Celestial Empire News

Dear Community!
Before you develop sprawling cities on this untouched land, take a moment to look at the large open fields. Waving grass dances to the wind and a variety of trees change colours through the seasons. This may be a small detail but nature surrounding your city will be the most beautiful backdrop.



We’re aiming to create a complex palette of colours in which the cities will be the main focus. The lush plant life will bring out the best of the buildings’ colours. We’ve already talked about a wide variety of trees, so it’s time to mention the tiniest of plants. The base layer of the greenery cake is the grass. It may not seem like a lot, but it will be key to the seasons changing.



Masks in Unreal Engine allow us to place thousands of small tufts of grass all over the map. This will also allow for ease of access, so we can change and tweak colours depending on the time of year. Seasons will visually indicate the gameplay changes. Harsh winters will stop food production and increase the amount of fuel our citizens need. So observe nature to prepare for the upcoming hardships.



Let us know how you are planning to incorporate natural beauty into your cities. Will you have spaces for rabbits and ducks to relax and frolic around? Remember that including trees and green spaces is key to creating balance and making people happy.
Can’t wait to hear about your dream cities.
See you soon!
The Devs

Last month we presented a closer look at the technical side of things and today we deliver a visual delight that is the new trailer! You can see the full scale of the details created using Unreal Engine's Nanite. We're able to include the tiniest elements of the buildings and surrounding areas!

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This trailer also delivers a closer look into the lives of your citizens! Watch them walk around, work, buy food and enjoy a lovely day at the temple! They may not know it yet, but your leadership will bring the prosperity you can see in the gorgeous and blissful scenes of the video.



Agriculture mixes with industrial parts of the city as we all watch it grow and evolve in front of our eyes. Let us know which citizens or buildings or any elements of the city are your favourite! We're eagerly waiting for your comments here, on youtube or in our Discord!

This trailer is also available here on Steam, so you can check it out on our Steam Store Page!

Dear Community!
In the previous devblog we presented a new direction we decided to take with our game’s look. These improvements are the result of a few significant technological changes behind the scenes. Here are two key shifts in production that allowed us to move to a new look.



Unreal Engine 5
Right before a stable version of the new engine was released to the public, conversations regarding a switch began and the entire project was moved soon after. This allowed us to implement new tools and methods of optimization. Thanks to them we are able to improve the vast majority of the visual elements of the game including the models and lighting, without compromising framerates and overall performance. The switch to UE5 also increases the longevity of the game itself, as the updates to the engine will continue for much longer and more useful tools will be created over time.

Nanite Virtulized Geometry
One of the key reasons we considered this move beneficial was the introduction of Nanite. Our 3D artists were especially excited about this, as Nanite allows them to create high-quality models without the necessity to painstakingly double-check and limit the polygon counts in every building. This tool shortens the time needed to create a game-ready model, as we can allow every model to have more details than ever, without burning your PCs. You will spend the vast majority of your playthroughs looking at the roofs of your cities. It’s fitting that as the gameplay becomes well-rounded, so do the roofs.





Nanite helps with much more seamless transitions between LODs, especially with a high number of similar meshes in view. Your cities will have many repeating buildings to keep up with your citizens’ needs and this tool will allow them to be rendered and visible with a high level of detail without straining your computer too much.



This also means that optimization is much more straightforward, as there aren’t many obstacles which will take up time. This saved-up time can be used to improve the detailing of the models, which now can get much more love and attention.

These changes will speed up and improve the development process. We’re able to continue our work without worrying about certain aspects. The change in look and lighting will definitely help you immerse yourselves in the beautiful world of Ancient China. Hopefully, this short summary of the upgrades in the tech used behind the scenes will shed some light on the effort we put into ensuring our game’s longevity and beauty!

See you next time
the Devs

Dear Community,
For a while, we have been working on improving the game’s look and performance. This process has brought innovation in the creative process, new technical achievements and changes which will ensure the game’s longevity. We will reveal all of those over time, but let’s begin with the most noticeable difference of all: the game looks a lot better now.



There haven’t been many changes to the visual design principles, we are still going for a relatively realistic look with lush foliage and detailed buildings full of life and secrets. If anything, the decision was made to push even harder towards realism. Among details in the natural landscape, we have been working on details such as spectacular boulders and new ways of colouring the map with flowers. This world has to be rich in beauty and resources, so every player can take full advantage of everything this setting had to offer.



We have added a multitude of new buildings and enhanced the looks of the old ones. We pay special attention to the ones which will appear in large numbers in every playthrough. Upgrades in used technology allow us to add more details to the environment without sacrificing optimisation possibilities. We will discuss the technology behind some of those details before the end of the year. Everything has to be prepared for large settlements that grow dramatically every time the player reaches a milestone.



There are places on the map that look spectacular on their own, but we know you can all find new and exciting settings for your dream cities. You’re the ones shaping the landscape with sprawling settlements full of houses and specialised buildings. These beating hearts of the land will be your pride and joy for entire playthroughs.



Sometimes the serenity of certain places is surprising even for us. Large forests with many varieties of trees and plants can be populated with small centres of worship. Or lonely bridges can become decorative aspects of your vision for the city. These small details in what you can do with production buildings or decorative props have been some of the most exciting elements of testing.



We’re already excited to see your creations. Screenshots in this devblog were provided by multiple members of the team, who have built beautiful cities while testing new features and the game’s economy. Everyone was over the moon when all changes and upgrades finally fell into place like puzzle pieces and revealed the bigger picture of this game’s true potential and beauty. There still is a lot to be done, but we hope that a move in this direction will show the care and love everyone pours into this project.
Can’t wait for your feedback! You can reach us on our social media or join our discord.

See you next time!
The Devs

Dear Community!

The previous devblog included a simple representation of one of the production chains in the process. The introduction of this simple diagram of making baijiu inspired us to share more icons and our thought processes when creating them. Alongside the icons, we’d like to share concept art for the buildings they represent.



Clarity is one of the major factors in creating icons for any mechanic or element of the game. We want to implement simple connections between buildings, resources and simple visual representations of them. Some things are easier to show than others a simple look into Chinese culture and lifestyle was an immense inspiration. The baijiu jars are used to this day and are an easy insight into the lives of ancient Chinese. So we decided to take what we could have found in our research and in one way or another apply it to our icons.

The vast majority of the citizens were obviously farm workers, so in their daily lives, they saw equipment and animals used to produce food for the Empire. We took this experience and as we decided which animals to assist the farmers, the immediate thought was the water buffalo. These massive animals have the strength to work all day in the fields. This is why they are common in our game and are the representation of draft animals.



Another element of the agricultural landscape that could have been a common sight for farm workers were the windwihirls. We use them to pump water so your crops can grow faster in the summer months.



The elites’ lives were much more luxurious, so they could indulge in all forms of art. This very much included visiting the theatre and playing instruments. We included manufacturers making musical instruments. The workers create magnificent traditional drums and pipas, which became the icons to represent the entire production building.



Those instruments are also used in the theatre to enhance the performance of the actors. Traditional Chinese theatre has a very distinct look to it and costumes used by actors are easy to recognise even from far away. This is why we decided to assign the mask to represent the theatre.



Here is also an additional round of icons representing all sorts of resources, which will keep your citizens fed and safe. These icons will help you quickly navigate production chains, thanks to which our cities will grow large and stronger than ever before.



These are just a few examples of icons we created to help with a clear and cohesive look of the game. There are dozens of buildings and mechanics with distinct icons, which we want to keep in relative secrecy, so we can surprise you later on. We are looking forward to your feedback and ideas on how we could simplify the mental connections we try to create between icons and resources or buildings. Join our Discord and follow our social media to see more screenshots and learn more about our games!

See you!
The Devs