Mercator (pronounced like the map projection) is an item shop game inspired primarily by Swords and Potions and Recettear. You will trade with customers and set up shops across the world with ships, caravans and more!ShopkeepingYou start off with a tiny shack in Muziris, an ancient Indian trading port. Your objective as a fledgling merchant is to maximize profits by making good deals with the customers that roam into your shop. In time, you will expand your emporium by buying properties and joining forces with other merchants. No item shop game is complete without haggling! In Mercator you can ask for better deals at any time in a negotiation, and even remove/add items in a back-and-forth, iterative process.In Mercator customers may have wildly different valuations of the same item. No “value” for a given item is provided to you either, so it’s truly up to you to decide how much an item is worth.As a merchant, you will have access to workers who can make artisan items from raw materials, as well as research new items, scrap items back into their raw materials, and even reverse-engineer items you come across!Later on, you will gain access to ships and caravans to encounter new regions and engage in arbitrage.Day-night cycleThe work of a merchant does not end when the shop closes. At night, you will still be able to purchase new properties and farmland, scavenge for resources, farm ancient cash crops like the legendary black pepper, traverse rivers and lakes with boats, and even fish in your spare time!Roleplaying in a rich, real worldMercator takes place in the third century AD – when Rome and Persia were enemies eternal, the Chera Empire of Southwest India still controlled the pepper industry, when the Aksumite Empire still reigned supreme over the coast of east Africa and Arabia, and when Christianity was only just beginning to take hold. As your emporium expands, it will be exposed to new peoples, ideologies and legacies.ArtMercator takes an unorthodox (and economical!) approach of using pixel art and simple color schemes to convey the ancient world in a way you have never seen before.CombatWhat’s that? You just made that word up.