RSA Project

The Game Brief and Mechanics

After some general research into other city management games like Cities: Skylines (Cities: Skylines, 2015) and Surviving Mars (Surviving Mars,2018), I had devised a list of different mechanics that would feature in the game. It was important to put some unique aspects into the game to make it different from the rest. As AI concept art was a big focus in our other project this semester it felt fitting to include some in this project, so there will be some concept art, created with Bing image creator (Bing Image Creator, 2023), accompanying the lists below.

The Game Brief: In the year 2067, humans have damaged the Earth to an irreversible state which has encouraged the development of space travel and has pushed us into a new age in which intergalactic travel to nearby systems has become possible. Astronomers have located a new planet with previous signs of life and varying conditions that can all be managed to create a habitable city. This is our only hope. As one of the most successful and innovative architects of all time, it is your job to build and manage a city in each of its five major regions, with the goal of keeping environmental damage to the planet at a minimum, so human life can continue to flourish into the distant future.



The Core Mechanics: One of the most important things to decide would be the games mechanics. The list would have to follow the standard for city builder games but should also include some unique mechanics rarely found in other games. Below is a list of all currently decided mechanics:

• Nova Utopia: The planet the game takes place on is called Nova Utopia, both words deriving from Latin, with Nova meaning "new" and Utopia being a Latin word that describes a place of ideal perfection. This planet will feature five different regions all with their own benefits, drawbacks, environments and potential environmental hazards.


• Build and Manage: The main goal of the game is to build and manage a city in each of the five regions. There will be specific methods that must be used to allow for life to thrive in each region, whether it’s the use of specific energy generation methods, efficiently distributing resources between regions, or managing the satisfaction of residents among many more methods. You will be given a grid system in each region and different buildings will use up different amounts of space, so plan accordingly.


• Avoid Filling the Tipping Point Bar: The main threat that links all regions together is Nova Utopia's tipping point bar. This bar will start at 20% and if it ever reaches 100% the planet will no longer be habitable and the player will be forced to start fresh or be reverted to a previous save, this is still to be decided. All actions from any of the regions, whether its harvesting resources or building new infrastructure, will have some sort of effect on the Tipping Point Bar, some will add to the bar and others will take away. Some infrastructure may also add or decay the bar over time at an hourly rate.


• Manage Resources: It is important to manage your resources in different regions as some resources can only be found in set regions and not others. It is possible to transport regions, but this could harm the Tipping Point Bar depending on the transportation methods used and the quantity transported. Most resources will naturally regenerate but at a very slow rate that it would be beneficial to grow new resources yourself but be sure to do this sustainably. Some resources can be harvested without the need of certain infrastructure but other resources will need the right technology to be extracted.


• Keep a Stable Economy: Just like any other community, money will play a huge factor in development. Building new infrastructure, using resource harvesting and energy generation techniques and transporting resources will all have a money cost. Money will be passively gained through tax depending on the resident count of each region, but the cash inflows can be increased by building more places for people spend their money. However, residents will demand jobs to keep satisfaction high and they will demand salaries, affecting the cash outflow. Just like your resources, manage your cash sustainably.


• Satisfaction: It is important that your residents are always satisfied. Satisfaction can be increased with different types of infrastructure and if the satisfaction level reaches to low, it could result in population decline or even less people working or spending their money, lowering the overall cash inflow of the city.

The Different Regions: Nova Utopia has five distinct regions all with their own environmental issues, thanks to the work of the planets previous residents, or the planets environments itself. However, the damage to this planet is not even close the damage humans had caused to earth, and it is possible to create a city that can thrive, mitigate or even remove the issues that we will face. The different regions are as follows:

• The Humid Woodlands: The largest and most resource rich region of Nova Utopia. This is essentially the starting region and will be the easiest region to manage. This is where you will be taken through multiple tutorials on how to play the game. The major problem you will face here is the threat of wildfires. It will be important to manage your wood and organic resources in these areas, for example, by regenerating them faster than they deplete, or by using methods like planting trees with enough space between each tree group so the fire can’t spread. The wildfires could also be directly tackled with the use of water resources, so it may be important to manage water efficiently.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game temperate planet concept art.




• The Shaded Valley: Due to Nova Utopia's unique orbit and rotation, and the fact that this region is surrounded by tall mountains, little light reaches this area. In fact, this region only experiences roughly four hours of sunlight a day. Resources are in average quantity here, but a problem may arise with fauna and flora resources. The regions will not get enough sunlight for plants and animals to thrive, so methods to increase sunlight must be adopted. This could be creating artificial sunlight or using large mirrors to deflect sunlight into specific areas of the region. Also, some energy generation methods, most notably solar, will be near to useless in this area, so the right methods must be used.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game low-light planet concept art.




• The Dry Desert: This area is exactly how it sounds, a large desert that, due to the planet’s unique rotation and orbit, has experienced abnormal amounts of sunlight. This has caused temperatures to rise and some resources, like water and organic resources, to become scarce. However, due to a large build-up of sediment and organic waste over many years, mineral resources have become plentiful. Human demand for water will be high here, so it is important to keep the water resources here high. Water can be generated here, with the odd rainstorm etc, but it might be effective to import water from other regions. Also, the air here is dry, so wind power will be useless.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game desert planet concept art.




• The Flooded Plains: This region has experienced sea level rise, and it used to be a vast open area of grassland. However, due to the actions of previous inhabitants, these grasslands have been converted to a series of islands. You have established base camp on the largest island, but still face a problem of limited building space, to be precise, half the available building space as the other regions. With the limited space you will have to make sure you use it effectively and include only the necessary infrastructure needed. However, it's not all bad, as this region is the only one where you can find specific aquatic resources and alien marine life. Other resources are available here, but it might be worth investing in boat travel to ensure a steady supply of resources. Note that some energy generation methods, most notably tidal, wave and HEP, will be especially effective in this area.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game water planet with islands concept art.




• The Frozen Tundra This is the most challenging region on Nova Utopia, as almost all resources are very limited, whether it’s due to lack of plant growth from short growing seasons, or animals unable to adapt to the harsh temperatures. There will need to be a large focus on incorporating many of the techniques you have used in the previous regions to ensure survival in The Frozen Tundra, most notably temperature. However, don’t increase the heat too much, otherwise permafrost will begin to melt, releasing greenhouse gases into the planet’s atmosphere, pushing the global tipping point bar higher. It’s not all bad here, as there are resources unique to this region and more opportunities for rarer and more valuable resources.

Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game cold planet concept art.

What You Will be Building: The game would not be complete without the built environment, so it was important to come up with a list of infrastructure with a variety of buildings, all of which would be necessary to creating a thriving city. There are six different building categories currently, each of which have their own unique ways in which they are useful to creating the best city. Each building will have a level system, always starting at level one, and upgrading when resources are allocated to do so. Buildings will be able to advance through three levels, with each level increasing the sustainability and environmental friendliness of the building. In some cases, the output of the buildings will also benefit. Below is a list of the different building categories and their different roles.

• Housing: Some of the most important infrastructure as these buildings allow for more people to stay in your city and can provide more cash inflow through living expenses. People are also important as more of them are needed to operate some of the other building categories. There will be a few options to choose from for housing. Some options will be a cheaper alternative but provide lower resident satisfaction while more expensive houses will provide the opposite. More expensive houses may also attract wealthier residents and can increase cash inflow. These different buildings will range from basic family house to large apartment complexes. These can be upgraded to include more sustainable integrated energy generation and storage methods, as well as more green living environments with the use of biophilic design.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game apartments concept art.




• Resource Generation: These buildings will be highly beneficial as they will allow you to generate certain resources or speed up the generation of some of the basic resource generation you start with like wood. Most of them will require people to operate, with a need for more people as the buildings upgrade. Most of these buildings will require energy to operate and could potentially add to the tipping point bar over time depending on the resource extraction/generation methods used (Which may be changed, but this may require extra resources to do so) or even the energy used to power the buildings. These buildings may be levelled up two different ways. The first being a more sustainable upgrade, which only slightly increases the resource yield but will result in a more positive environmental impact, at the cost of a higher cost. The other option would be more harmful to the environment, and most likely cheaper, but will result in higher resource yields. The player can switch between the upgrade paths as they please, as long as they have the resources to do so.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game sawmill concept art.




• Resource Refining: These buildings will allow the player to convert base resources extracted from the environment into secondary and tertiary resources. These resources could include advanced construction resources, products to be used in different services etc. The impact of upgrading these will be similar to the resource generation buildings, with an upgrade path for higher productivity but more environmental damage, and a path with a slight increase to productivity with positive environmental impacts.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game factory concept art.




• Services: These buildings are extremely beneficial when paired with more housing. These buildings include things like shops, cafes, or even garages. They will all require people to operate and will provide cash inflows and more resident satisfaction. They will also require money to operate, but if there are enough people in your city, the cash inflow will outweigh the costs. As this infrastructure levels up, the requirement for people may increase along with expenses, but the services will gain more popularity over time, resulting in more cash inflow and satisfaction. They may also provide benefits to the environment when they are upgraded.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game grocery store concept art.




• Waste Management: Almost all infrastructure will need some sort of waste management, whether its sewer management or the storage of polluted resources from factories. They might not need many people to operate, sometimes none, but the cost here are higher resource and money costs, after all these buildings don’t really have any negative side effects. Once upgraded these buildings will be able to manage more than one other building, and could also use the waste to benefit the environment.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game sewage management plant cocnept art.




• Energy Generation: The last category is again an important one, as almost all buildings will need energy to operate. The different types of energy generation will have different impacts. These could be high energy capacity methods that have high pollution levels. Or more sustainable methods that have high resource costs. There are many to choose from so you, the player, will have to pick the ones that suit your situation best.



Prompt Used: low-poly stylised video game wind turbine concept art.