Cities XL allows gamers to develop cities on realistic 3D maps using an incredible collection of unique structures and monuments based on American, Asian and European-influenced architectural styles. The maps feature a variety of environments: mountains, hills, canyons, beaches and islands, all set in different climates from tropical to desert, Mediterranean to temperate. Players must create the right combinations of social services, leisure activities, special events and other job opportunities within their cities in order to feed, clothe, employ and entertain their citizens. Be it planning and building a new zoo, public park, residential neighborhood or transit system - there's always a fresh and exciting challenge for would-be city managers and mayors in Cities XL.

The Cities XL website and many other community websites demonstrated how devoted city builder fans are, so we decided that it would be great if we could continue to support this community after the release of the game. Therefore, every Cities XL player, including Solo players, will have his/her own profile page on the Cities XL website.

This page is first and foremost designed to identify you and differentiate yourself from other players. So when you'll create your Avatar with the Avatar Studio to visit your cities, it will be automatically uploaded to your page as well as each time you’ll modify it. Right below you’ll find a dedicated space to write a short text that describes you, your mood of the day, or simply express what you are currently doing in the game…

You will then be part of the Cities XL community and a community is no use if you don't communicate with other players. You’ll then be free to create your own friends network as you would do with any other Social Network website such as Facebook or Myspace.This friends list will help you find their profile page easily to read what's happening to them in the game and contact them via private messages.

...And if you want, there's more!
So, now you know that we will be offering a profile page to every Cities XL player even for Solo players. Now, Solo players will have their cities hosted on their own computer, in their harddrive while players that subscribe to the Planet Offer will have their cities in our servers to ensure all the visit, trade and other MMO features.

Therefore, players who will subscribe to the Planet Offer will have some other information and features available on their profile page: it will be your permanent link to the game.

It allows you not only to take part in the community’s life, along with the Solo players, but also to play even when you are not in front of the PC on which you installed the game. If you are part of the Planet Offer, whether you are on holidays, in a cybercafe or at work, you can join the community and act on your cities in a matter of minutes.

You will be informed in real time of everything that is happening around your game. That way, if one of the contracts signed with your friends somehow becomes invalid because one of the cities involved is unable to provide the required resources, you will be notified right away and will be able to react directly from your profile page. For instance by contacting your friend and having him solve the situation , or by obtaining another contract from another city to make up for the lack of resources.

With this page we wanted to give players a full set of information and tools that will allow them to interact with their cities and with other players from anywhere and at any time.

Whether you have to stay in contact with your friends, manage your Blueprints and Megastructures, manage your contracts or publish your City Journal, the web site will be your daily friend in the Cities XL community.

The game’s online features and services will allow players to create interconnected cities on virtual and persistent planets. Mayors can share and trade with one another, specialize their economy and team up with befriended cities to create sprawling metropolises. Life on the planet will be punctuated by events and competitions - a concert held in one town may, for example, be attended by visitors from other areas who can also enjoy a walk around the city to admire the urban creations of multiple players. By combining a fantastic single-player game with the social and multiplayer aspects of an MMO, Cities XL will shape the future of the genre by offering more variety, bigger cities and multiple gameplay layers.

Cities XL is currently scheduled to ship in 2009.