There is a wishlist of all the game features that the developers of Colossal Order could inlude in their upcoming game. Cities Skylines 2 has beeen announced with a release date set for late October 2023. When we get more information, I will come back to this article and update what’s new.
Usage of AI, GPT3 and other models
What changes a lot from the latest game is the progress in AI and specially in the last year growing language models. I think using these “fancy things” could be great for big simulation/strategy games like Cities Skylines.
A new layer of game features should be created to simulate what is happening in the city. There could be big events / problems / disasters that will affect behavior of your citizens, so you will face new challenges.
My prediction / wishes:
- They will use advanced AI layers that we don’t yet know.
- Simulation will be deeper than in other strategy games.
- Using AI to simulate events / problems / disasters.
- Using GPT3 to simulate pop-player interactions.
One big economy ecosystem
In first version of Cities Skylines, there will be no complex economic systems and your cities won’t be connected to other cities. If you need more raw materials / coal / …, trains with goods will came to your cities no matter what…
… I think something bigger has to came into the game to make a difference. There could be generated “states” with more cities, like they did in the latest SimCity. The concept was good, but they failed to deliver. Nevertheless, let’s now think about the opportunities.
Your city could have problems with oil or food shortages. Because of that, you need to work out whether and how it would be better for you to import these materials. Or whether you build farms or industries to provide these raw materials. And if your city is just another part of the ecosystem, you may face a challenge in which you have to manage the export / import of goods, what and when to import and how much to export.
I don’t know how to use this well, but there are around 22 000 active players in the last few months. So there could probably be some economic interactions between players (like buying and selling animals in Planet Zoo). But the question is if this layer of interaction with others is too much or not.
On the other hand, if there are no connection to other cities, it would be at least nice to set how things should behave in a sandbox game. Because then you can say you build a city that depends on something and produces something else. And that way you can customize the game more to what you want to achieve.
My predictions / wishes:
- Economy system that will be bigger than my city.
- Economy system that will integrate how big the city is.
- Economy system that will influence what I focus on.
- Economy interactions with other cities / states / countries.
- Interaction with other cities in the nearby wider region.
- Possibilities of building small cities in rural areas.
- Possibilities of building small neighborhoods.
Population, groups, their needs
The latest Victoria 3 shows us how the population simulation could be deeper and more detailed. This is also a layer that has been missing from the current Cities Skylines. When I was young, I played a game called City Life and there was a layer with population groups. It was simplified, but it worked well in 2006.
Source: Wikiwand
In short, the population has problems with other groups and each has different needs. I miss something similar in the current Cities Skylines. Because now we only have demand for certain zones and services. I think it could be deeper and it could bring new challenges to your city that you have to solve.
Every citizen want to have more money and be happier. That means you have to grow and make sure the city keeps developing. You’ll have to address the marginalized neighborhoods. There may be ongoing problems for individual groups that you will need to address with new services.
My predictions / wishes:
- There should be a population system with different needs.
- Population system should be actively balanced by the player.
- Each building should have different people to work with.
- There should be events that will cause problems within your population.
- Events like immigration / diseases / Olympics.
- You should be deeply focused on what your people need.
Politics, laws layer
Another layer that I find lacking in Cities Skylines is politics. I think that every big city in the world needs to have a good political background in order to function. According to that, there could be some political fractions that your citizens vote for, and then those politics could have requirements for how you can expand your city.
You could eventually respond to their requirement by settings / applying laws. These must be deeper than the current state, which is just “on/off”. Politics might make good sense if you work with the population and economic part I described above.
When we talk about local politics, there need to be city departments that will affect the statistics and parameters of your city services. Also, there could be requirements from the people who work in the services, such as you need to expand the stations or you need to invest in their technology.
My predictions / wishes:
- There should be a policy, votes and better communication on issues.
- You should keep your city out of laws and guidelines.
- The guidelines should be deeper and should have their own pros/cons.
- There should be departments you need to focus on to keep the city going.
- The city services people should have their own problems you must solve.
New services
What should be good are new services. A modern town needs more services such as internet, gardening, delivery economic, theater, cinemas, malls, post offices. I would hope that services would be more detailed and that I could balance this in depth.
I will be really happy if we can “micro-manage” these services. I’m ready to think about delivery chains, subsidies and other problems that need to be addressed in services, such as prices and where to get money to set up more detailed services that raise living standards.
Services like water or electricity were so easy in the previous Cities Skylines. I want to decide if I’m going to build pipes in the roads or in the sidewalks. I want to optimize maintenance of these things. And eventually face potential traffic problems when streets are redone and pipes are repaired.
My predictions / wishes:
- New services that will be more detailed.
- Detailed service settings and events.
- Micro-management building.
Cities design / planning
The big thing that needs to be improved is the planning and designing the city. I will mention this below, but I want to create more detailed districts and think about which types of layout / buildings to use to fully meet the needs of the population.
For example, in central Europe there are big apartment blocks or prefabricated buildings. So I want to build different cities in which I will compare these apartments with villas and normal houses. I also want to have a historical centre where I can’t make big changes and I can optimize the details to improve the life of my people.
In case we are discussing the historic centre, I almost think it would be fun to come to a city that I am not building “on a green field”, but to come to a city that somehow works. There, the historical development will be visible and I have to grow the rest of this city. So I need to think carefully about how the direction of the development of the city centre will change. And expect that if I do any major development, there will be riots until I explain why.
A great feature could be to import a city from OpenStreetMap (which are open source) and then Cities Skylines 2 will generate a map with services, zones. And after this process, you could continue developing the city as if you took it into your own hands.
My predictions / wishes:
- I hope we could compare different styles of buildings / city development.
- I hope we could play with cities that are already working in some way, and we could expand them.
- I hope we could import real cities and try changing them.
- I hope we could build many different types of buildings.
Procedurally generated buildings
One of the things that bored me in Cities Skylines are the identical buildings. After a few hours of playing, you will see the same houses, commercial zones or factories and I don’t like that. A lot of service buildings are the same. So you just build another school or hospital…
… in my opinion, it would be better if they implement some procedurally generated buildings. So you could set some frame options like “European style” or “European historical center style” and just place some zones where the generated buildings could grow.
I want to build a realistic city in which I can live. Yes, there are a lot of same buildings, like large housing projects where many people live in each small district. But when I want to build this in Cities Skylines, I can’t because there is not enough variety of buildings. So I think procedurally generated buildings could be a great way to do that.
My predictions / wishes:
- Buildings will be procedurally generated in style you want.
- You could just set where they could be build, and they will be built.
- Your cities will be more different. The buildings won’t be repeatable.
Modular buildings
Now something about procedural buildings. I really liked the building update system that was in the last SimCity. If you combine this modularity with procedural generation, you get perfect options to build different parts of your city…
Source: YouTube
… nothing will be the same, every part of the city may be different and the construction of every hospital, college or fire station may be different too. Yes if there is a “blueprint” feature, then you could use prepared buildings and have a more causal feel. But if you want a simulation/strategy experience, that could be great as well.
My predictions / wishes:
- Cities Skylines 2 will have modular and upgradable buildings.
- Some parts will be procedurally generated.
- Upgrades will open slowly as we reach milestones.
- These upgrades will change buildings and city statistics.
Production chains
What will cities be without production and factories. In Cities Skylines, industry has been greatly simplified. All you needed to do was to build orange zones (industry). Or if you had DLC Industires, then you could build some advanced buildings in deep chains.
Overall, however, there are not too many details. I think the developers could create deeper industrial layers that could be simulated / managed. In case of Rise of Industry there are detailed chains. In the case of the new Cities Skylines, I don’t think it needs “micromanagement” features…
… but if we look at production chains from a broader perspective, you can see that you, as a mayor / city planner, could make strategic decisions to optimize your industry. I think the game will need more specialized chains in the background and we (players) will optimize zones.
For example, we could build zones like “farms”, but these farms could specialize in certain themes, such as fields, orchards, livestock to produce specific food for our cities. On the other hand, we could build industrial zones that focus on the storage and producing of these raw materials.
Like in real cities. In the Czech Republic, there are large zones on the outskirts of cities where people have to transport themselves and work there. Also there are small “hubs” of factories that are specialized. I don’t want to make Cities Skylines an economy simulator, however, some high level governance and development could be interesting.
My predictions / wishes:
- More ways how to influence your industry.
- More focus on industrial background / integration with the city.
- Responsibility for great city planning.
- More realistic towns with realistic industry.
➡️ Organized list with wishes from community
In the case of my wishlist, it’s not the only one, and there are also wishlists from other players. There are best wishes for the new Cities Skylines 2 from the community. I read a lot of pages and lot of tips, so there is a summary put into thematic groups.
Essentials
- New game engine that will allow more features.
- CTRL + Z on actions.
- Better visualization and stats.
- Better UI.
- Realistic housing and population limits.
- Assets and mods profiles for specific saves.
Maps:
- Mote types of map.
- Bigger maps with variables.
- Procedurally generated maps.
- Change the basics of maps, such as where highways and trains start.
Time in game:
- Working day with rush hour, increased electricity consumption.
- Changing seasons with different events / problems / focus.
Roads/Network/Traffics:
- More realistic traffics with parking lots.
- More reliable traffic AI.
- Automation and assistance with path building.
- Automatic optimal exits, connecting lanes, etc.
- Custom roads / lines for your city / neighborhoods.
- More traffic directions.
- Integrated roundabout builder.
Building:
- Planning the future with execute commands.
- Slower construction time of projects.
Zones and buildings:
- Adaptable parts of buildings.
- Mixed zones / buildings by type.
- Docks or more industrial zones.
- Medium density zoned.
- Remove rectangular zones.
- A system of desirability for people.
Build-in mods:
- Current traffics mods
- Move It!
- Find it!
Customization of services:
- Zoneable things like deathcare or landfill to make it more realistic.
- Modular services that affect stats.
- More types of public transport.
- More detailed tourism.
- Building other infrastructure such as swimming pools, tennis courts.
- Customizable transport stations / hubs.
- Religion, churches, cathedrals.
- Parking, pedestrian zones, bicycle-lines.
- More realistic distribution of services, not just random placement.
- Generic parks gone, functional parks instead.
- New networks like Data / Internet / underground collector.
Industry:
- Realistic industry zones and warehouses.
- E-commerce economy.
Events:
- More disasters like financial crisis, illnesses, pandemic.
- Olympic Games, Summits, Prides, Marathons.
- Critical problems in service infrastructure.
- Roads events like crashes, services, repairs.
This list is continuously updated
Conclusion
After all, I have to say that we are probably not going to get all the things that I’ve described here or that I’ve described in existing leaks. It depends on the scope of the game and what user group it targets on. I don’t think Colossal Order was that big before the first Cities Skylines. Now, after the success and partnership with Paradox, it is very successful. According to Linkedln, there are around 30 people working on Colossal Order and they have a lot of experience. If they implement around 10% of my wishes, I will be happy.
