Mirabella - first colony of the Holy Islamic Star Empire

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Will. The fact that you can turn the camera 360 degrees around is indeed the best aspect of City Life. But I do sometimes miss an adequate zoom level to get the pics I want. There should be more zoom levels.

[MsD 0]

It took me a little while to find this, but it was worth it. You do great work, considering this is City Life. Nothing against you but the graphics in the game need work. Nothing you can do about that though.

Anyway, Nice layout and great pics. I must say you do make me want to take a second look at CL.

Keep up the good work.

[needgames 0]

Thanks MsD. It is indeed sometimes difficult to find this cj, since it tends to get buried on the third page. I'm glad you did eventually find it. And you are right, there's nothing I can do about certain aspects of the game. I really would have no idea how to mod it, and also I wouldn't know how to create my own buildings. All I can do is trying to make the game work as best as I can. And, judging by your comment, I do succeed at that at least somewhat.

[needgames 0]

The virus

One year later Mohammed returned once again from a visit to the God is Great. In the shuttle All is One informed him of all that was achieved in the last year. Mirabella now had its first medium sized blue collar business. “Yeah, and it makes my lungs ache when I go near it,” Mohammed complained, “maybe that was not such a good idea, and it smells bad too.” All is One answered back that it was a good idea, because it paid 250 bucks in taxes every month, and that with that it was the most profitable business to be found in Mirabella. “Well, you can be the businessman of the two of us, me, I feel sorry for those Have Nots that live near it, but do continue with the briefing.”

All is One informed him that he was glad that Mohammed had taken his advice and established a blue collar family restaurant in Mirabella. “And it’s a good one too, everybody is using it, now they don’t have time to fight with each other anymore,” Mohammed said while his face showed a big, happy smile. All is One replied that he was happy too, because the restaurant was a real cash cow. Mirabella’s monthly profit had finally risen above 1600 due to it.

Mohammed then noticed that All is One was trying to be considerate of his feelings. It apologized for having to give him some more boring stats. As it turned out the number of Blue Collars had risen by 4%, due to the new business and the restaurant. Of course the numbers of Fringes and Have Nots had dropped, with 3% and 1% respectively. “I do not really care a lot about that,” Mohammed said, “Tell me how much money we have now, that’s interesting.” All is One informed him that the treasury had risen to 138,000. Again Mohammed couldn’t suppress a big smile.

The shuttle now approached Mirabella. Mohammed enjoyed looking at it from up here. It was not a big city, yet, with just 200 residents, but still he thought a lot had been achieved in seven years, given the fact that they had started with nothing.

That night Mohammed went for a meal at the family restaurant. It was his day off, so he thought it a good idea to indulge himself. While he was eating he couldn’t stop thinking about this day on the God is Great. He had solved the problem of people fighting in the streets by building a family restaurant, but still it didn’t seem right to him. If there was going to be conflict in his city, the Artificial Intelligence should have given him information about it while he was in the incubation chamber. But he just didn’t know about it, and that was strange, so today Mohammed had gone to the ship to try to find out if he could find some clues.

The central memory core of the God is Great was huge, so he spent many hours searching for any reference to conflicts, but he found nothing, which was strange on its own. He had almost given up on finding anything useful when he discovered that the ship had kept a record of all that had happened to it since it was started up. Maybe he could just find something that was out of the ordinary, Mohammed thought, which could shed some light on his problem. And he did. After going through lengthy records of the journey, which included some course corrections and lots of interstellar matter it had discovered, Mohammed came to the part where the ship had gone into orbit around Mira Prime. First it had done its routine checks of the planet: checking out if the atmosphere did indeed support human life, whether the soil could be used for agriculture, if enough mineral deposits were available and whether there already was intelligent life on the planet. When it all checked out and the best site for the first city was chosen the ship started up its processing core that took care of the incubation chambers. That part had been dormant the entire journey, to conserve energy, but now the ship needed it to start up the colonization of Mira Prime. At first everything seemed fine. The processing core started up, activated all of its parts, until it did a check of its memory cores. Suddenly it send out an error report to the central processing core, saying that it was attacked by a virus and that it was losing its integrity. Then the core went offline. The God is Great tried all the re-initialization procedures it had at its disposal, but to no effect. Then after a couple of minutes the incubation chambers processing core came back online. It reported that everything was okay and that the virus had been isolated and rendered harmless.

Mohammed was not sure what to think of it. It could mean nothing. Or it could mean everything. After all the incubation chambers had taught him all he knew. Maybe some harm was done by the virus that the processing core didn’t know about. Or maybe it was just a virus that was really defeated and was now just a thing of the past. Mohammed finished his meal and went back to City Hall. This day had raised more questions than it had answered.

[Barook 0]

Foreshadowing, I wonder what will happen next?

Did you use cheats?

[jacqulina 162]

interesting read my friend the story is hotting up.excellent building,wonderfull work and pics

[needgames 0]

Yes, BlackBarook1, the future casts its shadow into the present. More shadows might make the present very dark. But no, I never use cheats. I like the challenge of getting a game to work right without cheating.

Thanks, Jacky, glad you like the story and the city. It's still small, but it'll get bigger. More twists and turns are expected, so the story should heat up even more.

[Mike the Mayor 51]

Very nice pics there. Good work!

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Mike. It takes some time to find the right pics. I'm glad you like what I've found.

[Zarp 0]

The last picture looks good =D

So does the story, dude, even if you wrote a picture-less book telling the story of Mirabella I'd read it!

Keep up the good work! o/

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Zarp, I really appreciate that you like my story that much. If I ever release the story of Mirabella as a book I'll send you a free copy. I thought so that you would like the last pic. There will be more of those kinds of pics, since the days of one-family houses are almost over for Mirabella.

[Schulmanator 5,815]

Nice update. This town is coming along well.

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Schulmanator. Nice of you to call it a town and not a city. Maybe at the moment we should still call it a village, with just 200 inhabitants, or a hamlet, no, I guess not, it's already too big for that. It was a hamlet at the first update.

[jacqulina 162]

cant wait for that update my friend

[Vanasonic 49]

I also can't wait for the next update.

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Jacky and Xperian. I know it is difficult, but you have to be patient. The next update will be in a few days.

[homeandaway 1]

wow my friend! thats looks more than stunning! the goverment look-a-like buildings are an amazing sight! cant wait to see more my friend!

[jacqulina 162]

i will wait on the edge of my seat patiently lol,my friend

[needgames 0]

Thanks, homeandaway. I guess with the government look-a-like buildings you mean the blue ones with the pillars. They are beautiful, indeed, but they are the homes of the Blue Collars. They are your regular hard-working, law-abiding citizens with a medium income. They deserve to live in a nice home.

That's real funny, Jacky, you made me laugh. Be carefull, though, the edge is really small, don't fall off.

[needgames 0]

The shipment

Four years later, eleven years after the founding of Mirabella, Mohammed got out of bed early in the morning. It was time for another visit to the God is Great. He stepped out of City Hall through a rear entrance and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. Life in Mirabella was good, he thought, no conflicts, clean air and lots of pleasurable things to do. A couple of years ago a mysterious shipment from the God is Great was delivered to his office. Occasionally the ship did send some things down to the planet. Although the colony was being build in such a way that all things needed could be constructed in or near the city, some things had been taken from Earth, things that were difficult to produce in the starting years of the colony, or things that could never be reproduced there, like there were works of literature or other cultural utterances, or computers and more sophisticated equipment like that. Usually shipments like that were clearly labeled, giving information of its content, purpose and whom it was to be delivered to. But in this particular shipment there were just a couple of boxes, with no information attached to it. So they were brought to Mohammed’s office, because nobody knew what to do with them.

Mohammed opened them one by one and found things he had no idea about what they were meant to be used for. Amongst others he found boxes with strange objects in it. But luck was with him. Someone had been so clever to put little booklets in them that told him how to use the objects. So he learned they were games. This seemed to be fun, so he started to play them with his friends. And his friends liked it so much that they again introduced them to their friends, and before Mohammed knew it everyone in Mirabella was playing games. And it was being played seriously, for money. Then Mohammed got a great idea. Why not construct a building where everyone could come and play these games. That would be a neat idea. That’s how Mirabella got a casino, and everybody was happy with the diversion it brought to their daily lives.

Other things Mohammed found in the boxes were data discs. That in itself was not extraordinary, but what was strange was what was on them. Not your regular computer programs or works of literature, or instructional videos. No, on them were stories shown in living pictures you could look at as if you were there, stories about love, passion, heroics, all kinds of things that did not really seem to coincide with the strict rules for a religious life. From some labels on the discs Mohammed learned they were called movies, and he did not really know what to do with them. They were hot and dangerous, but they were also big fun, and fun was what the people of Mirabella needed living in the harsh circumstances of building a first settlement on an alien world. After long debates in his head and with All is One he decided to show them also to other people. For that purpose he let a drive-in movie theater to be build where the movies could be shown on a big screen. He thought that that had been a really clever idea of his.

That day, at dusk, Mohammed returned from his visit to the mother ship. On board of the shuttle he took time to let All is One inform him about the recent developments in Mirabella. As it turned out its population had doubled in the past four years, and was now at 400 people. Of them 55% were Blue Collars, 37% were Fringes and 8% were Have Nots. Mohammed did not comment on that information, because he did not really care.

All is One was very happy that construction of the city now had taken a great step forward. New areas had been opened up by building two more grocery stores and two more medical offices. The people living there found jobs in two more medium sized blue collar businesses on two more small ones. Furthermore the four small fringe businesses the city had were rebuilt into medium sized ones. And finally a new medium sized fringe business and a small have nots business had opened up their doors for all those newly arrived residents.

All is One was also very happy with the financial situation of the city. Its monthly profit had risen by 800 bucks to 2400 in total. Although this was mainly caused by the huge amount of taxes the casino paid, with its 539 it had become the most profitable business in the city, the new businesses paid their fair share. All is One tried to make Mohammed happy by saying that the city’s treasury had risen to 176,000. But Mohammed replied a bit irritated that it should have been a higher number. All is One then pointed out that building the casino had been very expensive.

Finally All is One criticized Mohammed for having built Mirabella’s first double lane highway. “Well,” Mohammed said, “that was really necessary. People were complaining that it was becoming impossible for them to get to work on time and that they were afraid of losing their jobs.” All is One then said that Mohammed had designed the city in a poor way, that if he had build the grocery stores and medical offices in another location it would not yet have been necessary to construct a highway. “Don’t you worry so much, All is One,” Mohammed said, “A highway is not such an expensive thing, it’ll all work out for the best, have faith.” All is One then retreated into self diagnostic mode with a annoying squeaking sound. Mohammed tried to pay no attention and looked out of the window to see Mirabella lay in the light of the setting sun.

While the ship was landing at City Hall Mohammed was thinking about his day on the God is Great. Today he had decided to not just wander through the memory cores, but to directly interface with the central processing core. After establishing a direct link between the ships mind and his own, by connecting a little plug to a contact point that was surgically implanted in his skull, just behind his left ear, he felt how his attention was drawn away from the world around him and focused inwards. He went through a blurry, gloomy cloud of almost nothingness and slowly became aware of a large hallway he was in, with lots of doors on all sides. It looked very beautiful, like an ancient palace, with lots of gold and marble ornaments, depicting religious symbols and entities. He could just study them for hours, if he just had the time for it, so magnificent and interesting they were. Every different door in the hallway led to a separate part of the ship’s mind, Mohammed knew, because he had been here before, when looking for information in the memory cores. But today he would take the colossal double doors at the far end of the hallway, with the two gigantic statues of gargoyles, one on each side.

Mohammed slowly strode through the hallway towards the awe-inspiring entrance to the central processing core of the God is Great. His steps echoed back to him in the empty space the hallway was. Everything seemed to happen very slowly to him, as if he was not really experiencing it himself, but was just looking at it, when he pushed the large doors open. Behind it was just vast empty darkness. Mohammed didn’t really know what to do. There seemed to be no floor, no ceiling, no walls, nobody to talk to. How was he to talk to the ship’s mind if there was nothing there? Well, if religion had taught him anything it was to have faith, so he just stepped into the darkness.

Behind him he heard the doors close with a soft sound. In front of him he saw something of a shimmer in the distance. He felt no floor underneath his feat, but he could walk towards the soft, glowing light in the distance. So he did for a while. But nothing happened, it never came closer. Mohammed did not know what to do. Then he remembered that a colossal Artificial Intelligence as the God is Great was, might demand some respect of its visitors, so he kneeled down, showing respect for it and gratitude for the chance that was given him to visit it. This helped. The shimmer then became clearer and appeared to be a bearded man, a large one, giving the impression of being strong and just. He was wearing an all white robe, showing simplicity and purity, and he was sitting on what could not be else conceived than a throne. This must be the consciousness of the God is Great, Mohammed thought. He knew that every Artificial Intelligence had a freedom to choose how it would present itself to the outside world, and the God is Great did that in a way that was awe-inspiring and theatrical at the same time.

At this moment the questions he had to ask to the ship’s mind seemed so unimportant and small, he hardly dared ask them. All he wanted to know was where the unlabeled boxes came from, why they contained material that seemed to be in contradiction with general rules of the faith, why the ship had not supplied him with construction plans for a casino and a movie theater, as it usually did with buildings that were needed in the city, why there had been conflict between Fringes and Blue Collars, and most importantly, why hadn’t the incubation chambers prepared him for all these things, since they were supposed to have taught him everything he needed to know to run the colony. But he never had to ask them. An answer came immediately. The man said that the powers behind this mission were not as strong as they appeared to be, because they were divided amongst themselves. Mohammed felt completely satisfied with this answer, so he kneeled again and thanked the man for the insight he had shared with him. Then everything he saw and felt faded away and he found himself back in the central interface room of the God is Great.

As the shuttle touched down on the lawn in front of City Hall Mohammed realized that he had not learned today how everything had come about in the real world. He still didn’t know where the boxes came from, or anything else he had wanted to know when he went up to the mother ship this morning. But he had gotten a deeper understanding of the powers that were shaping his world, enough to know that he could expect more sudden turns in the development of Mirabella. And he was okay with that. He himself had helped developing two brand new buildings that were never supposed to have been part of the colony. So he felt proud and confident. He did not need to be told how to do things. He could be creative himself and shape his own world.

[jacqulina 162]

lol i sat on the edge for hours lol,now its here i have popcorn and coca cola and im ready now,

interesting story i ate all my popcorn while reading it,those pics are amazing i love the setting sun one,those street lights look very realistic,excellent work and pics my friend. 

[Barook 0]

Oh noz! The city is slipping into sin!

And the robot is a *****. Though I have no problem with it being *****y.

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Jacky, hope you enjoyed your popcorn and coca cola. You should also close the curtains and turn of the lights for an extra cinema-like experience, lol. Thanks for waiting for this episode to be released, hope the edge wasn't too boring a place to be. I'm glad the story was interesting enough, and long enough to finish your popcorn. There will be more setting sun pics, so it's good that you like them.

Yes, BlackBarook1, it starts out small, but the people of Mirabella seem to stray from the path. Let's just hope it will all work out for the best for them. And yes, robots can be really annoying when they have a mind of their own. They should just do what they were designed to do, but sometimes I think this one was designed to be annoying.

[Zarp 0]

Very good!

The best update so far, I'd say! Run things on your Mohamed, creativity and inteligence rule the world, even alien ones!

The last picture is awesome too, see, the picture's quality level is only raising!

Congrats and keep up the good work!

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Zarp. I was quite satisfied with this update myself. I was really inspired when writing this one, introduced a couple of elements I had been planning all along, but also some things I kind of made up while I was going, and those started to live a life of their own in the story, giving it more depth than I had anticipated. And yes, creativity and intelligence, that would be a nice summary of my story, and those are the qualities that set mankind apart, or at least it could. Mankind is very creative, we just often don't realize it, and we're very intelligent too, but have the tendency to use it in a destructive way. And ofcourse the pics will get better as the city grows. It's always a pleasure to hear from you again.

[jacqulina 162]

i loved them my friend and i cant wait for more,if theres going to be a reasonable sized story i will have to stock up with popcorn lol.

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Jacky. You'd better hurry to the store and buy some popcorn, cause I've got a lot on my mind to tell you.

[needgames 0]

The music

Four years later, in the year 2015, Mohammed found himself in a shuttle again. As it lifted off from City Hall he had a great view of one of the eight playgrounds that had been laid out in Mirabella in recent years. All is One had been nagging that this was a waste of money, because they were not really needed, but Mohammed had a keen eye for the needs of his people. Now that the city existed for some time not all of its new population was supplied by the God is Great. By now many people had gotten married and children were a new sight in Mirabella, supplying it with new, young inhabitants, who needed places where they could play.

Another thing the need arose for was schools. The young did not have the advantage of being instructed with what they needed to know in incubation chambers, so Mohammed had to take care that provisions were given to educate them. This was in fact number one on his list of actions to take for the near future. All is One was really happy with this initiative. Recently again people had started to fight amongst themselves on the streets, and according to All is One this problem could be solved by building schools and a police station. People needed a good education to improve themselves so they could make a good livelihood and then they’d be so content that they wouldn’t fight anymore, it said. And in the event a fight might still occur, police would help to control it. Mohammed was not so keen on the idea of having to enforce law and order by means of a police force, but he agreed that there was really a need for that in Mirabella.

At dusk that day Mohammed was returning from his visit to the God is Great. All is One summarized all the developments that had taken place in Mirabella in recent years. It was very happy that the economy was really booming. Five new medium sized fringe businesses had been established, along with four small and three medium sized blue collar ones. Also two small have nots businesses were replaced with one large one, which was very good in terms of space management, it gloated. Also a separate casino for blue collars had been constructed and it was a big hit right from the start. It shared a first position with the fringe casino in the ranking of most profitable businesses in Mirabella.

Also All is One complimented Mohammed on having the insight to finally build a wastewater treatment plant in the city. All is One said that now they did not only collect waste, but they did actually get rid of it. All is One was a bit less happy with the extra expenditures on the new grocery store and the new medical office, but he had to agree that there was no other way to expand the city than to regularly build new services. Then it said that the new coal factory was being run very efficiently and that it contributed a lot to the city’s well being. Finally it complained that Mohammed had again constructed a new highway. Mohammed argued that it was good that now also the Fringes could get to work on time and that in the end Mirabella’s economy would benefit from it.

When the shuttle approached the city Mohammed could very well see that it had grown. Now there lived 1016 people in Mirabella. The number of Blue Collars had dropped to 53%, the number of Fringes had risen to 41% and the number of Have Nots had dropped to 6%. Its monthly profit had risen to a staggering 6148 bucks, causing there to be 315,000 bucks in the city’s treasury.

Mohammed had a particular reason today for visiting the God is Great. In recent years a problem had evolved in Mirabella. People had started to make music. Music that was loud and rough. People would gather in places not meant for public performances, like homes, to listen to it. This caused a lot of complaints from people living next door. So Mohammed had gotten this great idea of building a concert hall, specifically for these performances. And that worked out very well.

Mohammed went to a concert occasionally and he quite liked it. So today he had searched the memory cores of the God is Great for a history of this kind of music. But strangely enough he had found nothing. Yet another mystery he could add to his list of strange developments in Mirabella that probably had not been anticipated by its instigators back on Earth.

[jacqulina 162]

wow im glad i did get some more popcorn you sure did have a lot on your mind.excellent story and pics

[Shingure 56]

I wish I could play this game. I have 2 versions of City Life and niether wont play on my computer. This Cj is great. Keep up the good work

- Shinji E. Gureji