Virtual Cities by Konstantinos Dimopoulos

You may have read articles by Konstantinos Dimopoulos before, some are featured on gamasutra.
This one may be especially remembered by some of us: Game Cities: The Urbanism of Thimbleweed Park

He is now creating a book about cities in video games.
You can checkout sample pages here: City 17
It will also include Rubacava!

It’s currently crowdfunded and you can order the book here:

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I agree with most of the contents about TWP. Somewhere here I said there is a urbanistic consistence in the shape of the town and surroundings. I mean: as a fictional world (some buildings are comically tall as the bookshop, sewers so high and explorable for such a little town…) once you believe the fiction, it works well. Sewers are coherent with roads that are up, the vista is consistent, and so is the bridge background and so on… On a gameplay point of view, they work well, the allow you to know your way and navigate.
The Quickie Pal inside is incoherent with the outside, instead. Simply there isn’t enough room for Bernard and his counter looking at the facade… wait a moment, he’s bi-dimensional, that’s why! :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, somewhere on this forum I wrote that TWP is probably the best looking game I’ve seen in the past decade or so. But the map…

First of all, it really doesn’t look good.

Indeed, not really. :stuck_out_tongue:

Sewers and air ducts. They are always enormous in video games!

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It was funded today!
973 backers.

In Costume Quest not super enormous. But in Final Fantasy VII, OMFG those sewers.

At beginning of December the list of 45 minus one cities/games was revealed. I thought there may be interest which adventure game related cities made the cut.

A couple are action or RPG oriented, but they should all qualify as adventure games. Here is the list of cities from oldest to newest game release (I leave out the name of the game in case you want to guess):

  • Rockvil (1985) A Mind Forever Voyaging
  • Dun Darach (1985) Dun Darach (1985)
  • Terrapolis (1989) B.A.T.
  • Lizard Breath (1989) It Came From The Desert
  • Woodtick (1991) Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
  • New Orleans (1993) Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
  • Union City (1994) Beneath a Steel Sky
  • Rubacava (1998) Grim Fandango
  • Silent Hill (1999) Silent Hill (duh!)
  • Wan Chai (2001) Shenmue II
  • London (2009) Fallen London
  • Propast, Europolis (2014) Dreamfall Chapters
  • Anytown (2018) 0°N 0°W
  • New Bretagne (2018) Lamplight City

Update 2019-02-22: We now have the 45th city and it also belongs into this list!
Update 2022-02-11: Added video game information.

Uh huh. :stuck_out_tongue:

That’s not the only one…

I don’t know those other games then. Rockvil, Terrapolis, and Rubacava sound game-title-y, the rest less so.

I know Woodtick (MI2), I imagine I know what New Orleans means here (GK), but I have no idea which particular game London would be referring to (Fallen London being my guess). With Wan Chai I can’t think of a sufficiently relevant game. Propast is also very clear (Dreamfall: Chapters).

The rest I haven’t played, don’t know, or forgot.

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:-1:. You’ve got some gaming to do. And the remaster was even free a while ago.

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@kaiman

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:-1: (sorry!)

Not for me it wasn’t. I might’ve even paid for it twice already, like when it first came out on GOG and later as part of a Humble Bundle.

Good job, your guesses are all correct!

Still, we are all disappointed in you not recognising Rubacava, tsts :slight_smile:

Btw. the very last one is from a recent and decent p’n’c adventure. Everyone go out and buy it!

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We now have all 45 cities!

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I realised I’ve never added information about the games! Done.

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