My passion for city-builders goes back as far as my earliest gaming memories. In 1989, with SimCity, I was a kid already captivated by this dizzying idea: starting from nothing, laying down the first roads, watching a city emerge, breathe, grow… and sometimes collapse. This total creative freedom, combined with an almost organic logic, has never left me.

I grew up with management games. Theme Park, RollerCoaster Tycoon, Transport Tycoon, Cities XL, Planet Coaster, Transport Fever… They all shared one thing in common: they gave me the feeling of building believable, living worlds. What has always fascinated me is not numbers or scores, but details: population flows, intersecting transport networks, neighborhoods slowly evolving. That’s where the magic happens.

In 2015, Cities: Skylines marked a real turning point. I discovered the power of custom assets. I realized that a well-designed building, a familiar facade, carefully placed greenery could transform a purely functional district into a place with identity. A city was no longer just efficient — it could tell a story. From that moment on, creating my own assets became an obvious next step.

In real life, my name is Chris, a graphic designer based in Bordeaux. In Cities: Skylines, I’m mostly known under the name Gruny. I started creating assets in 2018, very modestly: three cubes, a flat roof, simple small shops designed to integrate easily into existing cities. Nothing spectacular. And yet, the community responded. I received feedback, advice, support. I learned, improved, refined my eye. Above all, I felt immense satisfaction seeing my creations appear in players’ cities.

Over time, my work evolved. My style became more defined, with a strong affinity for suburban environments and a clearly asserted French touch. I gained technical rigor, higher standards, and a sharper sense of detail. Each asset became a balance between credibility, readability, and identity. The greatest reward remains the same: seeing these creations come to life in the hands of players from around the world.

Today, I’m fortunate to collaborate more directly with Iceflake Studios and Paradox Interactive. I took part in the French and Dutch regional packs alongside Rev0, Geze, Feinbold, and Jerenable, and I authored the Leisure Venues pack. These projects allowed me to fully grasp the complexity of Cities: Skylines 2, understand its constraints and subtleties, and push even further in terms of precision and consistency.

At its core, my goal has never changed. I want to create assets that allow everyone to build cities that reflect who they are: credible, vibrant, and human. Cities where every detail matters — because those details are precisely what make a virtual world feel, even briefly, almost real.