Sponsored Feature: G5 Entertainment on how Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort has laid down the foundations for success

Virtually building a city from scratch and turning it into a bustling metropolis is a rewarding process for many - but would that experience be a better one if the city in question was a sun-drenched paradise?

It's a question Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort for iOS can help you to answer, for G5 Entertainment's latest title allows you to build cities in Florida - as well as in Alaska, Utah, and Nevada.

Marti Miernik, head of communications at G5 Games, spoke to us about how Virtual City 2: Paradise builds on the success of the first Virtual City, the new challenges it poses to players, and the plans to bring the title to other mobile formats.

Pocket Gamer: How is Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort a step up from its predecessor?

Marti Miernik: Virtual City is a fantastic town-building sim for gamers who enjoy discovering the ins and outs of how to run an industrial city.

The game concentrates on the development of this city - from building residential areas and improving the environment to making people happy, to then establishing facilities, factories, and transportation routes that are staples of a growing and thriving metropolitan community.

The game never feels overwhelming like other city-management sims. Instead, it's consistently fun, and lacks the tedious elements of other games in this genre.

Built on the already-successful formula established by its predecessor, Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort, meanwhile, broadens the gamer's horizons by focusing largely on running holiday cities.

Instead of giving you a blank canvas and saying, 'build me a working city', it gives you partly-built locations and a set of goals to achieve that will eventually help you attain the final goal: to build and run a successful beachfront, mountain skiing resort, or a booming casino.

The game offers new buildings, new product chains, and, of course, countless challenges that will put your time-management skills to the test. It's an engaging experience, chock-full of deep gameplay elements.

What do you think the game offers players that they can't get from any other city-building sim?

Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort, like its predecessor, presents gamers with solid playability, meaning that it's not difficult to jump in and start playing.

It's a crossbreed between SimCity and Transport Tycoon, but unlike those two games, it is easy to master. Players will find it easy to get into, especially with its intuitive controls and solid tutorial.

And while we've worked hard to keep it easy to master the game mechanics, there are still a lot of gameplay challenges in there that players will love and that will help make the game experience an ever-changing one. It's also just plain fun, really.

What challenges did you face during development, and how did you overcome them?

Two of the main challenges we were presented with this time around were how to make Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort different from its predecessor and how to make the game's challenges unique and fun while still maintaining the spirit of the original.

But, the most challenging part of the game was coming up with interesting supply chains that would be both complex and fun enough to work with.

For example, one of the larger structures you get to build is an Ice Hotel. You will need to make sure to build a plant that freezes enough ice, and then introduce additional supply chains and plants to get the uniquely designed building in your city.

This project has challenged our collective imagination and our level of creativity. The result is something we're all very proud of.

Do you have anything planned in terms of future updates for the game, or are there any other titles in the pipeline that Virtual City fans might be interested in?

For those who are hooked on the franchise and still want more, we have developed Virtual City Playground, a free online game where gamers can build a persistent city that they can then change and grow with free updates we release on regular basis.

Like in Virtual City, Virtual City Playground isn't just about placing buildings - it's about routing trucks to deliver supplies and products; running buses between residential areas and entertainment venues; and other missions. The buildings are the foundation of the city, but the transportation networks generate the real wealth and give you the resources to expand. Upgrading buildings and vehicles increases earnings, which allow you to buy more, including more land for your city to grow.

Rather than scenarios, Virtual City Playground offers a variety of missions that walk you through many of the basics of the game, building up to complex transportation systems. With over 200 missions to complete, there's always something to do. In comparison, Virtual City and Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort are single-player games with set scenarios and missions, offering a huge replayability value.

Have you any plans to bring the game to other mobile formats?

Thanks to G5's Talisman technology, we are able to bring the games to other platforms quickly and easily. The game is already being enjoyed by owners of Android and Kindle devices. It'll soon be released on the Nook platform, as well.

Virtual City 2: Paradise Resort is out now on iPhone and iPad, and is free to download on the App Store [iTunes iPhone link / iTunes iPad link].