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Hi everyone! I'm Mariina or better known here on the forum as co_martsu. I am the ceo of Colossal Order, the developer of Cities: Skylines. We work together with our publisher Paradox Interactive to bringing you the best city builder ever made and the quest toward that goal continues.

Big part of developing the game further is communication with the players and the community. We have been active in reading the feedback but haven't had as much time to comment as we would have hoped for. Therefore the idea is that I will be writing an update on a semiregular basis on what Colossal Order is up to so that you players can hear first hand what is going on in the development of Cities: Skylines.
Disclaimer: Some things are secret and I will try not to get assassinated by the Paradox marketing department so we'll keep this strictly to the points I'm allowed to talk about. I understand you probably don't value my life as much as I do, but we'll make this work, I'm sure!

It has been almost a year from the release of Cities: Skylines and we have since released tunnels and European buildings as a free update and After Dark and Snowfall expansions. The amount of sold copies, amount of players and especially the amount of requests caught us off guard last year and we have had to regroup to handle the new pressure set for us. I'm hoping opening the development side to the community can help us work together in making Cities: Skylines an even better game!

But that's enough introduction so let's get down to it. We are going through the feedback we have received for Snowfall in relation to the current expansion plans and in retrospect having two very visually oriented expansions right after each other might have worked better with a more gameplay focused expansion in between. We will take a small break on the new content and therefore during the spring Colossal will focus on bringing a couple of tools to the game as well as bugfixing, before starting a new expansion later this year.

That's why our dear community manager Escher from Paradox has been asking you, the community, to participate in discussions about what you would like to see fixed in Cities: Skylines. These requests will be ranked in three categories: Yes, maybe and no. We have a list of things we have wanted to fix in the game and will look forward to getting the feedback to seeing if we are at all on the same page. Issues that both the community and us developers find important are prioritized higher, but all issues and requests in the yes and maybe categories will be added to the wishlist. The wishlist is something that guides us not only in the prioritizing improvements but also affects the content in future expansions. I'm very much looking forward to getting the summary from Escher so we can get our hands dirty on making sure the wishlist represents not only our vision for the game but the community's feeling as well.

This week the team at Colossal Order is fixing issues for a quick patch. The patch will go through the QA before release and we'll keep you updated on when it is ready to go live. The most critical issue is to fix the shadows on Mac and Linux when the weather is in affect. We are tweaking the specular on the cliffs when it's raining, making sure the poor pedestrians aren't stuck between parks or unique buildings and gravel roads and adding the tram trailers to the asset editor. The trees looking weird after Snowfall update are also fixed now.

So that's pretty much it for this time and we're looking forward to getting that patch your way as soon as possible! And please let me know what you think, how often would you like to hear from us? Do you have anything specific in mind you would like me to write about?

Cheers,
Mariina

P.S. Last week I got to drive model trains! It was awesome :D
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After being happy with the base game, and very disappointed with the two expansions aesthetic focus, I'm cautiously encouraged to read this. Hoping CO/CS manage to find that nice balance of decent accessibility while maintaining good depth which makes PDS beloved by a particular (and growing) group of gamers.
 
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Sounds like a good plan. I think many players including myself appreciate this kind of interaction and the fact that the next few updates are focused on tools and bug fixes. BTW, when you say "bring a couple tools" is it for asset editor or the game in general?

I'm a huge train enthusiast.....that looks like some HO scale fun :) I hope those model trains can inspire some interesting things in the future like single rail tracks for the game.

Making posts like these can never be made too much. :cool:
 
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I've been a vocal and sometimes harsh critic of the game, but this is a step in the right direction. Kudos. :)

On the Simtropolis forums, boformer pointed out that there are hints of draggable seawalls and canals in the game's code, that weren't there before. Can you shed some light on this perhaps? ;) Properly implemented, this would be one of my dream features; and I'd like to think I had a small part in making it happen due to my popular suggestion thread about it on Reddit, which you also noted. :)
 
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I'm curious about this. Are those modding related (asset editor like things) or in game tools?

It's not modding tools this time, but something for the game. I'm afraid I can't say anything more about this for now. Marketing can see this, you know ;)

On the Simtropolis forums, boformer pointed out that there are hints of draggable seawalls and canals in the game's code, that weren't there before. Can you shed some light on this perhaps? ;) Properly implemented, this would be one of my dream features; and I'd like to think I had a small part in making it happen due to my popular suggestion thread about it on Reddit, which you also noted. :)

As I said, marketing reserves the right to announce new features.
 
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Oh wow, a word of the week on top of monthly Q&A? Sounds like a really cool idea! I'm glad you guys have read the community feedback about communication and game improvements / tools / bugfixes. I'm really looking forward to seeing what update is brought to the game next. Thanks for the word. :)
 
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Oh wow, a word of the week on top of monthly Q&A? Sounds like a really cool idea! I'm glad you guys have read the community feedback about communication and game improvements / tools / bugfixes. I'm really looking forward to seeing what update is brought to the game next. Thanks for the word. :)

We'll have to see how this goes. As I will be the one writing these it might be rather irregular due to the nature of my position. However the main idea is to have at least a semi regular channel to discuss what we are up to at Colossal. And as I mentioned in the post, please feel free to suggest a specific topic if you have one in mind!

The Q&A I talked about earlier is aimed for modders and I'm still kind of wondering what place would be the right one for that. Our team is extremely busy so co_emmi and I will be taking the questions to them and coming back with answers so we take as little amount of time from the programmers/artists as possible. Maybe a forum thread open for a certain amount of time and then an answer thread. I must discuss this with Escher to see what he recommends :)
 
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I'm just happy that there is going to be more interaction between you and us! And love model trains too! I personally feel much better and valued if there is adequate communication between the studio and players, even if you guys have bad news for us. At least we know what is your stance on things. As for an idea (I'm not sure if this is the right place), it would be nice if we could have the option to restrict the areas covered by individual service buildings (police, fire, trash) in a similar fashion as the current zoning tool.
 
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We'll have to see how this goes. As I will be the one writing these it might be rather irregular due to the nature of my position. However the main idea is to have at least a semi regular channel to discuss what we are up to at Colossal.

Yea, I don't expect you to say something every single week. I see how it will work now and what you meant by the title. :)
 
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Minor fix but please fix your new corner buildings. They are facing the wrong way in many cases. I made a detailed post with pictures of every incident that was totally ignored. I'm happy you added more corner buildings with afterdark, but what's the point when they are rotated 90 degrees the wrong way?

Also it would be nice to fix the lighting during the day so that billboards and building lights don't glow so strong during the day, and buildings not in direct sunlight don't have their windows lit up.
 
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I really like this. I understand you won't be able to tell us everything and that marketing reserves the right to choose what to announce and what to hold off - I think that whatever you can and are allowed to tell us, as much as possible, is the better!

What I would like to know in these weekly word of the week, is what you guys are currently working on and what the next priorities are on your list. This will help us gain insight in the direction and also give us the chance to voice our input if we feel that direction is the wrong one (in our eyes, obviously, but at least we get to voice our opinion).

And how often? As often as possible. I don't know if you're working according to SCRUM and if your sprints are 2-weeks or shorter/longer. But weekly updates sounds like a good interval! As often as you have the time :)
 
The amount of sold copies, amount of players and especially the amount of requests caught us off guard last year
Do you have anything specific in mind you would like me to write about?
How about an update on what you bought for the office with your surprise moneys? Chirpy statues? ;)

These requests will be ranked in three categories: Yes, maybe and no.
It would be good to get this down and published as a sticky thread so that everyone is clear where we stand on some of the myriad suggestions and ideas that have been discussed over the last year! Please can the requests in the "no" category have a bit of explanation as to why not, so that we can get a better understanding of your approach to Skylines and help us formulate ideas in future (Note: "because performance" is not a sufficient response on it's own! :p ).

We have a list of things we have wanted to fix in the game and will look forward to getting the feedback to seeing if we are at all on the same page. Issues that both the community and us developers find important are prioritized higher, but all issues and requests in the yes and maybe categories will be added to the wishlist. The wishlist is something that guides us not only in the prioritizing improvements but also affects the content in future expansions. I'm very much looking forward to getting the summary from Escher so we can get our hands dirty on making sure the wishlist represents not only our vision for the game but the community's feeling as well.
Hopefully the list from Escher and your work this spring will also include a sprinkling of improvements/enhancements to existing mechanics/gameplay as well as pure bug fixing; there are plenty of ideas out there for small tweaks that would improve the gameplay experience (including several that are already being delivered through popular non-traffic/AI mods).

P.S. Last week I got to drive model trains! It was awesome :D
That's cos model trains are awesome! :D

We'll have to see how this goes. As I will be the one writing these it might be rather irregular due to the nature of my position. However the main idea is to have at least a semi regular channel to discuss what we are up to at Colossal. And as I mentioned in the post, please feel free to suggest a specific topic if you have one in mind!
They don't have to all be by you! Why not open it up to your team if they want to volunteer to write something occasionally? I'm sure we'd all love to hear more from the developers and artists about the work they do, even if only short snippets. :)

How about a series of retrospectives looking back at After Dark and Snowfall (or even the base game)? Talking about the thinking behind what you decided/made, the process you go through when agreeing new content, problems you came across and how they were resolved, etc. Maybe even the odd thing that on reflection you (collectively) got wrong or in hindsight would have done/handled different. Essentially behind-the-scenes stuff.

Minor fix but please fix your new corner buildings. They are facing the wrong way in many cases. I made a detailed post with pictures of every incident that was totally ignored. I'm happy you added more corner buildings with afterdark, but what's the point when they are rotated 90 degrees the wrong way?
According to @Matthias King this was fixed in the last patch? Unless it wasn't or they missed some other ones.
 
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Hello co_martsu, thank you for doing such a new effort to reach out to the community. Compared to many other people I liked both add-ons you have released until now. However I know a lot of people have been complaining about them.
Focusing on bug-fixes is a very good step for this game, this might make certain parts of the community a little more calm.

For you question how often we would like to hear from you: I would almost say that once a month for a new update, on what is going on with Cities Skylines, should be more than enough. :)
 
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Hi Mariina!

I'm interested in the company itself.

Have you guys expanded much after Cities: Skylines' huge success?
Is the team split between Cities: Skylines and your next project, or is it more dynamic than that? EG Programmer works on CS one day, top secret project the next?

Do you ever see yourselves going away from simulation games?

I fully appreciate you might not be able to answer any of these aha :)
 
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Wow it's really nice! :) And I can't wait patch, we are really need multisections trams! :)

Well about ideas - I still want to see trolleybuses in Skylines... :D And, maybe, a little more impact urbanistic factors to environment, like air pollution by transport, for example. In this case electric transport like trolleybuses, trams and electric cars like Tesla, Nissan Leaf and so on will really demanded in game.
 
Thanks for the feedback and ideas for what I could write about! When it comes to the team we kind of have this agreement at the office that the they can focus on what they are best at which is developing the game. But if I ask very nicely I may be able to get someone to write about their work. It sounds like it could be interesting!

I don't know how marketing works, but how about someone from Paradox Marketing chiming in too? After all, I would imagine it's "Marketing" that's usually on the front lines to present new things to the target audience? Just a thought.

Surely they are in the front lines when there's the time for it. They try not to release information about new things too early and aim to get the maximum impact when they actually release news. Paradox Marketing department also work on other titles than Cities: Skylines so it's different for them than for us devs who pretty much only work on this game :) But I'm sure we can make this work. I'll talk about things I can and when marketing releases news we can continue to discuss them more.
 
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Good idea! An update once a month would be good, with as much information about your current plans as marketing will allow :)
For example whether you're working on a bugfix patch or prioritizing some new feature or DLC, even if you can't talk about that feature or DLC.
 
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