Hello mayors! We’re back with another look at what is happening in the Colossal Order offices. In this dev diary, we’ll share an update on Bridges & Ports, what is happening with bicycles, and what bug fixes the team is currently tackling.
Before we dive in, just a quick note: this dev diary isn’t tied to a specific patch or release. It’s simply a peek at some of the things we’re working on right now. Think of it as a progress update rather than a complete overview of upcoming content. Alright, let’s get to it.
WHEN ONE BRIDGE CLOSES, ANOTHER ONE OPENS
We ended the last dev diary with a sneak peek at Bridges & Ports, so it’s only fitting that we start with an update on the expansion. The whiteboxes we showed you have turned into fully fledged buildings, complete with props and internal pathing. The last bridge is complete and ready to open new connections in your cities. And the Port has even more options to choose from, thanks to the additional development time.
With the expansion in a good place, it’s time for the team at Paradox to do their magic. Although we don’t have a release date yet (but very soon), you can expect two developer diaries that dive into everything Bridges & Ports has to offer. We’re excited for you to see what we’ve been working on and what you create once the expansion is available.
Some of you have already spotted the barrier props added in the Quays & Piers update, so let’s have a peek at them in use.
SADDLE UP!
As we have wrapped up Bridges & Ports, the team has begun working on the next project: Adding the long-awaited bicycles to the game. They will be added in a future free update and available to everyone who owns the base game, as we always intended for them to be a core feature. During development, citizen animations suffered delays, which meant that bicycles did not make the release. We’ve been itching to bring them into the game since then, and we’re excited to finally get a chance to do so. As we’re currently working on implementing the core bicycle features, please note that the details in this dev diary may change before bicycles are released. Still, we wanted to share our plans, so you have an idea of what to expect.
Right now, citizens can choose to walk, take public transportation, or drive, if their household owns a car and it isn’t used by another household member. Bicycles offer a new method of transportation that is faster than walking, and doesn’t rely on vehicle availability or public transportation in the city. As bicycles can travel on the vehicle lanes of roads, alongside cars and trucks, any city is ready for this new feature.
Riding a bicycle in the vehicle lane isn’t ideal, though, and that’s where the new dedicated bicycle lanes and paths come in. Using the Road Upgrade tool, you can add bicycle lanes to existing roads, moving cyclists out of the vehicle lane, allowing traffic to move at full speed. Dedicated bicycle lanes also provide a higher Comfort, which affects pathfinding, so cyclists choose dedicated lanes even if the route is a little longer. In addition to the Road Upgrade, we also have standalone bicycle paths, which are placed similarly to pedestrian paths. They can offer cyclists a shortcut through green spaces or serve as bicycle “highways” through the city.
A work-in-progress look at bicycles in Cities: Skylines II, with the initial, and very bright green, implementation of bicycle lanes.
Just like cars don’t fit in citizens’ pockets, neither do bicycles. At home, they’ll park them in bike rack props on the lot if any are available. Otherwise, the bicycle is stored away until it’s needed again. When they’re out and about town, they’ll also need somewhere to park their bicycles. While many buildings have bicycle racks (yes, the props already in the game will become usable), those can fill up quickly, especially near busy public transport or shopping areas. Luckily, we are adding bicycle parking buildings that can be placed around the city, giving your cyclists somewhere to park until they head back home. These come in a variety of different sizes and styles, so we hope you’ll find an option that fits your city perfectly.
Last but not least, we have a few new policies to influence cycling in your city. While the details of these are still being fleshed out, our goal is to provide you with ways of encouraging or restricting bicycle usage in parts of the city based on your needs. Once bicycles are finalized and ready to roll into your cities, we’ll have all the nitty-gritty details for you. In the meantime, let’s see what else we have in the works.
SOMETHING OLD & SOMETHING NEW
While our programmers are working on bringing bicycles into the game, our artists are creating something new - or rather, something old, at least in style. We have a series of “Old Town” inspired assets in the works, providing new options for medium density mixed use zones. While “Old Town” doesn’t cover all zone types, it covers both European and North American styles, so your city can have an old district no matter which theme you’re using. And you can, of course, add both to your city if they fit the style you’re after.
A sneak peek of the Old Town assets that are still in the works.
But that’s not all. We have new service buildings in the works too, ranging from a smaller cemetery and a new campfire site (with an outdoor sauna, of course) to new depots and stations for existing public transportation options, including a brand new tram station. They vary in both style and functionality, and we hope they will strengthen your public transit. And while you’re updating your lines and adding new stops, you may want to check out the new multiselect feature for transport lines. The dropdown menu to select a vehicle has been updated so you can check as many or as few options as you’d like, mixing, for example, different buses on the same line.
Check the box for the vehicles you want to appear on a given transport line.
TOURISTS & TELEGRAMS
Now, let’s talk bug fixes. Thanks to your bug reports, we have a long list of smaller issues that have been fixed already and are awaiting the next patch, while others are currently being worked on. For this dev diary, we will focus on two specific issues, namely tourism and the mail service.
Tourists can boost the economy of businesses in the city, and they’re especially important for companies selling Lodging. So when a city doesn’t see as many tourists as it should, despite having a high City Attractiveness, that’s an issue - and that’s exactly the issue we’ve been working on. We have a fix in testing that bases the probability of new tourists appearing directly on the current number of tourists and the City Attractiveness, so cities see a proper amount of tourists visiting.
During our investigation of this issue, we discovered a few others that impacted the profitability of hotels. In short, the resource calculations for hotels weren’t correct, so tourists weren’t consuming the correct amount of Lodging, and they weren’t paying the correct amount either. We are currently testing a fix for this, along with balancing changes to tourism, that ensures tourists can afford to stay at hotels, allowing them to spend more time (and more money) in the city. These changes likely won’t make the first upcoming patch, as we need to get the balance right, but we hope to have it ready for you sooner rather than later.
The mail service hasn’t had the smoothest journey. Despite the fixes it received in patch 1.0.15f1, the Post Sorting Facility would appear to do nothing (or very little) when a cargo facility, like a Cargo Harbor, was placed in the city. We’re happy to share that we’re now working on fixes to get mail flowing properly, and that includes a fix for this issue.
Cargo facilities can transport the three types of mail (Local, Global, and Unsorted Mail) that exist in the game, and they treat them like any other type of cargo. They bring in Local Mail, which is delivered by Post Offices, and ship out Global and Unsorted Mail. If most of the Unsorted Mail is shipped out of the city, very little remains for the Post Sorting Facility to sort into Local or Global Mail - and that is its core function.
The fix ensures that the Post Sorting Facility picks up Unsorted Mail (also called Collected Mail) from the city’s Post Offices, so it can be processed instead of shipped out of the city. Once sorted, Global Mail (where the receiver is located outside of the city) is shipped to Outside Connections either directly by truck or through a cargo facility, while Local Mail (where the receiver is located inside the city) is delivered to Post Offices, which then distribute it throughout the city.
If the city does not have a Post Sorting Facility, the Unsorted Mail is picked up by either Outside Connections or cargo facilities, so it can be shipped out of the city for sorting. So, regardless of the size of your city and its postal service, your citizens will be able to send and receive mail once this fix is released.
With the latest fixes to the postal service, it’s busy at the Post Sorting Facility.
That’s all we had for you today. We hope you enjoyed this look behind the scenes and a few sneak peeks at what we’re working on. Before we end this dev diary completely, we’d like to once again say thank you for sticking with us and reporting issues you come across. Your saves especially help us catch those specific cases or highlight why issues happen, which is so valuable when fixing bugs. So keep it up - we really appreciate every report you make.
While you wait for the next dev diary from us, keep an eye out for news. We heard a little rumor that Paradox and some of the talented creators in our modding community have a small surprise for you. We will definitely tune in tomorrow, and see what they’ve been up to - and you should join us!