The residents found their voice

This time the change didn't land on buildings or the economy, but on the townsfolk themselves. Residents finally learned to tell you what they think of their surroundings, and silence is no longer an option.

At the same time the city gained a new way to live and its first fires. The result is simple: the city feels a little more alive, and the mayor's job a little harder.

The residents write to you

Citizens used to put up with their lot without a peep. Now they send messages straight to you.

Feedback about everyday life in the city starts dropping into the idea mailbox. If the neighbourhood is missing a grocery store, someone notices. If the commute takes an eternity, you'll hear about that too. And sometimes the contents of a message are so peculiar that it's not entirely clear whether you should act on it or frame it on the town hall wall.

The mailbox works as a kind of window into residents' lives. The messages don't come out of nowhere – behind them are real residents with their own needs, problems and opinions. When the city is missing something important, someone will let you know.

And then there are the other messages.

Among them you'll find suggestions, complaints and thoughts that leave you staring at the screen in silence for a moment, wondering what on earth is going on in this city of yours.

The best part is that the sender of every message is a real resident. By clicking a message you can peek at which of the city's residents sent this particular suggestion or complaint. Sometimes there's a genuine problem behind the message. Other times it raises just one question: why?

Welcome, the row house

The city's housing line-up grew with a new building type. The row house slots in between the detached house and the apartment block, offering residents a new way to live.

Two homes, one building. The row house is 1×2 tiles in size and holds two separate homes under the same roof. It isn't an especially space-efficient solution, but it gives residents a cheaper option than a detached house.

More varied residential areas. Not everyone has to live in a detached house or move into an apartment block. Row houses bring a new middle ground to the city, making residential areas a little more believable and varied.

The town learned to burn

A new threat arrived in the city: fires.

So far no resident has decided to take up arson, but not everyone was born quite as lucky or as nimble as the rest. Sometimes something goes wrong, and a small flame gets going.

A small thing can quickly turn into a big problem. A fire advances in stages from small to medium and finally to large if nobody steps in. The fire doesn't spread from one building to another (yet), but it constantly eats away at the building's condition. If the condition hits zero, all that's left is a ruin that has to be cleared before anything new can be built there.

The fire brigade needs a base. To fight fires, you build a fire station. This isn't a traditional fire station with a crew, though, but a small self-service model where a single extinguisher and a pinch of optimism wait at the ready. When the alarm goes off, the nearest adult resident runs to the station, grabs the gear and heads off to put out the fire.

Roads aren't just for traffic anymore. Firefighters travel on foot between home, the fire station and the fire. If there's no road connection, no help arrives. The building is then left to burn away in perfect peace, which is usually an effective way to learn why a road network is worth planning carefully.

Fires affect the neighbours too. Residents living near a fire start to feel unsafe. First their mood drops, but ongoing fires can drive people to look for a new home elsewhere. When things calm down, their nerves gradually return to normal.

So a new item has appeared on the mayor's to-do list: keep the city standing, but preferably without the flames. 🔥

What's next?

City life keeps getting a little more complicated all the time. Coming up: more character for residents, new events, and a few surprises we're not saying out loud just yet.

Until then, keep the economy balanced, the roads in order and the buildings as un-ablaze as possible.

See you in Taajama!