After one week break it's time for an update on what's happening at Colossal Order: The spring came to Finland finally with the exception of 1st of April when it was snowing (I'm not a fan of April Fool's jokes, especially when the nature is pranking you...). I got a terrible flu and have been out of the office for a couple of days. Luckily the team hasn't gotten sick yet so the game development continues!
The reception for Landscaping update was very positive which makes all of us so happy! For some reason free updates are generally liked so there's a good chance there's more of those coming in the future. This week we (well, they) have continued with bugfixing and looking into smaller improvements to getting a smaller patch for you guys later this year.
After we got back from our short Easter break last week we had so much fun looking into all the great entries to the Praise the Chirper Contest. I have to say that the quality and imagination really blew us away! We managed to pick the winners for the trip to visit us here in Tampere as well as the runner-ups who will receive a Colossal Goodie Bag. Yes, it is both Colossal and relatively big
The winners are Aliaksei and Dmytro from Belarus and Ukraine respectively, who made the National Library of Belarus display Chirpy. First of all, what's up with that building and how did you get them to display anything there? This just makes me so proud and confused and amazed by the imagination to come up with the idea and to the level of execution. Aliaksei and Dmytro won the trip to visit the studio here in Tampere, a dinner with me and tickets to our Colossal Cities: Skylines party. I'm really looking forward to meeting them!
Go big or go home!
The competition to win the goodie bags was fierce! The remaining 11 semifinalists were of so good quality we had a hard time picking the 4 best ones. Therefore we decided to give one more Colossal Goodie Bag and award the rest of the semifinalists with a small Chirper related gift. There was one entry that showcased excellent writing and storytelling as well as familiarity with the game that really rose above all other stories and poems we received. From the beginning of the judging I knew this entry would deserve it's creator, Joseph from England, at least a goodie bag. We all agreed Aliaksei and Dmytro had the best entry and are the winners, but for some reason this story just stuck with me. After reading Joseph's most heartwarming cover letter I decided that I want this person celebrating the success of our game with us. Being a CEO of a company has its perks, like say, doing pretty much whatever you like (this is not true, but I like to think it is). So Joseph and a friend got a special extra prize to join us at the party in April and I probably lost my seat in any future contest jury duty in the company.
Other Colossal Goodie Bag winners in no specific order were Early Bird News by Heather from Ireland,
one of the favourite modder Boformer's Chirper Monster mod,
a great travel magazine to Chirper City by Ruben from Mexico
and the cutest Chirper hat ever by Niina from Finland!
What do you think, did we get it right?
Cheers,
Mariina
The story that won my heart:
Chirper (founded 2016)
From his perch on the Colossal Order Offices, Chirper T. Bird could easily see the whole city spread beneath him, it’s bright lights pushing back dark shadows. He watched the passenger and cargo trains as they snaked along the coastal tracks and disappeared through mountain tunnels, glanced skyward at the planes as they lowered their landing gear and slowly descended, and gazed at freighters and ferries arriving from ports across the globe. He smiled to himself as he remembered the humble beginnings of the worlds grandest Megalopolis.
The outset had been hard. Very few people had burning desires to live in an unknown hamlet, but had been driven by curiosity, force and possibly even destiny. No matter the reason, each newcomer found a safe and pleasant home, a tranquil and peaceful collection of likeminded folk who had no desire to cause problems for each other – a haven from wherever they may have come from. Chirper saw these first residents, and supported them in their needs, handily notifying the mayor of any issues there may be. Not that there were many issues. Perhaps a few when new garbage facilities were built, or when the residents called for more jobs, but the sleepy hamlet grew to a worthy town in a few short years, with word quickly spreading.
Demand soon rose, and planning was made for massive expansion. A complex system of roads spread out from Town Centre, but no buildings were built. The capacity for electricity, water pumping and sewage tripled, despite an underwhelming usage. Schools, hospitals, fire stations, police headquarters and all manner of services doubled in number, although no-one truly needed them. Then, like a tsunami, the City was built. Almost out of no-where, developers came in and built towering apartment blocks, looming department stores and high-tech offices on the network of empty roads, and they soon began to fill. The new city kept expanding and expanding, attracting new and innovative architects to build unique wonders for the influx of tourists and tenants: an art-nouveau park central to the growing office district, a tremendous archway of polished metal for any and all to visit, numerous malls for the moderate, the posh and the grand. Even the Old Town had not been forgotten, evident by the new neighbourhood park at its centre. In spite of worry and omens, the expansion of a small, happy town had been only a good thing, and Chirper observed each and every occupant of each and every building to make sure they were all happy. And they were. The city was so happy, in fact, that Colossal Order built their new headquarters there.
Once the Colossal Order Offices were built, there was no way the city could lose. The multi-million dollar company cemented the foundation for a number of important buildings, which in turn attracted ideas – ideas for a Medical Centre, the Space Elevator, the Eden Project, a Fusion Power Plant and even the Hadron Collider. The city of today became the city of tomorrow, and Chirper could not be prouder of what an intrepid mayor had accomplished. And, for all of his support, the mayor thanked Chirper, in a way Chirper had never dreamed of. A space had been mysteriously cleared in the bustling town centre, and construction had secretly begun on a new monument. No matter how hard he tried, Chirper could not mange to find out what this new attraction was. Until the day it opened.
The mayor called Chirper to the monument, and he arrived to see a huge sheet hiding the construction. The mayor thanked Chirper for all of his hard work and support, for everything he had done to ensure the city would succeed. As Chirper pulled back the cloth, he sat in stunned silence at the park before him –which had a flawless statue of Chirper T. Bird at the centre. And the plaque below the silver-blue figure read
“The City of Chirper (founded 2016), dedicated to the honour of it most loyal servant”
Thank you, Chirper The Bird, for helping me grow my cities to what they are now. You have helped me through my staggered beginnings and my monumental endings. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you soon.
The reception for Landscaping update was very positive which makes all of us so happy! For some reason free updates are generally liked so there's a good chance there's more of those coming in the future. This week we (well, they) have continued with bugfixing and looking into smaller improvements to getting a smaller patch for you guys later this year.
After we got back from our short Easter break last week we had so much fun looking into all the great entries to the Praise the Chirper Contest. I have to say that the quality and imagination really blew us away! We managed to pick the winners for the trip to visit us here in Tampere as well as the runner-ups who will receive a Colossal Goodie Bag. Yes, it is both Colossal and relatively big
The winners are Aliaksei and Dmytro from Belarus and Ukraine respectively, who made the National Library of Belarus display Chirpy. First of all, what's up with that building and how did you get them to display anything there? This just makes me so proud and confused and amazed by the imagination to come up with the idea and to the level of execution. Aliaksei and Dmytro won the trip to visit the studio here in Tampere, a dinner with me and tickets to our Colossal Cities: Skylines party. I'm really looking forward to meeting them!
Go big or go home!
The competition to win the goodie bags was fierce! The remaining 11 semifinalists were of so good quality we had a hard time picking the 4 best ones. Therefore we decided to give one more Colossal Goodie Bag and award the rest of the semifinalists with a small Chirper related gift. There was one entry that showcased excellent writing and storytelling as well as familiarity with the game that really rose above all other stories and poems we received. From the beginning of the judging I knew this entry would deserve it's creator, Joseph from England, at least a goodie bag. We all agreed Aliaksei and Dmytro had the best entry and are the winners, but for some reason this story just stuck with me. After reading Joseph's most heartwarming cover letter I decided that I want this person celebrating the success of our game with us. Being a CEO of a company has its perks, like say, doing pretty much whatever you like (this is not true, but I like to think it is). So Joseph and a friend got a special extra prize to join us at the party in April and I probably lost my seat in any future contest jury duty in the company.
Other Colossal Goodie Bag winners in no specific order were Early Bird News by Heather from Ireland,
one of the favourite modder Boformer's Chirper Monster mod,
a great travel magazine to Chirper City by Ruben from Mexico
and the cutest Chirper hat ever by Niina from Finland!What do you think, did we get it right?
Cheers,
Mariina
The story that won my heart:
Chirper (founded 2016)
From his perch on the Colossal Order Offices, Chirper T. Bird could easily see the whole city spread beneath him, it’s bright lights pushing back dark shadows. He watched the passenger and cargo trains as they snaked along the coastal tracks and disappeared through mountain tunnels, glanced skyward at the planes as they lowered their landing gear and slowly descended, and gazed at freighters and ferries arriving from ports across the globe. He smiled to himself as he remembered the humble beginnings of the worlds grandest Megalopolis.
The outset had been hard. Very few people had burning desires to live in an unknown hamlet, but had been driven by curiosity, force and possibly even destiny. No matter the reason, each newcomer found a safe and pleasant home, a tranquil and peaceful collection of likeminded folk who had no desire to cause problems for each other – a haven from wherever they may have come from. Chirper saw these first residents, and supported them in their needs, handily notifying the mayor of any issues there may be. Not that there were many issues. Perhaps a few when new garbage facilities were built, or when the residents called for more jobs, but the sleepy hamlet grew to a worthy town in a few short years, with word quickly spreading.
Demand soon rose, and planning was made for massive expansion. A complex system of roads spread out from Town Centre, but no buildings were built. The capacity for electricity, water pumping and sewage tripled, despite an underwhelming usage. Schools, hospitals, fire stations, police headquarters and all manner of services doubled in number, although no-one truly needed them. Then, like a tsunami, the City was built. Almost out of no-where, developers came in and built towering apartment blocks, looming department stores and high-tech offices on the network of empty roads, and they soon began to fill. The new city kept expanding and expanding, attracting new and innovative architects to build unique wonders for the influx of tourists and tenants: an art-nouveau park central to the growing office district, a tremendous archway of polished metal for any and all to visit, numerous malls for the moderate, the posh and the grand. Even the Old Town had not been forgotten, evident by the new neighbourhood park at its centre. In spite of worry and omens, the expansion of a small, happy town had been only a good thing, and Chirper observed each and every occupant of each and every building to make sure they were all happy. And they were. The city was so happy, in fact, that Colossal Order built their new headquarters there.
Once the Colossal Order Offices were built, there was no way the city could lose. The multi-million dollar company cemented the foundation for a number of important buildings, which in turn attracted ideas – ideas for a Medical Centre, the Space Elevator, the Eden Project, a Fusion Power Plant and even the Hadron Collider. The city of today became the city of tomorrow, and Chirper could not be prouder of what an intrepid mayor had accomplished. And, for all of his support, the mayor thanked Chirper, in a way Chirper had never dreamed of. A space had been mysteriously cleared in the bustling town centre, and construction had secretly begun on a new monument. No matter how hard he tried, Chirper could not mange to find out what this new attraction was. Until the day it opened.
The mayor called Chirper to the monument, and he arrived to see a huge sheet hiding the construction. The mayor thanked Chirper for all of his hard work and support, for everything he had done to ensure the city would succeed. As Chirper pulled back the cloth, he sat in stunned silence at the park before him –which had a flawless statue of Chirper T. Bird at the centre. And the plaque below the silver-blue figure read
“The City of Chirper (founded 2016), dedicated to the honour of it most loyal servant”
Thank you, Chirper The Bird, for helping me grow my cities to what they are now. You have helped me through my staggered beginnings and my monumental endings. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you soon.
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