#20yearsSC4 Challenge - Gothic, Horror and/or Supernatural

[Ulisse Wolf 4,459]

#20yearsSC4 Challenge
A tribute to the creativity that gives us to SimCity 4

With the autumnal equinox having arrived, summer is over and the cold weather is coming (That is, if climate change is not changing the climate of your area to a tropical climate). This means that the day is getting shorter and the night lasts longer.  As the night lasts longer and longer, the forces of evil become stronger and stronger, which is why the next challenge will be devoted to the theme:

Gothic, Horror and/or Supernatural

 

The Challenge

The challenge will be divided into two sections as was the case with the previous challenge. Players are free to do either or both of the challenges. 

• The Gameplay - City Journal Challenge: The player will have to build a city and tell a gothic, horror and/or supernatural themed fiction set in the city they have built
• The BAT Challenge: Modder will need to create gothic, horror and/or supernatural themed props and/or lots

 

Rules of the challenge

If you want to participate in the challenge, you must first read the challenge code of conduct. These rules apply to all challenges, and complying with these rules allows the challenges to run more smoothly.  You can see the code of conduct for the challenges here

 

In addition, the two challenges will have these additional rules:

The Gameplay - City Journal Challenge

• Fiction: The player must write in the style of a CJ entry that tells a gothic, horror and/or supernatural story
• Realism & Aesthetics: The player in crafting scenes must take into consideration aesthetics and realism
• All mods can be used but gothic, horror and/or supernatural themed mods are highly recommended for this challenge
• We want to see horror and creativity, asking for a specific type of horror can be stifling and discouraging

The BAT Challenge

• The modder must post buildings and/or props related to the gothic, horror and/or supernatural theme.
• Animated props created from scratch are also accepted
• Creator can create functional lots with advanced modding that requires the use of LUA (You can take a cue from Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria mod)
• To participate in the BAT challenge, the player must exclusively post the mod to STEX following the Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria mod posting scheme and post the link here
• We want to see horror and creativity, asking for a specific type of horror can be stifling and discouraging 

IF YOU ARE DEVELOPING/HAVE DEVELOPED GOTHIC, HORROR AND/OR SUPERNATURAL THEMED MODS, PLEASE POST THESE MODS TO MAKE THE CHALLENGE MORE FUN AND IMPROVE GAMEPLAY FOR OTHER PLAYERS.

Instructions 

To participate you must post your images within this thread by November 5, 2023 All images received from November 5 onward will be excluded. The voting phase will be announced after two weeks (around November 19, 2023) to complete the verification steps and resolve irregularity issues. Voting lasts one month and will end December 17, 2023 (approximately)

DEADLINE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CHALLENGE: NOVEMBER 5, 2023

If there are any other questions do not hesitate to ask them here and the scrutineers will be able to answer your questions immediately. I also recommend using hashtags #20yearsSC4 for your creations to celebrate SimCity 4.

Have fun and good building mayors!

 

[Terring 6,476]

Oh, that sounds fun

Are Cosmic Horror and Sci-Fi Horror welcomed too?

[Ulisse Wolf 4,459]

28 minutes ago, Terring said:

Oh, that sounds fun

Are Cosmic Horror and Sci-Fi Horror welcomed too?

Yes. Remember...

• We want to see horror and creativity, asking for a specific type of horror can be stifling and discouraging

[Ulisse Wolf 4,459]

A reminder that the challenge deadline is less than two weeks away. If you want to participate, you must post your material by November 5, 2023

[Terring 6,476]

Like Insects in Palms

#20yearsSC4 

From the moment we looked at those wandering bright spots in the night sky we call "planets" through our telescopes, and discovered that are not supernatural entities but worlds like ours, we begun wondering if they're barren and lifeless deserts, or populated by strange plants, animals and people like us. Eventually, we discovered that the stars we see in the night sky are suns like ours, with their own planets and moons, and begun speculating life on those distant worlds as well.

Discovering that we're not alone in the Universe would be the most exciting, astonishing and Earth-shattering moment in human history, maybe even more than when we learned that Earth and us are not the center of the Universe. The Universe is vast and ancient, full of stars, planets and nebulae, and thus all the building blocks and environments that life needs to evolve on some of those worlds. Theoretically, everything could be found out there, from humble microbial life to magnificent space-faring civilizations.

The 21st century was the age that our endless search for our cosmic siblings have finally came to fruition. By 2060, and thanks to the most advanced probes, rovers, telescopes and AIs exploring the Solar System and scanning our stellar neighbors, we discovered microbes on Mars, aquatic ecosystems on Europa and Enceladus, exotic worm-like lifeforms on Titan and biosignatures at exoplanets' atmospheres, and we have even taken clear pictures of Earth-like exoplanets, with oceans and green continents. Yes, there is life out there. Earth is not the only world blessed with the gift of life. What a beautiful timeline to live in.

And yet, despite being bombarded by those historic discoveries, no alien signals from any distant star have been received, no technosignatures from polluted exoplanetary atmospheres have been detected, no abandoned alien spacecraft somewhere in our Solar System have been discovered, no megastructures like Dyson Spheres enclosing other suns have been spotted, nothing to indicate the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations at all. It's as if life itself is abundant, but intelligence exists only on Earth. It looks like, in such a huge and ancient universe, we're indeed alone.

The idea of being alone was so frightening, many scientists simply refused to accept it. How could it be possible? Why? That can't be true, right? Where is everybody? What's going on here? The lack of discoveries leaded to worrisome implications. Is there something that prevents advanced civilizations to emerge? If yes, what is it? Is intelligence really self-destructive by its nature? And what about us? Is there a great filter ahead of us? Are we just doomed to destroy ourselves by our tools and means, no matter what we do? Environmentalists, activists and philosophers have embraced the possibility of being alone and used it as a vehicle, to warn us that if it's true, if we're indeed the only intelligent species in the entire Universe, we ought to take care of ourselves, stop wars and environmental destruction, become a global brotherhood, and venture to the stars to secure our long-term survival.

And yet, many scientists rejected the idea of us being alone. Just because we haven't find alien civilizations out there doesn't mean they don't exist at all. Maybe we just haven't find them yet. That's all. Or maybe we're the most advanced species in our galactic corner and our nearest neighbors are still in Stone or Industrial Age. Or maybe, if we make our presence known to anybody out there by screaming loud enough, somebody would listen to us. This was the aim of the Big Scream, a world-wide project of broadcasting ourselves into the Cosmos, by using our radio-telescopes to send signals and messages in carefully selected stars which are the most likely to have planets with civilizations advanced enough to communicate with us. And one day, after years of patient broadcasting and listening, we finally got a signal.

After long and meticulous analyzes to ensure that it wasn't made by human means or any astronomical phenomenon, such as satellites or distant novae, scientists could safely came to the conclusion that yes, this signal was indeed artificial. Somebody heard us and send us a reply. There was somebody out there who wanted to speak with us. An answer. A message from another world. Although the scientists hadn't been decipher it yet, the signal by itself was more than enough to make everybody jump around from happiness. United, Mankind was celebrating with fireworks and parties all around the world. After so many years of search, we finally have the answer. We're not alone!

But when the scientists finally analyzed the signal and deciphered the message, they shockingly discovered that it wasn't a reply to our call for communication. It was a request for us to be silenced.

“Children of Earth, we’ve been receiving your transmissions. You must cease broadcasting immediately, stop sending signals into deep Space and be quiet, or else they’ll hear you. It may already be too late for you.”

What? What's going on here? Who wants us to be quiet and why? "They"? Who are "They"? What are "They"? What makes them so fearsome? What kind of danger we have unintentionally put ourselves in? But to make matter worse, this was just the beginning. Soon, Mankind started getting similar signals from everywhere. When deciphering them, it turns out they were warnings, harrowing cries for help, and goodbyes from other species with which we hadn't make contact. There are so many voices in the sky, and all of them full of fear and terror.

Soon it became clear that those messages indicating that something terrible is happening out there right now, and it may be moving in our direction. We pointed our telescopes at the cosmic unknown to discover what's going on out there, who are "They", what are "They", and in what kind of danger we're in. Whatever it is, we must find it before it find us first. At the same time, nations from around the world agreed to put their differences aside and team up to protect our planet and ourselves from the threat of something never happened before in Mankind's history; an alien invasion. USA and Russia, China and Japan, Pakistan and India, Israel and Palestine, black and white, Christians and Muslims, we're all together and we'll be fighting united against whatever the Universe is going to throw at us. We have each other. We're together. We will prevail!

But alas, big words from small creatures. Without any warning, the sky from all around the Earth suddenly changed color. The natural and familiar blue we know and love was replaced by an alien mix of deep blue, pink and purple colors twisted together in an organic way. Out of nowhere, large, concentric circular shapes with radiating waves and beams-like morphs, which they look like having a jelly, organic nature, appeared at the skies around the world. For some, they looked like a pack of cosmic jellyfishes in a collision course with Earth. Others described them like alien eyes watching us. And for others, it was as if the reality itself came into live. Whatever these... things are, they're now covering our planet, just like a human handling a small insect in his/her palm and covering it under his/her fingers.

This huge, exotic, otherworldly, utterly alien entity terrified all the citizens of out tiny, little Earth. Some were screaming panicked and trying to hide from those things. Others were praying to whatever god they believed to take those eldritch abominations away. Others were staying still, watching them in awe and fear. And others, under the (justified?) fear of the unknown, preferred to commit suicide.

But the scientists soon realized in horror what this strange entity is. It's Them. They heard us. They found us. They're here. And now we're at their mercy, like insects in their palms.

(Alien entity belongs to Melodysheep)

[Ulisse Wolf 4,459]

By a unamine decision of the committee, we decided that @Terring will be awarded directly with the gold medal for winning the challenge         
#20yearsSC4 Challenge - Gothic, Horror and/or Supernatural

Congratulation see you at the next challenge