Celestial Empire News

To all the Constructors!



The Year of the Dragon has passed, and now we welcome the Year of the Snake! In Chinese culture, the snake symbolizes wisdom, transformation, prosperity and determination – qualities that every great ruler needs to build a thriving empire. Governor, bring glory to your city, for that is your duty!

May this new year bring you success, harmony, and endless creativity in shaping your cities. Thank you for being part of our journey, and we can’t wait to share more exciting updates with you. Let Celestial Empire awaken your curiosity and bring you closer to the wonderful Chinese culture.

Wishing you happiness, good fortune, and a prosperous Year of the Snake!

Best wishes
from the whole President Studio

Hello Constructors!

Today, we’re diving into one of the tier choices you’ll face when advancing to the Age of Scholars. You'll find an option to unlock the Improvement Office. This is a building which introduces a brand-new mechanic that will help you make use of spare Science Points.


[h2]CONVERT YOUR SCIENCE POINTS[/h2]

Once you’ve constructed an Improvement Office, its engineers get to work converting your hard-earned Science Points into valuable upgrades for your city. These upgrades can include reduced upkeep costs for buildings or increased efficiency for oxen, among others. What's the catch? The Improvement Office applies its benefits to buildings within its range, making strategic placement crucial. So keep that in mind!


[h2]PICK YOUR REWARD[/h2]

You, as the Governor, have the power to choose which upgrade to prioritize. Want to focus on economic efficiency? Opt for reduced building maintenance costs. Need to boost resource transportation? Enhance your oxen’s productivity. And if your priorities shift, no problem – you can adjust the chosen upgrade anytime via the Improvement Office panel. That's also the place where you can check the exact value of your bonuses.


The Improvement Office empowers you to fine-tune your city’s performance, ensuring it thrives under your guidance. Will you use this mechanic to shape your city? Let us know your strategies, and as always, stay tuned for more updates!

See ya!
The Devs

Hello Constructors!

In the last devblog we talked about a choice a player has to make while proceeding to The Age Of Craftsmen. You have to choose between Festival or Fertility mechanics. We’ve already told you about the festivals, so now it's time to dive into fertility mechanics.



[h2]PRODUCING A FERTILIZER[/h2]
After choosing Feritility, you will be able to increase the productivity of your farms by providing them with compost as a fertilizer. To produce compost, you need to place a Compost Facility subbuilding to an animal farm.



[h2]FERTILIZING FIELDS
[/h2]
Then you can use that compost to fertilize your fields. Place a Composter in your city, so it will fertilize cultivated fields in its range. Fields are slowly getting fertilized to their maximum level over time and their productivity increases. You can also check fertility levels in your city by clicking on a fertility filter. You can see how it works on a right side of an image below.


With the Fertility mechanic, your agricultural strategy will play a crucial role in shaping the prosperity of your empire. Balancing farm placement, composter efficiency, and crop productivity can help your city grow. Whether you prioritize festivals or sustainable, fertile land, the choice is yours. Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, feel free to share your thoughts and feedback with us. And what would YOU choose? Are you a festival fan or do you prefer prioritising fertile soil? Let us know!

Till later!
The Devs

Hello Constructors!

Building ancient Chinese cities sure is cool, but wouldn’t you mind having a little more fun while doing it? We come to the rescue! To diversify your experience, we want to introduce you to recent changes in the choice which a player has to make when he reaches The Age Of Craftsmen. Now, players can choose between two new mechanics, the Festival mechanic and Fertility. Of course… like before, you also have the option to make no selection, but we guarantee that you'll be missing out! In this devblog, we'll delve into the mechanics of Festivals and how they can bring your city to life.


[h2]FESTIVALS[/h2]
To access Festivals, after picking it while advancing to The Age Of Craftsmen, you first need to unlock the Market in the Technology Tree. Once you've built a Market in your city, you can initiate festivals through it. Clicking on the Market opens a window displaying the available festivals. Each festival offers different effects and lasts for a specific period. During a festival, you not only reap its bonuses but also experience visual enhancements throughout your city. NPCs celebrating in key locations, fireworks, kites, and banners are just some of the festive elements you will notice.


[h2]FESTIVAL LIMITATIONS[/h2]
When one festival ends, you must wait for an appropriate cooldown period before launching another. Each festival also has a food cost, which varies depending on the festival you choose. This food comes from different tiers, mostly depending on the social class involved, and in varying quantities. Furthermore, each subsequent festival will be proportionally more expensive to host. We've also added new decorations that can be placed on city roads. These decorations now increase the tax revenue from the social group within their influence range.


We hope you enjoy this new addition and the vibrancy it brings to your cities. As always, we appreciate your feedback and support. Happy building, and may your empire flourish with the spirit of celebration! Stay tuned for more updates, and don’t forget to share your thoughts with us. Let us know what kind of festival you would like to see the most.

Till later!
The Devs

Hello Constructors!

The governor's job is no easy one, as it is the person responsible for all the strategic decisions regarding the city’s growth. Maintaining a positive relationship with the gods is a must. One does not want to fall into disgrace, and it’s way better to have some divine help. To progress your city into the next stage, first you need to ask for the gods’ support. And that is… the monument. You could have already seen the Weeping Fountain or the Jade Emperor, but we finished another monument – Palace On The Water.


[h2]BUILDING'S MODEL[/h2]

To create that building, first we worked on the concept, which later served as a basis for the detailed construction planning. We gather references to real ancient Chinese constructions and that’s when it gets tricky. The ancient architecture of China can surprise with the complexity of its elements, each of which serves as a building structure and is also a decoration. All things are ready, so it’s time to move on to modeling using Blender.


[h2]TEXTURES[/h2]

After the model is exported, it’s time to put it together with some textures. For such a big monument we prepared 3 materials: the stone base of the building, roof tiles and facade elements. And once everything looked good, another step was to import the model to the engine, where we created a blueprint and added some decorative elements to the building, such as water, plants, lights, effects, NPCs and so on.


[h2]MONUMENT IN COMPARISON[/h2]

The last step was to see how the monument was doing in the game’s environment, in comparison to all the other buildings. Palace On The Water is a very big and detailed building. But if you don’t trust us, you can always look at the image below.



Monuments play a very big part in our game. They sum up the city’s progression. More monuments = more advanced city. And what do you think about Palace On The Water? It sure is huge, but did it capture your heart? With 3 monuments ready and presented, we are currently working on the last monument. Do you have any guesses about what that could be? Let us know in the comments!

See ya!
The Devs