From the beginning of the Catan Online project, the primary design requirement has been simple—Catan Online has to be a faithful implementation of the classic, award-winning board game, The Settlers of Catan. Not only did all of the rules for the board game have to be followed rigorously, but playing a game of Catan Online had to be an aesthetically satisfying experience.

When I joined the Catan Online team as a designer and playtester, I had already been involved with Catan for quite awhile. I have worked on the English language editions of the Catan products since 1997—at various times, this involved editing, proofing, playtesting, and production work on the board game components. I was under the impression that the rules for The Settlers of Catan were pretty much set in stone, because The Settlers of Catan* has been played by millions worldwide for a decade. So implementing them would be a fairly straightforward process. However, this turned out not to be entirely true.

We began the design process using the turn sequence detailed in the English language rules: produce resources, then trade resources, and finally build. Also, one development card could be played at anytime during the turn. This sequence was the basis for our initial design documents, mockups, and prototype work.

However, during an early feedback cycle, we received some surprising information from the German principals that created the Catan line and licenses Catan Online. In Europe, the game is played with a more flexible turn sequence. There the turn sequence evolved into: first produce, and then trade and build in any order (with a development card still being playable at any time). We also found out that this turn sequence would be used in all future editions of The Settlers of Catan. Of course, this meant that Catan Online had to change to use the revised turn sequence.

In a related rules change, we also had to modify how newly built settlements/ports were handled. Using the earlier turn sequence, all trading had to be completed before any settlements/ports were built. So, a port could not be used on the turn it was built—a factor reflected in our design and prototypes. However, using the newer, flexible turn sequence, a player could build a settlement/port and then make a port trade using the newly built port. The question then became: can you trade at a port the turn it is built? The answer from the German principals was that you could.

Another rules conflict became apparent relatively late in the development process. In the English rules, a player may play a victory point development card anytime during his/her turn play. Those rules also provide a hint saying that you should not play your VP development cards until the end of the game, because it is a tactical advantage to keep such cards hidden. So, that is how the play of VP development cards was initially implemented in Catan Online—you could play such cards at anytime during your turn, and you had to play them to win if they put you at 10+ victory points.

During a feedback cycle, we discovered that the Europe VP development cards can only be played at the end of the game. Once again, bowing to the need for international consistency (and harmony), we elected to make the change in Catan Online. Now, VP development cards are no longer playable, but the VPs they give you as a player are displayed in your game summary and not in the game summaries of the other players. So a player can no longer "forget" to play VP development cards that would give him a win—the program will automatically declare a win if hidden VP cards so indicate.

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