"Townscaper,” an early access game on Steam from Swedish game developer Oskar Stålberg, lets you instantly build cozy, coastal towns. You start with a blank canvas: just a blue sky and empty sea. Controls are limited to placing one block at a time. Blocks placed on water become harbors, and blocks placed atop other blocks make rising towers, apartments and houses. You can undo and redo the placement of said blocks, and change their color as well. And that’s about it. It is not as complex as those other creative games, but “Townscaper” provides a joyful and easy creative outlet.
As someone who enjoys making virtual things but isn’t particularly skilled at it, I found its instantaneous nature gratifying. You feel like an excellent artist without any training. I love clumping blocks together to form unusual architecture, like a cityscape held in the air by many small metal rods that extend into the sea below, or mixing and matching colors to make a single building with many different colorful compartments. You learn as you tinker. I enjoyed the small discoveries I made, like realizing that deleting blocks can make arches or terraces, and how enclosed spaces generate gardens within."
As someone who enjoys making virtual things but isn’t particularly skilled at it, I found its instantaneous nature gratifying. You feel like an excellent artist without any training. I love clumping blocks together to form unusual architecture, like a cityscape held in the air by many small metal rods that extend into the sea below, or mixing and matching colors to make a single building with many different colorful compartments. You learn as you tinker. I enjoyed the small discoveries I made, like realizing that deleting blocks can make arches or terraces, and how enclosed spaces generate gardens within."