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If on a summer’s night a game designer... community » I wish to work on...

Architectural game inspired by "Invisible Cities"

A topic by Obigre Fichtredonc created Jun 22, 2020 Views: 546 Replies: 16

Viewing posts 1 to 8

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago(+2)

Pretty much everything is in the title :)
The book "Invisible Cities" which i've read in french have deeply inspired me design wise. Although it is the only book from Calvino i've ever read, it's stayed with me ever since, and i'd love to make a game based on the ideas developed in there.

I've been asking myself wether to join this jam or not, because i'd rather spend my summer doing anything else than staying on the computer, but i realized i could make an analogue game instead ! (card game, dice game etc...)
So if anyone has a particluar connection with this book, and wants more specifically to explore strange evocative architectures through the making of a game, get in touch with me :)

For all the others: which excrept from the Invisible Cities touched you the most ?
For me i think it was the city in which the buildings look nothing like what they are used for; you can find a bank in a cinema, a market in a church etc... did the people there adapt themselves to the place they choosed ? did they bring down walls ? does the inherent design of the building changes the way people go about their life ?...

Antonio Amato4 years ago

I really love the “architectural game” concept! Tell me more: is it a map game with a special focus on buildings and architectural elements, or is it something different?

Regarding your question, I think the most fascinating city is Ersilia, where the inhabitants stretch threads to represent the relationships that exist within the city. It’s no coincidence that the city was one of the inspiration for The Littlest Village, a LARP scenario (written in collaboration with other authors) in Crescendo Giocoso Ritornello, currently on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nessundove/crescendo-giocoso-ritornello

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago

I don't know for now, i'm really open to any suggestion, and haven't started thinking in more details but i have a few ideas :)

For example, it could be a multiplayer game in which you have to build a city together. In competition or cooperation ? i don't know. to what goal ? to prove what point ? i don't know either.
It could also be a a cooperative game in which you have to adapt to a city slowly building itself, and score as many points as possible.
I was also thinking maybe it could be a Castle of Cards game with the twist of having some cards require you put them in specific places, or give you more points.
There was also this game in which you had to build a path from point A to point B using tiles looking like spaghetti plates. The whole game revolved around the fact that each piece could be an obstacle as well as a step forward depending on the side you approached it from. Something similar might be possible, but with a city building itself, allowing fluxes of merchants, citizens etc... to go around the city.

Really, idk, i'm just throwing ideas around ^^ what do you think an architectural game could be ? :p

Antonio Amato4 years ago

I think an architectural game should focus on the collaborative creation of buildings and structures. The rules should support planning and implementation, as well as the distribution of tasks among the players. An architectural game, finally, should give particular importance to the living beings that will “use” that building or structure. In short, I imagine a game that starts from an idea, puts it into practice and makes it available for the narration of a building. I don’t know if I’m being clear, I’m thinking out loud.

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago(+1)

It sounds a bit too restrictive.
What i liked about the Invisible Cities series is the fact that these cities and building Calvino described weren't created through an architectural logical process, but were much more influenced by the passing of time, by the love of men for a dream, by our obsession for self-perfection, by the vertiginous idea of death etc...
In my understanding, an architectural game is more symply a game in which players experiment with and challenge the principles of architectures; just like what Calvino presented us with in his book: cities which challenged our preconceived ideas of why and how a city should be built.

Antonio Amato4 years ago(+1)

I should have specified that my definition was rather general and not referring to an architectural game inspired by The Invisible Cities. In that case, I agree with you! ;)

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago

It's still very valid, though ! a game like that can definitely be made. But it's not necessarily what i want to make ^^

ChiakiAkito4 years ago (1 edit) (+3)

I'll have to second Antonio's suggestion, being one of said other authors. :P

Also adding Clarice: the city that constantly decays and flourishes on the ruins of its previous incarnations. I found it a haunting concept and I like how Calvino personifies the city and depersonalizes its inhabitants in the same breath, it really gives me the impression of a living, breathing being that also happens to house people in its nooks and crannies.

(it also got me a cum laude mark on my textual linguistics exam so I might be biased though :P)

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago(+2)

I just realized you suggested Clarisse (or rather Clarice in English) as a city to take inspiration from, and it happens to be the one whichi based myself upon for my prototyped card game ! i didn't even remember.
Have a look here if you're interested :) https://obigre-fichtredonc.itch.io/clarisse/

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago

Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.

Found while browsing the book again.
I'm currently looking for concepts to develop into a card game. I have several starting points, which more or less developed already.
The most inspirational city for me this far has been Zirma :)

ChiakiAkito4 years ago(+2)

Thinking about cities and their absurd rules, I am reminded of a nickname for Industrial Revolution-era London: The Great Wen.
A wen is a cyst, a tumor. The expression was used to mean that the city's growth was unforeseeable, unruly and out of control (as well as ugly, of course). There's a tabletop game, Itras By, which is all about a city with surrealist inspirations, and one of the many interesting tidbits in the 400-page-long book is about "structural cancer": walls and windows and alleys appearing where there should be none, like an illness of the city.
I'd like to see a game focused on these concepts.

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago(+1)

Very interesting ! i might consider using this idea in the tile placing game i'm focusing on right now :) thanks for the idea

nurbrun4 years ago(+1)

I love this idea! I am also probably going to use Invisible Cities as a main point of inspiration for this jam. Something that's stood out to me so far (I am currently reading the book in English) is how each section contains a phrase or moment with immense energy/intensity, and how the cities are painted as a body without organs more so than bricks and steel.

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago

First ruleset for my card game based on the city of Clarisse: please give it a go and give me your thoughts :D
https://obigre-fichtredonc.itch.io/clarisse

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago (1 edit)

New set of rules, which basically creates a new game, with the same basic premise of having cards that both serve as materials and buildings.
https://obigre-fichtredonc.itch.io/clarisse/devlog/159082/ruleset-v2-new-descrip...

Julian K. Jarboe4 years ago(+2)

I'm also making a (mostly) Invisible Cities (with a dash of Castle of Crossed Destinies and Cosmicomics) game. :) For me I'm working from the way that individual word choice and vocabulary accumulate to construct meaning akin to literal building.

Obigre Fichtredonc4 years ago

10 days left !
I will try to polish the rules before the jam ends, and also try my hand at some personalized printed cards :)