
Unlike the previous two games by Tilted Mill Entertainment, Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile and Caesar IV, the game would not use a 3D engine but return to the 2D engine, because Tilted Mill thought "2D works better in terms of players being able to tell what’s going on at a glance". Medieval Mayor was an announced city-building game set in the Middle Ages by Tilted Mill Entertainment for the PC and tablets.

Subsequent titles use three-dimensional graphics engines. Titles released up until 2004 used the same isometric view game engine, although progressively tweaked and modified according to the theme of the game. The series covers four ancient civilizations: Roman, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese. The player is also responsible for defending their town against invasion by building a military. The player must also strike a balance between imports, exports and taxes to keep their town financially strong. In the City Building series the player is put in charge of providing goods and services to the populace of their town, ensuring crime is low, and reducing the risk of disease, fire and building collapse.


The series began in 1992 with Caesar, set in the Roman Empire, and consists of twelve games to date, including expansion packs. City Building is a series of historical city-building games developed by Impressions Games, BreakAway Games, Tilted Mill Entertainment (following Impressions' demise), and published by Sierra Entertainment.
