L01 Games Analysis | Cities: Skylines

In this analysis of the game Cities: Skylines, i will be commenting on different aspects of the game as well as make comments on the overall game experience.

The style of this game is a top down RTS game. With genres of strategy and city builder.

In comparison with other games with the same genre, Cities Skylines did extremely well with most reviews stating it is how ‘sims city should have been’.

It shows the stylistic conventions of the genre by proving the traditional city builder experience with real time strategy on top.

The story being told throughout the game is that you are a mayor of a city and must use the initial money to build a thriving metropolis. The story informs the gameplay as it demonstrates what you have to do, and uses the idea of a twitter (chirpy) system for the residents to communicate to you. The story has no characters in particular, but every resident is nameable and can be tracked to see where you are going, allowing you to interact with them in a godly way.  The story connects with the target audience by providing a game that the audience will love, having all the standard city building features and more.

The game was developed by Collosal Order, and published by Paradox interactive using the Unity Engine. The elements of production that improve the gameplay include the ability to pause time, and rename every building/citizen/vehicle that exists as well as seeing where they are travelling from/to.

The physics is real, with cars travelling correct speeds and reacting to citizens correctly, however some aspects like the planes will sometimes merge through one another.

Although no characters are 100% within the game each time, the small citizens of the city are relevant to the target audience either through similar looks, or with the ability to rename them; then can make the game even more personal. The characterisation matches that of the genre by the people going to work/shop etc in buildings constructed by you. The characters are all of equal strengths, as strength isn’t portrayed in the game, due to the characters only being a side features.

Challenges present in the game include the ability to run the city efficiently but without losing money to go bankrupt. Every level offers different challenges which could either be for better or for worse in the game, overall making the levels engaging towards the player.

The elements of the gameplay that show the games success includes the ability to rename every NPC entity within the game including cars, buildings and people. The gameplay engages with the narrative by offering level upgrades as the game progresses, leading to a better city structure.

As stated previously, the game uses upgrades and challenges to keep the unique gameplay structure evolving from the starting point.

The target audience for the game cities skylines is young adults ~18. Indicators for this is that the game is a RTS, (real time strategy) meaning complex thinking must go into the game to be successful.

The game appeals to this target audience by being a real time strategy which as stated above needs complex thinking to be successful.

The game compares to others with this target audience by requiring more complex thinking needed.

The game is currently available for PC but later might be ported to xbox one.

The game is more suited for the PC platform by requiring more keys to play than a controller really has to support.