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Life & fun · August 6, 2026

Skyline Co-op is like SimTower, but built around democratic socialism

I've been rebuilding old games with Claude. While creating a modern take on SimTower and having election news on TV in the background, I had the idea to build the economy of the game around democratic socialism instead of capitalism. Instead of a real estate tycoon, you are an elected steward of the building, held responsible by the Assembly. Homes are allocated off a waitlist, dues are set on a sliding scale, and you face outside pressures from neighboring capitalist landlords. The crown jewel is attracting a large grant to establish an observatory at the top of your tower, attracting…

In plain words

Skyline Co-op is a building management game inspired by SimTower, where players act as elected stewards of a cooperative tower rather than profit-driven developers. Instead of accumulating wealth, players allocate homes from a waitlist, set dues on sliding scales, and balance resident needs for food, housing, health, and entertainment while facing pressure from neighboring capitalist landlords. Success requires maintaining Assembly confidence through democratic accountability, with the ultimate goal of attracting funding for an observatory. The game explores unique failure states within a cooperative economic framework.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

I've been rebuilding old games with Claude. While creating a modern take on SimTower and having election news on TV in the background, I had the idea to build the economy of the game around democratic socialism instead of capitalism. Instead of a real estate tycoon, you are an elected steward of the building, held responsible by the Assembly. Homes are allocated off a waitlist, dues are set on a sliding scale, and you face outside pressures from neighboring capitalist landlords. The crown jewel is attracting a large grant to establish an observatory at the top of your tower, attracting scientists. To get there, you must make sure the people are fed, housed, healthy, and entertained. If the Assembly doesn't have confidence in your abilities, you get voted out. It kinda works, and the potential failures in the game are pretty unique. I'd be interested to hear HN's take. An entire SimCity clone based on a different economy like this could be fun.

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