Building Town for parents: what the game is like
Building Town is a calm 3D construction game in the browser for kids from about 8 to 12. The player drives building machines, such as a backhoe, a crane and a concrete mixer, to finish small building jobs in a toy-like town. There is no fighting, no timer and no way to lose, and there are no ads. This page lists the facts a grown-up may want before their child plays.
What does the player do?
- Opens a job board and reads a short job brief, like "Tip out 600 kg" of soil on a garden pad.
- Drives a machine and works its tool with simple controls: dig with a bucket, tip a dumper, lift a roof with a crane, roll gravel, push earth, mix and pour concrete, and lift a pallet with forks.
- Presses Inspect work to get game coins, then spends the coins on the next machine.
- As a member, builds real streets: two ready-made streets in Herrhagen, Karlstad, and streets the player finds with a place search.
There are ten jobs and nine machines; the full list is on all ten jobs. One hint line on the screen always says what to do next and shows the key or button for it.
Content notes
- No danger and no failure. Machines can't crash or break. If a machine is blocked, it simply stops.
- No timer. Jobs wait until they are finished, also between play sessions.
- Traffic. Cars and delivery vans drive through the town and around roadworks. They are made-up trips.
- Real places. Herrhagen is a real part of Karlstad in Sweden, and the street search uses real streets from OpenStreetMap. The houses only follow the outlines of real buildings.
How much reading is there?
All text is written; there is no voice acting. Job briefs and hints use short sentences and everyday words. A younger child may need help with the job briefs at first. In a new save, four short lesson cards explain the controls for the device in use; they can be read again from the pause menu under How to play.
How long is a session?
There are no fixed sessions or levels to finish in one go. The ten jobs are short: a scripted test run that knows every move needs under two minutes of machine work for all ten. Children take much longer, because they read each brief and learn the controls. The game can be paused at any time, and it pauses by itself when the tab is hidden. The street projects add more play on top.
Where is progress saved?
The game saves by itself every few seconds, in the browser on the device being used. There are three separate save slots, so siblings can each have their own town. Each slot shows how many jobs are done and how many coins it has. If the browser blocks saving, for example in some private windows, the game says that the save could not be kept. If the same save is open in two tabs, the game asks to reload the newer one so nothing is overwritten.
The real-street search
Build your own street lets the player type a town, a country and, if they like, a street name, to build a real street block. The place typed goes through the Contenta Games server to OpenStreetMap services, and only when this feature is used. The chosen street is then kept in the save slot on the device. Children may want to build their own street, so a grown-up may like to help with the search. Details are on Build your own street.
Ads, purchases and data
- There are no ads in the game.
- Coins can't be bought with real money. They are pretend money earned by doing jobs.
- The game sends a few play events to the Contenta Games portal's own statistics (for example that the demo was started, or that an error happened), without cookies.
Devices, controls and languages
- Plays in a web browser on computers, phones and tablets, with no download. It needs a browser that can show 3D (WebGL), such as a recent Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
- Keyboard and mouse, game controller or touch buttons. On phones and tablets the game is played in landscape.
- Nine languages: English, Swedish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.
- Settings include volume, music, sound effects, a sound on/off switch, Graphics and Moving effects. Set Moving effects to Calm for less movement on screen.
All controls and settings are listed on the controls page.
How to get the game
Building Town can be tried in your browser with a demo. The full game is part of the Contenta Games membership, which opens every game on the portal. See what a membership includes, or browse the guides to all our games.
See also
- The guide's front page: what the game is about.
- FAQ: quick answers to common questions.
- Your first job, step by step: what the first ten minutes look like.
- Play Building Town together.
