AdvertCity

AdvertCity is a business simulation video game developed and published by VoxelStorm. The game was released on 17 April 2015 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS X.[1] The player takes on the role of an advertising magnate in a dystopian future city with a cyberpunk aesthetic.

AdvertCity
Advertcity cover.jpg
Game cover image
Developer(s) VoxelStorm
Publisher(s) VoxelStorm
Programmer(s) Eugene Hopkinson, John Turner
Composer(s) Alexandre Caelles, Dorian Pilato
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS X
Release 17 April 2015
Genre(s) Tycoon game
Mode(s) Single-player
The game has had a mixed reception, gathering predominantly positive reviews from players[2][3] but moderate reviews in the press.[4] At the time of writing, the game does not yet have a Metacritic score.[5]

Contents
Gameplay Edit


Megacorporations seen in the cyberspace view.
Gameplay in AdvertCity involves selling advertising to client megacorporations; the player does this by moving around the city from a first person god-view perspective reminiscent of Black & White, selecting buildings and sites in cyberspace as targets for their advertising. Advertising technologies are unlocked progressively depending on reputation with various megacorporations, and range from flyers to billboards and blimps.

A key mechanic in the game is the ability to switch between meatspace and cyberspace at any time,[6] which is required to perform different actions in each space and to orchestrate advertising effectively.

The goal of the game is to take over the city, and to do this the player must gain the trust of the various megacorporations they interact with.[7]

The game has a roguelike save system[6] to increase the level of challenge - there is only one savegame available, the player has no choice but to save their progress when exiting, and the player cannot reload to a previous state if they make a mistake.

Development Edit

Development of the game began when an early version of the game was built in 7 days for the 2014 Cyberpunk Game Jam.[8][9] After receiving positive feedback during the jam,[10] the developers decided to continue work on the game to create a full-scale release.[11]

The game sought crowdfunding via Kickstarter on 25 March 2014,[12] and was fully funded on the second day of the campaign, going on be overfunded by 373%[13] at its conclusion.

AdvertCity was submitted to Steam Greenlight during its Kickstarter in 2014[14] and was eventually greenlit after an unusually long delay[15] in April 2015.

AdvertCity entered a period of closed beta testing during development after its kickstarter; the final release was announced on 17 April 2015, and by June it had appeared on Steam and several other stores.[1][11][16]


An early alpha screenshot of AdvertCity showing the procedural city layout.

A procedurally generated description of a building.

Another procedurally generated description of a building with architectural commentary.

A procedurally generated description of a megacorporation, seen in cyberspace.
Procedural city generation Edit
Every city in the game is procedurally generated.[8][17]

The procedural city layout is positioned on top of a procedurally generated landscape, which it conforms to and evolves around. The developers considered using the industry standard Siggraph 2001 paper by Parish and Muller[18] as a basis, including the subsequent work on tensor fields,[19] but rejected the use of L-systems on the grounds of their design being unsuited to cities, which "don't grow like branches on a tree". [20]

The system instead uses:

"...maps calculated on a mix of realtime procedural projection and cached data about population layouts and terrain features (such as different terrain types, gradients, altitudes, population densities, whether the region should be considered urban or rural etc); the result is something that has the subtlety of the tensor field system, yet generates much larger cities than are feasible with the L-system at a far higher speed than possible with that design. The AdvertCity generator is an object-oriented system of roads, junctions and buildings that can be adjusted on the fly to interact with their immediate surroundings, so roads meet and cross at specific junctions, branch and fork (something not used in the L system design), and can also spontaneously degenerate from paved roads to footpaths etc as appropriate, due to terrain or other aspects of the landscape. Different classes of road or path can also have entirely different rules and code for how they react to different terrain types and other features, so it's possible to build a much more dynamic overall city map with those."[20]

Age of Empires (AoE) is a history-based real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, and the first game in the Age of Empires series. The game uses the Genie, a 2D sprite-based game engine. The game allows the user to act as the leader of an ancient civilization by advancing it through four ages (the Stone, Tool, Bronze, and Iron Ages), gaining access to new and improved units with each advance. It was later ported to Pocket PCs with Windows, resulting in a version very similar to the PC game.

Age of Empires
Age of Empires Coverart.jpg
Windows cover art
Developer(s) Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s) Microsoft
Director(s) Bruce Shelley[1]
Designer(s)
Brian Sullivan[2]
Rick Goodman
Programmer(s) Angelo Laudon
Artist(s) Brad Crow
Composer(s)
Stephen Rippy
David Rippy
Series Age of Empires
Engine Genie
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Macintosh
Release
NA: October 15, 1997
UK: February 2, 1998
Genre(s) Real-time strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Originally touted as Civilization meets Warcraft, some reviewers felt that the game failed to live up to these expectations when it was released.[3] Despite this, it received generally good reviews, and an expansion pack, titled The Rise of Rome, was released in 1998. Both the original Age of Empires and the expansion pack were later released as "The Gold Edition". A sequel, Age of Empires II, was released in 1999. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, a remastered version of the original game, is scheduled to be released in early 2018.[4]

Gameplay Edit

Age of Empires requires the player to develop a civilization from a handful of hunter-gatherers to an expansive Iron Age Empire. To assure victory, the player must gather resources in order to pay for new units, buildings and more advanced technology. Resources must also be preserved, as no new resources become available as the game progresses, for example, trees that are cut down will not grow back.[5][6]

Twelve civilizations are available. Each with individual sets of attributes, including a varying number of available technologies and units. Each civilization has technologies unique to them, so that no civilization possesses all the technologies possible within the game.[7]

A major component of the game is the advancement through four ages. These are the Stone Age (Mesolithic/Nomad/Paleolithic), the Tool Age (Neolithic/Chalcolithic), the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Advancement between ages is researched at the Town Center, and each advancement brings the player new technologies, weapons, and units.[6][8]

Modes Edit

A custom scenario: Champa invaders attack the Khmer Empire, which attempts to construct the legendary Angkor Wat.
The game features four single-player campaigns in which the player is required to complete specific objectives. Campaigns are a collection of scenarios which are completed in a linear fashion. The campaigns follow the history of the Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian and Yamato civilizations; there's also a complete campaign specially made for the demo version that takes place in the Hittite Empire.[9] Aside from the campaigns, there is a game mode called "random map", in which a different map is generated for each new game. Variations of random map, such as the resource-heavy "death match", are also available.[6][10][11]

Age of Empires also facilitated online and network play with up to 8 people simultaneously. Because the network play is less sophisticated than that of modern games, lag and disconnections often occur.[12] Until June 19, 2006, multiplayer gameplay was supported by Microsoft Gaming Zone. At that point, the Zone abandoned support of most CD-ROM games, including Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.[13]

The creation of user-made scenarios or series of scenarios (campaigns) for the game was made possible using the Scenario Builder. This tool is simpler and easier to learn than comparable editors used in more modern games, but it has fewer capabilities as a result. Ensemble Studios used the Scenario Builder to make the single-player campaigns which shipped with the retail game. Various unofficial sites exist where custom scenarios can be submitted and downloaded. In late 2005, it was discovered that by modifying various data files, units present in the beta versions of the game could be made available in the editor. Some obscure units include a spaceship and a hero that changes ownership when units move near it. Through data editing, the rules of unit placement can also be modified. This allows units to be placed on any terrain and on top of other units, which creates new possibilities for design. Other significant discoveries include new terrain templates, a mode to triple each unit's hitpoints and a tool to edit map sizes.[14]

Civilizations Edit
Players choose to play as one of 12 civilizations. The civilizations are sorted into four distinct architectural styles, based on East Asian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek architecture, which determine their in-game appearance.[15]

Technology Edit
Technology is researched at specific buildings, to which they are generally related; for example, religious research is done in temples and improved armor is researched in the storage pit.[6] Technological advances come in many categories, such as military upgrades (better arms and armor for units), economic upgrades (increasing the efficiency of resource gathering), religious upgrades (faster conversion rates and more abilities for priests) and infrastructure upgrades (stronger fortifications and more resilient buildings). As basic technology research is completed, more advanced technologies may become available. Some technologies are not available to certain civilizations.[6]

Technology plays a very important role in the strategy of the game.[16] As a civilization progresses through the ages, technology becomes more and more expensive, which makes collecting the necessary resources to research them difficult.[16] As a consequence, balancing the workforce of villagers across the various resources can make the difference between victory and defeat.[16]


Two armies squaring off, sporting an array of units.
Units Edit
Players control a variety of Civilian and Military units.[16] Most units can be upgraded through research (e.g. faster gathering for villagers, stronger armor for military units, and longer range for archers).[16]

Land-based units are the most prevalent in gameplay. Villagers are the most basic units in Age of Empires. Their primary function is to collect resources, cutting down trees for wood, mining for stone and gold, and hunting, foraging, farming, or fishing to acquire food.[16] Villagers can also construct buildings and repair both buildings and naval vessels, and are capable of engaging in hand-to-hand combat when necessary. Priests are non-combat units which can heal allied units or "convert" enemy units (in which case the target unit changes allegiance). Infantry units, such as clubmen, swordsmen, and hoplites use melee combat to attack at short range. Mounted units include chariots, cavalry, and war elephants. Archers, mounted or on foot, attack at range. Siege units are of two types: catapults and ballista. Catapults hurl stones which generate blast damage, affecting all units in a small area, and are especially effective against buildings and groups of units. The ballista is less damaging against buildings and units, but it fires faster and is cheaper than the catapult.

Nautical units often play a secondary role, but can be essential to victory.

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