Townscaper is likely to be the most addictive sandbox game that most may not have heard of yet. Released in mid-2020, the town-building game lets players create to their heart's content. Creator Oskar Stalberg drew heavy inspiration from Sweden's architecture and its cities, and this influence shines through in the delightful look of the game.
Townscaper is almost more of a tool than a game. It features no 'gameplay' as such; instead, players must pay attention to their color palette and other building settings. Despite the simplistic looks, Townscaper can be daunting to delve into as there are so many possibilities for creation. With that in mind, players should take into account these helpful hints before they begin building.
Updated January 2nd, 2022 by Russ Boswell: Townscaper is easily one of the most engaging and relaxing experiences created in recent years, giving players a playground of town-shaping tools that let their imaginations run wild. It's hard not to get addicted to popping up structures and building unique towns that look and feel full of life. Townscaper is also deceptively simple and there are a lot of amazing Townscaper tips that can help players unlock interesting secrets and unique build-shapes. To better celebrate this relaxing game and give beginners even more Townscaper tips to use in their builds, the following guide has been updated to include even more entries.
13 Understand How The Map Works
The most important tip, perhaps, is figuring out how the map works. In Townscaper, the map is a grid system, moved around by using the right mouse button (on PC). It is important to note that the grid does not just contain squares — there are curved and even nearly circular pieces on it.
Using the map doesn't stop at placing things on the flat ground in this game. Buildings can be built vertically as well. Players can even create floating structures, and all manner of interesting architecture.
12 Invite Some Wildlife
Nestled within the many facets of Townscaper are some teeny tiny wild animals: pigeons and butterflies! Getting these to spawn require a couple of different elements.
Pigeons require rooves, or scaffolding, to spawn. These randomly generated little birds hop around of their own free will. Similarly, butterflies can only spawn in grassy areas. They can be found happily flapping around items like bushes, and carelessly drift around. The addition of these two sweet critters adds a welcome level of realism and coziness to Townscaper.
11 Make Large Doors
Much of the fun of creating in Townscaper comes from simply adding and subtracting from random building shapes until something new and interesting shows up but there are some awesome features that players can build if they know how. A great example are large doors, which are slightly different than their smaller counterpart in design.
Players who want to use these large doors will have to create an indent in a building, wherever they wish the door to be present. Making another indent directly above the door will also add a fancy half-circle window which can add a lot of style and detail to a structure.
10 Learn To Build A Lighthouse
A cool little trick for building in Townscaper is learning how lighthouses work. It's simpler than it appears. To build a lighthouse, players only need to place three (or more) blocks on top of each other in a narrow tower. The last three blocks need to be different colours for this to work. When executed, the top block will turn into the windowed part of the building automatically.
These structures work on top of many different foundations, not just flat ground. A lighthouse on top of a crane? Sure! The only limiting factor is a player's imagination.
9 Make A Floating City
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If players find themselves with a circle formed on their map, they can create a floating city. Essentially, if there is no corner to build upon, the game will create triangular buildings. These have no room for stilts to hold them up, so they get cool propellers to keep them upright.
Once an outline has been made, players can fill in the space and then build up, and up, and up! To make it more interesting, building three layers and removing the bottom ones creates a stark difference from the water. More than one floating "island" can be connected, too.
8 Make Archways
Townscaper has seemingly endless building possibilities, ranging from the artistic to the mundane. A simple tip for a beginner player is to build archways: an easy but impressive architectural advancement.
To build one, the player must simply create two buildings where they would like their archway to be placed. Once done, add a roof covering both buildings and the space in between. Archways can be built across bigger gaps than one or two blocks, but may have scaffolding on the top if made larger.
7 Make A Hook
Metal hooks are another fun little addition that players can build. Players will need to place a floating building between two foundations, leaving one square space for the hook to appear. After placing the floating building, the hook will appear. They also work with only one side of clearance on the lower blocks.
Note that if the structure is not surrounded by a lot of space in front, hooks will not work. Similarly, if a third block is added by the side of a hook, it will be removed.
6 Create A Courtyard
Courtyards are another architectural addition that players might not immediately notice when playing Townscaper. To make these refined green spaces, houses of different colors need to be placed next to each other creating a sealed shape. This will automatically mean that a grassy area is placed down.
The different colored buildings will have little walls and fences popping up, snaking across the open area. As an extra bonus, the grassy area means butterflies may spawn as well.
5 Add Colorful Flag Buntings
Players who build vertically can make use of colorful flag buntings that will pop up between buildings. Unlike Clotheslines, these unique and colorful additions appear to be hanging from a hook and will actually change their color according to what buildings they are placed between. If two buildings are the same color they will produce flags of the same color scheme but if they're different colors they will actually cause the flags to appear as hybrids.
Flags buntings can pop up between two buildings that are one space apart but will stretch as far as two spaces.
4 Learn How To Make Stairs
Stairs are a slightly finicky detail that players may take a while to work out. However, they can be broken down simply. Create a foundation (either one level on top of the sandy base, or one above that), and place two buildings on the edge of the foundation. Leaving one space between them will create one set of stairs, and leaving two spaces will create two staircases facing each other.
Note that three or more spaces left will not spawn stairs as the gap is too big. Larger staircases can be built, but they require a Plaza behind them and buildings with the height of at least two blocks.
3 Change The Color Palette
Here's a great tip for anyone playing Townscaper: players can adjust the usable color palette. This isn't necessarily advertised as a feature of the game, but it can be done. By going into the files, players can locate the Townscaper folder and the textures file.
Open the 'TownPalette.png' image in a relevant program. The colors are then changeable to whatever the player would like This will actually update even if the game is open, so colors can be tested immediately. Should players regret their decision, deleting the file and restarting the game will undo any changes.
2 Place Some Grass
Similar to creating courtyards, grass only appears within a closed-off area. This closed area needs to be a full building around the outside. Once players have drawn a shape by placing buildings connected to each other (in one color), a lush grassy spread will jump to life in the middle of it.
If a hole is made in any wall, the grassy area will disappear. Along with the grass, other garden items appear: small bushes, wildflowers on the grass, and the aforementioned butterflies.
1 Building Types Can Change Wall Types
After players have learned how to effectively "wall off areas to create grass," they'll be able to create an array of walls inside the grassy area that can unlock some unique architectural designs. Placing buildings nearby one another (but not touching) within these grassy zones will pop up elegant walls that come complete with their own bushes and greenery. It's a great way to add architectural designs that look and feel as if they're overgrown.
Changing the size of these buildings, their distance from one another, and where they are placed will have a direct effect on the walls that connect them. Players should experiment with the different types to get a good feeling for how exactly walls will connect within grassy areas.
Townscaper released June 30th, 2020, and is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile platforms.