Vectropolis
Vectropolis is a new take on city building and simulation games.
The game is very early in development. In fact, if you’re reading this you’re one of the very first people to hear about it outside my office. Congrats! Great to have you!
Behind the game
I grew up playing classic city builders. Unfortunately, the genre has lost its way. SimCity hasn’t seen a new game in more than a decade. Cities:Skylines II is widely regarded as a downgrade from its predecessor. Computers get faster, yet simulation games get slower and less detailed in their simulations.
I think the genre needs a bold new direction, with the detailed simulation from breakout indie colony sims, but scaled up to much larger populations. That’s very hard to do. But I’ve had 20 years to think about it, and I found a way.
About the game
Vectropolis is an unthemed modern city builder. Go as large as a major metropolitan area or as small as a rural town. Either way, each citizen is simulated in advanced detail with many different interlocking systems.
The core gameplay loop involves setting policy for the city and its zones and seeing how citizens, corporations, and higher governments react in complex emergent ways, and then responding to these changes with new policies.
Vectropolis is a city simulator, and is not a city painter. It prioritizes realism over instagrammable screenshots. For example, parking lots will be simulated without compromise, unlike the main franchise in the genre, and also unlike the other main franchise in the genre. Creating an aesthetic city is much more meaningful when it actually works as one.
About the status
In the current form, the game is neither pretty, nor fun, nor playable. Expect this to persist for awhile.
It’s in the “technical preproduction” phase. Games like this rely on a lot of new technical R&D before a real game loop emerges. Expect most things to be technical engine demos for awhile.
About the marketing
The industry thinks game information ought to be carefully controlled. They announce with a pre-rendered cinematic trailer that may not reflect actual gameplay, and follow up with a carefully controlled demo, and never show placeholder art.
I think city builder fans have been through this process before and can recognize this charade from miles away. I’d like to try something different: an open pre-production process. I’d like to try openly discussing game design problems, difficult bugs, cancellable features, and placeholder artwork.
This is a new experiment, and whether or not it works likely depends on you.
Stay tuned
I have many things to talk about on this page. If you’re interested in supporting a new city builder, please: