MEMORIA POLIS News

Hello Builders,

as we reminded you in our previous article, you can lose power over your city and therefore the game if too many districts close.



What we'll be looking at today is how these neighborhoods are created.

[h2]District development in Memoriapolis[/h2]
In Memoriapolis, every building you place generates a catchment area where your citizens will settle.

These residents will first define the boundaries of their neighborhoods, draw the plots that make them up, and then build their houses and gardens. The type of dwelling depends directly on the culture of the initial building.

The game features six distinct cultures:

• Military
  
• Religion
  
• Trade
  
• Education
  
• Production
  
• Politics
  

Let's take an example: if you build a barracks, which belongs to the military culture, the surrounding neighborhoods also adopt this culture. The result will be standardized, more rigorously designed housing.



But the impact doesn't stop at architecture: a neighborhood populated by military personnel is also more likely to see the emergence of a military faction. We'll look at this point in more detail in another article. For now, let's focus on organic development.

[h2]A city that evolves on its own[/h2]
We've chosen to give residents a large degree of autonomy in the way they structure their environment. In other words, you don't directly control the layout of your city: it's your citizens who decide how to organize themselves around the buildings you place.

From a visual point of view, this results in more natural and realistic cities. After all, urban planning is a complex skill, and not everyone has the soul of an architect!
In terms of gameplay, this adds a real challenge: you have to constantly adapt to the choices made by citizens. However, you're not totally helpless in the face of these dynamics.

[h2]Influencing the city's development[/h2]
Each cultural building influences the surrounding catchment area. You can visualize this area using the game's filters, which give you a fairly precise idea of the future neighborhoods that will emerge. This information is invaluable in anticipating the development of your city.



There are other ways to structure urbanization:

• Building ramparts densifies an existing neighborhood rather than creating new ones.
  
• Placing a building along a main road naturally attracts residents, who always prefer to settle close to major thoroughfares.
  
• It is also always possible to destroy certain cultural buildings and/or place a building on an existing road if you feel the need.
  

[h2]Two essential stages[/h2]
District development is based on two key stages:

1. Creation - Defining plots and neighborhood boundaries.
   
2. Densification - Building homes
   

To optimize your city, you need to think about these two phases. Creation occurs when you place a new building or wonder. Densification, on the other hand, occurs either by adding more buildings, or by limiting the creation of new districts.

Sometimes, not building is the best strategy!

[h2]A constantly evolving approach[/h2]
This organic development system, in which the city evolves according to your decisions and the specific planning rules of each era, is an ambitious gamble. We're aware that there's still room for improvement, and we're looking forward to fine-tuning it over the coming weeks and updates.

Welcome Builders,

You've just arrived here, perhaps intrigued by an image you spotted in an article, or on the advice of a friend who told you this game was worth a look.

Either way: welcome!

Memoriapolis is a City Builder, a game for building and managing cities. In it, you'll construct buildings, make political decisions, manage resources, open trade routes and deal with the various factions that move in. In short, everything you'd expect from a game of this genre... but with a few special features.



[h2]Three elements that make Memoriapolis unique[/h2]

[h3]A city through 2500 years of history[/h3]
Your city will evolve from Antiquity to the Age of Enlightenment.

[h3]Autonomous inhabitants[/h3]
You don't control everything: your citizens decide for themselves where and how they settle. That's why we call city development “organic”

[h3]A real possibility of failure[/h3]
You can lose control of your city... and therefore the game.

Your goal: to stay in power until the end of the Age of Enlightenment.

Easier said than done!

[h2]Watch out for rebellious neighborhoods[/h2]
The biggest danger? Neighborhoods that become independent. There are several reasons for secession:

• A faction becomes too powerful and wants its own autonomy.
  
• Residents' representatives feel you're not meeting their expectations.
  
• Too many incidents disrupt the city.
  
• The population's level of satisfaction is falling dangerously.
  

Keeping control of your city will require political finesse and good management of everyone's expectations.

[h2]A dynasty at the head of the city[/h2]
You're not immortal! You're running a dynasty that has to survive the centuries. Each age lasts a certain number of cycles, and history doesn't wait for you.
To progress to the next age, your city must reach a certain level of development. If you get there early, the cycles you've saved will be carried over to the next age. Otherwise, you'll advance without any particular bonus.

This mechanism rewards players who optimize their development, while letting those who take their time play without penalty.

[h2]A new start at each age[/h2]
At each age change, you'll have to choose:

• Which of your city's buildings to keep
  
• Which dynasty to embody, each with its own advantages.
  

This is a key moment, as your decisions will have a major impact on the rest of the game.



One of the special features of the game is that, at each age, you build a new Residence for your Dynasty. This allows total freedom in the way your city evolves, and avoids being limited by the old structure.

Finally, some buildings evolve from one age to the next and influence the surrounding neighborhoods, allowing for a smooth transition between eras.

Ready for the challenge?

Hello builders,

From the very beginning of the development of Memoriapolis, our objective has always been clear: to offer a city-builder that traces the evolution of a city through the ages, with a visual identity marked by history.

Today, we're approaching the long-awaited moment: the final release of the game. And finalization means fine-tuning every detail, including the game's visuals.

[h2]A world in the making[/h2]

As early as early access, we took the first step towards a different rendering by integrating a paint effect, giving the game a more drawn look. Today, we're taking it a step further by further accentuating this effect to create a true visual signature.



Among the works we've taken to heart are architectural drawings, sketches that bring ancient or medieval cities to life. Like these historical sketches, we want Memoriapolis to resemble a living model, where each building seems to have been drawn by hand, with fine lines that give it relief and character.

This choice is not just aesthetic. It also enhances the game's legibility and optimization. It's a natural evolution for our team. Of course, this change may come as a surprise, but we're convinced that it reinforces the soul of the game and makes it more unique than ever.



These visual changes will be activated by default at launch, because we believe it's in the spirit of the game. However, if this doesn't suit you, it's entirely possible to revert to the classic visual look. You'll find this option in the game's graphics settings.

[h2]An interface to match your city[/h2]

Another major project we've been working on is the user interface. We've known for a long time that it could be improved, but we wanted to surround ourselves with the right people to get it right. So we collaborated with experts in ergonomics and user interface to review the way information is displayed and made accessible.



The objective?

• To make all important data immediately understandable,
  
• To make navigation more intuitive
  
• And to make managing your city even smoother.
  

Thanks to these improvements, following the evolution of your city and making the right decisions will be much more pleasant and natural.

[h2]The home stretch[/h2]

When we look back, we realize just how far we've come. Memoriapolis is the fruit of years of work, experimentation and questioning. We've learned an enormous amount from your feedback, and every adjustment we make today is a proposal to make the game better while remaining true to our original vision.

So, a big thank you to all of you who have followed and supported us on this incredible adventure. The final version is just around the corner, and we can't wait for you to see it.

A city is never static; it evolves over time... just like our game!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Hello everyone,

Reading player feedback is always an enriching experience, even if it can sometimes be a difficult exercise. Some opinions are expressed with passion.
That's why we always strive to go beyond words to understand the substance of your criticisms and suggestions.
We're fortunate to have an involved community, which often shares detailed, well-argued feedback. These discussions help us to better understand your expectations and refine Memoriapolis accordingly.

Of course, we're not immune to mistakes 🙂

For example, it turned out to be a bad idea to display an end-of-early-access panel after the medieval period. We've always envisaged the game as a coherent whole, with a beginning and an end. However, the systems we've put in place struggle to work well when they only cover half the game. We're actively working to improve this aspect!

Today, we'd like to take a moment to address the concerns raised by some of you. It's not a question of justifying ourselves, but of explaining our design choices and responding honestly to comments that we feel need to be explained.

[h3]QUESTION: Why an age-based city center?[/h3]

💬 REVIEW : “Because I had to place the medieval and renaissance city centers so far away from my previous settlement even the main idea broke down - the settlements of the different ages didnt really grow into each other, instead I built three separate, segregated towns.”

💬 REVIEW : “After all, there is no one city passing through the epochs. Because when you move to a new one, game suggest you build a new city center and, de facto, a new settlement. And you can't redo the old (see the first part)”

OUR APPROACH: We explored several options before making this choice:

• Have a single town center that changes with each age.
  
• Build a new town center at each age.
  

We opted for the second option, as a single town center would have posed several problems

• With each age transition, the new city risked completely obliterating the old one; both for cultural buildings and residential areas.
  
• We wanted your past to remain visible, whatever decisions you made over the ages.
  

The city center is a trace of the past that you must preserve throughout the game. You can also anticipate its evolution by leaving room for the next town center.
What's more, certain cultural buildings, called “mixed” in the game, can evolve from one age to the next and transform neighboring districts.
The choice is yours:

• Either mix the neighborhoods to form a single large city.
  
• Or develop a new part of the city next to the old one, as in many European cities.
  

[h3]QUESTION: Why can't I destroy everything?[/h3]

💬 REVIEW: “Not being able to erase roads or fix them, makes it really chaotic and annoying.”

💬 REVIEW: “To begin with, there is no way to redo a section of the city, which means that the pottery workshop, which becomes obsolete almost immediately, is with you until the end of the game.”

OUR APPROACH: Memoriapolis is based on an algorithm that autonomously generates neighborhoods to recreate complex, coherent cities. It's not perfect, and it can sometimes produce unexpected shapes, but its aim is to prevent each city from resembling an overly rigid grid.

We've already modified elements of the game to address these issues:

• The player can destroy cultural buildings, which was not the case in earlier versions of the game.
  
• The player can position a building on a road, and the road will automatically adapt to the player's needs.
  

If everything could be freely modified, the risk would be to spend your time redoing everything, without ever being satisfied-which would run counter to the experience we want to offer.
Finally, no building becomes obsolete, especially production buildings.

[h3]QUESTION: What are my objectives?[/h3]

💬 REVIEW : “No challenge, and you end up just sitting and waiting for your numbers to be big enough to place the next mildly impactful building while your city grows "organically"..”

💬 REVIEW : “The gameplay simply consists of placing a building, waiting for houses to be placed around it, then placing another building and waiting for houses to be placed around it.”

💬 REVIEW : “I feel I have no control over the development of my city, and I don't like the race against time and timed objectives,”

OUR APPROACH: This subject has come up a lot, and we've put a lot of work into it. Memoriapolis spans four ages, but for the time being, only three are available in early access. This can make it more difficult to understand what's at stake in the long term.
Nevertheless, we've taken your feedback into account: the game lacked intermediate objectives and clear feedback on the impact of the player's actions. Here's how we've reworked it:
The objective is to remain at the head of the city until the end of the Age of Enlightenment. To do this, you have to prevent too many districts from closing, or risk being deposed.

How to avoid these closures:

• Factions must not become too powerful.
  
• Citizen satisfaction must remain high, as unsatisfied needs provoke incidents that can lead to neighborhood closures.
  

Finally, the Esplanade plays a key role. It's a gathering place where certain groups express their expectations. At each age, they intervene 4 times. If you meet their demands, you'll get a valuable resource to make your city unique at the end of the game.

[h3]QUESTION: What kind of game is it?[/h3]

💬 REVIEW : “I've been ripped off, so don't do the same, move on and come back to Ages of Empire.”

OUR APPROACH: Memoriapolis is not a real-time strategy (RTS) game, nor is it a war game. It contains no combat. Unfortunately, we seem to have miscommunicated certain elements, leading some players to believe that Memoriapolis contains combat.

The fact of changing age may also have misled some players, who thought that this mechanic would enable them to evolve their units, a bit like in a famous 4X game which has just released its seventh opus...

Not so.

Memoriapolis is a City Builder, where the main challenge is to maintain balance and control over your city over the centuries. Every choice you make influences its future, not through war, but through the management of factions, neighborhoods and historical events.

If you like management, urban planning and building a city that evolves organically, then Memoriapolis might surprise you.

🙏 Thanks for your feedback and happy playing!