With Citybound , designer Anselm Eickhoff has a simple goal—"to do something crazy." A 21-year-old computer science student in Munich, Germany, he originally set out to make an alternative to SimCity , according to a story at Gamasutra . Citybound will be browser-based and run offline, with moddability as "a priority, not an afterthought," according to Eickhoff's dev blog.
The game will support large cities and regions that can be simulated at once and not rely on what Eickhoff calls "tiny city lots or artificial city interaction dynamics." Citybound will also offer procedural buildings and a level of simulation that takes into account individual cars and pedestrians, according to a post introducing the project.
"Ever since I played A-Train and SimCity 2000 as a child, this was my dream," Eickhoff writes. "Now I have the technology, the skills and the knowledge to implement it."
Eickhoff currently works as a web developer for a German radio broadcaster, according to Gamasutra, and for the time being is developing Citybound alone. He's not planning a Kickstarter or Indiegogo proposal to raise funds, but will instead offer paid early-access to the game in a way similar to Overgrowth and Minecraft, according to a recent Reddit post .
"I'm not financially dependent of this being a success, but if it does make some money, I can put even more time into it," writes Eickhoff on Reddit. "I like this organic process better than thinking of stretch goals now and hoping that it works out."
Since posting his plans on the SimCity subreddit, Eickhoff writes on his blog that the attention paid to his project has made him decide to "streamline" his life a bit more so he can devote more time to Citybound. He hopes to release a playable alpha in the next three months. For additional images and examples of the animation Eickhoff is designing, be sure to check out his dev blog here .
