Steam Sands Era is a post-apocalyptic steampunk strategy adventure set in a desertified world where humanity survives aboard collapsing mobile cities. Players take the role of a mechanical engineer sent to stabilize Steam Sands City: repairing ancient steam-powered mechanisms, navigating shifting sands, solving environmental puzzles, and battling colossal desert creatures.
The project uses repair as the central narrative mechanic—every restored pipe, gear, or circuit is both a gameplay progression and a metaphor for rebuilding civilization under energy scarcity. Player choices culminate in one of three destinies—Revival, Exodus, or Annihilation—framing sustainability not as a slogan, but as a lived, difficult system of trade-offs.
Design Goal
Build a game experience where simple, fluid interaction supports deep narrative immersion—minimizing tutorial fatigue and interface clutter while keeping the player emotionally invested in a world shaped by desertification and energy collapse.
Research & Insights
1) Environmental Background: Desertification as a Global Crisis The project began from research on desertification and its cascading effects: loss of land productivity, food security risks, and secondary disasters such as sandstorms that intensify public health impacts.
2) Energy Transition Constraints Modern societies remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels while renewable transitions face storage and geographic adaptability constraints—raising the question: what kind of civilization emerges when energy becomes unstable or scarce?
3) User Research: What Players Want From interviews and feedback, three repeated priorities shaped the design direction:
Simple operation & clear interface: players want controls that feel natural and menus that stay out of the way.
Narrative richness: players stay engaged when backstory and clues are layered into the environment.
Overall experience flow: minimal friction supports deeper story without breaking immersion.
Core Experience
Steam Sands Era is built around a guided loop through interconnected zones inside the mobile city:
Enter the City → Power Pipeline Zone
Collect Components scattered across the environment
Repair & Fit Parts (alignment + installation)
Test System Stability (pressure / circuit verification)
Restore Power → Unlock New Regions
Loop Into Next Zone with new hazards and mechanics
Endgame: System Control Room + Final Moral Decision
This structure creates a sense of continuous restoration—each repaired subsystem becomes a narrative reveal and a new route forward.
Gameplay Loop (One-Screen Read)
Enter Zone → Collect Parts → Align & Install → Verify (pressure/circuit) → Power Restored → New Area Unlocks → Next Zone A guided restoration loop that leads players through the mobile city’s failing energy network.
Outcome
The final build delivers a complete arc: exploration → multi-stage repairs → system consoles → boss encounter → restored network → narrative decision interface. The ending is not a reward screen, but a consequence of how the player chooses to rebuild (or abandon) a collapsing civilization.
