CITY LIFE

Released march 2006
Monte Cristo Paris, France
Game Designer (Jun 2005 - Dec 2005)















Overview
City Life is a city-building video game. It is the first modern building game to allow the player to work in full 3D environment. The game is by French developer Monte Cristo. It is published in France by Focus, in the UK and Germany by Deep Silver and in North America by CDV. It was released in May 2006. City Life allows players to zoom in and see every little bit of detail. The placement method allows buildings to be placed at an angle. Instead of Sim City, he must take care to the citizens divided into 6 differents cultures with their own needs.

My work
I've worked on it during 6 months between june and december 2005 as a Game Designer and Level Designer. I've arrived during the preproduction and leaved just before the end of debug. What I've done:

  • I've mainly worked on the last design changes, especially the feature of the 6 cultures.
  • I've made half of the game maps.
  • I've also rebuilt the User Interface from scratch by doing Photoshop mockup for the User Interface Art Designer and specs of it for the programmers.
  • At the end of production, I've tuned the game difficulty by setting costs and effects of buidings with a big Excel file.


Expansions
  • A City Life expansion pack, dubbed City Life: World Edition, was released on December 30, 2006 online and on January 15, 2007 in stores. World Edition features landmarks around the world, including the Eiffel Tower and the Sears Tower.
  • On 15 February 2008, Monte Cristo and Focus release a second expansion pack for City Life entitled City Life 2008 Edition, saying the expansion would include "60 more buildings, bringing the total to 360, including famous structures such as St Pauls Cathedral, Royal Opera etc... New scenarios, 10 new maps, and an updated version of the editor allow you to import satellite maps, as well as import from applications such as World Machine, or GeoControl."
  • On August 7, 2009, a DS version of City Life was released in Europe.


Links


Press reviews
Eurogamer.net - 8/10
Yes, Maxis could do a lot worse than ponder the example of City Life. The relative simplicity, the choice of structured or freeform play, the ability to mingle with your populace: it's all very successful. If Monte Cristo could just turn the volume up a fraction on the interesting social conflict dimension, and add a few extra building models to make skylines a bit more varied, their game would be angling for one of those strange upside-down sixes that occasionally appear at the bottom of these reviews.

Jeuxactu.com - 15/20
Lovers of the genre can go on it with eyes closed. City Life offers us almost a no-fault and brings a total revival in urban simulations. We would like to see all management games be as audacious.

Jeuxvideo.com - 14/20
City Life will be able to convince management enthusiasts and novices thanks to its efficient realization and its intuitive interface. In short, this is a title that can easily be recommended.