Humanity is dying. You play as a mayor chosen to prepare a city for the birth of a new civilization.
I’m developing a sci-fi world, and one idea from it started to feel like it could work as a strategy game.
Humanity is facing extinction because of a deadly virus. Scientists fail to find a cure. The virus does not just kill people, it also makes many infected people more aggressive, unstable and suggestible. But at some point, scientists discover its only weakness: the virus cannot effectively spread in a human body below a certain size, around 28 cm.
Because of this, an old secret project comes into play: the creation of miniature humans, around 20 to 28 cm tall. Originally, they were designed for future space colonization, because smaller bodies require fewer resources, less space, less food and less oxygen. But now this unfinished project becomes not just a space program, but humanity’s last chance to preserve civilization.
You play as the mayor of one of the cities chosen for the Continuation Program. Your task is to prepare the city before human extinction: build a network of bunkers and growth facilities for these miniature successors, preserve food, water, tools, medicine and knowledge, decide what kind of education and culture they will inherit, manage districts as the population declines, and balance factions such as the military, scientists, doctors, elites, citizens and a cult that believes humanity should end completely.
The core idea is not just “build a bunker”. The real question is: what kind of world will these miniature humans wake up in after humanity is gone?
If you focus on military infrastructure, they may survive better, but inherit a culture of fear, hierarchy and weapons. If you focus on science and archives, they may rebuild knowledge faster, but become cold and technocratic. If you focus on keeping the city humane and stable, fewer of them may survive, but they inherit a less broken moral foundation.
My questions:
- Does this sound like a game concept you would want to play?
- What genre or form would fit it best: political strategy, city management, text-driven strategy, card-based strategy, or something else?
- What part of the concept feels strongest?
- What feels confusing, weak or too ambitious?
- What mechanics would you add to make the player really feel like they are preparing a city for a new civilization?