Test drive Cities XL video game for 30 days with this offer...

You don’t have a copy of Cities XL yet but are interested in seeing what the game has to offer? Our new Discovery offer is just for you! With this offer you can play Cities XL Planet (online mode) for 30 days for only 9.99€ ($9.99 US, £7.99). You will have access to all the online features of Cities XL Planet Offer, including 5 slots to build your cities and all the latest game updates. Once the 30 days are over, you can either:

Cities XL new download content pack 'Old England' adds Shakespeare to the game

As you probably already know, the launch of the unique world-simulation Cities XL is only the beginning of the adventure! We are committed to providing subscribers of the Planet Offer with additional free content and we are thrilled to give you a glimpse of the first content pack which will be available this week - The Old England Pack.

Cities XL launch online payment platform

The highly-anticipated massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) Cities XL is a city-builder which lets players create, build, and develop their dream city by taking on the role of a mayor. To this end, the MMOG features novel real-time construction tools, 25 maps with varying landscapes, and around 500 buildings based on various architectural styles to choose from.

Cities XL video game out now in US

CITIES XL, the massively multiplayer city-building game from Monte Cristo, has officially launched in North America. The servers are now online, so players who purchased the game digitally, or via Monte Cristo’s online store, may now begin crafting unique and expansive urban environments. For those who have yet to purchase Cities XL, the game is available in boxed form from www.citiesxl.com, and in digital form from Steam, Direct2Drive and Impulse.

Genre-bending Cities XL city-building game out in Europe today

CITIES XL, the highly polished city-building game from Monte Cristo Multimedia, hits the stores today in UK, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, Australia and New Zealand, courtesy of distributor Namco-Bandai. In the solo mode, you can build from a selection of 500 buildings on varied landscape maps. In the online mode – subject to a monthly subscription - you can collaborate to build famous landmarks, trade resources with other players, and get monthly new content such as new building packs. The game has an RRP of £29.99.

CITIES XL Multiplayer Overview Video Get a first-hand look at the online “Planet Offer” and in-game social networking tools

To celebrate the impending release of Cities XL, their massively-multiplayer city-building game, developer and publisher Monte Cristo has released a new multiplayer walkthrough video.

Cities XL - city building video game pre-order link

Monte Cristo Games is pleased to announce that their upcoming next-generation city building game, Cities XL, is now available for pre-order on Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC games and digital content. Priced at $39.99, the Limited Edition offers players the entire game, along with five additional maps, five exclusive landmarks, two permanent blueprints, a unique city hall, an in-game t-shirt for players' avatars and a unique "web tag".

Cities XL download demo links - get the game now....

The demo of the highly anticipated next-generation city building game CITIES XL is now live. The demo period will run for the month of September and will give players the chance to build a city of up to 22,000 citizens on a persistent planet (the full version of the game lets you create megalopolises of millions of citizens).

Players will be able to build their city across three available maps (the full version of the game will include 25 maps for solo mode and 50 for the Planet Offer). Inter-city trading, the chat function and a limited avatar builder have all been included, along with the possibility to visit Capital City, a town that offers an example of what can be created with Cities XL.



Players can also create their own city journals and start a new city as often as they wish for the duration of the demo period. Developed by Monte Cristo Games, CITIES XL expands upon all the features that make city builders fun and interesting, while also letting players take their game online, as they interact with others in a persistent online environment.

Realism will be pushed to the limit with cities that are bigger, more realistic and more sophisticated than ever before. Cities XL will launch exclusively for PC in October 2009

You can download the demo from one of the following locations:
Worthplaying
GamersHell
BigDownload
Strategy Informer

Latest Cities XL video game trailer released...

Monte Cristo Games and Namco Bandai Games are thrilled to be able to reveal the limited edition and standard editions for Cities XL, their innovative next generation city-simulation game. The Limited Edition includes 16 bonus items in a special pack and will only be available from key UK retailers.



The Cities XL Standard Edition box will include the installation DVD for the game, two instruction manuals, a 7-day trial code for the online Planet Offer and a trial offer on a second DVD so that one of your friends can discover the game.

On top of that, the Limited Edition box will include the following additional content:

• Five additional maps for solo mode,
• Five exclusive landmark buildings, (Berlin’s Victory Column, Kiev’s St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, New York’s 40 Wall Street, Paris’ Opera Garnier, San Francisco’s Grand Hotel),
• One exclusive city hall: Los Angeles’ City Hall,
• Two permanent blueprints: the Mayan pyramid of Chichen Itza and London’s Big Ben. These blueprints will be available from the start and can be built as many times as you wish.
• A bonus in-game t-shirt to make your avatar even more unique,
• an honorific medal to display proudly on your personal profile page on CitiesXL.com,
• Three postcards
• A 41x34cm poster

You will soon be able to pre-order the Limited Edition in the UK; there will be more information in the following days.

About CITIES XL

CITIES XL enables gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps, which feature a variety of environments from mountain ranges to beaches and islands. The cities you will build are based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. You must create the right combinations of job opportunities, social services, leisure activities, and special events within your cities in order to keep your citizens occupied and happy. Whether you’re planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighbourhood or transit system, there's always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in CITIES XL.

Cities XL North American Release Date

North American players, rejoice! Monte Cristo is pleased to announce that they will release Cities XL in North America on October 9.
The product will be available on Monte Cristo's secure website at www.citiesxl.com, and will be delivered to consumers via:

* Mail order of the boxed version covering USA and Canada (Shipping will be free of charge!)
* Digital download

The following digital download networks will also support Cities XL -

* Steam
* Direct2Drive
* Trygames
* Impulse
* Gametap



Check back on the official Cities XL web site often for more info on special promotions and more partners!

Cities XL city-builder video game HD trailer - how a city gets built

New video for their upcoming next-generation city-builder, CITIES XL. In this exciting new video, viewers will see how a city gets built within the game, and will be introduced to some of the gameplay opportunities available to players including building businesses and attracting new citizens.

CITIES XL enables gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps, which feature a variety of environments from mountain ranges to beaches and islands. The cities you will build are based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. You must create the right combinations of job opportunities, social services, leisure activities, and special events within your cities in order to keep your citizens occupied and happy. Whether youre planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighbourhood or transit system, there's always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in CITIES XL.

Limited edition Cities XL video game 16 bonus items in this next generation city-simulation game

Monte Cristo Games and Namco Bandai Games are thrilled to be able to reveal the limited edition and standard editions for Cities XL, their innovative next generation city-simulation game. The Limited Edition includes 16 bonus items in a special pack and will only be available from key UK retailers.

The Cities XL Standard Edition box will include the installation DVD for the game, two instruction manuals, a 7-day trial code for the online Planet Offer and a trial offer on a second DVD so that one of your friends can discover the game.

On top of that, the Limited Edition box will include the following additional content:

• Five additional maps for solo mode,
• Five exclusive landmark buildings, (Berlin’s Victory Column, Kiev’s St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, New York’s 40 Wall Street, Paris’ Opera Garnier, San Francisco’s Grand Hotel),
• One exclusive city hall: Los Angeles’ City Hall,
• Two permanent blueprints: the Mayan pyramid of Chichen Itza and London’s Big Ben. These blueprints will be available from the start and can be built as many times as you wish.
• A bonus in-game t-shirt to make your avatar even more unique,
• an honorific medal to display proudly on your personal profile page on CitiesXL.com,
• Three postcards
• A 41x34cm poster

You will soon be able to pre-order the Limited Edition in the UK; there will be more information in the following days.

About CITIES XL

CITIES XL enables gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps, which feature a variety of environments from mountain ranges to beaches and islands. The cities you will build are based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. You must create the right combinations of job opportunities, social services, leisure activities, and special events within your cities in order to keep your citizens occupied and happy. Whether you’re planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighbourhood or transit system, there's always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in CITIES XL.

Cities XL patch build 185 out now full fix list here...

Over the past few days, you have been very active in sending us tickets about various bugs in Cities XL. We thank you for your feedback and we have now been able to determine and fix a certain number of these issues already (others are still being worked on.)

Please find below a list of the bugfixes and additions coming with Patch Build 185, which is available now:

Install/Uninstall
- Microsoft VC Redistributable Setup will now be automatically installed for newcomers.
-The uninstaller now closes Cities XL if it is still running.

Interface
-The community managers are now identified in the chat through an "MC" prefix and all their messages appear in green.
-The backspace button now works two ways in the chat:
It correctly deletes the text written in your chatbox when you are talking on a channel.
When someone whispers to you, you can now click on your chatbox, press Backspace and your answer will be whispered back to them.
- When deleting a big city, the empty slot now returns to a normal-sized white slot on the planet.
- You can now press " Enter " to open chat.
- Cities XL news will now be updated automatically on the Planet Interface.

Tutorial
We have added the following tutorials to Cities XL:
-Tutorial 4: Citizens & satisfaction.
-Tutorial 5: Industries & satisfaction.
-Tutorial 6: Industries & resources.

Buildings & additional content
-We have added billboards along some roads.
-New fillers for office areas.
-The game will now give you written guidance when trying to place interchanges.

Planets
- We have added two new French & German speaking planets: Ariel(GER) and Proteus(FR). Planets can now be selected by language (EN/FR/GER).
This brings the total to 5 planets:
-Oberon (EN): 3000 slots
-Galatea (EN): 3000 slots
-Hyperion (EN): 3000 slots
-Proteus (FR): 5000 slots
-Ariel (DE): 5000 slots

+Many ingame text corrections/modifications…

To retrieve Patch Build 185 you just need to launch Cities XL as usual and follow the instructions given to you as you log in.

Cities XL video game beta programme begins today

Monte Cristo, developer and publisher of CITIES XL™, is delighted to announce that the game’s official closed Beta programme begins today. Those who were successful in their applications to join the CITIES XL Beta programme will receive their exclusive game keys today and can begin playing the full beta version of the game. UK gamers who have not applied can still get a key and download the Beta Client from the following partner websites: Eurogamer, Alltern8, GamesRadar, NowGamer, Total PC Gaming, C&VG and MMOzine.



CITIES XL enables players to develop and run their own cities, built on realistic 3D maps featuring a variety of environments from mountain ranges to beaches and islands. Each city manager, or mayor, needs to create the right combinations of job opportunities, social services, leisure activities, and special events that will occupy and entertain their citizens.

In the Beta programme, mayors can trade with one another, manage their economy and team up with neighbouring cities to create sprawling metropolises. The Beta version of CITIES XL is fully playable with online elements fully implemented.

“We’re delighted to have reached this milestone in the development of CITIES XL with the start of the Beta programme,” said Jerome Gastaldi, CEO of Monte Cristo, “We can’t wait to see how players interact with CITIES XL to create some amazing cities, and of course it will be an incredibly valuable testing time for the game itself.”

Visit http://www.citiesxl.com for more information about the game, and to learn more about the beta programme.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
DESKTOP MINIMUM
CPU Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.5 GHz or better
RAM 1 GB (XP), 1.5 GB (Vista)
Video Card nVidia GeForce 6600GT / ATI Radeon X1600 or better
256 MB VRAM or better

DESKTOP RECOMMENDED
Intel Core 2 or better
1.5 GB (XP), 2 GB (Vista)
nVidia GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850 or better
512 MB VRAM or better

LAPTOP MINIMUM
Platform Intel Centrino 2 w/ Intel Graphic Accelerator
RAM 1.5 GB (XP), 2.5 GB (Vista)

LAPTOP RECOMMENDED
Intel Centrino 2 w/ nVidia or ATI GPU w/ 512 MB VRAM
1.5 GB (XP), 2.5 GB (Vista)

ALL PLATFORMS MINIMUM
Sound DirectX Compatible
DVD ROM 2x
Hard Drive 8 GB
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP SP3 or Microsoft Windows Vista SP1
DirectX 9.0c
Note : need to be DirectX 9.0c compatible and support Shadel Model 3.0

Cities XL video game Solo mode revealed

Details of the content for their genre-redefining City Builder Cities XL. The game, which is playable in both single and massively persistent multiplayer modes, offers a unique experience for both.



In Solo mode, Cities XL will offer -

* 25 maps featuring varying landscapes - from canyons to grassy hills and snowy mountains
* Around 500 buildings based on various architectural styles (European, American …)
* Diverse citizen structure: Four levels of wealth, four main different needs (Services, Environmental, Prices and Traffic) split into many sub-categories (Police and Fire departments, Education, Leisure, Commerce, multiple types of Pollution, Taxes, Cost of Life, Distance to work and more)
* A rich enterprise selection ranging from agriculture to heavy industry, services, tourism…
* A complex, but easy to access, simulation based on 12 resources to trade with an opportunistic AI (electricity, waste management, agriculture, water, fuel, etc.)
* An ambitious traffic system including many type of roads (five different widths, costs, quality and capacity), highways, airports, ports, and much more
* A set of never-before-seen real-time construction tools allowing players to create curved roads, building zones of various shapes, elaborate bridges...
* An avatar studio and Web-based profile pages


“From day one we wanted to make sure that we were going to compete with the most ambitious builders out there in term of content and functionality," said Patrick Marchal, studio director. “We wanted the players to first enjoy Cities XL in solo mode, and then convince them to join the Planet Offer, which will open the gates to a more ambitious level of game experience.”

The massively persistent Planet Offer.
Multiplayer gameplay both in-game and on the web:

* Trade resources with other players to develop economic strategies, specialise your cities, maximise your possibilities in a global economy
* Work cooperatively to build Mega Structures – special buildings that enhance your city aesthetically and economically
* Web-based city management -- check your trade contracts, receive alerts, adjust your decisions from any computer in the world

Persistent MMO world:

* Each player receives five slots to build five persistent cities on different Planets
* Contribute to the life and statistics of the Planets (economics, population, pollution…): what you do has an impact on the world


Community features and animations in-game and on the web:

* Visit one another’s cities, see other players’ creations and content, chat with other players
* Create and participate in online events, discover virtual cities and real people


Regular upgrades :

* All Buildings, Maps, simulation and functionality upgrades are free with the planet offer

Monthly costs:

* 1 Month = 7€
* 3 Months = 5€/month
* 6 Months = 4.5€/month


“We think that with a price point of 7€ for one month or 5€ per month for 3 months, the Planet offer offers tremendous value for money. There are countless hours of gameplay, fun and sub-objectives in the Planet Mode that players will discover with time,” said Jerome Gastaldi, Monte Cristo’s CEO. “We really intend to continually expand the game, and together with the community keep on enriching it and improving it. “

CITIES XL Each player gets a profile page to make their very own

There’s more to Cities XL than ‘just’ a game, there’s also an extensive website at the center of which is your page. Your Profile page is your personal space on the Cities XL website; it reflects you, your activities, your friends, and as part of the Planet Offer, your cities of course.

Solo players?... Not that alone!
The Cities XL website and many other community websites demonstrated how devoted city builder fans are, so we decided that it would be great if we could continue to support this community after the release of the game. Therefore, every Cities XL player, including Solo players, will have his/her own profile page on the Cities XL website.

This page is first and foremost designed to identify you and differentiate yourself from other players. So when you'll create your Avatar with the Avatar Studio to visit your cities, it will be automatically uploaded to your page as well as each time you’ll modify it. Right below you’ll find a dedicated space to write a short text that describes you, your mood of the day, or simply express what you are currently doing in the game…

You will then be part of the Cities XL community and a community is no use if you don't communicate with other players. You’ll then be free to create your own friends network as you would do with any other Social Network website such as Facebook or Myspace.This friends list will help you find their profile page easily to read what's happening to them in the game and contact them via private messages.

...And if you want, there's more!
So, now you know that we will be offering a profile page to every Cities XL player even for Solo players. Now, Solo players will have their cities hosted on their own computer, in their harddrive while players that subscribe to the Planet Offer will have their cities in our servers to ensure all the visit, trade and other MMO features.

Therefore, players who will subscribe to the Planet Offer will have some other information and features available on their profile page: it will be your permanent link to the game.

It allows you not only to take part in the community’s life, along with the Solo players, but also to play even when you are not in front of the PC on which you installed the game. If you are part of the Planet Offer, whether you are on holidays, in a cybercafe or at work, you can join the community and act on your cities in a matter of minutes.

You will be informed in real time of everything that is happening around your game. That way, if one of the contracts signed with your friends somehow becomes invalid because one of the cities involved is unable to provide the required resources, you will be notified right away and will be able to react directly from your profile page. For instance by contacting your friend and having him solve the situation , or by obtaining another contract from another city to make up for the lack of resources.

With this page we wanted to give players a full set of information and tools that will allow them to interact with their cities and with other players from anywhere and at any time.

Whether you have to stay in contact with your friends, manage your Blueprints and Megastructures, manage your contracts or publish your City Journal, the web site will be your daily friend in the Cities XL community.

We will soon talk in detail about all these functionalities in an upcoming blog entry. Until then, we invite you to share your comments and suggestions with us.

Sign up for Cities XL PC video game beta

Monte Cristo, developer and publisher of CITIES XLTM, is pleased to announce that registration for the game’s closed beta will begin at 11 a.m. UTC/GMT on 16 April 2009. Gamers interested in testing the game and offering input into the development of Monte Cristo’s next-generation city builder/MMO should sign up at http://jointhebeta.citiesxl.com.

Be sure to visit http://www.citiesxl.com for more information about the game, and to learn more about the upcoming beta.

CITIES XL allows gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures and monuments based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. The maps feature a variety of environments: mountains, hills, canyons, beaches and islands, all set in different climates from tropical to desert, Mediterranean to temperate. Players must create the right combinations of social services, leisure activities, special events and other job opportunities within their cities in order to feed, clothe, employ and entertain their citizens. Be it planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighborhood or transit system - there's always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in CITIES XL.

“We’re excited to be at the point where we feel we’ve laid very solid foundations for this unique game,” said Jerome Gastaldi, CEO of Monte Cristo, “Now we need to test the architecture to see how players respond to it, and to improve the integration of the online-gameplay and social networking features. In the next weeks, we’ll let more residents into our closed betas and keep stress-testing the edifice correctly.”

The game’s online features and services will allow players to create interconnected cities on virtual and persistent planets. Mayors can share and trade with one another, specialize their economy and team up with befriended cities to create sprawling metropolises. Life on the planet will be punctuated by events and competitions - a concert held in one town may, for example, be attended by visitors from other areas who can also enjoy a walk around the city to admire the urban creations of multiple players. By combining a fantastic single-player game with the social and multiplayer aspects of an MMO, CITIES XL will shape the future of the genre by offering more variety, bigger cities and multiple gameplay layers.

Cities XL video game Mountain tops, Snowflakes and Winter fun!

You've created a wonderful little mountain village, complete with its local cheese specialties, wandering heavy-hided bovines, and picture-perfect landscapes, but you now want to take it to the next level: attracting visitors by the dozen with the heavy artillery of tourism, the must-have of mountain life: skiing!

The Ski GEM offers a large number of activities, the main one, and also the most fun, being the Ski Resort! Ski-trails, ski-lifts and all related activities are the everyday business of the young mountain resort managers…

As manager of your very own ski resort, you will take on a large number of fun tasks! First and foremost, you will need to decide where to place your snowy empire in the making. The mountains are huge and the possibilities aplenty! Once you have spotted the perfect place to set up your resort, you will need to place your first ski-lift to aim for the summits! You have access to different types of lifts (ski-tow, cable-cars, chairlifts, etc.), which are all adapted to different types of terrain. By starting out with a small ski-tow, you can climb high enough along the slopes to place your first ski-trails.

Draw your trails freely in the environment, in the same way you would place a road! Avoid trees and rocks, aim for a few nice slopes and within seconds, you will have a ski-trail worthy of the name! Green? Blue? Or maybe even red if there are a few nice bumps?… Choosing the difficulty level of your trails is vital as you will need to provide for all tastes and altitudes!

It's up to you to decide what the "official" colour of the trail will be, but the game also indicates its actual difficulty level in real time. Don't be afraid to include a small red portion in a blue trail, there's no harm in giving your skiers a bit of a fright once in a while! But don't overdo it, as they might quickly become frustrated or disappointed... And you will need to create trails for all levels, from green to black…

You will quickly realise that you can create a real network of trails that will satisfy most of the skiers looking for adrenaline pumping speed! And you will also have the opportunity to create new trails or modify old ones once in a while for more diversity!

Of course, beyond the trails and ski-lifts, you will need to build other installations to create the perfect ski resort: high altitude shelters for your visitors to keep warm, snack-bars along the slopes for them to grab a little something on the go, a restaurant overlooking the breathtaking panorama... And very soon you will be running the new Aspen!

But the greatest thing about all this is that, once you have finished setting up everything, you can sit back and watch your skiers and snowboarders speeding down your trails, and fully appreciate all the hard work you put into your resort! But watch out for accidents... It will then be high time to build a hospital at the bottom of the slopes…

Cities XL populous problems...

Things would be easy if your indomitable will was all there was to managing a city. However, you will have to take into consideration the fact that your city is home to independent entities that make their decisions based on their own interests and not necessarily on yours! We call these entities the private sector and there are two types: citizens and businesses.

3.1 Citizens
Citizens will calculate their satisfaction levels based on four criteria: work, prices, services, and living environment. Work will incorporate salary scale (there are 4), unemployment rates, and commuting times. Prices will incorporate the cost of resources and, most importantly, taxes. (We have already discussed services and living environment in a previous blog). Citizens who are unhappy may decide to move house or, worse, to leave the city altogether. The average satisfaction level of the citizens will determine your city’s reputation and therefore its ability to attract new citizens and to grow.

There will be four levels of qualification available to citizens: unqualified worker, qualified worker, white collar, and executive. These in turn will relate to four affluence levels. Improving the affluence of your city will require you to first improve the overall level of qualification, to provide appropriate employment, and to increase general satisfaction. That’s your challenge!

3.2 Businesses
Businesses will also be independent agents. How well or badly they do will depend on conditions in your city. They can make losses and even go bankrupt! Your city’s reputation will depend on the profit margins of the businesses established there. This reputation will be important, as it can prevent new businesses from setting up if it’s not high enough. Don’t expect to attract new hotels if all the existing beds aren’t taken!

There will be five types of private business: offices, hotels, stores, leisure, and factories and farms. Each type will have its own logic and its own reputation. It will be possible to have a good industrial reputation while at the same time having a bad shopping reputation. Finally, each type will also have different affluence levels (luxury hotels, high-tech factories, etc.).

3.3 The Mayor and his means
The mayor will have access to 3 types of action. First of all, he will set taxation levels. These taxes will reduce the population and business satisfaction levels but will provide him with the means to run his city!

Using tax revenue, the mayor will be able to pay for public services (police, electricity, etc.). These services are very expensive but will meet some of the expectations of citizens and businesses.

Finally, and most importantly, the mayor will need to manage the urban space. He will have to decide where to place roads and transport infrastructure. He will decide where to locate industrial and residential zones. The city’s growth will depend on how well laid out it is.

3.4 It’s getting complicated
You think that’s everything? Not at all! There are two more complications to come for your gaming pleasure! First of all, you will be able to use the GEMs to develop certain industries from within your city (starting with a ski resort and a beach resort). These GEMs will make it possible to expand into areas that are difficult to build on (mountains and beaches), they will increase your city’s size, and they will allow it to produce the new resources and needs (e.g. winter sports) that your citizens demand.

Secondly, don’t expect to build a city that can do everything! In fact, it’s by linking up with other players around the planet, exchanging products, and sharing tasks that you will experience the full flavor of Cities XL!

Cities XL - City Builder PC video game

In Cities XL, the main game will be a city builder: You will be the mayor of a city and you must try to regulate its development. We say “try” because you will not have 100% control over what happens in your city – the city simulation will have a certain autonomy, combining both unyielding logical rules (the public sector) and decisions taken by independent entities (the private sector). It is this simulation that we will describe here. This article will be spread over several blog entries.

1.1 Resources

The simplest rule has to do with resources. Some buildings will supply one or more resources, while other buildings will consume them. First and foremost, there will be resources useful to the city: electricity, fuel, water, waste management. Then there will be industrial resources: agriculture, industry (heavy, manufacturing, high-tech), and services (hotels, and “offices” that represent the tertiary services – finance, the legal profession, marketing, and research). Finally, there will be transport.

Players will not necessarily have to establish a fine balance between supply and demand for each of these services. They will however have to keep an eye out for potential imbalances. For example, a resource that is in too short supply will see its price rising, which can have a negative effect on the businesses that use it. This will reduce the city’s tax income or, worse, result in bankruptcies. If electricity is too expensive, it could result in heavy industry moving out of the city. In contrast, a resource that is over-supplied will see its price collapse. This could have an effect on the industries that produce it.

1.2 Services

Other buildings will provide services to the population. This category includes education, health, the police, the fire department, shopping, and leisure. The bigger and wealthier the city becomes, the more demanding the citizens will be in terms of the quality, quantity, and variety of services available nearby. Residents will take into account the distance that separates their home from a building providing a service. This distance will be calculated based on roads and transport facilities. It’s not much use being close to a hospital as the crow flies if you’re actually on the other side of a river and there’s no bridge… Ease of access to a hospital for different inhabitants, taking roads and traffic into account. Similarly, traffic jams will in effect increase the distance from a service. Players will therefore need to improve the transport infrastructure by building highways and providing bus services.

1.3 Living environment

The third important factor will be the living environment. In this context, certain buildings will have a negative impact: buildings that emit pollution or make noise, industrial dangers, and abandoned buildings. Others will have a positive impact: nature in the vicinity of the city, parks, and monuments.
The living environment will be an important factor in citizens’ satisfaction levels. It will be easy to control at the start of the game, but will become more complicated as the city grows.