Muhammad Abdul Karim (Sengkala Dev)
Fall of Bali is a historical strategy game set in Bali’s warring era from 1767 until 1908. The game’s area covers from Eastern Salient of Java or Blambangan, Bali and Lombok island. This area has been widely influenced by Balinese in several centuries as Balinese kingdoms expanded their territories beyond Bali island such as Buleleng and Mengwi in Blambangan, and Karangasem in Lombok and settled the new dynasty in West Lombok. Player can choose 12 kingdoms to play from 10 Balinese kingdoms, 1 Sasak’s chiefdom, and 1 Blambangan’s kingdom which represent the condition in Bali’s geopolitics.
The long period of warring states started in the late 17th century when Bali divided into many kingdoms after the Gelgel Empire had gone. Number of Balinese kingdoms from time to time decreased because they were annexed by other kingdoms. Although the political condition of Bali was very unstable, there was a main figure among Balinese kings, Klungkung.
Klungkung known as “Susuhunan of Bali and Lombok”. The term Susuhunan is equal to the Emperor or supreme ruler. The Dutch referred Klungkung as “Kaizer”, but actually Klungkung didn’t have any strong powers in control all Balinese kings. However, all Balinese kings have strong respect to Klungkung although Klungkung was involved in many wars against Balinese kings such as Karangasem or Gianyar. Klungkung was a direct descendant of the Gelgel Empire and after the Gelgel collapse, Klungkung attempted to keep the Gelgel territories together, but it was too late. By the time of the game, all the Balinese kings are autonomous or independent and Klungkung’s territory is very small compared to their neighbors.
Gelgel existed from the 14th to 17th century. The foundation of Gelgel is related in Majapahit texts which place the new dynasty in Bali after they conquered Bali in 14th century with Sri Arya Kepakisan. After Majapahit collapsed in the late 15th century, a lot of refugees fled to Bali and Bali become the stronghold and last of Hindu kingdom in the Indonesian archipelago. Gelgel expanded its influence to the edge of the Blambangan area and Blambangan became a buffer state between the Sultanate of Demak and Gegel. This situation continued until Blambangan came under control of Buleleng and later Mengwi in the 17th century. After Blambangan was conquered ruthlessly by the Dutch in 1769, and the Balinese totally lost their influence in Java.
In Lombok, Gelgel’s empire spread their influence in the late 16th century while Islamic states, such as Selaparang, appeared in East Lombok . The Sultanate of Makassar from South Celebes also expanded their territories in Lombok. Afraid of the threat Makassar posed to Bali, Gelgel agreed to sign a pact with Makassar at 1624 and in 1640, Lombok was totally under Makassar control.
In the middle of the 17th century, Gelgel was in decline due to ongoing internal conflicts, and several new powers appeared such as Buleleng. The final year of Gelgel was 1686 when the empire’s capital was attacked and the royal family fled, establishing a new palace in Klungkung. After that, the warring era started and this forms the main theme for Fall of Bali.
Reference:
Anak Agung Gede Agung. 1991. Bali in 19th century.
Jamaluddin. 2018. Sejarah Islam Lombok Abad XVI-Abad XX.
Thank you so much for sharing your game with us, I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about how this game connects with the historical background of earlier centuries of Gelgel history? For example, do the players need to engage with that medieval history to do well in the game, and how is it conveyed in-game?
As an addition to this: how do people in this region think about the periodisation of this history? Would locals in general, or historians from the area, think of Bali as having a “medieval” and “early modern” period? If not, what are the terms and distinctions used in the chronologies?
Mostly for historian in Bali subject divided Bali’s era with name of empire from ancient Bali kingdom (before middle 14th century), Gelgel Empire (14-th-17th century), and Bali kingdoms era (17th century-20th century). Term of medieval in Indonesia’s history refers to Hindu kingdoms as rule in several islands from 4th century to 15th century, but Bali was the exception as they still ruled by Hindu ruler until now. So the classification like I said before.
Thank you for commect. Player only know Gelgel from opening animation the Klungkung whey they start the game.
Thank you for comment. Player only know Gelgel from opening animation the Klungkung whey they start the game.
Thank you very much for this insight into an interesting (and intricate) history. As I am myself interested in the interaction between different political systems, interactions inside those systems themselves, and their reflection into games, I was wondering: will the game actually feature also the fall of the Gelgel Empire and its political-social implications? If so, how? And if this time period will not be addressed, will the game nonetheless deal with political and social change inside each political entity the players will be asked to rule?
In Fall of Bali, Fall of Gelgel empire mentioned in several animation opening from Klungkung (the heir of Gelgel), Tabanan, and Mengwi. The implication of fall of Gelgel in game is lot of small kingdoms appers in Bali area especially near Klungkung. The period of game start in 1767, nearly 1 hundred years after fall of Gelgel and several kingdoms has vanished as implication of warring era.