When done correctly, the reward of correct investments and planning is that you see your settlement grow. Similarly, another production chain might involve rearing sheep for their wool, turning the wool into cloth and turning the cloth into clothing. Setting up specialized production chains might involve growing grain, milling the grain for flour and turning the flour into bread which feeds your villages. You then continue to gather these resources which grant you building materials for building new homes and facilities for your settlement. These games often start with plopping down a village center on a promising location near abundant resources. In addition, the Anno games (1998-2019), although initially set in the 1600s basically had a medieval theme. We may think of Settlers (1993) and Knights and Merchants (1998). It did not take long before medieval-themed city builders popped up. The city builder has its origins far back in the 1990s in the combination of the strategy genre and the management genre, leading to games such as Sim City (1989), Caesar (1992) and Age of Empires (1997). In this article, I will take a look at one sub-genre of the city builder, the medieval city builder, and explain how this gaming genre relates to our knowledge of medieval settlement planning. City builders are very similar to strategy games as they reward patience and strategy. A city builder is a specific kind of computer game in which you design a city, extract resources, set up production chains and ensure that your settlement grows. Since many of us are working from home in these trying times, it seems safe to assume that more people than ever are indulging in playing the occasional computer game.

Civilization building games