Facilitating different players with Cities Skylines

After having spent an hour or so with the promising city builder {Cities Skylines} we talked to Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen about the ins and outs of their dream project.

Hallikainen explained how extra care had been taken to make sure the user interface was really inviting and easy to use. But it's not a case of dumbing things down.

"We try to facilitate it to many different kinds of players," says Hallikainen. "Because we have those players who just want to create a beautiful city. They can actually go and get these mods that are unlimited money and then unlock all, and have all the buildings ready from the start so you can actually just build a beautiful city and not worry about the finances. Then we have those players who really just want to balance the city, think about the strategy behind it. Like how to build an optimal and perfect city."

Perfect cities are nice and all, but we kind of like it when things go wrong as well.

"You can be an absolutely horrible mayor," says Hallikainen. "You can pollute the entire nature and make it all about making money or you can go with the citizen friendly and nature friendly option. One example, because we have the dynamic water system, placing a dam in a little bit of a wrong place might actually cause a huge flood. So this is something that is not recommended, but it can happen."

Hallikainen went on to explain how the citizens of {Cities Skylines} have a lifespan that is simulated and that you can actually kill them all off if you're a particularly horrible mayor.

{Cities Skylines} is due out on March 10.