''Towns'' is a 2012 simulation video game. ''Towns'' was initially developed by the three-person group SMP, consisting of Xavi Canal, Alex Poysky, and Ben Palgi. In February 2014, development was passed on to Florian Frankenberger. The game's influences are cited as '' Diablo'', '' Dungeon Keeper'' and '' Dwarf Fortress'' on the official website. It was released on

Steam Greenlight Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games, and expanded to distributing and offering third ...

on November 7, 2012, as a beta product, causing some who purchased the game to complain that it was not made clear that the game was unfinished. The game was among the first ten games approved from

to be sold in the

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

store. Towns is a city-builder game viewed in a top-down

isometric view Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings. It is an axonometric projection in which the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and ...

with multiple levels of height, allowing the landscape to boast large hilly areas and deep caverns, and allowing the player to build tall structures, either high in the air, or deep under the ground; beginning a new game, the player has the option of choosing from a number of different

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

s such as Grass, Desert, Snow, and so on, with each possessing their own qualities (bananas and radishes can only grow in a jungle biome but it can also generate hostile frogmen, cacti can only grow on a desert biome but they can generate giant scorpions, and so on). When starting a new game, the player begins with 11 villagers and must gather resources and set aside space for different "rooms" - for example, creating a "Carpenter" room allows the construction of basic and advanced objects made of wood, which leads to a "Masonry" room for items made from stone, and so on. On 9 February 2014, Canal announced on the ''Towns'' official forum that after releasing the latest

build Build may refer to: * Engineering something * Construction * Physical body stature, especially muscle size; usually of the human body * Build (game engine), a 1995 first-person shooter engine * "Build" (song), a 1987 song by The Housemartins * ...

, v14, SMP was discontinuing development of the game due to

burnout Burnout or burn-out may refer to: Entertainment * ''Burnout'' (film), a 2017 Moroccan film * ''Burn Out'' (film), a 2017 French film * Burnout (ride), a Funfields amusement ride in Australia * ''Burnout'' (series), a racing game series created by ...

. SMP passed development of the game on to Florian Frankenberger. Frankenberger ended his Towns development on May 6, 2014.

References

External links

Official website
2012 video games City-building games Steam Greenlight games Windows games MacOS games Linux games Early access video games Single-player video games {{Simulation-videogame-stub