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Ex-Maxis artist turns to Patreon to fund design of Cities: Skylines buildings

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When EA shuttered the doors of Maxus Emeryville artist Bryan Shannon lost his job. He’s turned to Patreon to raise the funds to tide himself over until he can find new work, and to raise the money he’s going to make buildings for Paradox’s Cities: Skylines.

He’s already made two structures, an imposing, brown brick coal plant and a gaudily coloured In-and-Out Burger. Both of which can be found in Cities’ Steam Workshop.

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“The games industry is experiencing one of the hardest times right now,” Shannon writes in his Patreon. “Many students are graduating from Game Art schools, many companies are going through layoffs as the economy is improving (that’s right, the better the economy is doing, the less people are playing games! sad days!).

“I, too, was laid off from the industry… specifically, Maxis of Emeryville in their final months. To keep my dream alive, I need to find work soon, or it might be time to start cleaning dishes and wrapping burritos.”

Shannon proposes spending his free time making models for Cities’ Skylines. One every couple of weeks, and releasing the textures and models to the community so they can learn from his work.

Shannon’s already released two models, a coal-powered power plant and a burger restaurant. The plant’s more than just a new model, mind. It generates more power than the Cities original, but the payoff is it puts out more pollution. Also, he’s worked against the game’s neutral colour palette, making the building a really dirty brown, to make it stand out in your city.

As Shannon earns more through the Patreon he’s agreed to devote more time to the pursuit. If he can raise $600 per model he’ll commit to producing a fully functioning weekly and take the project on full-time.

You can read into the details on Shannon’s Patreon page.