CityVille is a flash-based city builder sim game, similar to SimCity, by Zynga Inc., available through Facebook and Google+. You act as mayor of your own city, with the goal to grow and expand your town with the help of your friends. Build houses to increase the population, erect civic buildings to expand your population cap, and grow crops and run factories to obtain goods to fuel your businesses. Like many time-management Facebook games, the player consumes energy for every action in the game. City Cash is used to buy premium items, bypass quests and requirements, and gain bonuses.
The game features many characters living in the city with their own stories and questlines. Your main guide, Samantha, is the neighboring mayor from the next town over, who often gives you advice and suggestions (usually in the form of erecting more structures) for your growing town.
In 2011, CityVille was known to be the biggest game on Facebook, with 84.2 million active users.
Had a sequel, which launched in November 2012, but failed, closing down in March 2013.
Tropes of the game include:
- Art Evolution: The most notable example is Samantha, who goes from a hydrocephalic middle-aged woman in the game's infancy to a slightly more proportionate character with rather notable assets.
- City of Everywhere: The Swiss Museum, British Palace, and Grand Canyon- all in one convenient location!
- Double Entendre: While less in number and lighter in implication than Castle Ville and its more notorious sister, FrontierVille, they exist.note
- Freemium Timer: The game requires "energy" to interact with buildings and collect their outputs. This "energy" regenerates over time, and the maximum increases with level, but when you run low, it's guaranteed that a popup will appear recommending you to buy more.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Quite a few of these appear in the quest art, which makes you wonder why some pretty random characters are hanging out together, doing seemingly random things around town. Then again, most Cityville characters are Flat Characters.
- Socialization Bonus: You can't get anywhere in the game without friends, unless you bribe your way to the top like a true politician. With real money, of course.
- Stepford Smiler: Even the criminals are a little too happy when caught. Expressions rarely vary among the many characters, ranging from "sort of happy" to "irrationally exuberant," but rarely frowning or neutral. Must be something in the water.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Cityville's truckers are perfectly capable of driving to Atlanta and Frankfurt in the same day.
