City Kit

a living city, module by module

build it · run it · film it

Camera Overlays Look

Time of day20:15day 1

0006121824

Season & place

Weatherauto

Strength70% Wind6 m/s

Record a videoMP4 · H.264

Frame

Size

Rate

Mode

Length

Extras

0:00

Cities

Tours

A filmed tour: the camera takes you round the landmarks one by one, rides a train if there is one, and stays as the lights come on. Pick a city — G tours the one on screen.

Missions

Every mission starts from its own map with goals, a deadline in game days, a budget and its own library. Meet every goal for a star; the two bonus goals earn the second and third. Play them in any order.

Make a trailer

Title Line

Feature in this order · ↑ ↓ to move

Length

Light

Sky

Frame

Size

Titles

A new city

Name

Size

Land

Hills

Start

Season

Place

Money

Sandbox

Your video

Design: Sometek

Library

Design: Sometek

Building the city

Build

1 road · 2 rail · 3 metro viaduct · 4 terrain: raise or lower hills a step, water or land (pick the brush; ⇧ drag does the opposite) · roads climb a step a tile
drag to lay a line (it bends once); ⇧ drag lifts it again
B library · pick a module, click to place, drag for a row, R turns it
5 move: click a building to pick it up, or drag round a whole block; click to set it down
⌘C copy · ⌘V paste (click as often as you like) · ⌘X move the selected building
X bulldoze (drag a rectangle) · ⌘Z undo · ⇧⌘Z redo · ☰ menu: first-build tutorial
V or esc back to exploring

Explore

click a building to select it: its own controls appear on the right, its keys work
drag to orbit · right-drag or WASD to pan · scroll to zoom
H pan: drag to move the map · hold space and drag to move it with any tool (a tap of space pauses time)
Q E turn 45° · I true isometric
double-click a building (or F) to orbit it; click a car, train, boat, aircraft or cabin to follow it
tab camera: cinematic · follow · onboard · orbit · free · esc lets go
cinematic lets a director cut between shots and catch the moments; drag or scroll to take over

The living city

space pause time · , . slower / faster · N jump to the next part of the day
C (or the clock) time, season, place and weather: clear, cloudy, fog, rain, storm, snow
K (or the numbers in the corner) the city dashboard: jobs, how people get about, jams, buses · J traffic overlay
M (or ⏺) record an MP4: live with sound, or render frame by frame, perfectly smooth · Make a trailer: your city filmed with titles, you pick what to feature
power flows from plants along roads and between touching buildings; P shows it · the View menu (top) has the camera (cinematic, orbit, isometric), the overlays, the theme and the glow colour
overlays, one at a time: P power · J traffic · L transit reach · Y money
cars use your roads, signals run themselves, trains stop at stations, boats need open water to the plate's edge
G guided tour of this city (the Tour button lists them all) · T theme · ⇧R orbit · U photo mode · ` performance · ? this card
Cities (top, or the city's name): ready-made cities · ☰ menu: a new city (size, land, money, a start), share, save, open, rename
Missions (or O): fourteen, all open: founders build from an empty map, challenges fix a town; goals, a budget, a deadline and up to three stars; O folds the mission card
Money (missions, or a new city with a budget): building costs, upkeep every day, taxes, fares, tourism, trade; the budget, fares and loans in the dashboard (K)