6 ms·

My only criticism of Skylines is that it’s not a game, it’s just an art board for painting cities that move. There aren’t enough meaningful challenges to buildi

by jbob2000 6y ago

My only criticism of Skylines is that it’s not a game, it’s just an art board for painting cities that move. There aren’t enough meaningful challenges to building your city, the reward for playing comes from making something aesthetically appealing.

capableweb 6y ago
> the reward for playing comes from making something aesthetically appealing More like "The reward comes from playing with your own objectives and succeeding at them" which is one of the hallmarks of sandbox games, not just Cities: Skylines in particular. I've played Cities: Skylines quite a bit, the genre is my favorite one. While I agree the game doesn't force you into completing arbitrary objectives, I've found it quite challenging myself, but that's also because I setup my own objectives to be challenging.
mrguyorama 6y ago
Indeed, if you DO actually try to "play" and build a functioning city, the inability to handle traffic in any way basically stops you dead at small town size
- tidepod12 6y ago
  Designing your city in a way that allows traffic to flow (and takes advantage of traffic alternatives such as the myriad of public transit options you can design and build) is one of those "meaningful challenges" that you're supposed to play through. That's kind of the point.
- syshum 6y ago
  Someone needs to know Lane Mathematics and proper round-a-bout setup :)
  - bmn__ 6y ago
    https://youtube.com/c/BiffaPlaysIndie/search?query=lane+mathematics https://youtube.com/c/BiffaPlaysIndie/search?query=lane+math... bish bash bosh sips tea hugo there, and hugo there
- dragontamer 6y ago
  City Skylines is a one-dimensional "game", in that all problems revolve around traffic. There's NOTHING wrong with that!! Traffic simulation is incredibly hard, and its very fun to resolve that issue (or "attempt" to resolve the issue). To truly solve traffic problems requires you to understand how and why all the cars are moving the way they do. The main issue IMO with City Skylines, is that once you "solve" the traffic problem (which is almost always a combination of Highway -> 3-way Artery road with few intersections -> "cul-de-sac" style distribution of cars to their final endpoints + a few mass-transit options), there's nothing else to the game. All problems start, and end, with traffic management. As such, if you're already a "traffic expert" (due to playing games like Factorio or OpenTTD beforehand), you can quickly build an optimal City Skylines setup and then have not much else to do. SimCity was truly a game with multiple dimensions. Skylines is mostly a traffic simulatior (a good one, but still... "just" a traffic simulator).
  - HappySweeney 6y ago
    A road layout using concentric circles with spokes works too.
  - gregmac 6y ago
    > you can quickly build an optimal City Skylines setup and then have not much else to do You can definitely get to an optimal state then stop, but you can also keep growing. As the city grows, it requires refactoring roads and public transit to keep things going. I recently got the Industries add-on, and found that also adds an interesting dimension: as you add factories, they require more of certain types of raw materials and I find myself wishing I had made the farming zone bigger, for example, debating if I should raze this nearby 5-star neighborhood, reroute a well-flowing multi-lane highway, or start a second zone somewhere else. I kind of like I can get it to an equilibrium and stop, while not feeling like I'm leaving it unfinished. I tend to play for a couple weeks then take a break for a few months.
    - judge2020 6y ago
      > debating if I should raze this nearby 5-star neighborhood, In real life, could a city do this (outside of forcing people out of their homes with military power)? Are there checks and limits on how much eminent domain can do in terms of claiming already-owned land?

capableweb 6y ago

> the reward for playing comes from making something aesthetically appealing More like "The reward comes from playing with your own objectives and succeeding at them" which is one of the hallmarks of sandbox games, not just Cities: Skylines in particular. I've played Cities: Skylines quite a bit, the genre is my favorite one. While I agree the game doesn't force you into completing arbitrary objectives, I've found it quite challenging myself, but that's also because I setup my own objectives to be challenging.

mrguyorama 6y ago

Indeed, if you DO actually try to "play" and build a functioning city, the inability to handle traffic in any way basically stops you dead at small town size

tidepod12 6y ago
Designing your city in a way that allows traffic to flow (and takes advantage of traffic alternatives such as the myriad of public transit options you can design and build) is one of those "meaningful challenges" that you're supposed to play through. That's kind of the point.
syshum 6y ago
Someone needs to know Lane Mathematics and proper round-a-bout setup :)
- bmn__ 6y ago
  https://youtube.com/c/BiffaPlaysIndie/search?query=lane+mathematics https://youtube.com/c/BiffaPlaysIndie/search?query=lane+math... bish bash bosh sips tea hugo there, and hugo there
dragontamer 6y ago
City Skylines is a one-dimensional "game", in that all problems revolve around traffic. There's NOTHING wrong with that!! Traffic simulation is incredibly hard, and its very fun to resolve that issue (or "attempt" to resolve the issue). To truly solve traffic problems requires you to understand how and why all the cars are moving the way they do. The main issue IMO with City Skylines, is that once you "solve" the traffic problem (which is almost always a combination of Highway -> 3-way Artery road with few intersections -> "cul-de-sac" style distribution of cars to their final endpoints + a few mass-transit options), there's nothing else to the game. All problems start, and end, with traffic management. As such, if you're already a "traffic expert" (due to playing games like Factorio or OpenTTD beforehand), you can quickly build an optimal City Skylines setup and then have not much else to do. SimCity was truly a game with multiple dimensions. Skylines is mostly a traffic simulatior (a good one, but still... "just" a traffic simulator).
- HappySweeney 6y ago
  A road layout using concentric circles with spokes works too.
- gregmac 6y ago
  > you can quickly build an optimal City Skylines setup and then have not much else to do You can definitely get to an optimal state then stop, but you can also keep growing. As the city grows, it requires refactoring roads and public transit to keep things going. I recently got the Industries add-on, and found that also adds an interesting dimension: as you add factories, they require more of certain types of raw materials and I find myself wishing I had made the farming zone bigger, for example, debating if I should raze this nearby 5-star neighborhood, reroute a well-flowing multi-lane highway, or start a second zone somewhere else. I kind of like I can get it to an equilibrium and stop, while not feeling like I'm leaving it unfinished. I tend to play for a couple weeks then take a break for a few months.
  - judge2020 6y ago
    > debating if I should raze this nearby 5-star neighborhood, In real life, could a city do this (outside of forcing people out of their homes with military power)? Are there checks and limits on how much eminent domain can do in terms of claiming already-owned land?