Holiday Empire - 3D City Builder Mobile Game (Master Thesis)
Figure 1: In-game view showing 3D city builder with dynamic terrain and buildings
Figure 2: Main menu interface of the Holiday Empire game
Video Demo
Overview
3D city builder for mobile inspired by Holiday Island. This 7-year passion project became my Master's thesis, where I conducted a comprehensive performance comparison of 3D vs 2D terrain rendering on mobile devices.
Challenge
Isometric art style in 3D. Dynamic, adjustable terrain. Massive cities (performance challenge). 60 FPS target on Samsung Galaxy S3. Solo development including all 3D models, textures, buildings, nature. Dynamic terrain generation with custom textures. Advanced shader development for mobile devices. Terrain chunking for performance optimization. Master's thesis requirement: Compare rendering performance of identical 3D and 2D implementations.
Solution & Approach
Implemented complete game in both 3D and 2D isometric versions for thesis comparison. Custom terrain shaders optimized for mobile GPUs. Dynamic terrain generation with procedural textures. Chunked rendering system for performance. Conducted systematic performance measurements comparing both rendering approaches on mobile hardware.
Outcome & Impact
Successfully completed Master's thesis comparing 3D vs 2D performance. 3D and 2D versions achieved visual parity (only camera rotation differed). Met 60 FPS performance target on Samsung Galaxy S3. Game reached playable state with full city-building mechanics. Thesis provided valuable insights into mobile rendering optimization. Project not released commercially after 7 years - learned critical lesson about scope management for solo projects.
Technologies Used
Key Highlights
- ✓Master thesis: 3D vs 2D performance comparison
- ✓Implemented identical game in both 3D and 2D
- ✓Dynamic terrain with custom mobile-optimized shaders
- ✓Met 60 FPS target on Samsung Galaxy S3
- ✓Systematic performance measurements on mobile hardware
- ✓Visual parity between 3D and 2D versions
- ✓7-year passion project
- ✓Read Master Thesis: View PDF