Tag: GDC 2015 »

You might know SomaSim best from their gold rush sim, 1849. Well, the developer is taking things to new heights (I apologize for nothing) with Project Highrise. It's still in the extremely early stages - as in concept sketches and not much else - but it sounds like it could be quite neat.

Project Highrise is a game about, well, managing a highrise building. You'll be taking care of businesses and residences, balancing your tenants' needs and comfort, and even taking a look at individual characters' feelings on various subjects (a-la games like RollerCoaster Tycoon). If that sounds a lot like SimTower, that's probably because the Maxis classic was a big inspiration.

Of course there's still a long road ahead for Project Highrise's development, and all sorts of stuff could be changed, added, or removed along the way. Still, the idea of it seems very interesting. We'll definitely be keeping you posted as we learn more.

As a native New Yorker - and by extension, a person who's quite familiar with subway systems - I found the concept of Mini Metro to be instantly appealing. Of course it's only available on Steam. Or at least, it was.

Dinosaur Polo Club has been hard at work bringing the stylish, minimal, and exceedingly clever Mini Metro to iOS. The basic idea is that you have to run a metro subway system by creating train lines that reach different stops, and ferrying riders around before they get too cranky after waiting an age and a half to get to their destination. Easier said than done, obviously.

The build I was able to get our hands on is still in the early stages but it already plays quite well on a touch screen. Dragging new lines around or editing existing ones is pretty fluid, and adding new trains and train cars is quite easy. Keeping everybody happy by balancing your subway lines, not so much.

Mini Metro will be coming to iOS (definitely on the iPad and potentially on the iPhone as well) sometime in Q4 later this year. Keep your eyes peeled for this one. Seriously, they pretty much had to wrestle the iPad away from me after the demo.

We were teased about Mediocre Games' (Smash Hit, Sprinkle Islands) upcoming and untitled project back in January, but now we've got more details to share - along with a name.

Does Not Commute (Ha!) is a mind-bending puzzle of a game that tasks you with guiding various vehicles to specific destinations on each of its initial eight levels. Which, at its core, is simply a matter of tapping the left or right sides of the screen to steer. It gets a lot more complicated than that, though.

Every time you successfully see a car (or boat on later levels) to the exit, you jump back in time and take control of a different vehicle that you'll need to see to a different exit. The catch is that everyone you previously controlled will be following the paths you've set them on at the same time - creating some rather hectic moments as you try to avoid crashing into these new obstacles.

We'll definitely have a review for Does Not Commute when it should be releasing in mid-April, but until then you can check out some of the madcap action in the video below.