Log in member
We caught up with Untold Games co-founder, Elisa Di Lorenzo, all to learn more about the post-apocalyptic city building simulation title, City 20, which is still deep into its journey as an Early Access project.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to Gamereactor.
Today we're still at the London Games Fest and the New Game Plus event.
And I'm currently here with Elisa from Untold Games to talk a little bit about City 20."
"Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty of the game, I feel like it'd be interesting to sort of touch on a little bit of the history of the developer, because you guys have been in the past known for your sort of porting prowess, and now you're making City 20."
"So what led to that? What made you want to sort of change route a little bit and make your own project?
Well, we are still known for the port stuff we do, because that's basically the thing that keeps the studio running.
So we're an independent team and the game is entirely self-financed."
"We have done our own games in the past.
It's been a while since we published a game.
We're a team which is extremely technical and we like technical things, basically.
So the game was a challenge for us and it was a type of game that well suited us, basically, and the technical experience we have."
"We thought and we wanted to bring something which is our own, basically, because, yeah, we do a lot of work for higher ports, codev and stuff like that, mostly on console.
But we really wanted to be able to show something which feels really our own and then shows what we think could be something cool and it hasn't been done really before the way we're trying to do it nowadays."
"So that's it, basically, trying to bring something that's inside of us and show us as a creative team and not just as a technical team.
And City 20 is a post-apocalyptic city builder, and we know that there's a fair variety of those on the market."
"So how does City 20 separate itself and stand out from the competition?
Well, I mean, we've had a look at the other games, basically.
There's a lot of games that inspired us a lot.
I mean, of course, there's a lot of inspiration we've got from games like Kenshi and Rimworld or Stalker for the mood and stuff like that."
"When we started thinking about the game, our idea was that we wanted to do something which was both a survival and sandbox-y type of game, but where people could feel like they were living a narrative and we could give this narrative to people but in a way that they could live them by themselves."
"Because a lot of games in the survival space or similar space either have a fixed storyline or only environmental storytelling so that you sort of fill the gaps.
Well, we wanted to try to tell a story, but in a way which felt unique to the player."
"So the players are able to explore the story the way they want and are not necessarily tied to having to follow the story in a way, but it sort of comes to them.
And a lot of the game and experience they can have comes because of the changes they make to the environment in the game and how they interact with the game."
"So that's basically what we wanted to try and do and separate ourselves from the others.
And a very peculiar thing is the depth of the NPCs at the moment.
We currently have, I think, around 80 NPCs in the game and they're entirely simulated.
So they have basically to live and survive exactly like the player."
"So they have their own needs, routines, jobs and stuff like that.
And what they do also depends, I mean, they're driven by desires.
So they do things because they want to do specific things.
And that is one of the things that at the beginning was a bit difficult to show to players."
"Because in many games NPCs are just there for you.
And, I mean, they're just there.
You do your things and, you know, like, oh, the shop is open, the shop will have the things I need and so on."
"But if a character is not there, that character is not going to be at home necessarily.
They might be doing something else.
So if a guy, like, there's some characters that like specific things, like mushrooms, and then the guy that likes mushrooms will be looking for mushrooms in the woods when they're not working, you know, that sort of thing."
"So at the beginning it could be a bit, you know, strange for players because characters are not there for you all the time.
And also, like, inventories of the shops and so on, basically the NPCs have to build everything."
"And other NPCs have needs.
So it's also a challenging thing for us in terms of balancing the game as well because while the player has needs, but also the NPCs have needs.
So sometimes you find yourself competing with NPCs for resources, like, I need to go to the blacksmith and buy some stuff, and maybe it's out of stock because the inventory is not just simply replenished every now and then."
"The blacksmith needs to build everything.
So they will need resources and that sort of thing.
So it's a different way.
We think it's interesting and challenging a bit."
"And also because the way you can potentially have an impact on the NPCs because of how you can help them or sabotage them in a way.
So you have an impact on the actual life of the NPCs as well, depending on what you do.
The game is in early access right now, and it's been in early access for a while."
"You recently launched update 0.9, and there is...
I want to say that we're getting to the end of the early access period.
So tell me what's in store down the line, and how close are we to 1.0?
Well, first of all, 0.9 doesn't mean the next one is 1.0."
"It means the next one is 0.10.
Because that's one of the things that sometimes can be a bit misleading.
But it's not like it's 80-90% of completion.
I think we still have another year ahead of us."
"So at the moment, we're aiming at releasing in 2027.
It will depend on different things because we've changed our roadmap and the things we were focusing on, depending on the feedback from the community.
So because we're in early access, certain things can change."
"But for sure, we're focusing on a lot of quality of life improvements based on what has been the community feedback so far.
We're expanding the current factions with more depth and stuff like that.
We're obviously working on the lore, because so far the game had mostly environmental lore."
"But as we build the full game to 1.0, obviously, there has to be a way to finish it.
So there's going to be more stuff there.
We're working on specific features improvements that have been highly requested by the community, such as changing the way you can furnish your shelters and stuff like that."
"Obviously, there's a big update that has been in the works for a long time, meaning that originally we already had that in the game, but it's currently disabled, which is the seasonal cycle.
We decided to postpone it because it's quite a challenging one, because also NPCs need to adapt to the environment the way you do."
"So with the change of seasons and that sort of thing, the environment changes, and the NPCs need to adapt and be able to survive winter, as an example, like the player does.
So that's quite a big feature, actually, to add to the game.
I think those are some of the main things, but today we're actually releasing the new roadmap on the page, so there's going to be more info there and more stuff will come soon."
"As a final question then, Elisa, people have obviously had the chance to play a bunch of City 20 themselves through Early Access, but what is one thing that you think, maybe people aren't talking about this enough when it comes to the game?
I'm sorry, I didn't..."
"So when you're looking at the game and you're seeing all the feedback that's coming in, all the thoughts that the community is sharing about it, what's one thing that you think, I wish they'd talk about this more?
A part of the game that you think, that's really special to City 20 and I wish that people would talk about it a little bit more."
"Well, I think one thing which has been a bit difficult for us, maybe, it's been that when we release in Early Access, we release a game which is really in Early Access.
I think that more recently a lot of games that have released in Early Access, I mean, use the Early Access not really as an Early Access."
"So there's a lot of expectations now that the game in Early Access is a bit...
not really in Early Access.
A lot of people expect the game to be way more complete.
And I understand that people may come to the game and say, oh no, it's too rough at the moment, which is completely fair."
"But I would hope for people to actually see that as a way also to have a look at how development works.
Because sometimes I think that would have been something that I would have loved when I was younger."
"Actually being able to see how games can evolve in progress.
There's a lot of work that a lot of times is not really understood by the player.
So I would really hope that a lot of them would be able to see how much progress we're making on the game, why the feedback we receive is driving that, and how hard we're working at certain things."
"And maybe better understand how development is from our point of view.
Because a lot of times it's easy, let's say, to go on Steam and say, oh, no, too rough, not recommend, and that's it.
And it's a bit tough for you as a dev sometimes because you're like, okay, but I appreciate the feedback."
"But any feedback that we receive really helps us a lot, especially when it's constructive feedback.
So if you get just, oh, no, crap.
And you're like, well, there's still a lot that we have to do, but that's the plan."
"It's an early access game, and we would really love them to see how this is progressing.
I mean, if you look at what the game was when we released in September 2024 and what it is nowadays, it's a completely different game, basically."
"And I think it's, you know, and for the players have been with us so long that have seen the game improving this way.
I think that's really been a nice journey for them as well with ups and downs because, I mean, it's an early access."
"Sometimes we break things.
I mean, it's, I'm sorry.
And we're like, I'm sorry.
But sometimes it's an early access, so this thing can happen."
"But, yeah, I mean, I think that it would be nice to see that people really see how this is really, really growing as we move forward and better understand what's the final point of the journey, which is a game that we hope will be able to give people an experience that feels really unique to each of them with a depth that we hope can be felt."
"Well, again, City 20 is still in its early access period.
And as you were saying there a minute ago, Lisa, even though we're on 0.9, it doesn't necessarily mean that 1.0 is right around the corner.
So stay tuned for more about City 20."
"Again, the roadmap's out for what's coming down the line.
And yeah, for more on the game, be sure to find it all on your local GamerNet region.
Take care, everyone."
