Townscaper is different

Prison Architect and Airport CEO are the only two games I have bought on Steam before last week. Townscaper became the third game I have ever bought, or should I say, the first digital toy I have ever bought. No kidding, Oskar Stålberg, the creator, has dubbed it an instant town-building toy. I don’t think anyone would ever argue against that description. There is an irregular grid over which you can build island towns using the different coloured blocks. Blocks interact with each other automatically in various ways based on the underlying algorithm. I guess the algorithm is what makes this game toy’s core.

For me, Townscaper has emerged as a retreat from the micromanagement that most city-building games offer. Yes, there are no populations, electricity, or water to manage in the towns we build. It feels less stressful but is still giving when it comes to the creative process. It takes some time (like with most things) to properly anticipate how the blocks will interact with each other. The streets, the stairs, the stilts, the windows, the doors, the roofs, and the gardens, everything interacts differently as you add more of the blocks around existing blocks. One of my friends reckoned this would be the closest we can get to making our own Monument Valley maps for the time being. I found another person on the web saying that they might use it to make maps for Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games. It would be so interesting what people would be able to come up with, such a free-flowing construction set that could be used to make so many things.

I loved how Oskar responded to every reply to his original tweet announcing the toy’s arrival. I do not know why I dig the products where people behind the product interact with their users. I was able to find two previously published projects by Oskar on his website, which are very similar to what Townscaper has been released as Brick Block and Planet.