"What is science fiction?"
Some people say it is the Ten Thousand Engines that drive planets in "The Wandering Earth", and the dark forest law that shrouds civilization in "The Three-Body Problem". Some people say it is the fantasy when looking up at the stars in childhood, and it is a science fiction magazine hidden under the textbook.
The memory of Chinese science fiction is always closely linked to words and images. From Zheng Wenguang's "Flying to Sagittarius" to Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem", from "Happy Planet" to "The Wandering Earth", we have experienced the starry sea in the novel and witnessed the future on the screen. But the territory of science fiction is far more than that.
The emergence of "Age of Stars" opens a door for players to participate in the future - here, science fiction is not an unattainable star fantasy, but an interstellar legend written by each player. This work, which won the championship of the China Science Fiction Conference, the 3rd Science Fiction Star Contest, is continuing the new chapter of Chinese science fiction using interactive gaming language.
From winning awards to becoming out of the circle, how does "Age of Stars" define domestic science fiction SLG?
At the just ended 2025 China Science Fiction Conference, "Age of Stars" won the "Science Fiction Game Champion" of the 3rd Science Fiction Star Contest with "science fiction themes and innovative gameplay", becoming the first domestic SLG game to win this honor. This science fiction strategy game created by a local team not only received joint support from Yuanyu Science Fiction Future Technology Research Institute, author of "The Three-Body Problem", Wang Jinkang, honorary dean, and vice president and science fiction writer Chaoxia. It also aroused heated discussions in the professional field with its unique "Chinese science fiction" expression.
After the conference, the popularity of "Age of Stars" continued to rise, especially the concentrated reports of CCTV's four ace columns "News Live Room", "First Time", "Economic Information Broadcast" and "Zhengdian Finance", reflecting the mainstream media's high recognition of domestic science fiction games' innovation breakthroughs. The report's evaluation of "movie + novel + game, jointly shaping the Chinese science fiction universe", affirming the unique charm of the game in science fiction narrative and strategic gameplay, and at the same time allowing the public to see the infinite possibilities of domestic science fiction games.
From the above content, it can see that "Age of Stars" is affecting the Chinese science fiction field in a positive and positive way. It mainly relies on two dimensions to achieve these: in terms of content, the game uses a unique perspective to cleverly combine Chinese traditional culture and science fiction, and creates science fiction content that can reach the hearts of players; in terms of gameplay, through the exploration and research of science fiction games, real-time combat and mecha deformation gameplay have been introduced to give the game more fun. This dual breakthrough of "cultural depth" and "playing fun" is the key to winning market and professional recognition.
On April 17, "Age of Stars" will start the "no-deletion test". If you are also interested in science fiction content/games in the new era, let's take a look at how this game that deeply integrates technology and culture will become the "digital cultural business card" of the new era.
Symphonic poems between Eastern civilization and the future of the stars
Different from the common science fiction games on the market, "Age of Stars" reconstructs science fiction narratives with unique oriental philosophy, presenting an imagination of the future of the East that is different from Western science fiction. Players can find familiar cultural resonance anytime and anywhere when exploring the sea of stars. This is fully reflected in the naming of the mecha.
The "Yaoguang Mother Ship" carries the glory of the Big Dipper, shining as bright as the galaxy, the "Chongming Fighter" takes the posture of a divine bird in the "Shan Hai Jing" and shuttles through the battlefield like flowing light. The "Xuanwu Titan" turns into the shape of a four-simile divine beast, and its defensive posture shows its majesty and has indestructible power... Behind each mecha in the game, there is a unique cultural narrative. This dialogue that transcends time and space is the Chinese charm given by "The Age of Stars" to science fiction.
The interpretation of Chinese science fiction in "Age of Stars" not only stays in cultural images, but also reflects the unique feelings that only Chinese people can resonate with. The highly anticipated "Nantian Gate Plan" that has been in the early stage of the project is a concentrated reflection of this sentiment. The game allows these mechas carrying national science fiction dreams to be presented in the game by giving them digital life.
Players can control the "White Emperor" with their own hands�The sky fighter jet, experience the majesty of the Emperor of Heaven, control the unmanned tactical mecha, feel the aesthetics of the sword weapon in traditional myths; drive the "Luan Bird" carrier platform to appreciate the image of the divine bird in "Shan Hai Jing". It is no exaggeration to say that almost every combat unit of "Age of Stars" is a unique carrier of cultural codes. Such a romantic narrative method makes science fiction no longer a replica of Western discourse, but an extension of Eastern content, which can awaken players' science fiction enthusiasm to the greatest extent.
Playing revolution, science fiction games interpret Oriental philosophy
Of course, "Age of Stars" knows well that as a game, you must finally see the true meaning of the game. For all the members of this production team are Chinese and senior SLG team with rich production experience, they understand SLG and players enough in terms of content expression. With the efforts of the team and the support of high-tech power, the game has achieved a technological breakthrough in "real-time GVG for thousands of people on the same screen", and the dynamic battlefield presented is more in line with the grand and immersive universe of interstellar combat. From the particle tail flame of the mothership engine to the biochemical slime splashing of Zerg, every battle seems to be in a science fiction masterpiece!
In terms of the details of the battle, "Age of Stars" has created a unique mecha transformation gameplay. Each mecha can change its form during battle and use the characteristics of the deformation to affect the situation. Compared with the traditional SLG forcibly binding the team and the single-purpose military gameplay, the characteristics of "Age of Stars" that can be changed at any time have the randomness and contingency of the real battlefield, which is more in line with the essence of the strategy game. When the "change" philosophy of "Book of Changes" meets the ever-changing interstellar battlefield, an interpretation of the Eastern philosophy of the essence of strategy games begins.
For example, "Hurricane Armor" has higher damage in ground form, and after it is transformed into air form, it has the ability to fly ignoring the terrain. The switching between the two forms perfectly interprets the tactical idea of "it is as fast as the wind, and its stern as the forest". The "hidden stabbing armament" that can be invisible can not only rely on actively stealth to catch the opponent off guard, but also forcibly reduce the number of troops to the opponent through the self-destruction mechanism after being eliminated, and is well aware of the tactical essence of "attacking him without preparation, and being unexpected".
The mecha deformation gameplay allows the strategic dimension of "Age of Stars" to break through the numerical confrontation of traditional SLGs. Players need to "see the time and observe the right place" like an ancient military advisor, and complete in-depth tactical analysis on the ever-changing battlefield. Bringing a unique strategic experience to the game.
It is this breakthrough deformation mechanism that lays a solid foundation for the game's RTS gameplay. Players are no longer passively waiting for the battle report, but can realize tactical intentions through real-time control - whether it is to switch the mecha form at critical moments to reverse the situation, or to respond to changes on the spot to resolve the crisis, they make the strategy implementation accurate and intense.
In personal encounters, RTS gameplay makes troops collision no longer a simple "numerical competition". Players can pull and move, "surround Wei and save Zhao" and "drag tigers away from the mountain" and occupy the dominance of the battle through wisdom; and at the GVG level, with the addition of allies, the tactical dimension will become more three-dimensional. Players can first use the pioneer feint attack to attract firepower, and then send mobile troops to intersperse behind enemy lines, supplemented by healing mechas to maintain the front line. Perfectly interpret the legion combat concept of "strange and righteousness" and fully exert combat wisdom.
This in-depth interpretation of Eastern strategic wisdom also makes "Age of Stars" highly consistent with the temperament of spokesperson Mr. Yu Hewei. When shaping the domineering Cao Cao in "The Alliance of Military Advisors" and the wise Shi Qiang in "The Three-Body Problem", Teacher Yu Hewei not only interprets Cao Cao's talent and strategy, and is powerful without anger; but also shows Shi Qiang's careful, brave, rational and calm. His performance includes foresight and decisive decisiveness.
This leader-like aura is exactly the trait that "Age of Stars" wants to convey to every commander. Through this temperament resonance, all players participating in the interstellar journey can immerse themselves in the unique charm of Oriental Command Art.
Deeply reducing burden and creating a 0-threshold strategy game
As mentioned earlier, the production team of "Age of Stars" is a team that understands players and SLG, so they know how to amplify SLG's strategy game-that isWithout dragging on the mud, just like the game's SLOGAN "Interstellar Battlefield, Instant Play", the game simplifies all the complex content of traditional SLG by reducing the burden, allowing players to devote themselves to strategic games, completely breaking the long-standing high threshold shackles of the SLG category.
"Age of Stars" takes "reducing burden without reducing depth" as the core and completely revolutionizes the cumbersome settings of traditional SLG. Compared with similar games, there is no resource sales or urban construction waiting here. The base upgrade only requires sufficient resources to increase in seconds, allowing players to say goodbye to meaningless waiting and focus on real strategic games. At the same time, the map transmission function replaces the repeated paving marches, and the free teleportation design within the Alliance territory compresses the traditional SLG hours of marches into instant deployment.
Through the above optimization, "Age of Stars" has realized the production vision of click-and-play, and players can complete a battle by using fragments of time. The real fun of strategy games should come from the depth of thinking, not the accumulation of time; the essential charm of strategy games lies in allowing players to experience the sense of accomplishment in strategy games, rather than making difficult choices between games and life.
As the game content deepens, everyone will find that in terms of the core growth system, "Age of Stars" directly hits the two major pain points of traditional SLG: through technology, it produces free card draw resources, completely breaks the SLG theory that krypton gold can become stronger, and allows everyone to achieve free card draw; the one-click replacement system allows lineup adjustments to be carried out at any time without worrying about training costs. These changes are not simple subtraction, but through intelligent optimization, SLG evolves from "repeated work" to "pure strategic display", allowing novices to get started quickly and veterans can use their strategies to the fullest.
From shortening the early rhythm to liberating strategic operations, "Age of Stars" is redefining the friendship standards of strategy games. When traditional SLGs are still using waiting time to extend retention, here we choose to use more free mechanisms, more agile responses, and more transparent rules to prove that real strategy fun never requires a threshold.
Ecological co-construction, creating a science fiction craze on the entire platform
In addition to creating excellent game content, "Age of Stars" also actively builds a game ecosystem, and through multi-dimensional strategic deployment, it redefines the boundaries of SLG games, so that it can become a science fiction cultural platform connecting virtual and reality.
First of all, in terms of linkage, in addition to the "Nan Tianmen Plan" mentioned above, "Age of Stars" has recently linked with heavy science fiction IPs such as "Stars Team" and "Devouring the Stars" to build an ever-expanding science fiction worldview through the "combination of film and games". At the same time, Douyin’s “Robot Girlfriend” content also broke the fourth wall between players and the game. The game characters discussed the game content with the players and answered player questions, truly realizing the immersive experience of “game characters entering reality”.
The "Qianmeng Plan" launched by the game before it was launched redefined the operation method of the player community. The design of contracting the star naming rights for the alliance is bold and novel, which not only satisfies the player's sense of honor, but also creates a unique emotional connection - when players look up at the sky in reality and can see the stars named after their alliance, this experience is far beyond the rewards of traditional games. Once the event was launched, it attracted a large number of alliances (including a large number of top SLG alliances), making the community extremely active before "Age of Stars" was launched. All major alliances were ready to recruit people to prepare for battle. As of now, there are as many as 800 alliances. Such activities not only build an active social ecology, but also cultivate a group of highly cohesive players, laying a solid foundation for the long-term operation of the game.
In order to allow every player to get an excellent gaming experience, "Age of Stars" has been greatly optimized in multiple experiences, achieving a truly seamless connection. The game not only logs onto the mobile terminal, but also releases the PC version simultaneously on the WeGame platform, and the data is interconnected by multiple terminals. In addition, commanders who like to hang up can also log in to the PC version of AppTrea & Tencent Mobile Game Assistant to experience the lighter and ultimate emulator experience (supports WeChat/QQ/mobile number login). What's more special is that "Age of Stars" has also launched a Mac client to meet the heavy experience scenarios of Mac users.
Conclusion:
The emergence of "Age of Stars" has filled the domestic science fiction SLG to a certain extent�沪, "Real-time Strategic Micro-Practice + Dynamic War of the Insect Tide" breaks the solidified ecology of category dependence on the Three Kingdoms and promotes the development of the science fiction industry chain. This step taken by "Age of Stars" can to a certain extent stimulate players' interest in exploration and promote the development of science fiction culture. Lead the industry to pay attention to science fiction topics and promote the creation and innovation of more science fiction works.
On April 17, the undeleted test of "Age of Stars" officially started. We sincerely invite you to explore the interstellar battlefield and witness a new chapter of Chinese science fiction games!
Play games with like-minded friends. The new game must have activation codes, and the new server must have a gift package, which is based on meeting the various needs of players. We look forward to your joining!
