Cities: Skylines - After Dark - Dev Diary 3: Expanded city services
To add more depth into gameplay, After Dark has some of the old city services expanded and tweaked. Mostly these modifications were based on user feedback and on things that we noticed the users were doing but were not handled as elegantly as possible by the game.
Police
Crime logic has been completely redesigned. We noticed at some point that crime rate always stayed very low and it was almost impossible to get it to rise. This was caused by crime sate being linked with citizen happiness. Basically before many citizens were unhappy enough to turn to crime, they moved out of the city or got sick due to low health resulting from the conditions causing the low happiness. This did not seem like a fun feature, as crime did not really create any meaningful choices for players, it just meant placing a few police stations. With the new crime logic it is possible for the crime rate to rise easier and fluctuate more. There are actual crimes happening, which police have to respond to, and capture the criminal. This is where the biggest new change comes in: the criminals need to be transported to Prisons to serve their sentence.
A whole new addition are the Prisons. Police cars can hold a few criminals, but have to return to police stations and HQ's when they become full. Criminals are unloaded into holding cells in the police buildings. As the police in Skylines is never wrong or corrupted, the Prisons send out vans to carry the criminals to immediately start serving their sentences. How handy is that? Sentences are 15 game weeks long, with some getting out a bit earlier due to good conduct, and others staying a little bit longer. If a prison is demolished, the prisoners are released early and might not behave well.
Public transport
Public transport has gotten new buildings with new combinations of functions. Players with many bus lines might have noticed that sometimes allowing citizens to change lines can be tricky when there are many lines stopping close to each other. The stops should be close to have only a short way for the passengers to walk, but far enough so buses can move unhindered and traffic doesn't get blocked by the buses. The solution for this is the brand new Bus Station! The stations has many platforms for buses to stop at. Passengers can change lines inside the buildings so they don't have to cross any streets and won't affect traffic. Simple and easy, and lessens the effect bus line changing areas have on the traffic, allowing for a better flow.
Cargo hub
For cargo, there's a cargo hub. Previously players who wanted to export large quantities of goods often used trains to carry the goods to harbors and let ships take the goods away. This resulted in the roads between the cargo train stations and harbors being VERY busy. The cargo hubs allows trains to arrive straight to the harbor to unload, so there's no need to have the constant truck traffic between the station and the harbor.
Taxi cabs
What is something that all big cities have but Skylines was missing? Taxi cabs! The taxi service is an new service that allows tourists and citizens to order taxis to take them to their destination. Basically taxis work a lot like private cars, but with difference of taxis residing in a depot and using stands to wait for new customers. Taxis especially help tourists to get around the city easier and thus make them stay longer in the city, generating more tax income.
International airport
Last but definitely not the least is the international airport. Fans asked for a larger airport, so here it finally is! Not only is it the largest building in the whole game, it also has a hidden surprise: an integrated metro station. No more long lines of cars or crowds walking to public transportation stops next to the airport, you can offer your citizens an easy way to arrive and depart the airport by connecting the built-in metro station to a metro network.
We spent a long time pondering on what buildings would provide the most enjoyment for players and offers easier, nicer ways of doing things that players were already doing. We hope you like what we came up with!
To add more depth into gameplay, After Dark has some of the old city services expanded and tweaked. Mostly these modifications were based on user feedback and on things that we noticed the users were doing but were not handled as elegantly as possible by the game.
Police
Crime logic has been completely redesigned. We noticed at some point that crime rate always stayed very low and it was almost impossible to get it to rise. This was caused by crime sate being linked with citizen happiness. Basically before many citizens were unhappy enough to turn to crime, they moved out of the city or got sick due to low health resulting from the conditions causing the low happiness. This did not seem like a fun feature, as crime did not really create any meaningful choices for players, it just meant placing a few police stations. With the new crime logic it is possible for the crime rate to rise easier and fluctuate more. There are actual crimes happening, which police have to respond to, and capture the criminal. This is where the biggest new change comes in: the criminals need to be transported to Prisons to serve their sentence.
A whole new addition are the Prisons. Police cars can hold a few criminals, but have to return to police stations and HQ's when they become full. Criminals are unloaded into holding cells in the police buildings. As the police in Skylines is never wrong or corrupted, the Prisons send out vans to carry the criminals to immediately start serving their sentences. How handy is that? Sentences are 15 game weeks long, with some getting out a bit earlier due to good conduct, and others staying a little bit longer. If a prison is demolished, the prisoners are released early and might not behave well.
Public transport
Public transport has gotten new buildings with new combinations of functions. Players with many bus lines might have noticed that sometimes allowing citizens to change lines can be tricky when there are many lines stopping close to each other. The stops should be close to have only a short way for the passengers to walk, but far enough so buses can move unhindered and traffic doesn't get blocked by the buses. The solution for this is the brand new Bus Station! The stations has many platforms for buses to stop at. Passengers can change lines inside the buildings so they don't have to cross any streets and won't affect traffic. Simple and easy, and lessens the effect bus line changing areas have on the traffic, allowing for a better flow.
Cargo hub
For cargo, there's a cargo hub. Previously players who wanted to export large quantities of goods often used trains to carry the goods to harbors and let ships take the goods away. This resulted in the roads between the cargo train stations and harbors being VERY busy. The cargo hubs allows trains to arrive straight to the harbor to unload, so there's no need to have the constant truck traffic between the station and the harbor.
Taxi cabs
What is something that all big cities have but Skylines was missing? Taxi cabs! The taxi service is an new service that allows tourists and citizens to order taxis to take them to their destination. Basically taxis work a lot like private cars, but with difference of taxis residing in a depot and using stands to wait for new customers. Taxis especially help tourists to get around the city easier and thus make them stay longer in the city, generating more tax income.
International airport
Last but definitely not the least is the international airport. Fans asked for a larger airport, so here it finally is! Not only is it the largest building in the whole game, it also has a hidden surprise: an integrated metro station. No more long lines of cars or crowds walking to public transportation stops next to the airport, you can offer your citizens an easy way to arrive and depart the airport by connecting the built-in metro station to a metro network.
We spent a long time pondering on what buildings would provide the most enjoyment for players and offers easier, nicer ways of doing things that players were already doing. We hope you like what we came up with!
