SimCity BuildIt Update Now Available [Q&A]

Get ready, Mayors! The latest update for SimCity BuildIt is now live.

You can upgrade Dr. Vu’s tower, challenge yourself by unleashing new disasters including the Giant Robot, unlock 16 new achievements, experience all new road upgrades like Boulevards, Avenues and Street Car Lanes and check out the new Houses of Worship.

Want to learn more? We sat down with the game’s creative director, Petri Ikonen, to dig in.

What’s the creative process like behind bringing to life more untraditional disasters?

The idea of the giant robot emerged as an answer to a question: What would be the coolest creature to attack a city? One of our artists created some quick concept sketches of the robot and we realized that this would be a really fun idea to implement.

Actually adding the robot attack to the game was a bit trickier and it took some hard work, but we are really happy with the outcome!

Who is Dr. Vu?

Dr. Vu is a very mysterious person. What we know is that he is well-educated and very intelligent, but he also has a shady, hidden personal history. We are currently conducting a big investigation on him and so far it has turned up nothing. Naturally we will let the world know when we learn more about him.

We do have plans to infiltrate Dr. Vu’s secret meetings in the future.

Why is he important?

Dr. Vu has a long history in SimCity. He’s been a main villain for a long time. There are no boring moments with him, right? You never know what can happen when he’s aboard.

Why should Mayors wreak havoc upon their cities?

These disasters are meant to be pure fun and a way for players to create new challenges for themselves in the game. In the 25-year history of SimCity, choosing how to tear down and rebuild your city has been a fun way for players to engage with SimCity. Player feedback has reinforced that they enjoy, experimenting with and choosing what to release and when to unleash them. Then it’s up to the player to figure out the best way to rebuild afterwards, presenting a new challenge with unexpected results.

You, as a Mayor, just need to fix the destroyed buildings by rebuilding them. And the best part? You’ll be able to earn Golden Keys at the same time. As you know for sure, Golden Keys are used to build cool specialization buildings.

Do you have a favorite new feature in this game update?

A great question! Actually I really like the Lighting Storm. It’s awesome! It’s really scary to me. It reminds me about huge lighting storms that I have encountered during my fishing trips when I was a child.

What else is new in this update that Mayors should know about?

Visiting other cities is exciting. Look for opinion bubbles with a gift icon when visiting other cities. Sims will have comments on the visiting Mayor and the Mayor may receive a gift, too. The gift might be SimCash, Simoleons or Items.

We’ve also added a few different kinds of new roads including Boulevards with walkways, Avenues with palm trees and even Street Cars) as well as a variety of different Houses of Worship.

This post was originally published on EA.com/news: http://www.ea.com/news/simcity-buildit-update-now-available