Micropolis/SimCity Clone in Emacs Lisp
This is a little game implemented over a week of tinkering and targeting Emacs. The point is both to have fun with this kind of simulations, and also explore the "functional core / imperative shell" approach to architecture. I also developed a tile and tile effect definition DSL, which makes this even easier to extend. From this point of view it's a success: easy testing, easy extension, Gameplay-wise the simulation is too simplistic, and needs input from people interested in this kind of toys. The original Micropolis/SimSity is the last time I built a virtual city.
Micropolis/SimCity Clone in Emacs Lisp launched on February 5, 2026 with 176 votes, #170 of 16,628 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Micropolis/SimCity Clone in Emacs Lisp is a city-building simulation game built in Emacs as a week-long project. It targets developers interested in exploring functional programming architecture patterns and domain-specific languages for game development. The game features a tile definition system designed for extensibility and testing, though the simulation mechanics are intentionally basic and open to community input for gameplay improvement.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
A simple SimCity clone in Emacs Lisp. Contribute to vkazanov/elcity development by creating an account on GitHub.
ElCity is a minimal city-building simulation game for Emacs. You build roads, zone residential/commercial/industrial areas, place utility buildings (power plants, fire/police stations, parks), all from the comfort of everybody’s favourite Lisp machine. Those interested in the whys and hows of the project, there’s a HISTORY.org with the details of how it came to be. HINT: cycle map overlays with m to see each system’s effects. The status panel also has contextual tooltips. The cursor marks the active tile. Select a tool, move to a tile, then place with RET or mouse click. For real play, compile first; the uncompiled engine is too slow. I only tested this in graphical Emacs on GNU/Linux. make…from github.com
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