We are Colossal Order & Paradox Interactive, the developers and publishers of the upcoming hardcore city builder game Cities: Skylines -- AMA

Will we able to build car-free cities?

Best question so far.

Devs?

Why is there no enforced online mode? I heard it was a must have feature and requirement these days?

Oh and for Shams: How is this connected to Rome 2?

Hey Golwar!

Thankfully advances in technology have enabled us to do all city management calculations locally on your PC. We don't have to do them in the cloud anymore, which you know, was the ONLY way to do it a few years ago.

ROME2 DLC incoming.

So when you say hardcore, how hardcore are we talking? What kinds of things can we expect that will make this a truly immersive sim in terms of city building and city feel?

Somewhere between SC4 and Cities XL? We don't want to go overboard and Dwarf Fortress it - but still allow depth. We expect modders to do really, really hardcore stuff. Depending on what people ask for we're shift post release content/feature in that direction.

The skylines have a very newyorkish look. single skyscrapers or houses. any chance to get the "european block" modus into the game?

Paradox is a Swedish company, Colossal finnish. At least 30% of the audience will be German - you do ze math :)

Will it feature regions like in the Simcity series?

Nope. It's an interesting concept/feature if done correctly though. But we don't expect you to depend on other players/cities in order to build a big sweet city.

What kind of DLC model will Cities Skylines be following? i.e. how much content and what type of content will be put into DLC

Generally at Paradox - we follow a "reverse peel the onion approach" - ie we make a base game that's as solid as can be. We then follow up and add layers to the onion making the game experience deeper and bigger.

Sometimes we add really specific stuff - say Muslim rulers for Crusader Kings 2 - (with the Sword of Islam expansion) while at the same time we general gameplay improvements/features for the game - new provinces for everyone, the claim system, new events, new empires.

People who want to play the specific muslim stuff can buy the expansion. The rest get a ton of free features/content.

The idea for Cities Skylines is roughly the same. We want to keep adding a lot of free stuff and do paid DLC for stuff that's either cosmetic or fairly specific.

As long as people keep playing and want more content we want to keep adding.

This is great.

Btw I picked up Crusader Kings 2 a few days ago and am loving it.

Become the antipope!

We are looking into something similar to Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV; Major expansions together with a patches full of free stuff, and some minor dlc besides

That sounds great, at least for CK2 and EU4 this business model worked really good. Will there be any "first-day-DLCs"?

There will be some kind of pre-order bonus - so technically that's DLC. But we're not locking content behind DLC day 1.

Currently, There're no Linux/SteamOS in the system requirements on the game's Steam page. Will these operating systems be supported at launch (or later)?

Will be added. Linux/OSX will be supported!

Think different!

Linux

Linux System requirements now added. Enjoy

http://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/

Will CSL be deep with its visuals? I.E one of the problems I always had with Cities XL was that I never got the feeling that I built a city that was actually alive... I was never immersed in it. I built a fire station but never saw a fire crew come from the fire station to put a fire out, or I built a school but never saw school buses pick up and drop off kids. It may seem weird... but just that ability to zoom in and see your police(wo)men fighting crime or saxophone players playing in the park makes me really feel like I'm building a city that has sophisticated life living in it... :D

This is a super hard balance to strike. On one hand we've got 9 man/woman team working on the game - that's really small. But we definitely want to see some visual representation for schools etc. Maxis does this really great. They've put a ton of work into the visuals. Unfortunately the simulation depends on the visual stuff. In other words - if the fire truck doesn't drive up to the fire it never gets put out.

We feel it's more important that the simulation works - that's our first priority - second is having a good visual representation.

This game is being built by only 9 people? I was already super happy and impressed but now I am floored. I will 100% be buying this on release day!

It surprised me as well :)

Will there be reports or graphics to analyze how well(or bad) is the city going? Also if we're losing money, and where we can fix that. (Expensive taxes, bad services, and so on..)

yes - SC does this amazingly well - we'll do our best to give you the tools to analyze your city.

Will there be disasters in Cities: Skylines like in the Sim City series? If so, what kind of mayhem can we look forward to?

It's on the roadmap. We'll see when it's added. What kind of disaster would you like to see?

Ebola?

too soon.

How much will the game cost or what price range are you aiming for?

We're looking at starting at $29.99 - that's HALF of some other management games. But we'll likely have some kind of Digital deluxe edition, or even a super collectors edition (if there's interest) - is there?

$30 is too low for a good sim game. Make it more expensive or offer me a collector's edition.

You guys have no idea how many people are starving for a good city management. Well, maybe you do, based on how many people rushed to buy SimCity 2013.

I want to give you guys more than $30, so make that Collector's edition become reality! And available outside US too.

We actually do know how much they're starving. We're them and that's why we're making the game. We first spoke about making this game like 4 years ago. Our hopes were dashed last year and we said "eff it - let's a make a proper city builder ourselves"

I wish I had that much talent. "No fun games on the market? Fuck it. I'll make one for myself. Teach those bastards at EA how to make a real game."

Theyre nice fellas. SC is a fine game, it's just not the game we'd like to play.

Will you have visual represention of wealth/poverty of neighbourhoods (graffity, trash on streets)? Or road degradation (potholes, cracks) (e.g. Due to heavy use and lack of maintenance)?

Yes. But we won't go overboard with it :)

How big population could we reach on the average PC?

Great question - to be honest we can't answer that right now. A few more months of development when the simulation layer is more mature we'll be able to give you a more accurate answer.

Is there a population size where you go: "Fuck I have to buy this game now" - that would be helpful for us to know.

1kk - that would be enough :)

deal

How in depth will the economics of the city be? Part of why I still play SC4 is because the city is always growing/changing and that means the city's finances must follow. So checking up on a particular elementary school's funding is almost necessary or your somebody (either the teachers or the city accountant) is going to eventually get ticked off.

Is there going to be that level of micromanagement or will there be more of a Tropico approach with the three levels of funding?

I could ding questions off you 25/8.

We're aiming for that - cities shouldn't be static. It'll be deeper than Tropico's system.

Keep dingin'

I have another one - will pollution / traffic / development / parks / schools produce positive/negative influences on development? Additionally will NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard) occur?

Yes on the first part. Kinda to the second. You'll be able to create districts through policies. thus creating hipster/militant/business neighborhoods - they'll behave differently to different things. Some of them might not like change.

Are/will there be any "mechanics" or "measures" in place to reduce lag or pc strain in larger cities?

I distinctly remember CitiesXL having this issue where middle to large cities had massive fps drops.

The game will be optimized to run on the recommended hardware for the max city size. You can uncouple the city size limiter through an option - but you and your PC will be on your own.

What are your plans concerning the games economy?

Deep, but manageable. It's a tricky feature to balance out. What's deep enough for you?

Victoria 2 or deeper!

NOPE. Tbh the Vicky model is so complex it barely holds together. It's almost too niche.

Will there be landmarks (Ie famous like the Statute of Liberty or Eiffel Tower)?

What kind of city builder would it be if we didn't?

Could you give any approximate game release window yet?

first half of 2015.

To Karoliina

Did you get any inspiration (Even if stretched) from strategy games like Europa Universalis 4 while designing Cities Skylines

To the people at Paradox

Earlier this summer, I had this little Twitter conversation with you CEO. Is what he says actually true?

Fred plays a lot of games. He'll fire up EU4 once in a while but he's not that great at it. He spends most of his time with Magicka: Wizard Wars and League of Legend right now.

One of the things I actually really liked in the new Sim City was the ability to place a utility/service building and then gradually expand it with additional functionality as my city grows instead of replacing it completely. Are there any plans for something similar in Cities: Skylines?

Really enjoyed CiM2, and could absolutely see the potential for it to be a full-fledged city builder. I know CO and Paradox can deliver what we're all after.

Agreed. that was a nifty feature. I actually don't know but hopefully the devs will get around to your question.

Will there be an alpha/beta program?

We're looking into it. Definitely something closed through the Paradox forums.

Perhaps taking into account people of previous beta ?? (Cim/Cim2)

perhaps ;)

Hagia Sophia will be in the game right?

She's a beauty. Not at launch likely. But some enterprising modder might make it day 1.

Could we flood the city by destroying the dam or smth like this?

Not at launch.

Do you plan making Steam Early Access for Cities: Skylines? Also how much will the game cost? Will it be $20 like Cities in Motion titles or will it be $50 like AAA titles? Thanks.

No Steam Early Access, we aim at release a finnished product.

Price point we are looking at is 29.99 USD, a little heavier than CiM2 as it is a much bigger game, but no AAA level

haha "finnished". That was so not deliberate.

No Early access. It'll be around $29.99 - half of some other management games ;)

How many simulation speeds will there be?

Right now there are 3.

Will we see Magicka wizards walking around our cities? Could they be a disaster that happens from time to time?

No wizards at launch.

How detailed will the underground infrastructure be? Will there be water pipes, sewage pipes, underground power lines, etc... that we'd have to place?

Detailed. It's exactly what you'd expect for city builder.

Haven't seen this yet... What games do you four (and the devs) enjoy playing? Sim games or not.

But then a part two: what sim games do you four (and the devs) enjoy playing? Any that you draw from? Any lesser known/low simulators you enjoy? I'm always looking for new ones.

Right now I'm playing a lot of Kerbal Space Program, Dota 2, Zelda: A Link between worlds, Skyrim, CK2 and I just started on the Pillars of Eternity Beta.

My all time favorite sim games are Transport Tycoon and Caesar 2.

Try Kerbal!