Virtual Cities

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ratsoalbion
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Virtual Cities

Post by ratsoalbion »

I am Konstantinos Dimopoulos, a game urbanist, writer, and designer with a PhD in urban planning and geography who has worked on such projects as the Seed MMO and The Sinking City, and I've teamed up with visual artist Maria Kallikaki to create the very first atlas of video game cities: Virtual Cities.

Virtual Cities is a book being published via Unbound, and currently accepting pre-orders / being crowdfunded over at https://unbound.com/books/virtual-cities/.

Virtual Cities: An Atlas & Exploration of Video Game Cities is an ambitious and richly illustrated atlas that will document the deep and exciting history of game cities via a combination of original maps, ink drawings, and insightful commentary and analysis.

The book covers over 40 game cities across literary and gaming genres, including detailed entries on Half-Life 2’s City 17, Grand Theft Auto V’s Los Santos, Yakuza’s Kamurocho, Fallout’s New Vegas, Silent Hill, Ant Attack's Antescher, and Shadowrun's Hong Kong.

Virtual Cities at Unbound: https://unbound.com/books/virtual-cities/
Excerpt: https://unbound.com/books/virtual-cities/excerpt
Visual Assets: https://www.game-cities.com/virtual-cities-press

About the Book

* A full colour, high quality hardback with printed endpapers.
* Approximately 200 pages.
* 210 by 286mm format with head and tail bands.
* Over 40 original maps, and more than 100 drawings.
* Contains over 50,000 words and amazing pledge levels!

Obviously all coverage would be hugely appreciated (necessary even) as the book does have to reach a certain funding goal in order to hit the printers. Oh, and I'm always available for interviews or anything else you might need to help you with your coverage.

Thank you very much for your time!

Best regards,

Konstantinos Dimopoulos
Game Urbanist, Designer
http://www.game-cities.com/

Attention folks, I'd love to bring some typically smart Cane and Rinse community questions to my interview with Konstantinos on 6th June if you'd be so kind.
:)
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Chopper
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Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by Chopper »

I have a couple and may have a couple more. Feel free to discard if they are rubbish.

1. Are there any general criteria he's using to choose what cities to include, for example urban function, realism etc. To illustrate, in the Bioshock universe, what if anything would make him choose Rapture over Columbia, or Dunwall over Karnaca in Dishonored?
2. Is he looking solely at cities and how they contribute to the setting/worldbuilding, or will any chapters deal with city builders such as Simcity, Cities: Skylines?
3. Have the chapter subjects all been decided at this time? Which ones can he reveal to us?
4. New Vegas doesn't seem promising, good luck with that :)
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by ratsoalbion »

Some more info on the book from Kotaku today: https://kotaku.com/video-game-atlas-has ... 1826210363
kintaris

Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by kintaris »

With a background in urban planning, I wonder if you see a difference in how a functioning city would be set out compared to one that is mainly there to drive a narrative or provide a combat arena. Is there a fundamental aspect of city planning in real life that is usually overlooked in a video game city?

Do you often find yourself distracted in video games by poor city planning - does your educational background get in the way of immersion at all?

I suppose an obvious question here: Which videogame cities would the author want to live in, and which would he avoid?
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KSubzero1000
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Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by KSubzero1000 »

1. Are there any real-life (ancient or modern) cities with unconventional layouts and specific architectural elements which you would like to see being implemented into a game? I was thinking of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, for example.

2. Do you find yourself gravitating more towards realistically proportioned urban layouts like those found in the Assassin's Creed franchise, or towards fantasy models with impractical game-centric layouts like Raccoon City or those found in a lot of JRPGs? Is there a design choice that you'd like to see more of?
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duskvstweak
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Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by duskvstweak »

I remember that, in Baldur's Gate II, the city of Athkatla was the first time that I thought, "Wow, this city is MASSIVE!" It felt overwhelming to think I would have to explore the entirety of this metropolis. And then Grand Theft Auto III blew that out of the water and set the standard for 3D cities.
My question is, what was the first video game city map that made you think, "Wow, things are getting serious now."
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Alex79
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Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by Alex79 »

I'm afraid my question is all too predictible, but I'd like to ask if he has one single all time favorite game world. Me? The Witcher 3. It was the most immersive and lasting impression leaving virtual world I ever visited.
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Craig
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Re: Your questions for author Konstantinos Dimopoulos (6.6.18)

Post by Craig »

There are countless examples of videogame maps being influenced by real world cities, but have you ever encountered the opposite? City planning informed by videogames? If not, could you imagine a future where this would happen?

In many games, the developers want to give a sense of scale much larger than what is in the game. What are some of the best ways to give the illusion of grandeur without spending the cash in development time, or forcing the player to traverse long times between points?
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