MicroCity

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Overview

MicroCity is a city simulation game for the Arduboy miniature game system, inspired by SimCity. James Howard started making it after getting an Arduboy for Christmas.

Your city is built on a 48 by 48 tile map, with a choice of river, lake or island terrain. There are eight building types to place, from residential, commercial and industrial zones to powerplants, parks, police and fire departments and a stadium, joined up with roads and power lines.

Version 1.1 added random fire outbreaks, which fire departments put out, and tweaked population growth to make the game harder, since in the author's view it had been a bit too easy for a city to grow quickly.

Made by: James Howard
Released: 2018

Controls guide

On the map

Button and key	Action
D-pad`Arrows`	Move the cursor (hold to keep moving)
B`Z`	Use the current tool: build, lay road or power line, or bulldoze
A`X`	Open the toolbar

Toolbar

Button and key	Action
Left/Right	Pick a tool, Save/Load or Budget
A`X`/B`Z`	Choose it

Menus

Button and key	Action
Up/Down	Move through Save City, Load City, New City and Auto Budget
B`Z`	Choose; on Auto Budget, switch it on or off
A`X`	Close the Save/Load menu
Left/Right	Budget report: lower or raise the tax rate; new city: pick the River, Island or Lake map
A`X`/B`Z`	Close the budget report

Title screen

Button and key	Action
Up/Down	New City or Load City
B`Z`	Choose

Cheatsheet

Costs

Road: $10 a tile
Power line: $5 a tile
Residential, Commercial, Industrial: $100, 3 by 3
Park: $50, 3 by 3
Police Dept, Fire Dept: $500, 3 by 3, plus $100 a year each
Powerplant: $3000, 4 by 4
Stadium: $3000, 4 by 4
Bulldozer: $1 per tile cleared
Road upkeep: $1 a year per 10 road tiles

What makes zones grow

Power: Unpowered zones only shrink
Roads: At least 3 road tiles touching the zone's edge
Tax rate: 6% is neutral; every point above costs growth
Stadium: Big boost to nearby homes and shops
Park: Small boost to nearby homes; parks never burn
Police Dept: Crime falls off within about 16 tiles
Pollution: From industry, powerplants and heavy traffic; hurts homes only
Balance: Homes need jobs: too many residents for the industry and shops around makes homes shrink

Tips

The tax rate starts at 7%, one point above the neutral 6% the simulation is built around. Dropping it to 6% or lower in the budget report gives every zone a better chance to grow while the city is small.
A zone counts as connected only when three or more road tiles touch its edges, so run a road along a whole side of each block rather than touching one corner.
Keep homes from outgrowing jobs. Residential zones get a boost while there are fewer residents than industrial workers, and a heavy penalty when residents outnumber industry and commerce combined.
Put powerplants and industry away from housing. Their pollution falls off with distance and only residential zones suffer from it.
A Stadium gives nearby residential and commercial zones a huge growth boost, the largest single bonus in the simulation, so it is worth saving up the $3000 once the city has a tax income.
Fires start at random every few years. A powered Fire Dept nearby makes them die out sooner, and parks can act as firebreaks because fire never spreads into them.