Institute / Interactive Media · Research / MonkeyHub Games / The City That Never Died
The City That Never Died
此城未逝
What it is
An entry to a digital interactive environment design competition: a city rebuilt from open data with help from large models, as a game world that switches between a past and a present era.
Why believe it
6:37length of the full film submitted to the first round
2026-10-11 · Release
Where it stands
Released2026-10-21 · Report
Second round started: briefs for art-style exploration, rebuilding a competitor's level, and research on city mechanics.
- Titles
- The City That Never Died · 此城未逝 / 人偶之心 / 此城未逝 / The City That Never Died
- Status
- Released
- People
- leadKaiwen LiuTeam lead
- co-authorName withheld until consentCompetition team members
- Derivatives
- Gear Automata
Key images
Highlights
- 2026-10-11ReleaseFirst-round submission: full film 6:37, academic cut 3:45, Windows executable, a 35-page presentation with a 103-page appendix, a design statement and an AI-use statement.
- 2026-10-13VersionAll-English version of the full film: on-screen text, subtitles, title cards, typewriter opening, academic boards and end credits in English; picture and edit unchanged.
- 2026-10-18VersionFull film re-rendered: aerial water brightened and trees planted by rule in the closing park; 26 clips and 4,175 frames re-rendered, all previous versions kept.
- 2026-10-21ReportSecond round started: briefs for art-style exploration, rebuilding a competitor's level, and research on city mechanics.
Drawings, versions and releases
- 2026-10-10ReleaseWindows executable package assembled (RC3f, about 9.8 GB).
- 2026-10-11ReleaseFirst-round submission: full film 6:37, academic cut 3:45, Windows executable, a 35-page presentation with a 103-page appendix, a design statement and an AI-use statement.
- 2026-10-13VersionAll-English version of the full film: on-screen text, subtitles, title cards, typewriter opening, academic boards and end credits in English; picture and edit unchanged.
- 2026-10-18VersionFull film re-rendered: aerial water brightened and trees planted by rule in the closing park; 26 clips and 4,175 frames re-rendered, all previous versions kept.
- Question
- Can open data and large models rebuild a city well enough to serve as evidence and to be walked through and played?
- Method
- OSM sets the boundaries, open survey data gives the scale, and commercial maps are used only for internal comparison. Modeled in Blender; images and levels made in Unreal Engine.
- Limitations
- The technical check made with Google Earth is internal comparison only, not evidence.
- Research lines
- city-reconstruction, interactive-worlds
Failures and superseded routes
- 2026-10-12FailureThe shoreline in the first-round version had defects. The submission folder stayed frozen after 12:00; afterwards 47 shoreline meshes were replaced and 11 shots re-recorded, for a review cut only.
- 2026-10-18SupersededThe liner in level 2 changed from the SS Rotterdam to the SS United States (change layer v6); the new asset library version went to Drive on 10-19 for acceptance.
Releases and tests
- 2026-10-10ReleaseWindows executable package assembled (RC3f, about 9.8 GB).
- 2026-10-11ReleaseFirst-round submission: full film 6:37, academic cut 3:45, Windows executable, a 35-page presentation with a 103-page appendix, a design statement and an AI-use statement.
Evidence chain · 10 records
- 2026-10-10ReleaseWindows executable package assembled (RC3f, about 9.8 GB).
- 2026-10-11ReleaseFirst-round submission: full film 6:37, academic cut 3:45, Windows executable, a 35-page presentation with a 103-page appendix, a design statement and an AI-use statement.
- 2026-10-12FailureThe shoreline in the first-round version had defects. The submission folder stayed frozen after 12:00; afterwards 47 shoreline meshes were replaced and 11 shots re-recorded, for a review cut only.
- 2026-10-13VersionAll-English version of the full film: on-screen text, subtitles, title cards, typewriter opening, academic boards and end credits in English; picture and edit unchanged.
- 2026-10-13ReportStudy on rebuilding Gdańsk in 3D from open data: OSM sets the boundaries, open survey data gives the scale, commercial maps serve only as reference.
- 2026-10-14ReportPresentation for a Tsinghua architecture professor finalized at v1.2 (26 pages): digital-twin reconstruction from scan to typology, plus how AI shares architectural tasks.
- 2026-10-14ReportBottleneck review: where the first round got stuck, and which tools that calls for.
- 2026-10-18VersionFull film re-rendered: aerial water brightened and trees planted by rule in the closing park; 26 clips and 4,175 frames re-rendered, all previous versions kept.
- 2026-10-18SupersededThe liner in level 2 changed from the SS Rotterdam to the SS United States (change layer v6); the new asset library version went to Drive on 10-19 for acceptance.
- 2026-10-21ReportSecond round started: briefs for art-style exploration, rebuilding a competitor's level, and research on city mechanics.