Townscaper

It's very charming and wonderful, my kids also liked it very much. Works fine with Wine + Linux. I would add a proper save button (copy to clipboard is cumbersome)

Dear Oskar, you are a great visionary and me and my wife delight in your "simple", yet to the eye beautifully complex and detailled expression of interedpendent order. If you are reading these reviews from time to time, than let this idea of mine be my token of love and gratitude for your work: Please add a walking camera mechanic: keyboard arrow input, no jumping, only connected streets and parks are walkable, camera tremor to simulate steps, opaque buildings while walking. I am a hobby programmer myself, so I deem this task easier and much faster in implementation than many others conveyed to you by other community members. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You are remarkable!

‘Townscaper’ started out as a PC game that I could play with my preschooler. Before long, it became more of my game. While my little one was satisfied with a small island of 5 multi-coloured buildings, I had grander ambitions. Under my watch, the tiny island expanded into a settlement that has a castle, 3 canals, and a tall tower. The design of my town was inspired by the landscape of and architecture on the island of Burano, and Cinque Terre in Italy. I reminisced about my vacation in those places as I built my town. I also found myself subconsciously creating a fictional history for it, and imagining how the locals there would go about their day. It’s amazing how this town designing game stirred my imagination in different ways. The appeal of ‘Townscaper’ is its simplicity. There are no resource management, zoning restrictions, and citizen satisfaction to worry about. All you have to do is select the colour of the building you’re constructing, and the game automatically determines the architectural designs based on the pre-generated contoured grid. You can also remove voxels from larger buildings to create more interesting designs. ‘Townscaper’ makes town planning easy and fun. Yet, the game’s simplicity has its drawbacks. As I expanded my town, I wished there were fill and area erase tools, landscaping options, and texture selections at my disposal. The larger my town became, the more I wanted ‘Townscaper’ to be as fully featured as ‘SimCity’ or ‘Cities: Skylines’, but without the drag of managing resources. At the same time, I was aware that if this game were more complex, it’d be less accessible. ‘Townscaper’ has easily become one of my favourite games. The original 5 buildings that my preschooler built still stand in my town. In my mind, they are a heritage site, and should not be changed, for they’re a reminder of how my town started with bonding with my little one. It’s this cherished memory that makes ‘Townscaper’ an extra special game to me.

This quote perfectly describes Townscaper. It is a fun little toy though. It is fascinating how blocks are placed with generated details like benches or plants and the end result is always pleasing. If you don't mind playing without set objectives this game is one of the best purchases you can make.

I don't play a ton of games, and I agree that Townscaper isn't as much a "game" as a virtual building tool. It can be a 5 minute time-killer, or you can dive deeper into making flying cities, or huge castles. Your imagination IS limited by the stylistic guardrails of the game, but part of its charm is its ability to make stylistic decisions based on context. I thoroughly enjoy pushing the boundaries of those guardrails and seeing what I can create. Check out my Townscaper-centric page, @ScaperOfTowns, only on Twitter!