Cities: Skylines Revealed by Cities in Motion Creators at Gamescon

[BlameTheWizards]

Cities: Skylines Revealed by Cities in Motion Creators at Gamescon

Developer Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive announced that Cities: Skylines, its next simulation title, will launch in 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux.



Paradox Interactive has announced Cities: Skylines at Gamescon today, as a follow-up to developer Colossal Order's mass transit simulation game Cities in Motion. Unlike Cities in Motion, Cities: Skylines, which is also developed by Colossal Order, will give armchair urban planners control over building an entire city, as opposed to just public transport.

According to an official press release from publisher Paradox Interactive, the new title will have final say over road building, zoning, public services and taxation, in addition to mass transit. Paradox also promised "total control in endless sandbox gameplay across massive maps - all with extensive built-in mod support."

Other features mentioned in the press release include setting a series of civic policies used to guide your city's growth, directing and placing local districts and the construction of endgame "wonders." Modding tools will also be included to give the game legs beyond its pre-packaged content.

The trailer also prominently features "play offline" as a bullet point, no doubt enticing people still reeling from EA's SimCity "always online" server fiasco last year. That game only launched its offline mode <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133010-SimCity-Offline-Mode-Launches-Today> earlier this year, after taking <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131329-SimCity-Offline-Mode-Took-More-Than-Six-Months-To-Make>more than six months of work to implement it after launch. Hopefully, Colossal Order and Paradox have learned from the mistakes of Maxis and EA and will have a smooth launch when Cities: Skylines launches in 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux.

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[kajinking]

Starts trailer

"Oh it's just like Simcity"

hits 0:26

"Holy Sh*t!"

0:42

"It's...it's beautiful!"

0:53

"HA HA F**K you EA!"

 

[Nimcha]

So basically this will (supposedly) be what the new Simcity should have been? Color me intrigued.

 

[William Fleming]

You know this is just like Sony's PS4 ad campaign last year at E3 where Microsoft really fucked up thinking everyone would buy an Xbone anyway and pissed everyone off. Just replace game sharing with play offline and you have this trailer.

 

[epicdwarf]

From the looks of it, it is just Sim City only done right. I still don't like there "only build near roads" mechanic. Hopefully, the game won't force you to build EVERYTHING by a road.

 

[RicoADF]

Cities in Motion was an awesome game and the sequal was quite good too (I prefered the colour style of 1, 2's vehicles are too bright imo). Can't wait to see the excellent work these guys do with Cities: Skylines, and best of all it supports Linux :-D

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Haha, I liked the obvious dig at EA.

I have a few concerns keeping me from getting excited about this:
1) Cities in Motion was fun, but it was more like a model train set than an actual game. The traffic system frequently broke down, rail was the only fiscally viable option, and there was a lot of pointless busywork involved in shuffling ticket prices and having to replace vehicles every three years because otherwise they break down constantly.
2) It was terribly optimised, and the footage of Skylines looks like they are going for some massive cities. I shudder to think how anything less than the most beastly rig will cope.
3) Colossal Order have a track record of being a bit heavy on the DLC. Both Cities in Motion games are the kind where you have to wait for the inevitable GOTY edition unless you want to spend twice the launch price on extra vehicles, maps etc.

 

[Ldude893]

Finally, another city-building game that isn't Sim City or Cities XL. Time will tell if this is good or not, but at the very least it's trying to avoid the same blunders of Sim City 2013.

 

[Zontar]

Finally, another city-building game that isn't Sim City or Cities XL. Time will tell if this is good or not, but at the very least it's trying to avoid the same blunders of Sim City 2013.

Wasn't Cities XL hailed as a city builder that wasn't Sim City when it first came out? Honestly it's sad that the devs for that game went under, City builders are an under appreciated niche market that the studios have been neglecting.

 

[Johnson McGee]

Finally, another city-building game that isn't Sim City or Cities XL. Time will tell if this is good or not, but at the very least it's trying to avoid the same blunders of Sim City 2013.

Wasn't Cities XL hailed as a city builder that wasn't Sim City when it first came out? Honestly it's sad that the devs for that game went under, City builders are an under appreciated niche market that the studios have been neglecting.

I tried Cities XL and I found it a bit... soulless compared to SimCity 4 (the best way I can describe it). I just couldn't get into building a large city and it felt about as exciting as a spreadsheet.

I just hope that there doesn't end up being some legal trouble over the use of the title Cities.

 

[Quazimofo]

"We have decided to make a Sim City clone"

BOOOOOOO

"We have decided to make an old Sim City clone"



Edit: I just cant do it. I suck at this embing stuff. Just take a link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TURI6iDdbac Just take it! *cries*

It's pretty straightforward, just delete everything between youtube and the = sign, and everything before youtube.

For example, your video

youtube=TURI6iDdbac (but of course, in brackets, like so)
Notice the lack of htttps or the www. before the youtube and the lack of a .com/watch after the youtube.

Anyway, with regards to this game which seems to be another quality entry in the sim city games in all but name,

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Eager to know more. I'm a big fan of the little details, like curved roads, which add character to a city. And the scale is pretty nice too.

 

[Product Placement]

Heh. Thanks to EA, the ability to play offline has now become a feature.

 

[Victim of Progress]

To be honest. My enthusiasm is somewhat curbed. Those city building games usually don't deliver up to their promises. I was already disappointed by Cities XL, which was built upon its even more flawed precursor City Life. I can also imagine that the Cities in Motion engine will be demise of this game as well. Seeing how it will focus more on transit, and less on the city building aspect itself. Simcity 4 still remains the best city building game to me.

 

[RoonMian]

I hate to be "that guy" but it's Gamescom with an M. Yes, it doesn't make sense but whatayagonnado, them silly Germans.