Over 200 in one day

15 October 2026

Yesterday, on 14 October, more than 200 people played Tildown in a single day for the first time. For a big studio that is a rounding error. For me it is the moment my project turned into a game that other people open every day. I wanted to mark that, and it is a good reason to start something I have been meaning to do for a while: a blog where I write about what I am working on and why.

How it started

My first notes on Tildown are from the end of June. The idea was a city builder that helps you unwind instead of putting you under pressure. There are no timers and no game over, and there is nothing to buy either. The first public version went online on 22 July. Back then there were roads, the three zones and cars that had just been given their proper perspective.

Since then, 344 versions have come out. That sounds like a lot, but most of them are small steps: a junction that looks better, one bug fewer, a sentence in the guide that reads more clearly. The big pieces arrived in packages, most recently the city centre with pedestrian zones, the underground and the grand projects from the stadium to the space centre. And of all days, the airport came out yesterday, on the day with the most players.

What I am working on

My own city now has more than 500,000 residents, and on my iPhone it is not quite smooth yet when I swipe around. The latest version already cut the graphics load of big cities on phones by more than half, because it leaves out everything that is not on screen. I am not done with it yet.

Besides that, it is the bridges. Where the bank sits higher than the water, the road in front of a bridge used to dip down first and then climb back up. Now a small embankment carries it to the bank at the same height. Little things like that stand out while you play, and I like it when they are right.

Why a blog

So far this site has said a lot about how Tildown works, but little about who makes it and how decisions are made. Behind almost every version there is a trade-off, such as why there are no disasters or why traffic is the real opponent. That is what I want to write about here every week or two. What changed in detail is still on the updates page.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who played yesterday, and to everyone who wrote to me about what bothers them or what they would like to see. Many of the improvements of the last few weeks go back to messages like that. If you notice something, write to me at kontakt@tildown.com. And if you do not know Tildown yet: it runs right in your browser, on your phone as well as on your computer.