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YesBoxtoday at 1:33 AM13 repliesview on HN

I changed gears and moved into the video games industry at the end of 2021.

I started developing a city builder called Metropolis 1998 [1], but wanted to take the genre in new directions, building on top of what modern games have to offer:

- Watch what's happening inside buildings and design your own (optional)

- Change demand to a per-business level

- Bring the pixel art 3D render aesthetic back from the dead (e.g RollerCoaster Tycoon) [2]

I just updated my Steam page with some recent snapshots from my game. Im really happy with how the game is turning out!

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287430/Metropolis_1998/

[2] The art in my game is hand drawn though


Replies

iknowstufftoday at 7:15 AM

So pretty. But:

> Both adults in a family will now own a car. This is required since there are not other transportation options, and sidewalks are optional.

Is this temporary or are you planning to release it like this? SimCity leaned into euclidean zoning (separate industrial/residential/commercial zones) and pocketable cars which needed no parking, and thus failed to properly showcase how ugly car-centric cities actually are. I’m sure they did it because it made for an easy gameplay loop/balancing but I’d hope we could come up with more realistic and interesting mechanics in 2026

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smusamashahtoday at 5:11 AM

I have been following you on twitter since I saw it. It looks amazing. Recently tried the demo. It is like under 50MB (the demo at least) which is insane these days. Placing building required construction of the building room by room which was tedious. I am sure some people will enjoy that. Will that be the core part of final game?

asimovDevtoday at 7:12 AM

The visuals are stunning, great work!

tarokun-iotoday at 2:49 AM

Metropolis 1998 looks beautiful! (and addictive!)

Will you do a native Linux release, or has it been tested with Proton?

Also, just from watching the video and screenshots in the Steam page, it seems like a crazy amount of work. Are you doing everything by yourself?

_el3m3n7today at 4:48 AM

Love the concept! I would love it even more if you could add support for SteamDeck/proton

Folcontoday at 3:14 AM

Awesome to see your progress YesBox!

Didn't realise you'd swapped to isometric, it's looking fabulous!

herpdyderptoday at 2:25 AM

I came across your game last year! Can't remember how. Any hopes of macOS support?

999900000999today at 1:44 AM

Very very cool!

Did you roll your own engine, I know Godot has issues scaling past a certain number of simulations.

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adamgoodapptoday at 4:10 AM

Looks amazing, added to my wish list!

Aeoluntoday at 2:14 AM

Cool! Isometric for the win :)

nickandbrotoday at 5:23 AM

very cool

vldszntoday at 1:45 AM

Looks amazing!