Machi-ing Maker 3
PSP game guide part 1
Welcome to the first part of gameplay guide for a PSP title: Machi-ing Maker 3
(Full name is "Machi-Ing Maker 3 x Tousouchuu" or in English: Metropolismania 3 x Run For Money)
General description
This is a simple town builder game and a third installment of Machi-ing Maker series known in the west as Metropolismania.
Two previous titles were released for Playstation 2, this part however is PSP only title released exclusively in Japan.
The gameplay is oriented on building the city infrastructure and interaction with citizens to met their needs and expectations.
Additionally, the full title of this game is "Machi-ing Maker 3 x Run For Money", as this game contains additional mode:
Run For Money, where player is being chased the by special agents. The gameplay takes place on pre-made maps or even on the streets of your own town.
This mode will be described more in the next parts of the guide.
Machi-ing Maker 3 is a Japanese only PSP title
FIrst things first
At the beginning of each level, you start on an empty isle with single railroad track.
There's nothing more here and your first step will be placing a train station.
Go to Buildings section, navigate to last category, which is Public buildings and select the first entry on the list, the one that costs 0$.
This will be the Train Station building - now place in somewhere on the existing railroad track.
As the station is ready, people are now able to arrive to your town, however they won't appear until you provide them houses.
Place some roads and sidewalks first - these are free so don't be affraid to plan the town layout in advance.
Finally, you're ready to build houses - again open the Buildings menu, this time check the first tab, as there you will find different types of aparatments and flats.
Let's go to the next chapter to learn more about housing.
Housing and residents queue
To raise the population of your town, you need to provide the housing for people, who want to move in.
There are different types of apartments for different family sizes.
For example 4-person family won't move into a small flat as they need their own house, while singles or pairs will be happy with an apartment in such building.
You need to track the families list in the Queue to check what type (size) of families are there - then build proper houses for them!
Top-down view is useful in precise town planning
Reputation and citizens' needs
The number of families willing to move in depends on your reputation.You can raise it by talking with your people and satisfying their needs.
Listen carefully, as they often complain about missing facilities or a loud factory in their neighborhood.
Happy mayor of a happy town!
You can also give them presents. Visit local stores and buy some gifts. Being nice to your citizens not only raise your 'friendship' level with them, but also boost your overall reputation and give you actual cash.
Cash is of course needed to grow your city by building more houses.
Talk to cashier to see the shop's offer
"The flow of time is convoluted"
Well, not exactly in the same manner as in Lordran, but still a bit different than in our world.
The game time is splitted into Years, which in turn is split into 4 seasons (in my English version named by 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1), and then into hours and minutes.
There's also day and night cycle, which affects people behavior and building opening hours.
In the evening people return to their houses and shops get closed, while at the morning the city wakes up and everyone rushes to their workplaces again.
Keep in mind though, that time during the night speeds up significally.
These are the only vehicles you will see in the game
Hints for city builder mode
- The first thing to build is a train station - place it on the existing railroad
- Keep checking the family queue to know, which types of apartments to build
- Roads and sidewalks are free...
- ...so use them to make some free space and passages between buildings - can be later useful in Run For Money mode
- Always carry with you a couple of cheapest gifts - it's the easy way to raise reputation and cash
- Keep track on the map objectives - on later maps the objective is not only to reach specific population level, but also a number of specific facilities
Kids are not very active nowdays...
In the next parts of the guide we will dive in deeper into city builder mechanics as well as some details of the second game mode, Run For Money.
Also expect some details regarding upcoming English translation I'm currently working on.
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PSP regional codes