DevBlog 8

Hello everyone!  I'm finally back with another dev blog.  I've decided to only make dev blogs once a month from now on so I can cover more interesting topics in one big blog, rather than covering lots of small/uninteresting things every couple of weeks.

New Features:

Binaural Audio:
Recently, one of our developers, adct23, has added the groundwork for binaural audio in Cytopia!  In simple terms, binaural audio would allow you to hear things as if they were in a 3D space.  It's a very cool addition and I'm sure it will be put to good use.

New Music:
Do you remember those new music tracks I mentioned a blog or two ago?  Well now they have finally made their way into Cytopia, thanks to Ercadio!  We now have a handful of tracks that will randomly play while you're building your cities.

Linetool and Illegal Tile Detection:
Cytopia now has a functional linetool which can check if the tiles you're trying to place a building on are occupied.  This tool is very useful, especially for placing roads.  Currently, it can be used for any item in Cytopia, even if it's a large skyscraper, a small house, a group of benches, or a road.
Here's an example of the tool in action on Twitter!

TONS of New Buildings:
Cytopia's list of buildings has grown significantly since the last dev blog.  There are lots of new RCI buildings, decorations, and nature items in the game now.  Also, items with multiple frames (like many of the decorations, for example), will now choose a random frame to use when you place them.  No longer will you be stuck to one frame per item!  Unfortunately, there's no way to choose one specific frame to place, but we hope to add that feature later on.

In other news, a couple of buildings will have their categories changed.  All of the old brick power plants are being changed to industrial buildings and are being replaced by a new coal power plant made by Folesnaid.  On top of that, the Home Water Tower (the white cylinder tower with the water droplet on it) is being changed to a reward.  It didn't really fit in with normal water towers and seemed better as a reward.

Winter Mode?:
Well, not exactly.  Although the graphics for it are here, the functionality is not.  At least, not yet.  However, if you'd like to see what winter mode might look like, take a look at this Tweet.

Fantasy Biomes:
If you've been a member of our Discord Server, you might have heard about a mushroom biome.  Since then, we've also discussed a "Crystal Jungle" biome that would feature a rocky landscape dotted by giant crystals and smaller crystal trees and ores.  I've decided to refer to these unrealistic biomes as "fantasy biomes" from now on.  Although nothing it set in stone just yet, we've discussed making them quite rare, similarly to the Mushroom Islands from Minecraft

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WIP Trains/Railroad:
Recently, Folesnaid has been working on some new freight train textures for Cytopia, as well as some large tracks to go along with it.  In stark contrast to the elegant designs of the tramway trains, Folenaid's freight trains are big and dirty-looking, just like they should be.