Sound & Music in Cities Skylines: II

September 5, 2023

Gaming

For this week’s feature highlight we are focused on sounds in the game. As always, below you can find a summary of the written version.

Sounds

City Service buildings in Cities: Skylines II have unique sounds reflecting their functions
Some buildings have dynamic audio sources reacting to camera position
Building sounds may change based on time of day, temperature, and building conditions
Signature Building audio is categorized by building types
Background ambient sounds change based on zones, weather, and simulation conditions
Audio grouping manages sound sources based on camera position and number of sources
Vehicle and traffic sounds change with vehicle speed and themes
Selecting citizens and animals plays audio cues reflecting age, gender, and mood
Jonne Valtonen, a Finnish composer, created the music for Cities: Skylines II
He used orchestras and discussed his music creation process
Menu music is calm and grows progressively
Themes piece showcases day, evening, and night themes with evolving orchestration
Themes reflect the progression of a city build throughout the day and night

Cities: Skylines II has two radio networks: Public Citizen Radio and Urban City Radio.
Public Citizen Radio leans towards classical and miscellaneous popular music.
Public network plays public service announcements but no ads.
Urban City Radio focuses on popular music and plays ads but no public service announcements.
Each network has various radio stations representing different music genres.
Both networks have hosts who anchor the shows.
The game also includes a music-only station.
The radio system can provide news, public service announcements, and disaster-related updates.
Radio can interrupt broadcasts during disasters.
The Early Disaster Warning System Building emits disaster alarms if present in the city.

One more feature highlight to go next week!