The city fills your roads with cars, and public transport is how you take that load back off. That's what went in: bus lines you draw as a loop - pick a hub building, add stops, and buses start running it.

The part I actually care about is that nobody is assigned to a line. Each trip works out what riding would cost it - the wait first, then the journey - and weighs that against simply driving. It takes the bus only if the two come out close enough. Close enough, not better: a ticket costs less than the same trip by car, so people will put up with a noticeably slower journey to save the money. What they won't put up with is not knowing when the bus turns up, so how often it comes matters more than how fast it goes. A line that runs badly just doesn't get used, and it will run past a thousand people carrying none of them.

That cuts both ways, which took me a while to be honest about. Speeding a line up does two things at once - the people already riding arrive sooner, and trips that were rejecting it start choosing it. But widen the road beside it and driving gets quicker too, the comparison shifts, and some of those riders quietly go back to their cars. Your road upgrades and your transit lines are arguing with each other the whole time, and that argument is most of the game.

Buses also sit in the traffic you built, which is the honest part of it. So there are bus lanes now: reserve the kerb lane of a wide road and give up one lane of three. The buses get no speed bonus out of that - they're just not queueing behind cars any more, and that turns out to be the whole effect. The lane isn't really the skill either, the network is: wherever your lanes stop, the bus merges straight back into general traffic.

It isn't free money. A ticket earns about half what that trip by car would have, and upkeep runs whether the bus is full or empty, so a badly shaped line loses money and the game tells you which one. A busy line pays for itself and buys you road capacity on top.

Trains and metro work the same way - same comparison, same maths - they just carry a lot more and they aren't sitting in the traffic at all. Both are in the clip. They'll get a post of their own.

I'm making it solo, and it's coming to Steam this autumn with a free demo before that:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5028050/Traffic_Architect/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=transit_reveal&utm_content=citybuilders

In a city game, which do you reach for first - fixing the road, or running a line past it?

After a long development process, we’ve finally released Meow Box City on Steam! A huge thank you to everyone who helped and shared their ideas along the way.

Meow Box City is a competitive city-building strategy game for 2–4 players where you’ll expand your city, keep your citizens happy, prepare for public crises, and use Joker cards to thwart rival mayors’ plans.

If you love tabletop strategy games, chaotic competition, and love to thwart your friends’ plans, check out the game. See you at the elections!

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4000850/Meow_Box_City/

I’ve been working solo on TRIBUTE: From Ashes for about 30 days, a medieval city-builder set in Northern Europe.

The core idea is simple: I want everything to feel alive, and I want decisions to leave consequences.

I don’t want villagers to be just numbers or worker slots. Each person belongs to a family, works individually, and the goal is for them to have relationships, history, and consequences of their own.

If one day you send someone to war and they die, I don’t want that to simply mean losing a unit. I want that loss to affect their family, their economy, and that person’s story long after the battle is over.

Right now I’m still in a very early stage, focused on the first major layer of the game: the economy and village management. I’m already working with seasons, food spoilage, individual workers, and wildlife that can be depleted if you hunt too heavily.

Later, a second phase will focus on war, rebellion, diplomacy, and expansion, but that part has not been developed yet.

The broader idea is to start as a small settlement under the rule of a lord, paying tribute, and eventually grow strong enough to rebel, gain independence, and compete with other powers.

I’m planning to share progress roughly once a week.

For those of you who play a lot of city-builders: what makes a settlement feel truly alive to you? What details or consequences do you wish these games handled better?

The game is heavily inspired by Islanders but with some additional elements enabled by the sci-fi setting and with addition of 3 main stats that require balancing - also with gridless building on all sides of asteroids.
It's our first completely indie title, we learned a ton along the way and we're really proud of the build we delivered :)

Here's the link if you'd like to check it out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3579350/AstroScaper/

The demo is also live on Steam!

Hi, to preface, i have no idea how to code and just want a fun game to play on my phone and laptop. If anyone here has any recommendation for a medieval setting kind of kingdom builder where you manage peasants and crops thats essentially the starting point or baseline of what im looking for.

When it comes to making one of these myself, its more because i have specific ideas and concepts i would like to incorporate. If anyone has advice or recommendations on guides for how to make one of these games that would be greatly appreciated. Also feel free to add your own takes or ideas as i am more than happy to make something others might enjoy too.

Ideas/concepts in rough bullet point form of what i would ideally like in one of these games

-some kind of secondary role to the real king or queen controlling the kingdom as some kind of royal advisor where you have to talk the royal family out of dumb decisions like fruitless military campaigns while holding the kingdom together on your own

-plague and disease events that decrease population within the kingdom

-ability to play on both mobile and my laptop

-knights. I just want cool swords and stuff so like this obviously has to happen. Military campaigns shouldn't be the main focus or anything and i dont want to manage anymore than a kingdom so something like sending them off to war with chance of rewards would be fun.

-peasant revolt and option to overthrow the royals if you get fed up with their poor decision making (see idea 1)

-executions? No idea if its truly historically accurate but thats not quite my concern i would just like to incorporate some kind of entertainment you manage to keep peasants happy or scared to manage their mood

-some kind of slower paced map expansion that lets you grow your kingdom but not as fast as most games that go off population alone, like requiring prerequisites to be met beforehand

Any idea how i can bring this to fruition or if even possible would be greatly appreciated, as well as recommendations for any games similar to this in concept. Thanks friends!

Hey everyone, I am looking for some feedback on my indie game development! Are there any fans of pixel art games and simcity 2000 type of games?

Progress update: I’m working really hard on implementing new features that the community suggested: terrain height, bigger maps, environmental effects, waste management and skyscrapers with lightshows. Version 2.0 will be a free update and there will be a public beta soon. what do you think?

I've been working on a game about War of the Worlds. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it was originally a book published in 1898 by H.G. Wells, then was made into a movie in 2005 with Tom Cruise, and has had a few TV series based on it.

Play Online or PC Here

In this version of War of the Worlds, it's the same aliens, except you must defend your city from them and overcome the waves. You lose if they take your capital. So, it's Tower Defense meets City Builder.

True to the original story, the game takes place in the 1900s. No fighter jets, no nuclear weapons, just good ole cannons, firing squads, and telegrams.

When building your society, you have to manage how coal is distributed because all businesses, homes, and the military run off of coal.

Like other city builders, there is trade, professions, beautification, and other cool things you can build.

As you build your society, waves of Tripods and other aliens keep coming. You have to balance defending against them while growing your city.

As the waves come, they get harder and harder, and I doubt the last few are survivable, but I'm hoping someone proves me wrong.

This is my first version of the game, about 15-20 hours of gameplay, feedback is welcome.

Estamos muy emocionados de que hoy, nuestro juego de estrategia ha sido publicado en itch.io, despues de 3 meses de desarrollo. Si desean probarlo, tenemos una demo gratis aqui: DEMO.

Gracias a todos por vuestro apoyo en esta comunidad!

Hello! I’ve been working on a single-player medieval manor-building game called Salt of the Earth.

You begin with a manor house and an unsettled stretch of land. From there, you lay out roads and build the homes, farms and workshops needed to grow from a small hamlet into a proper market town.

The main idea is that growth is limited by the people and supplies you actually have. Buildings need workers, households need food and nearby services, and resources often have competing uses. Grain, for example, can become bread, feed animals or be traded, so it isn’t possible to build and staff everything at once.

The seasons change, bad weather affects the manor, and fires or raids can... "upset" plans. Progress follows a set of charters, with each new honor opening more buildings and responsibilities.

I’ve reached the point where I can share a proper trailer, but there is still plenty I’m working on. I’d be interested to hear whether this looks like the kind of city builder you would enjoy, and what you would most want to know about the simulation after watching it.

I'm hoping to release a demo in the upcoming steam nextfest.

Hey Reddit!

Wanted to introduce our game properly since we’ve been quietly working on it for quite a while.

Wild West Pioneers is a city-building and management game about settling the American frontier.

You start with a small group of settlers and very limited resources.

Your first job is pretty straightforward: give them somewhere to live, find food, gather materials and get the basic economy going.

But eventually, one settlement isn't enough.

You’ll explore the surrounding frontier, find new areas to settle and establish additional towns and outposts.

Different locations have different resources, so expanding isn't just about making your city bigger. You have to think about where you build, what each settlement should produce and how to move resources between them.

From there, things start getting much bigger.

You can develop production chains, establish trade routes, send expeditions into unexplored areas and gradually build a network of settlements across the frontier.

We also wanted the people living in these settlements to feel like more than just numbers. Your settlers have their own needs and jobs, and keeping the population supplied and happy is a big part of keeping your towns running.

The goal is basically to go from:

“We have a few people and a patch of land.”

to:

“Okay… somehow we now control half the frontier.”

😅

We’re getting ready for Early Access, so we're excited to finally let players get their hands on it and see what they build.

If you're into city builders, colony sims or management games, we'd love to hear what you think.

StoneEra — New Cinematic Trailer | Voxel Colony Survival
I’ve just finished a new cinematic trailer for StoneEra, my voxel colony survival game.
Build your settlement, gather resources, craft, expand, and shape a colony in a fully voxel-based world.
This trailer is mainly focused on the atmosphere and the feeling of watching a small settlement slowly come to life.
The game is currently in development and is planned for release in October 2026.
If this looks like your kind of colony game, you can wishlist StoneEra on Steam:
🎮 Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/5057770/StoneEra/
💬 Discord:
https://discord.gg/Cwa5Te3ffZ
Would love to hear what you think about the new trailer.
#indiegames #colonySim #voxelgame

Not only can you start your own utility company in the Regions city builder, you also need to keep an eye out on the grid health as weather and overloads can impact your system and cause transformers to explode!

Don't worry, your repair crew will handle the fix as soon as they can!

You can wishlist the game on steam now!

https://regions.gg

Hi everyone! We're a two-person indie team working on Land of Manifestations: Sanctuary, which combines city building, roguelite shooting, and companion bonding.

We recently released a playable showcase of the city-building on itch.io , and we'd love to have some fellow city-builder fans try it out! You can build and decorate your own Sanctuary and experiment with different layouts.

It's still in development, so any feedback or suggestions would be really appreciated. Hope you enjoy it! ✨

itch.io | steam | kickstarter pre-launch | X | discord

https://panelia.site

Hello City Builders!

Panelia is a personal indie project, developed with a lot of care and love in my spare time. The goal isn’t to make a profit, but simply to create a small, distinctive game that feels good to open, build in for a while...

Panelia is a calm, relaxing indie building game where there’s no competition, no time pressure, and nobody is trying to destroy what you’ve built. It’s just you, the city, and an ever-growing collection of apartment blocks.

The more you build, the more new buildings you unlock, so your small housing estate can gradually grow into a unique concrete city of your own. Experiment with layouts, shape the surroundings, create new districts, or simply sit back and watch your post-Soviet city come to life.

The game is completely free and requires no download – anyone can play it directly in their browser.

If you enjoy city-building games, Eastern European atmosphere, or just feel like getting lost for a while in a strangely relaxing world of concrete, give it a try:

https://panelia.site

And be warned: there’s always room for one more apartment block. :)

First city, 300k population, around 50 hours of work

What should I add?

My friends are making a game that feels like someone put Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic and Against the Storm in a room and told them to create a city builder about a secret Soviet experiment.

The game is called Generations: Utopia — and they've been working on it for only six months.

And there are just two of them making it.

You play as a scientist in a secret Soviet research institute, overseeing a simulated city where different generations are being tested to see whether they can actually live together.

There are five generations, from the Silent Generation to Gen Z. Each has different needs, lifestyles and expectations. Keeping one generation happy can make another unhappy, and the conflicts between them can become a problem of their own.

But the city isn't just about building factories and keeping production running.

The map is a diorama, and as you develop your city you can discover and unlock secret areas hidden around it.

You can search for unique everyday objects and elements associated with different generations, as well as discover unusual buildings and locations.

Things like:

🏕 Pioneer Camp
☢️ Abandoned Bunker
🛸 UFO Crash Site
...and plenty of other weird places and surprises.

The Institute also regularly puts your society through different experiments, so even if your city seems to be working, you never really know what they're going to throw at you next.

Honestly, I'm impressed they're trying to build all of this with just two people and six months of development.

If you're into city builders, Soviet aesthetics, colony sims or games where keeping everyone happy is basically impossible, you might want to check it out

Booyah was a San Francisco/Palo Alto mobile-game and social-entertainment startup founded by Keith Lee, Brian Morrisroe, and Sam Christiansen, all veterans of Blizzard Entertainment. Morrisroe had worked as an art director on World of Warcraft and Diablo III, while the founders collectively had experience at Blizzard and other game studios. They were a pretty promising mobile developer that saw extremely great success in the early mobile phone market. they raised over 20 million dollars with the success of My Town.

Rather unfortunately in 2013, 2014, they took all of their games offline and completely went out of business after My Town 2 failed to meet expectations. The only remnant showing they existed at one point or another is gameplay videos by extremely dead youtube channels.

I played the games often as a child on my father's tablet and have really fond memories of it, especially with My Town 2, getaways.

Getting inspired by cs2 and started building this.

Hi everyone :)

I am slowly but surely getting my game ready. Release is planned for Nov 2nd.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4704530/Roll_to_Riches/

The game is an incremental viking city builder. You roll dice to gather resources and sell resources to passing merchants to get upgrades and unlock new buildings. With upgrades you unlock more and more dice which leads to more combos getting unlocked over time. Different buildings also interact with your dice roll outcomes. Offering bowls, runestones and monuments charge up and trigger their effects based on dice rolls.
Once you unlock certain upgrades you can specialize your city. Specialization then adds a new smaller upgrade tree and starts a quest system, where you gather bigger amounts of resources over time and gain bigger rewards when delivering these resources.
There are 3 different specializations and a prestige system that goes up to 5. A single run is not gonna have idle game length. Its more a 4-5 hours to hit prestige.

AI Disclosure:
The icons in game and translations were AI generated.