MiniCity: Pixel City Builder

MiniCity is a pixel-art city builder with one question at its heart: how big a city can you grow in 50 years?

Place zones, run power, let time move. The city grows on its own. But factory smoke stops houses from growing, and crowded roads pull land value down. In the same 50 years, one player ends with 10,000 people and another with 100,000. The difference is where they built.

■ 50 years. How far?
Choose 50, 100 or 200 years when you start. When the last year ends, time stops and a report card shows population, funds, top building level and achievements. Your population goes to the Game Center leaderboard, so you can see where you stand in the world. The report card becomes a single picture with a bird's-eye view of your whole city, ready to post. Prefer no pressure? "No limit" is there too.

■ Only thirteen things to place
Roads, avenues, rail, stations, power lines, parks, big parks, residential, commercial and industrial zones, power plants, police and fire stations. Decide where they go, then watch the city move.

■ What happens inside the city
• If houses never get bigger, there is usually smoke nearby. Pollution drags land value down, and big buildings won't rise on cheap land
• Parks absorb smoke, police stations cut crime, and value comes back
• Zones grow through ten levels. Each level stands taller, ending in high-rise towers with blinking lights
• Residents follow roads to work. Busy roads fill with cars, and land next to them loses value
• Link stations by rail and residents commute by train. The roads in between empty out, and land around stations gains value
• Avenues raise the value of land along them, but cost more to build and to maintain every year
• Power plants have limited capacity. As the city spreads, you will run short

■ Read the numbers on the map
Tap a tile with Inspect to see its land value, pollution, crime, fire risk, traffic, population and activity. Tap a row and that value is painted across the whole city. You see at a glance where it hurts.

■ Collect achievements
83 of them. Not just population and money goals, but ones that ask how you built: "3,000 people with peak pollution under 40", for example. Sign in to Game Center and they are kept there too.

■ Terrain
Rivers, lakes and forests are generated for every city. Look at a few candidates before you start and pick the one you like. Water and forest raise land value, so where you put the city is your first real decision.

■ About the art
There are no image assets. Every pixel is drawn from code. The moment a zone grows a level, that spot flashes.

■ Controls
• Everything works with one finger: panning, drawing roads, zooming
• Roads are not final until you confirm. Went too far? Trace back without lifting your finger
• Autosave. Close the app and pick up where you left off

■ Price and ads
The game is free. No sign-up, no login. Ads appear in menus like achievements and budget, in a banner under the tools on the city view, and between play sessions. A one-time "Remove Ads" purchase turns them off for good.

Fifty years. How big will your city be?