🎮 Play Now

► Play Merchant Realms

About

Trade goods between kingdoms, build a merchant empire, navigate politics, hire workers, buy property, raise a family, and shape the world around you.

Features

• 🌍 Procedurally generated world with multiple kingdoms
• ⚖️ Dynamic trade economy with supply/demand
• 🏠 Buy property, build businesses, hire workers
• ⚔️ Kingdom politics, wars, laws, and diplomacy
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family system with marriage, children, inheritance, and regency
• 🎭 6 unique origin stories with special objectives
• 📜 19-chapter interactive tutorial
• 💾 5 save slots with download/upload support
• 🗡️ Dark deeds: assassination, sabotage, smuggling, and intrigue
• 👑 Rise from commoner to king through politics, rebellion, or marriage
• 🏴 Toll roads, trade wars, and kingdom-spanning conflicts
• 📖 19-chapter interactive story mode with voiced dialog

Unique Starts

• ⛓️ Indentured Servant — Bound for 7 years. Find your way to freedom.
• 🙏 Religious Pilgrim — Visit holy sites and spread the faith.
• 🌊 Shipwrecked Foreigner — A stranger in a strange land.
• 🎵 Traveling Musician — Perform your way to fame.
• ⚔️ Military Leader — Rise through the ranks to become a general.
• 📚 Scholar of the Ages — Travel the world and write the Great Book.

How to Play

Just click the link above! The game runs entirely in your browser — no installation needed.

Controls

• Click buttons on the left panel to trade, build, work, etc.
• Arrow keys / WASD / click-drag to move the camera
• Scroll wheel to zoom in/out
• Right-click on the map to travel off-road
• M key to toggle map views
• Escape to close panels

Running Locally

If you want to run it on your own machine (Node.js required):

1. Clone this repo

2. Start the bundled dev server:

   Windows

   .\start.ps1              # serves http://localhost:3000 and opens your browser
   .\start.ps1 -Port 3100   # use a different port
   .\start.ps1 -NoBrowser   # server only
   

   or double-click start-game.bat.

   Any platform

   node devserver.js        # honours the MR_PORT env var, defaults to 3000
   

3. Open http://localhost:3000/.

The dev server sends no-store cache headers, so a plain refresh always picks up your latest edits. Opening index.html straight from disk mostly works, but some features (WASM, audio, saves) need a real HTTP origin.

License

All rights reserved. This game was created by Matthew Cooper.