Mayor of Kaiju City

A resource management game where you plan, build, and protect the city from various kaiju threats.

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Inspiration

I wanted to capture the feeling of the "Mayor’s perspective"—the disconnect between the chaos on the ground and the cold, calculated decisions required from a command helicopter. The aesthetic, a "washed-film" look with CRT-monitor UI, is designed to evoke nostalgia for the era of grainy, live-broadcast television. This leans heavily into the fun and cheesiness of Showa-era Kaiju and Tokusatsu live action

What it does

Mayor of Kaiju City is a high-stakes, 1980s-inspired city management simulation where you act as the Mayor of a metropolis under constant siege by colossal threats. From the command seat of your helicopter and a CRT-style dashboard, you must balance the long-term growth of your city with real-time crisis response. By investing in branching research trees—spanning everything from military defense to architectural resilience—you prepare your city for incoming Kaiju, each featuring unique personalities and "wrestling-style" gimmicks. The game challenges players to maintain civic order and infrastructure during chaos, using strategic foresight and expert intel to achieve decisive victories and earn the funding necessary to rebuild and evolve. By having enough variables with the buildings, units, kaiju, weather and environmental conditions each play through should give unique challenges, accomplishments, and enjoyment styles.

How we built it

Leveraging my background in Unreal Engine, I implemented a modular grid system that allows for scalable building functionalities and branching research trees. The logic for Kaiju behavior is weighted by a rarity system (Common to Legendary), mimicking the "joker" mechanics found in modern roguelike deck-builders. The economy, building stats, development trees, and defensive agents are being modeled with AI trying to strike a good balance of challenge, fun, and game-to-game uniqueness ensuring every gameplay can employ completely different strategies. By having enough variables with the buildings, units, kaiju, weather and environmental conditions

Challenges we ran into

The primary challenge was balancing "peacetime" management with the intense, real-time "alert" phases. I focused on creating a rhythmic loop: Management → Announcement → Defense → Post-Mortem. Ensuring that the player feels impactful without directly controlling the monster-slaying units required careful tuning of the "Mayor’s Command" dashboard.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

I learned that effective UI design in a simulation game is about visibility—prioritizing information density without overwhelming the user. By integrating the "assistant" character and live news briefings, I discovered that world-building can be used as a tool to guide player attention during high-stress moments.

What's next for Mayor of Kaiju City

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