City Simulator

For a city simulation game, the fun of the game is very similar to that of a sandbox game, with numerous elements giving players unique choices and combinations. The fun of free creation and the sense of achievement of city scale changes are the core fun of this type of game. Also because of these two core gameplay points, most city simulation games require unique designs in the appearance of the building or the style of the entire game to attract players' attention. "Cliff Empire" developed by Lion's Shade Company is a city simulation game with a very distinctive technological style and extremely rich game elements.

With only 1GB of space occupied, "Cliff Empire" has nearly a hundred types of buildings in the game, including housing, public infrastructure, industrialization, food, travel, etc. At the same time, there are more than a dozen game indicators in the game, as well as random disaster events and specific tasks. In the game's map planning, the player's city is laid out on a cliff instead of the usual surface, so the tracks and space stations are also unique buildings in the game. At present, it seems that for a game with only 1GB, these contents are quite rich. But don’t worry, Cliff Empire also has tower defense mechanics in the game. In other words, when players balance power resources, water resources and food resources, they must also consider the impact of urban defense. I have to say that "Cliff Empire" surprises players far more than 1GB.

Full sense of technology

The main color of white can contrast all colors, and it is full of infinite possibilities!

In the game background setting of "Cliff World", this is a world after a nuclear war. For the few survivors on the earth, 300 meters of radioactive dust covered the entire Earth, now humans can only rebuild a new home on this high cliff. Under this background, the land that players can develop is not abundant, and they cannot have vast land resources like "Civilization". Every inch of land here is precious. Therefore, how to reasonably arrange the location of buildings and assign the order of construction has become the gameplay of "Cliff Empire" throughout the entire game. For example, in the early stage, you need to build defense measures as soon as possible, and in the later stage, you can replace the initial defensive building with other buildings. This is the simplest strategy.

Of course, apart from a decent apocalyptic background, the plot has very little presence in the game. Of course, for a business simulation game, the plot only serves as an "opening". effect. Like Frostpunk? Like "Hypoxia", the plot is just an explanation of the elements and content of the entire game. The world after the nuclear war is set to be an era of ultra-high technology, so many architectural styles in "Cliff Empire" are very technological. Since the entire game is not very big, even though the models of the buildings in the game are very good, you can still see the textures being rough when you look at them up close. However, when the player zooms out and looks at the city as a whole, it will be quite shocking. From the player's perspective, this is equivalent to an exquisite figure. The reason why this effect can be achieved comes from the "high-tech style" architecture of "Cliff Empire".

In the field of architecture, we often hear "Gothic", "Baroque" and "Rococo". For players, most of the understanding of these professional terms is Buildings from the game. For games, the architectural style greatly improves the background setting of the game and is an important factor in enhancing the player's sense of immersion. The same is true for "Cliff Empire". The "high-tech style" architecture not only makes up for the shortcomings of the plot in terms of game elements, but also uses its architectural features to attract players' attention.

Machine Aesthetics

For "high-tech style", the most obvious feature is to highlight high-tech as the driving force for social development in an exaggerated form. Its origin is in the 1920s and 1930s, and comes from the "machine aesthetics" at that time. The most intuitive understanding of machine aesthetics is that it reflects people's attempts to simulate the form of machines in other fields, and uses machines as the basis for aesthetic value judgments. The Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th century brought great convenience to people's lives, but it did not directly bring new artistic concepts. Therefore, the mass production brought about by the Industrial Revolution not only failed to improve the artistic quality of the products, but instead There has been a decline, which is also accompanied by a decline in consumer art taste.

Under such circumstances, a group of artistic ideas with industrial tendencies emerged, among which Corbusier was the most famous in the field of architecture. He once said a famous saying, "A house is a machine for living." Although many people object to his view, this sentence also very clearly explains the "machine aesthetics" in the field of architecture in Corbusier's eyes. In terms of design and modeling, Corbusier pursued simplicity and order in machine modeling. In his eyes, "geometric forms" constructed simple and abstract shapes, which excellently demonstrated rationality and logic, and these two characteristics are also correct. It’s the charm contained in the machine.

Most of the architectural styles of "Cliff Empire" can be seen in Corbusier's style. The simple geometry and exaggerated expression of machine features, including the sharp-edged cliff map in the game, are all derived from The display of "high-tech style" of machine aesthetics.

An interesting point is that high-tech style architecture not only originates from machine aesthetics, but is also the first field to apply machine aesthetics. The building itself has a strict logical relationship, and the structure and construction are as meticulous as a machine. And it is also easier to visually create a logical and rational feeling through the combination of simple cubes.

In the game world of "Cliff Empire", the most common things players see are straight lines and three-dimensional geometric figures, which are paired with bright white. The first impression given to players is that they are "pure" and have no hue. White will greatly eliminate the player's inner irritability, and the "high-tech style" derived from machine aesthetics will deepen the game's expressiveness of reason and logic. So this is not so much a business simulation game as it is a game that calms and stabilizes emotions. The entire game world is full of "technological beauty" and "precision beauty". The calming effect on the mood will make players involuntarily immerse themselves in it, but unlike "Civilization" and "Age of Steam", this is a "lonely" enjoyment.

And in this world full of technology, there are also Easter eggs full of life, such as hymns from Notre Dame, elevators running in high-rise buildings, and airplanes in private villas. The flow of life makes the originally slightly "cold" white technology empire have a unique charm. But in terms of gameplay, "Cliff Empire" does not give players more gaming fun than games such as "Age of Steam" and "Hypoxia", but in terms of game quality. A game priced at 40 yuan for 1GB of steam can achieve this level, which is really very conscientious. After you start to experience it, you will definitely hope that the developer will launch DLC. After all, there are too many possibilities in this white technology world.