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City Building | |
---|---|
Genre(s) | City-building |
Developer(s) | Impressions Games BreakAway Games Tilted Mill Entertainment Sierra Entertainment |
Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
Platform(s) | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS |
First release | Caesar 1992 |
Latest release | Pharaoh: A New Era 2023 |
City Building is a series of historical city-building games developed by Impressions Games, BreakAway Games, Tilted Mill Entertainment (following Impressions' demise), and published by Sierra Entertainment. The series began in 1992 with Caesar , set in the Roman Empire, and consists of twelve games to date, including expansion packs.
In the City Building series the player is put in charge of providing goods and services to the populace of their town, ensuring crime is low, and reducing the risk of disease, fire and building collapse. The player must also strike a balance between imports, exports and taxes to keep their town financially strong. The player is also responsible for defending their town against invasion by building a military.
The series covers four ancient civilizations: Roman, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese. Titles released up until 2004 used the same isometric view game engine, although progressively tweaked and modified according to the theme of the game. Subsequent titles use three-dimensional graphics engines.
The series includes:
Medieval Mayor was an announced city-building game set in the Middle Ages by Tilted Mill Entertainment for the PC and tablets. [1] Unlike the previous two games by Tilted Mill Entertainment, Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile and Caesar IV, the game would not use a 3D engine but return to the 2D engine, because Tilted Mill thought "2D works better in terms of players being able to tell what’s going on at a glance". [1] Walkers would once again be limited by roadblocks instead of the more recent radius-based or pseudo walker systems, [1] and players would focus more on building a few cities to great heights, rather than restart a new city after each mission. [1] There would be no multiplayer, but Tilted Mill was planning integration with social media. [1]
As of October 2013 Medieval Mayor was put on hiatus due to funding challenges and other project commitments. [2] In later interviews, Chris Beatrice expressed both his continued desire to eventually make the game and reticence to start development. [3] [4]
Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator was Pharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 47 BC, and one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He was the son of Ptolemy XII and the brother of and co-ruler with Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra's exit from Egypt caused a civil war to break out between the pharaohs. Ptolemy later ruled jointly with his other sister, Arsinoe IV.
SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The game was released in January 2003 for Microsoft Windows and in June 2003 for Mac OS X. It is the fourth major installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 4 has a single expansion pack called Rush Hour which adds features to the game. SimCity 4: Deluxe Edition contained the original game and Rush Hour combined as a single product.
Total War is a series of strategy games developed by British developer Creative Assembly for personal computers. They combine turn-based strategy and resource management with real-time tactical control of battles. Rather uniquely for real-time strategy games, flanking manoeuvers and formations factor heavily into gameplay. The first of the series, Shogun: Total War, was released in June 2000. The most recent major game released was Total War: Pharaoh on October 11, 2023. As of October 2022, the series has sold over 40.4 million copies.
Caesar is a 1992 city-building video game published by Sierra On-Line in which the player undertakes the role of a Roman governor, building ancient Roman cities.
Impressions Games was a British video game developer founded by David Lester. He sold the company to Sierra On-Line in 1995, who was then bought out by Cendant and eventually, Vivendi Universal.
Tilted Mill Entertainment is a video game developer located in Winchester, Massachusetts. It was founded in 2002 by former Impressions Games lead designer and general manager Chris Beatrice, business manager Peter Haffenreffer, and designer Jeff Fiske. The studio is known for its city-building games.
Caesar III is a city-building game released on September 30, 1998, for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra On-Line. It is the third installment of the Caesar series of games and is part of Sierra's City Building series. Players assume the role of a provincial governor to build thriving cities across the Roman Empire, in which they must ensure their citizens have their needs met, and deal with various disasters, angry gods and hostile enemies. The developers of Caesar III designed the game in response to critiques of its predecessor, introducing branching missions, a merged map for city-building and combat, and a "walker" mechanic for citizens of the city to affect their surroundings. Caesar III was released to positive critical reception, with praise directed at the game's visual presentation and complex design, and criticism levelled at its military features.
Caesar II is a 1995 video game of the Caesar video game series that takes place in Ancient Rome. It is the second game in the City Building series.
Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile is a city-building game set in ancient Egypt, developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment. The game was released November 2004 in the United States and February 2005 in Europe. It is part of the City Building series.
Zeus: Master of Olympus is a single-player strategy game developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Studios. It is considered to be an additional installment in the City Building series of games. Like previous titles in the series, Zeus focuses on the building and development of a city in ancient times. The game features a number of changes from previous titles in the series, including being set in Ancient Greece as well as changes to certain gameplay mechanics; however, it is considered to be in most aspects very similar to its predecessor, Caesar III.
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is the sixth title in the City Building series. BreakAway Games was contracted for Emperor after having previously worked on Queen of the Nile. Emperor is the last of the series to use the same 2D-sprite game engine as seen in the earlier titles, and the first to introduce a multiplayer option.
Pharaoh is an isometric city-building game that was released on November 5, 1999. It was created by Impressions Games and published by Sierra Studios for Microsoft Windows. Using the same game engine and principles of Caesar III, it is the first such game in Sierra's City Building series to focus on another civilization of ancient times. Players oversee the construction and management of cities and settlements in Ancient Egypt, micro-managing every aspect of the city to ensure citizens are fed, employed, healthy and protected from diseases, disasters and wars. An expansion pack, Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile, was released in 2000, developed by BreakAway Games. In 2001, both the game and expansion pack were bundled together as Pharaoh Gold. A remake titled Pharaoh: A New Era was released by Triskell Interactive and Dotemu in 2023.
Chris Beatrice is a video game designer and artist noted for primary creative development of popular historical strategy games, including Lords of the Realm series and the City Building series.
Caesar IV is a city-building game set in ancient Rome, developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment. The game was released on September 26, 2006, in North America. The game features a three-dimensional game engine and individual modeling of game character behaviors.
Caesars Atlantic City is a luxury hotel, casino, and spa resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Like Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, it has an ancient Roman and ancient Greek theme. Atlantic City's second casino, it opened in 1979 as the Boardwalk Regency. The 124,720 sq ft (11,587 m2). casino has over 3,400 slot machines, and is one of the largest in Atlantic City. The resort has experienced much expansion and renovation in the past decade, including a new hotel tower, a new parking garage, and a new shopping center, Playground Pier.
Titan is a game engine developed by Stainless Steel Studios used in the real-time strategy genre. It was mainly used as a PC game engine in the early 2000s. The engine was used in Stainless Steel Studio's early games, such as Empire Earth and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World.
SimCity Societies is a city-building simulation video game developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, and is part of the SimCity series. The gameplay is significantly different from previous SimCity titles, with a greater focus on social development. SimCity Societies was released in 2007, and received mixed reviews, with praise for the game's improved accessibility and visuals, but criticism for being oversimplified and having poor performance.
Keith Zizza is a video game soundtrack composer. He has worked as a composer and audio director for companies such as Electronic Arts, Impressions Games, Sierra Entertainment and Tilted Mill Entertainment. His discography includes more than 25 AAA game titles. In April 2008 Zizza released his debut solo album, Memories of a Forgotten Age.
Builders of Egypt is an upcoming economic type of city-building game taking place in Ancient Egypt. The story will start in a little-known protodynastic period. The player will be able to observe the birth of Egyptian Civilization and the game will finish with the fall of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Cleopatra's death.
Hegemony is a series of computer strategy games developed by Canadian studio Longbow Games. The games combine historical grand strategy with real-time battles on a seamless map. The title references the concept of hegemony, i.e. the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others.