Cytopia

Hello everyone and welcome back to another dev blog! Lately, we've been working on some cool new tiles for the game and we've been discussing how to implement certain gameplay features. Admittedly, things have been a bit slow this month, but we hope ... [More] to pick things up again soon! Bamboo: A brand new plant has been made for Cytopia! It's long, green, and handsome. It is none other than the famous bamboo plant! These densely-grouped plants should be added to the game soon, but if you'd like to get an early look at them and their biome, take a look at this video made by me. Firetrucks and a Fire Department Building Thanks to RockFort and Matison, we now have a new fire department building, as well as some fire trucks to go along with it! Hopefully, you'll see the fire department building added to the game soon! Towers and Skyscrapers Galore!: Throughout this month, our artists have created a variety of tall buildings that'll soon dot your horizons! They come in all shapes and sizes (except for short), and they'll be great tools for making densely-populated cities. Here's a look at one of the new skyscrapers:   [Less]

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a happy holidays! Since last month, we've been hard at work on v0.3, so there are many new things to talk about.   32 bit Build: A new 32 bit version of the game is now available for those of you on older or less ... [More] powerful machines that don't support 64 bit programs.   WIP Features/Changes: Several new features and changes are being developed at this time, including RCI zoning, map improvements, and a new UI. These changes will help make the game more stable and set it up for feature gameplay features. Changes to the 3D audio have also been made to create a more comfortable experience. Songs are played in stereo, and sound effects are played in 3D spatialized audio.   New Decorations for the Holidays: Although the time for these events has passed at this point, new Christmas trees and presents have been made to celebrate the holidays. The trees were decorated by several members of the team, so each one is unique in it's style and presentation. New Biome Items: Several new items have been made for biomes that'll be added in the feature.  All of the assets for the rare Crystal Jungle biome are now done, and some destroyed trees for the wasteland biome have been finished as well. New Pedestrians: Lots of new pedestrians textures have been made for the game.  They include snowboarders, skateboarders, skiers, people of sleds, dirt-bikers, snowmobilers, and people of ATVs.  Although they aren't in the game yet, they'll add some life to the great outdoors once they've been added. [Less]

Welcome back, readers!  After a couple of months without a dev blog, the time has come for Dev Blog #10.   WASD Panning: You can now move the camera around using WASD.  It's a small, but useful change that I'm sure some of you will enjoy. OST ... [More] Available on YouTube: Cyctopia's full OST is now available on YouTube!  It features all four tracks made for the game so far, and it'll be updated as new ones are added.  You can find a playlist for our OST here. Music Changes/Additions: There have been some new additions and changes regarding music in Cytopia.  Music tracks should repeat about every five minutes, and music has finally been added to the main menu.  On top of that, you should be able to hear the calming sounds of nature in the background while you listen to the new sounds added to button presses. Graphics News: There are several new buildings in the works right now, including billboards, prison buildings, and several new items for the Crystal Forest biome.  Other buildings have also been finished, including lots of new RCI buildings and some tent decorations. We also have a new member of the artist team, PenangLion1016!  He's really good at making skyscrapers, so I'm sure you'll see a few of his creations grazing the sky in the near future. [Less]

Not much has happened this month, so I'll be waiting until December to report the news.  Sorry about any disappointment that may cause.  See you next month!

A Lifetime Behind Bars: It's finally Spooktober and what a better way to celebrate it than to add the scariest thing of all time to the game.  Bats?  Zombies? Skeletons?  Of course not!  The scariest thing we could imagine was a lifetime of sadness ... [More] in prison.  Cytopia now has some prison pieces for you to play around with, although it lacks proper functionality at the moment.   There is also a new prison fence that you can find in the road category.  They'll remain there for the time being until we can improve the way functionality is given to buildings. WIP Hydroelectric Dam: What would a good city sim be without lots of green power options?  A dirty one, that's for sure.  That's why I decided to create a modular hydroelectric dam.  It's still a WIP though, so it hasn't been added to the game just yet. 3D Audio in the Master Branch: Thanks to adct23, 3D audio made its way onto Cytopia's master branch in early September.  The option to use it can be changed by JSON, and an OpenAL Soft installation is required to use it. Other News: As usual, the graphics team has made even more fantastic RCI buildings, which should be present in the game now. [Less]

Hello everyone!  I'm finally back with another dev blog.  I've decided to only make dev blogs once a month from now on so I can cover more interesting topics in one big blog, rather than covering lots of small/uninteresting things every couple of ... [More] weeks. Binaural Audio: Recently, one of our developers, adct23, has added the groundwork for binaural audio in Cytopia!  In simple terms, binaural audio would allow you to hear things as if they were in a 3D space.  It's a very cool addition and I'm sure it will be put to good use. New Music: Do you remember those new music tracks I mentioned a blog or two ago?  Well now they have finally made their way into Cytopia, thanks to Ercadio!  We now have a handful of tracks that will randomly play while you're building your cities. Linetool and Illegal Tile Detection: Cytopia now has a functional linetool which can check if the tiles you're trying to place a building on are occupied.  This tool is very useful, especially for placing roads.  Currently, it can be used for any item in Cytopia, even if it's a large skyscraper, a small house, a group of benches, or a road. Here's an example of the tool in action on Twitter! TONS of New Buildings: Cytopia's list of buildings has grown significantly since the last dev blog.  There are lots of new RCI buildings, decorations, and nature items in the game now.  Also, items with multiple frames (like many of the decorations, for example), will now choose a random frame to use when you place them.  No longer will you be stuck to one frame per item!  Unfortunately, there's no way to choose one specific frame to place, but we hope to add that feature later on. In other news, a couple of buildings will have their categories changed.  All of the old brick power plants are being changed to industrial buildings and are being replaced by a new coal power plant made by Folesnaid.  On top of that, the Home Water Tower (the white cylinder tower with the water droplet on it) is being changed to a reward.  It didn't really fit in with normal water towers and seemed better as a reward. Winter Mode?: Well, not exactly.  Although the graphics for it are here, the functionality is not.  At least, not yet.  However, if you'd like to see what winter mode might look like, take a look at this Tweet. Fantasy Biomes: If you've been a member of our Discord Server, you might have heard about a mushroom biome.  Since then, we've also discussed a "Crystal Jungle" biome that would feature a rocky landscape dotted by giant crystals and smaller crystal trees and ores.  I've decided to refer to these unrealistic biomes as "fantasy biomes" from now on.  Although nothing it set in stone just yet, we've discussed making them quite rare, similarly to the Mushroom Islands from Minecraft. WIP Trains/Railroad: Recently, Folesnaid has been working on some new freight train textures for Cytopia, as well as some large tracks to go along with it.  In stark contrast to the elegant designs of the tramway trains, Folenaid's freight trains are big and dirty-looking, just like they should be.     [Less]

New Slider:A new slider for the UI has been made by one of our developers, Liz.  Although it's not used for much now, it'll be useful in the future for things like terrain generation selection.New Ground Types:There's a new terrain type: mud!  It ... [More] goes well with the dirt and soil we have.  And of course, it'll be used in map generation once we get that feature done.  On top of that, we also have new gravel and snow terrain types, which might look nice for a quaint mountain-side village.We also have new ground decos.  Mudstone, stone bricks, and four varieties of sandstone will be available once the ground deco feature is added.New Flora Tiles:Another thing I got done with recently was making some extra flora tiles for things like trees, cacti, and lilypads.  Once map generation is finished, you'll be seeing tons of plant varieties in your world!New Art Tutorial:There is now a new tutorial about when you should or shouldn't use anti-aliasing when making art for Cytopia.  You can find this tutorial hereJimmy Snails is Stepping Down:Our previous Lead Developer, Jimmy Snails, will be stepping down from his position.  From now on, Ercadio will be our Lead Developer.  Everyone wish him good luck!And as always, the rest of the graphics team has been hard at work making new RCI textures for the game.  Personally, I can't wait to see them in-game! [Less]

It pains me to say that our Lead Developer, Jimmy Snails, will be stepping down from his position.  Ercadio will be our new Lead Developer from now on.However, thanks to our new team of developers, Cytopia will continue to be developed and worked on, so don't worry about our project getting abandoned or anything anytime soon!

Another two weeks, another dev blog.  Sorry about this one being late.  I haven't had the ability to write this until now. Anyway, Translations: Recently, we have started to work on localization for Cytopia!  As of right now, I believe there are ... [More] quite a few languages being worked on, but I'm sure that the number of languages we'll support will only grow with time. Ambient Sounds: Since the last blog, MB22 has made three new ambient sound tracks, which I'm assuming will be played based on your city's size.  Once implimented, they should fill in the gaps of silence between music tracks and make the game feel more alive. New Organization: The repository on GitHub has been moved to a new organization, Cytopia Team. New Ground Decorations and Terrain Types: I have created a new variant of the dark park for your ground-decorating needs (once that's implimented).  I've also made a few new terrain types, including red sand, soil, and burned ground. I've also reshaded most of the terrain types to add extra contrast between dark and light parts. New Flora: I've remade the original bushes to make them fit in better with the other Cytopian foliage.  They now have tons of new variants, as well as improved shading.  I've also created ferns, a somewhat large and leafy plant that has a bunch of variants for you to use (eventually). New Category Icons: I've remade the power, water, and bulldozer icons recently.  They are now in the same visual style as the other icons, and they shouldn't look so out of place now. Other Graphical News: As always, the graphic artist team has provided tons of new RCI buildings for Cytopia, including some buildings inspired by Euro Truck Simulator made by yusuf8a684.  I've also added my dark parks to the game, as well as a ton of new decorations, like signs and light poles.  I also made a road road: the highway.  It looks similar to the paved road, but it's darker, has smaller sidewalks, and had a nice dashed line. [Less]

It sure has been awhile, hasn't it?  Well, that's because we decided to post-pone this dev blog for a bit, so we would have more stuff to talk about.  Sorry about the wait, hopefully the wealth of new information will make up for it. New Terrain ... [More] Generation Features: The development team has been working hard on the terrain generation, with their most recent editon being trees.  The basic trees will now appear in map generation, which should make your maps feel more "wild." Layers: Up until recently, buildings without a base would have a black void of death shown underneath them.  However, this is no longer the case with the edition of layers.  This feature will draw grass underneath all of the buildings and roads. Two-Point Road Building and Connecting Roads: Recently, Yukyduky, a new developer on the Cytopia Team, has been working on a system that will allow you to build a road by connecting two points.  You can see a short GIF that demostrates this here. Also, roads should be able to connect to other roads, even if they are a different type. Timer Class Bug Fix: Paragoumba fixed a bug in the timer class which affected performance when hovering over UI items.  This fix should help peformance while you have your cursor over the UI buttons. New Sound Effects and Music: Once again, MB22 has created some great new sound effects, as well as a new song for the soundtrack.  You can listen to the new song here.  Some of the new sounds include a school, passing trains, emergency services, and more. New Ground Types/Deco: I've created a few new ground types which will eventually be used in map generation.  The new ground types would be, black sand, forest, and minty forests.  I have also created a new ground deco called polluted grass.  It'll be used with residential buildings once the ground deco feature is implimented. New Buildings: A variety of new buildings have been made since the last dev blog, including a school (by Folesnaid), a pool (by me), and lots of new RCI buildings, handful of which are actually rectangles.  I have also added a sunken ship and a few snowmen to our texture collection.  There is also another cool building which is based off on the logo for Cytopia. A Giant Snail?: Yes, you heard that right, a giant snail is on its way to Cytopia, and it yearns for the destrustion of your cities.  However, at the moment it is just a 3D model in Blender, so it won't be able to hurt your cities.  For now. New Category Icons: I have remade all of the category icons.  Their new look should be more consistant with the set of UI icons I mentioned in the last dev blog. Trains and Diagonal Frames for Vehicles: Folesnaid and I have been working on some new train texture lately.  Folesnaid has been making a steam locomotive, complete with cars, and rails to go with it.  I have been working on remaking my old tramway plugin from TheoTown to be used as a passenger train in Cytopia.  I currently have four trains, each with their own passenger cars, a bunch of stations, and some decorations for your platforms. We have also been working hard on making some diagonal frames for vehicles.  However,we aren't completely finished with them yet, as we are still figuring out how to make them. Other News: Cytopia is now on Itch.io.  Downoad it from there to get the latest updates first. We also have a new official Twitter account. @Cytopia1 We can also confirm that Cytopia can run on a Tesla Model 3, thanks to Jimmy Snails.  (In case anyone was wondering) [Less]