Metropolis 1998 developer implements advanced economy system and fixes major Cities Skylines traffic issue

Solo developer Yesbox Studios continues actively improving Metropolis 1998 – a 90s-styled city builder with pixel art graphics and advanced citizen simulation. Over the past month, the game received an economy system, municipal utilities, and a solution to a problem that plagued Cities Skylines players.

The latest update involves economy. The developer started implementing an economic system into the game, though warned the final version will look different – right now it's just code testing with a meaningless pie chart. Earlier in January, the first look at municipal utilities appeared – an electricity substation that will become part of the city's power supply system.

The most interesting addition was solving an issue that frustrated players in both Cities Skylines games. Pedestrians now obey crosswalk signals, but Yesbox will make this an optional feature.

This bothered the heck out of me in Cities Skylines I/II. The majority of traffic woes are caused by cars yielding to pedestrians.

The problem is all the agents are moving at normal/real time speeds, while the in-game days are compacted into tens of minutes, and there isn't really a good solution.

The collision system also received improvements – cars now detect pedestrians crossing the street. Additionally, both adults in a household will own a car, which is temporarily necessary since homes without sidewalk access means only drivers can go out. Advanced passenger logic is planned for later.

December brought public space usage – citizens now spend time not only in their apartments but also in common areas of buildings. A tool for recoloring objects directly in-game was also added, expanding customization options.

The developer recently shared development time statistics. Important context – the project started from an empty C++ file and the SFML graphics framework. Meanwhile, Metropolis 1998 is built on a custom native isometric engine capable of pathing over 100,000 people and vehicles without CPU overload.

A demo for Metropolis 1998 is already available on Steam, with full release planned for 2026.