Car Park Capital is a retro tycoon game in which you try to tarmac the world
Car-bon-based lifeforms
For too long have our video games been tainted by the spectacle of people moving around using their own feet and legs. For too long have our NPCs been left to rot in the grip of "simple town life", surrounded by acres of thriving grass that have never known the blessed touch of a Chevron or a Ford, let alone that duchess of the asphalt - the Banana Mobile.
All that changes... well, they haven't shared a release date yet, but rest assured that Car Park Capital will soon be here to transform all of your awful virtual countryside into a sea of rumbling isometric bonnets. Here is a trailer.
Car Park Capital is a satirical business strategy sim in the tradition of Rollercoaster Tycoon, built using a custom rendering engine. Your job is to tarmac over the world's last remaining stretches of vegetation and fill the screen with neat lines of parking places, plus the occasional zebra crossing for those pitiful pedestrians that yet remain, shaking their fists at the uncaring sky.
Any townsfolk who object to driving must be persuaded otherwise using propaganda. You can, for instance, put up billboards with dastardly mind-control slogans such as "you love cars", "how about a nice car, eh" and "eat smog you filthy little piggies". I may have invented one or two of those, but I did not invent the below bullet points, lifted direct from the Steam page:
Real time simulation with hundreds of vehicles and citizens.
Per-person behavior simulation: Each person is different, except they're all bald.
Play into their minds with propaganda.
3D map editing: Be creative when designing car parks or other buildings. You can make multi-floor structures.
Expand as the demand increases. Get rewarded accordingly.
Elevators!
Retro styled graphics with a playful color palette.
Moddability: Scripts and content can be altered if you possess some Lua skills.
It's not quite clear how the levels work from the trailer, but I wonder if each map starts out as a proper settlement, and your goal is to stealthily insert and obfuscate roads until the commutes become endless and the gridlock becomes self-sustaining, allowing you to remove the homes, shops and businesses like Jenga blocks, without interrupting the circle of fumes and frustration. Regardless, this is a lovely visual confection for all its baleful premise. These are the best cars I've seen in a game since, oh, let's say Rollcage.
Developer Hilko Janssen is based in the Netherlands, and is a Ludum Dare game jam regular. I like this thing they made about a fly trying not to get eaten by Pac Man.