Polonova

Lay the first road. The rest is yours.

Polonova is an isometric city builder you play right in your browser — no download, no account. Start with an empty map and a budget. Lay a road, zone homes, shops and industry beside it, and watch empty lots grow into houses, condo blocks and, eventually, supertall towers.

How it plays

• A short guided start walks you through roads, power, water, zoning and taxes, then hands you the keys. 
• After the tour, you can click 'New' to reroll the map until you find a land-and-water layout you like.
• Learn math and economics: Drag the tax slider and see the trade-off live: your yearly income at that rate, the break-even rate where you stop losing money, and how fast your city will grow.
• Every system talks to the others. Residents need jobs, shops need customers, industry needs exports. Power plants pollute and parks raise land value.
• Heat-map overlays (press H or the Heat button) reveal what's happening under the skyline: land value, nuisance (pollution) and traffic. See where congestion builds, and where a transit hub clears it.
• Growth is gated by infrastructure. Airports, sea ports, water and transit unlock each new stage, from village to a city of a million.
• Four matured lots merge into a mega-structure. Later you can place supertall towers, a Mega Sea Port and a Fusion Plant.
• Optional random disasters (off by default): fire, tornado, flood and earthquake can level a block. You rebuild.
• A generative soundtrack that changes style as your city grows, through six musical eras from string band to club. Music and sound effects toggle separately.

One tip to get started: the first buildings are the hardest. Low taxes speed up growth, and fast speed gets things moving. Once the city's earning, drag the tax slider to find your break-even rate. Have fun!

Controls

• Build = Left-click / drag
• Move up/left/down/right = WASD or numpad 8/4/2/6
• Zoom = Scroll
• Rotate = Q / E or numpad 7/9
• Heat maps = H or the Heat button (cycles land value → nuisance → traffic → off)
• Bird's-eye view = numpad 5 (flat top-down view, no heat map)
• Inspect = V 
• Bulldoze = X
• Pause = Space
• Undo = Ctrl+Z
• Full help = ? key or click the "?" icon

Reading the heat maps

• Land value: green = parks and density lift value, red = nuisance drags it down.
• Nuisance: shows only the pollution and smell footprint of plants and industry.
• Traffic: amber = light, red = heavy, cool patches = where a transit hub is relieving congestion.

Best on a desktop browser with mouse and keyboard. In smaller windows the layout switches to a compact, icon-based mode; phones and tablets aren't supported yet.

Help me make it better

Polonova was built solo in vanilla JavaScript, with AI-assisted coding. I'd love to know your feedback to improve the next version:

1. How long did it take for your first house to appear?
2. Did you finish the tutorial, or skip it?
3. What made you stop playing?