Cities in Motion - Developer Diary #7 - News from Colossal

[co_martsu]

Hi everyone,

This time, the developer diary will be a little bit different. Earlier, you heard about the different aspects and features of Cities in Motion, but I thought I’d bring you some news on what we have been up to lately. We are very happy to announce that Cities in Motion will be released on Feb. 22, so we have been very busy at the office and there’s a lot that I want to share with you.

Game development is not only about making the game but also interacting with people is a big part of getting a game released successfully. We highly appreciate the community around games and the feedback we've gotten from both beta testers and people interested in Cities in Motion.

So communication is a big part of developing a game. Surely, we want everyone to know that Cities in Motion exists! Early on, we sent beta copies to reporters, and have since posted links to the previews on the Cities in Motion Facebook page. If you haven’t read them yet, go check those out at www.facebook.com/Citiesinmotion! We have also sent out the review copies to reporters and are very eager to find out what they think about the full game.

So, how do we communicate with gamers? We set up a Facebook page and a Twitter account some time ago, and have been overjoyed by the amount of people actively seeking more information on Cities in Motion. I’ve tried to answer as many of the questions as possible and take in the suggestions and ideas that you have shared with us. We have over 1,500 people "Liking" the game on Facebook!

Karoliina checking the Forum

The community is admirably active on the Paradox Forum. After starting the Open Beta on Feb. 1, we’ve been basically drowned in comments. Our lead designer Karoliina and I try to answer as many threads as we can, and on the technical side, Antti has been actively finding solutions to the problems the testers might have encountered. Be sure to join in the conversation at forum.paradoxplaza.com!

The feedback on the beta has already been very helpful. With the community's help we were able to find and fix a major bug just last week. With the suggestions in mind, we've made changes, for example, to the economic system concerning the ticket prices, so adjusting them would be more intuitive for the player. More on these changes in the the next diary!

Tuuli and I working on a vehicle

We are very excited about the release of Cities in Motion next week!

Best regards,
Mariina Hallikainen
Producer on Cities in Motion
Colossal Order Ltd.

[stevebone]

A game is only as great as the people behind it Thanks for the continous communication! Looking forward to the diary and the game release.

[Dozer]

That's a really unusual aspect ratio for those photographs!

[delra]

Girl power! :-)

[co_martsu]

Girl power! :-)

For some reason the guys at the office don't like to get photographed...

[Zarine]

Come on, tell the truth, there are no guys there, or maybe the guy who clean the office when you leave

BTW, <3 Karoliina mug

[Raph]

Good work with the community interaction, that's always an added value to a game - that's part of why I got stuck around these forums and the games developed by Paradox. Looking forward to seeing more details on how the game has improved from the beta!

[Inner Circle]

Girl power! :-)

It´s Valentine´s Day, we have to give them something

[delra]

See. As it turns out it's not that hard for girls to interact with us at all... :-)

[OzWally]

I like your little rocket on your desk. (Tintin)

[eroots]

Nice. Looking forward to the next diary with info on all the update/changes after the beta!

[Elmoassasin]

It's great to hear from the developers! Keep up the good work. I suppose you're quite busy now since you have a week before the release...

[Co_Karoliina]

Zarine, I <3 my mug too It's contents are what keeps me going on these cold winter days. It's -29 degrees celcius outside at the moment!

And I can always play with the Tintin rocket or the tiny Tokyo metro car behind it, if I run out of ideas for the game.

[Emren]

And I can always play with the Tintin rocket...

Yeah, I love toys too.

[Zarine]

Zarine, I <3 my mug too It's contents are what keeps me going on these cold winter days. It's -29 degrees celcius outside at the moment!

And I can always play with the Tintin rocket or the tiny Tokyo metro car behind it, if I run out of ideas for the game.

Too bad for you. I have a nice 15 dregrees celcius where I am... too bad it's raining.

So the game got metro car, but where are the rocket in the game. I want to make public transportation toward the moon. Please make tintin rocket in game so we can play with it too !

[delra]

I think Zarine hasn't got that bad an idea. Let's say you push the game to 2030 or 2040 and add some Alpha Centauri looking cars and planes and buildings. That wouldn't be the worst idea for an actual full-time expansion.

When there's actually 2040 we will be able to go back to the game and compare the nuclear wasteland we live in with your dreams how the future would be like. ;-)

[gebbiz]

For some reason the guys at the office don't like to get photographed...

We live in dark caves and avoid flashing lights

[TempestDK]

We live in dark caves and avoid flashing lights

As you should ... those "picture machines" will steal your souls

[klischee]

It's always nice when game developers are near to the community. I am very curious to see if and how you implementated some ideas of the users, and what bugs and glitches you've got fixed.

But CiM is already yet a game you can see the devs have fun to design it. It has a soul. Your forum acivity and diary 'entries' are underlining that.

[Zarine]

We live in dark caves and avoid flashing lights

Stop investigating how metro tunnel are built and start working on my sky rocket idea to mass transport people !