A city-building game in which the city would prefer you didn't (housing.over.pizza)

Beijing has a substantially worse median price to income ratio, though

The only winning move is not to play.

Some context, because it is definitely an insider joke.

Davis had a long and contentious civic debate on whether or not Target should be allowed to build a store in Davis, eventually Davis held a city wide vote on the matter, which did pass [1].

Davis voters reject Measure V, spiking plans to build Village Farms housing [2].

Just a couple of examples where growth that most cities would approve without thought became a city wide civic issue that the community actually voted on.

[1] https://localwiki.org/davis/Target/History [2] https://www.abridged.org/news/davis-measure-v-election-updat...

There is a button on the top right to turn off the music.

> Who is this for??

Like most vibe coded projects, it is for the person who created it. And usually only them.

I think that may be exactly the point.

It's a throwaway joke about NIMBYism, not a triple-A blockbuster production.

Eh, your example is a different kind of game. Not into linear choose-your-own-adventure games myself. I think the UI of this one accurately models the many moving parts and forces in the process it's simulating, and I didn't have a problem picking it up though I skipped the tutorial. It has a sense of humor (read the speaker comments at meetings, and the news articles), and hits you with the real world outcome each development is based on. Made an impact on me.

"I didn't understand this, so I had an AI make this so that you couldn't understand it too"

This runs into the reality that the game maker knows who his target audience is, but you don't. If he wants to make a spreadsheet simulator or something targeted at people who like complex interfaces he can do that. I point at ASCII-UI Dwarf Fortress, one of the great games of this century, as evidence that a game does not need to be accessible to be true art.

It is frustrating to be excluded when a game developer builds a game that looks interesting but targets a niche you don't fit in.

Also those https://research.wmz.ninja/projects/phd/index.html style games are a bit vapid. At any moment a person has more than a handful of choices and the simplification abstracts away the important ones, like ranking what ideas are important or changing strategies for idea generation in this one.

> Why would I spend time learning this ugly, convoluted and verbose UI? Who is this for??

Tell me you never played the old TUI dwarf fortress without telling me.

> Why is this so overwhelmingly complex? Why would I spend time learning this ugly, convoluted and verbose UI?

My guess is that's the point - now you understand how San Francisco property developers feel.

Is this flamebait or what is your intention?

Why call out Americans like that? Do you think America is some homogenous entity?

What would prioritizing education mean in Civilization? The game's model is fairly simple:

1. There are three resources: food, industrial production, and commercial activity;

2. As the player, you can divide commercial activity between three categories: research, state revenue, and local "luxuries", which in this context just means tax relief;

3. Scientific progress occurs when you've produced enough research to learn a new technology;

4. The only appearance of "education" anywhere in the game is that there is an expensive building called a "university" that increases local production of research. (The predecessor building with the same effect at a lower cost is the "library".)

On the other hand, "there is always division and infighting" is one of the most important and fundamental mechanics in the game; if your city grows beyond a quite small population cap, new citizens are automatically unhappy and will shut down the whole city unless pacified somehow.

So, "If only you could talk to the monsters" but at the level of this genre?

I mean that's kinda how Civ works already. Some civs get bonuses for education & research, others in combat, etc, and focusing on the things incompatible with your civ will "punish" you.

It sounds like you just don't agree with how they've implemented America lol.

Yeah, how DARE people under 40 want somewhere to live!

I mean, stopping housing construction hasn’t stopped the new money from pushing out the old soul. Given the US enshrines the free movement of people in the Constitution, it’s make room or have someone outbid you for yours.

Reminds me of this: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1259638112688304129

> maybe you could take the hint

Locked supply. Affordable housing. Growing standards of living (or population). Pick two.

If you lock supply and want taxes and wages to grow, you're choosing unaffordable housing. That's San Francisco's current policy choice. Over decades, it filters the poor to San Francisco's "outer boroughs" or onto its streets.

For what it's worth, my friends who lived in San Francisco "took the hint" and moved out when they chose to have kids. They didn't sell their place, however, since the above policy mix together with California's property-tax system strongly disincentivizes that.

Or you could look at the massive number of homeless people and take the hint yourself

That's of course an option too.

I haven't played OP's game but hopefully it accurately models the plummetting quality of life and rampant homelessness created by doing what you describe in the real world.

let me guess, homeowner in SF?