Blimps. They re big, they re full of hot air, they re historically prone to crashing to earth in an unstoppable blaze. If you like blimps then we have good news for you. The physical manifestation humankind s hubris can soon be added to your bustling metropolis in Cities: Skylines [official site] as part of the Mass Transit DLC pack, which is also adding ferries, monorails and cable cars. This is so that your commuters can get to work more efficiently. I don t know what right-thinking member of the public would get the 7am zeppelin every morning, but the mayors of Cities: Skylines have never been ones to indulge sensible policies. … [visit site to read more]

This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the inner workings of their games. This time, Cities: Skylines [official site].

Cities: Skylines is a game about building roads. Its lovely set of road-building tools allow you to scribe beautiful curved boulevards into the gentle slopes and combes of virgin lands, and it has inspired 19-page forum topics entitled Show Us Your Interchanges and Steam Workshop lists 24,482 interchange designs.

Oh, and an incidental byproduct of a good road system is the growth of a city around it.

… [visit site to read more]

Cities: Skylines [official site] is one of those games that if given the chance will swallow you whole. Like any simulation game worth its salt, it’s comprised of so many moving parts that only by digging deep into its systems, mechanics and quirks can you hope to scratch its veneer and begin to understand what makes it tick. It’s a wonderful game once you do, but getting there can be a daunting task – even for the most tenacious of players.

User-made mods, of which there are now thousands, make this process a wee bit easier. It’s been the best part of two years since Alec shared his favourites (which are absolutely worth checking out), however the following list gathers the ones I’ve come to find essential in crafting my own homegrown cities and keeping my populace happy.

That last part might be a lie, but I swear that’s not my fault. (It totally is.)

… [visit site to read more]

I’m impressed they waited this long. Using earthquakes and hurricanes to play skyscraper dominoes has long been the alpha and the omega feature of citybuilder games (if you didn’t trash the suburbs with an alien invasion, you weren’t playing Sim City 2000 right). It’s taken Cities: Skylines [official site] 19 months to do the entirely obvious thing, and I’m glad to say it’s done it in style. Its new natural disasters are absolutely terrifying. … [visit site to read more]

Aside from starting a new tradition of unusually-named Steam Awards, Valve have also pulled out their worn and adored bargain bucket and have begun to fill it with games you ll enthusiastically buy and probably never play. Yes, it’s their Autumn Sale. In the streets, the apocalyptic jockeying for TVs and blenders has started. The moon has turned blood red. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Black Friday, and sales followed with him. … [visit site to read more]

If you, like me, kneel at your bedside to whisper the prayer “Lord Godzilla, rise from your slumber and scour humanity from the Earth with your purifying nuclear fire”, you may be comforted by apocalyptic visions in the upcoming Cities: Skylines [official site] expansion. Natural Disasters won’t bring rampaging monsters to the spunky build ’em up (as far as I know) but it will rain meteors, wash sins away with tsunami, and all that good stuff. The wait is almost over, as publishers Paradox have announced Natural Disasters will launch on November 29th. They’ve shown it off in a new trailer too. … [visit site to read more]

Several cities in the popular construction sim Cities: Skylines [official site] have been destroyed or heavily damaged by a freak series of natural disasters. A tornado, earthquake, forest fire, meteor impact and flood all occurred within seconds of each other and devastated a number of metropolises, killing thousands of tiny people who do not really exist. Footage of the deadly phenomenon was captured by the developers of the game, who are thrilled with the result. Warning: the following video footage contains images some viewers may find mildly interesting.

… [visit site to read more]

There are tons of ways to modify your Cities: Skylines [official site] experience. With official DLC packs that incorporate anything from bustling nightlife to horrific apocalyptic scenarios, and a bustling modding community, the custom city-building experience you’ve dreamed of is right at your fingertips.

Paradox Interactive this week launched a new content pack to honor its talented player content creators. The first Cities: Skylines Content Creator Pack is titled Art Deco, and features the work of Matt ‘Shroomblaze’ Crux.

… [visit site to read more]

Building and running a safe and efficient city can be fun, sure. Cities: Skylines [official site] is already great for that. You know what’s also fun? Smashing things. Cities: Skylines is now trying harder with that. Publishers Paradox today announced a new expansion for Colossal Order’s city-builder, named Natural Disasters. Oh yes!

… [visit site to read more]

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

I was certain I was done with city building sims. In fact, I think I thought I was done with sims. Gone was the magic of the classic Sim City 2000, the perfect balance of cartoony mayhem and rude interruptions of graphs. It felt like play, not work, even connecting up the water pipes. The genre disappeared down a hole I wasn’t interested in descending, a terrifying underground world where graphs ruled. And then along came Cities: Skylines, and I was proven wrong.

… [visit site to read more]