Nanzou: The Divine Court News

Dear players!

Many of you probably wonder what’s happening with the Builders of China, as we have remained quite silent in recent times. The Winds of Change finally brought some concrete information and we are excited to share the news with you! But first, a little bit of background…

Over the last year, the project went through a lot of design and stylistic changes – art style, UI, new features, and even some of the core mechanics were changed, altered, or remade in the name of delivering a pleasant and exciting gameplay experience. As a result, it drove us further and further away from the original vision to the point that even the name ‘Builders of China’ stopped being relevant. That’s why we’ve decided to move forward and change the name of the project to underline that this game will be different from what we originally announced. But this is far from just a new name, it’s a new vision for our game, set in our own fantasy world, that we want you to be a part of.

While the early production stages focused on historical accuracy, we've realized we are limiting ourselves in what the game could become, and what fun and exciting features we could bring you. More often than not, we found realism and historical accuracy diminishing fun in gameplay, rather than supporting it. That’s why we've decided to create this game as we truly want it to be - a fun and accessible city builder with unique twists on the genre, that takes inspiration from what’s the most exciting about the Chinese myths and legends. To be fuelled and inspired by our game’s roots, not to be limited by them.

And that’s how Nanzou was born – our own fantasy world.



Thanks to these changes, we will introduce many exciting features, such as:
Satisfying city building experience focused around easy to understand rules and player freedom,
Vertical building in which the player will connect valleys, mountaintops, and floating islands together
A living and interactive world of Nanzou with procedurally generated content, such as cities and events
Dynamic turn-based combat focused around wuxia-style heroes
Cities turning into battlefields
And much more! You can learn more about new things to come in the game’s refreshed description.

We also acknowledge that communication with you, the players, can be improved, so we invite you to let us know what you think about the changes, ask us questions and we’ll do our best to answer them. You can do it either here or on the game’s Steam forum thread. Soon we will launch the official Discord server specifically for this project, on which we plan to have playtests, Q&A sessions, stay in touch with you, and notify you about the news in the project. When it’s ready, we’ll let you know!

We hope you’ll love the new direction for the game just as much as we do. Keep an eye out for more news!

Kind Regards,
The Nanzou Team

Greetings from the Land of the Sleep!
Kidding!

But you can be sure that our game is far from dead – in fact, it's quite the opposite and we're rushing forward more alive than ever. Because of some new paths we've been exploring, our whole graphic art style is changing. Why? Simple, we want only what's best for the players!

The first step is to give a breath of fresh air to our Steam card before we reveal more interesting changes. What are those, you may ask? We are dying to share with you what's coming next, but please be a little more patient.

We're sure that you'll love what we have prepared now and all the upcoming changes and updates – till next time, or as the old Chinese saying Shui Lu Ping An says 'may you have peace by land and water!'

Thank you and see you soon!
Best regards,
Builders of China Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390760/Builders_of_China/

[h2]Let's learn some more about the buildings that you will build in our game![/h2]



We're going to start, however, with our best wishes for everyone celebrating Lunar New Year! It's the year of the Tiger and as per our tradition we've prepared another postcard for the occasion - you can enlarge it by clicking with your right mouse button on it and opening it fully on another window/tab. We hope that you like the art as our artists made sure to make the tiger both admirable and solemn! We simply think it's amazing and we hope that you will have a splendid time celebrating Lunar New Year!

Now, let's talk about buildings!



We're working on few specific systems regarding most of the housing buildings - spaces where our citizens will be able to live and go about their business. Those two systems are presented on the screenshot above in a grid.



First of the systems is designed to showcase differences between houses depending on the type of terrain you're building on. Foundation of our building will look different based on the type of ground that you're trying to create the building on. That means that buildings can look a little bit different if your construct them on mountains area than the same buildings placed on water. That means that you will be able to construct some of the buildings in very different environments showcasing the sould and heart of the people living in the area - no matter what kind of difficulties they face on, they always can find a proper solution!



The buildings will also be different from each other depending on the wealth of their citizens. Currently we're working on 3 different levels showcasing various states of wealth. The bigger wealth your city and citizens own, the better the buildings will look like - subsequently the poorer you are the more it will show. Buildings come in three varieties - poor looking wooden shacks, regular tidy houses and lavish beautiful constructions. Depending on your actions the citizens will either live in comfort... or in shame.

Thank you for checking in with us - make sure to wishlist the game and see you in the next devlog!

Best regards,
Builders of China Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390760/Builders_of_China/

[h2]Let's welcome the New Year of 2022 with smiles on our faces![/h2]



The New Year is just starting - a year that is surely going to be full of great time and unforgettable moments!

How are your New Year creations and outfits? We know that in contemporary world it is still difficult to go out and enjoy yourself but we hope that wherever you are you're safe and you're enjoying the New Year festivities with class and zazz! Sometimes a nice elegant set of clothing can make a big difference in how you approach such moments!

We at Live Motion Games know that each year presents us all with great opportunities and chances - the only important thing is to remember that we should all pursue those chances and do our best to transform them into real events and achievements! We would like to wish you all fulfillment, happiness and personal satisfaction in all your endavours and we hope that development of Builders of China will add to the great positive moments of the New Year!

Have a great New Year everyone!

Best regards,
Builders of China Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390760/Builders_of_China/

[h2]The coziest time of the year is upon us and we would like to wish you all the best![/h2]



While we know that Christmas is more of a novelty time in China than the actual time of festivities we still can't help but feel the merriness in the air! We hope you are all spending this time with your closest ones - having good food, hot drinks and smile on your lips!

Take this time to rest and relax - get as much energy as you can! We will be celebrating the Christmas too and the energy we'll gather will serve us to create an amazing game for all fans of the Chinese history and culture! We have heads full of ideas and we can't wait to share more with you and we're excited about what's to come!

Merry Christmas!

Best regards,
Builders of China Team



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390760/Builders_of_China/