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Feb 22, 2011
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  • Cities in Motion
  • Cities in Motion 2
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Just before the actual start of Gamescom 2012, the developers at Colossal Order and the publishing team at Paradox Interactive announced that they were working on Cities in Motion 2, a transport-focused simulation which would take the series into modernity and offer gamers more opportunities to build and tweak a network to their needs.

I was fortunate enough to get a look at the game and find out about the new ideas and features from Mariina Hallikainen, the chief executive officer of Colossal Order, and get a look at the alpha phase of Cities in Motion 2.

One of the big additions to the new game, which fans of the first one have long requested, is more control over the scheduling of vehicles and Colossal Order has added a number of options, allowing players to take into account rush hour and slower periods and giving them total freedom with a separate custom schedule.

Those who love depth can make sure that they tweak their transportation system to bet cover all periods and needs of the city, but more causal players also have the option to use default schedules created by the development team.

More focus has also been added to the financial aspect of transport management and it’s now easier to keep a company afloat without crippling loans.

Colossal Order has also abandoned their own game engine and switched to Unity, which has an instant impact on the look of Cities in Motion 2 which is much clearer and crisper than the original, a game that often felt clouded.

The new game is also more organic when it comes to the city growth and decline and creating well managed transport systems has a clear impact on the way the buildings and citizens look.

Colossal Order is also planning both cooperative and competitive multiplayer for Cities in Motion 2 when it launches during 2013.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Gamescom-2012-Hands-Off-Cities-in-Motion-2-286792.shtml
 
I hope the graphics stay as great as they are. I don't know the unity engine. Can't wait to see some screenshots.

P.S.: Also please maintain the fixed 8 directions camera and simple zooming. Full 3D is not good for tycoon game. I know a lot of people would prefer it, so make an option. Full 3D or fixed. Full 3D ruined several tycoon type games, several...
 
New preview: Cities in Motion 2 preview
Where to start with Cities in Motion 2? For me, the most important distinction between the latest incarnation of Paradox's traffic management sim was something that the developers I spoke to at Gamescom only mentioned in passing. For the sequel to the 2011 game, the developers have decided to use Unity rather than the custom engine that they made for the original. For me, this should hopefully mean a much more performant experience, something I felt let the original down, and for fans of the series and management games in general, this has allowed Colossal Order to make some significant improvements for the sequel.

The build we were shown was pre-alpha, but they had already put in place a day/night cycle. Rather than the previous game, which took you on a voyage through the ages, seeing transportation methods grow and change around you, Cities in Motion 2 will only take place in the modern era. They listened to fan comments regarding the lack of transportation timetables and when real life minutes are months and years in game this doesn't really fit. This sparked the decision to keep the timeframe of the game in the present, meaning that in this game one day equals 24 minutes of play time. This results in regular changes from day to night and back. The game looked a lot prettier than its predecessor which was in part due to the more advanced camera controls that let you zoom right into the heart of the city or pull completely out for an overview. This time change also means that players can now add schedules to their routes, perhaps setting one route to run every other hour or have another starting at midday. It also meant that Colossal Order could do more advanced work with the traffic simulation, such as including rush hour or quiet periods.

Another new feature is multiplayer, something that we unfortunately didn't get to see, but sounds quite exciting. The game will support both cooperative and competitive multiplayer with the former seeing players working together to manage a complex transportation network and the latter has players fighting it out to see who can run the best network. This is tied into company value, though, so setting your tickets prices low to attract the punters may work out initially but can lead to financial ruin and ultimately the loss of a match. It's also entirely possible to play a multiplayer game without even directly competing with your opponents. The singleplayer sandbox we were shown was huge, many times bigger than previous maps, almost to the point where you can have multiple cities in one map and not even get close to anyone else. What's important to note, though, is that the villages, towns and cities themselves grow over the course of a game, which leads us nicely onto dynamic cities.

In the first Cities in Motion you were given a city (or created one), they remained relatively static and you had to build your transport network around them. In Cities in Motion 2, dynamic cities essentially mean that you get to set the direction of city growth. You now have the option to build the road network up. If the city is doing well, i.e. your transport network is efficient and the people are happy with it, then people will flock to the city, build new houses and improve existing ones. These are built automatically and we're looking forward to seeing the city develop from a small town to a sprawling metropolis (particularly in the context of the larger maps). The roads themselves have some interesting customisation options to them; for example, being able to build bus lanes (something that wasn't previously possible and was a critical piece of fan feedback).

All in all, Colossal Order were keen to stress that they've taken a lot of fan feedback on board, from the mods that the community has built as well as soliciting opinions from the forums. This certainly showed through in the demo we were given and this is just touching the surface; there were more subtle additions too, such as gameplay features like bus depots (where buses spawn rather than just appearing on your route) and changes to the traffic simulation (such as adding traffic lights). These new features like timetables and ticket prices are all customisable but players who want a lighter touch can simply leave them at the defaults or modify one setting globally (e.g. raise all ticket prices or just those on a particular route). The editor will also return, a much loved feature from the original but it will be more advanced and easier to use.

Cities in Motion 2 is shaping up to improve significantly on the original and is definitely something you should keep your eye on. It is currently slated for Q2 2013.



http://www.allaboutgames.co.uk/previews/PCMac/Cities+in+Motion+2/123/
 
Sounds good! It sounds like a much deeper simulation with a lot more control for the player. :)

I particularly liked the references to road customisation (bus lanes), traffic lights and timetabling. I hope we also get one-way roads, and an improved traffic/citizen AI!
 
douglasrac said:
P.S.: Also please maintain the fixed 8 directions camera and simple zooming. Full 3D is not good for tycoon game. I know a lot of people would prefer it, so make an option. Full 3D or fixed. Full 3D ruined several tycoon type games, several...
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RRT3 did 3D quite well actually back in 2003, also they should take notes from A-Train 9.
 
I think it is ok, because of the shedule planing, it will be nice to see your work working. And i think you wont have to wait 30*24minutes (1month) to become income from vehicles :-D
 
Well yeah, probably it is ok, but this means they've changed the game a lot. Now, probably, there will be much more focus on managing the network rather then on building it.
I hope we will see the work-in-progress when we decide to build something and not the tracks/station appearing immediately. Also, it'd be nice to have a "planning mode", where you design the line, for free, but you're actually just thinking what to do, so you can check that everything matches and is fine before starting to actually build.
 
Victor Cortez said:
Wow, 24 minutes for a in-game day are a lot.
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Most probably there is also a speed option. 1, 2, 3. If you play CiM 1 always in normal speed is also very slow.

RRT3 did 3D quite well actually back in 2003, also they should take notes from A-Train 9.
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RRT3 for me is one of the best examples on how you can ruin a game making it 3D.
2D appeals to your imaginative subconcious mind whereas 3D is more directed to your conscious which is reality based. This game is all about our imaginative world, like a world in tilt shift. Its not about recreating reality, but an imaginary world.

Well, this is an old idea anyway. CiM is 3D. But what you prefer, the smooth CiM or the sharp edges of Tropico 3/4 ? Doesn't matter how powerful is your graphic card, 3D looks sharp and ugly, because its too much, its 360 degrees for 1 object. CiM looks horrible depending on the angle you use with Ultimate Camera mod, but with 8 directions camera it looks great every time. Of course the game should be 3D. You can easily add lights, shadows, smoke. 2D is over, but must be done correctly.
 
honetly, i don't mind the gfx too much. CiM's 3D solution is not bad, but sometimes it's really limited especially in the map editor mode, i find ultimate camera mod a very useful help.
 
I'm also a-ok with the game being on a grid. Total free-form spline based networks sound cool but in practise they end up just fiddly and buildings end up looking bad unless procedurally generated along these splines.
 
Baro said:
I'm also a-ok with the game being on a grid. Total free-form spline based networks sound cool but in practise they end up just fiddly and buildings end up looking bad unless procedurally generated along these splines.
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Disagree. CitiesXL, for instance, handles that very well in my opinion - of course it could be better, but in that game the cities actually look natural.
 
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