Hello fine folks of itch.io! How are you today? Everything good?

 It's been a few days since the Children of Alchemy demo launched, and I've been keeping myself busy with working on the full version of the game. I already have double the demo content, and the intention is for the full experience to be 5–7 hours. Emphasis on intention – these plans may change depending on a number of different factors.

 In any case, today's little devlog is about cities. It won't be a tutorial on how to make one (as I don't feel competent enough myself to do that), but an unorganized stream of observations and experiences with this complicated craft. How does one manufacture something that that feels... like a city?

Contrasting the rural with the urban

 What might seem easy at first glance is actually one of the hardest things about creating a city. How does one differentiate the rural areas from the big cities, especially if the game doesn't take place in our times or hell, even in our world? Especially when using resources that aren't tailored specifically for this purpose? 

 Myself, I went with a couple simple techniques. Technique one, different building materials for the houses. Rural homes are wooden, with thatched roofs made of what's available in the area, while urban ones are made of better materials and have slated roofs. Here are the houses for direct comparison:

Rural:

Urban:

Secondly, what feels like a no-brainer is the density of the homes. Obviously, a village or small town will have the houses far apart from each other, while in the more urban areas the homes will be fighting for space. I'm considering making the buildings literally hug each other, as currently, they are a tile apart everywhere except the city square. It mostly depends on the time period and distance from the city center. In any case, it goes without saying that the houses should be very close to each other in a city that goes anywhere near big. 

Making the city feel a certain way

For the city I'm currently making, I want it to feel cramped and chaotic, as this is the first urban enclave that the player visits in the game, and some of my characters (who are from the countryside) can reasonably feel uncomfortable there. At the same time, I don't want the city to be just unpleasant to be in, as that will make the player turn off the game. I'm still trying to figure out ways of making it easy to navigate, but not too close to comfort.

 I intend to populate my city densely with NPCs, some more, some less important. This way, it will feel as if people are actually living there, and it's not just hauntingly empty buildings standing around. It's going to be challenging artistically, since making assets for NPCs takes time – especially if they're going to be moving, animated NPCs! – but I'll get there. The NPC's dialogue can also help with worldbuilding... but scarcely. After all, how often do you catch yourself explaining the lore of your city to a stranger on the street?

 Another thing that can really help is sound. Cities are loud, they should be heard. This part I'm still experimenting with, but I want to get across that Akira and Shion are used to quieter places. Perhaps I'll let myself exaggerate the noise, even if just a bit. The real challenge is going to be finding a nice "city" ambient without any car sounds! 

Making it matter narratively

There we go, my favorite part. 

 It doesn't matter if you're a mapping god – if you can't make the city different from a tiny village narratively, the player just won't feel it. In the city, there's going to be more to do, more to see, and perhaps most importantly, the characters will simply behave differently. Even nowadays, you can tell the differences between someone from the countryside and someone from NYC – and in feudal Japan, which I'm basing Izumu on, the differences were even more clear. People were largely, if not mainly, shaped by the class differences. That doesn't mean all villagers are stupid and uneducated. Shion, who's been spending her life as a village doctor, is arguably the most educated character in the game. What I'm saying is that the differences in class should matter in some way. If they don't, then why even bother having a city, right?

Thank you a ton for reading today's devlog!

If you're interested in checking out the Children of Alchemy demo, it's available for download on Windows right here!