Gainos:

On the last Friday Facts post I wrote on, I mentioned an art related meeting the team had where we discussed several aspects of the game and how we can improve them. This week, we had another similar meeting, but significantly more specific since we only really talked about one thing: color.

When I joined this team, the building designs looked very different. While overall I feel like they improved significantly, one thing was probably better before I joined: color consistency. What I mean with that is all decorations or building textures that represent one real world material (i.e wood, concrete, steel, glass) should have the exact same color for that material. For very specific cases we could switch it up a bit, even more so if the material is actually slightly different (i.e a rich hotel glass window vs a cheap motel glass window). For most situations however, we want to be able to tell immediately by the color what material we’re looking at.

“If I paint something, I don’t want to have to explain what it is.” - Bob Ross

With that in mind, I’ve proposed significant changes to the game’s palette to accommodate for this new vision of the game’s art. Now, if you don’t like the idea of the game’s art changing dramatically, don’t worry, it won’t. My goal here is simply to make the game look cleaner and to pick the colors in a way that makes sense art-wise.

To make sure that my changes don’t overlook any old decoration or design, I’ll have to go over all the design’s currently on the game (there are over 500 – quite a few!) so this will take a bit but it’ll be so worth it. In this process I also pay closer attention to the original inspiration the game uses and also what we could do in the future to create cities with a very different feel by changing the palette. Changes like that wouldn’t be done randomly; they would require research and most of all: a good foundation which I’m building right now.

To reiterate: this won’t break any old decorations (in fact I mean to fix some old missing ones) or destroy the current feeling you get from the game (the whole point is to improve that feeling). When this is done, I’d like to share some of the info I’ve gathered on the process (maybe even making a specific document to share with modders) so that anyone that wants to make custom content (decorations, designs, textures) is confident in making something that fits into the base game perfectly.

And not just seasoned modders either, the feeling we want to create is that anyone can create something that goes well with the game and allows them to make their own unique happy little city.

Galahad:

Seasons Change as do Cities

Your start with a map. Build a few streets, add some houses and then expand into agriculture.

Great! You have a town focused on the simple needs of a farming community. But, in a few hours, your town is a small city with factories, schools, parks and maybe some amenities such as police stations, museums and marina.

During this time, you have experienced many seasons in your city. Winter can bring shorter days and some snow with cold temperatures, summer is warm and breezy with some rain.

Then you really decide that you are going to make this into a metropolis, complete with large buildings, highways, and mass transit. So, you imagine the great cities of the world and, as mayor, you design the urban environment and surrounding region of your dream. All the while, the seasons keep changing and you are more inspired.

The team at Lone Pine Games is impressed with the many examples that you have shown in sites such as Discord, Reddit, Twitch, YouTube and others. The international aspect of the game is very impressive. So the team will be adding more features this year. Your city will become a destination with travelers of all types; tourists, business execs, convention attendees, and others, experiencing the beauty of your design and the changing seasons.

We hope you continue to build a great NewCity.

Questions? Comments? Feedback on the game? Sound off on our Discord.

As always, we’re incredibly thankful for our great community across the web. We love seeing the hard work and attention to detail you pour into your cities, and it inspires us every day to keep building. Thank you again for your support.

If you want to play the game and haven’t got it yet, head over to our Steam page. We’re also on Reddit and Twitter. Give us a follow if you haven’t, and we’ll keep you up to date on what’s new with NewCity!