I find it sad elves are very rare in gaming, I can't think of a single game centered on them, but I have been thinking about how a city builder on elves could be unique.

First of all I find elven architecture and design to be absolutely gorgeous and unique, I will never forget when I explored Silvermoon for the first time, not to mention elves have a big affinity with magic and nature. But for me the main thing that would make an elf themed city builder different from a normal one would be the lifespan of the elves. Think about it the first citizens you would get at the beginning of your game during the foundation of your city would still be alive after hundreds of years, they would have families during this time, they would have fought during the early conflicts, designed some of the major places of the city,…

Some of the first elves who would still be alive at the end of the game could talk about how things were back then or how they saw the city evolve or how the city almost fell during a terrible war.

What do you think of this idea?

Indeed that would be quite unique. I imagine the artwork could be a lot of work though with all the beautiful intricate elven decoration and organic structures. Speeding up time works well in the city building genre though, would be cool to span across 1000 years. One thing I ask myself though is what the resources would be because everything just "grows on tress". And what dangers/obstacles there would be to make it challenging. (Apart from war which would make it play more like a tower-defence or RTS imo)

You know, if it's just city builder whose residents live longer than humans, that won't be unique nor interesting.

I could figure out or predict how lifespan would have impact on the city but it is your duty to do that.