''Urban Jungle'' is a

freeware Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...

educational driving game. The game features a virtual version of the city centre of the

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n city of

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

. The player drives a car through the city, performing missions for money while taking care not to break traffic rules; a later update also added a driving school simulation. ''Urban Jungle'' is the first educational driving game made in Croatia. The development started in June 2002; a total of 40 people worked on the project, which was financed through grants and

in-game advertising In-game advertising (IGA) is advertising in electronic games. IGA differs from advergames, which refers to games specifically made to advertise a product. The IGA industry is large and growing. In-game advertising generated $34 million in 2004 ...

. The game was previewed in November 2005 and published by Autoklub Rijeka and Talented Programmers Association of Rijeka (DIR) the following month. The game saw use as a tool to promote safe driving by the Croatian authorities. In 2013, a sequel was announced, but it was reported to be still in development by the end of 2016.

Gameplay

The player drives a car through Rijeka, performing time-limited missions. The game has an "infinite" number of tasks and the goal is to drive as long as possible without committing a violation. After each completed mission, they are rewarded with money and penalised for breaking traffic laws. If enough in-game money is accrued, it is possible to buy better cars. Money can also be spent on fuel, repairs of damage resulting from crashes, and traffic infractions. The player must be careful not to hit pedestrians, which are, in order to avoid graphic violence, represented by crash test dummies. If the player accumulates too much damage on their car or too many penalty points, or hits a police officer, the game ends. A

driver's education Driver's education, also known as driver's ed, driving education, driver training, or driving lessons, is a formal class or program that prepares a new driver to obtain a learner's permit or driver's license. The formal class program may also p ...

mode was added to the game in a 2007 update, entitled ''Urban Jungle: Autoškola v1.1'' (''autoškola'' means "driving school" in Croatian). The player has to complete driving exams at a test track before being allowed to undertake driving missions. The update also featured more detailed graphics, a renewed car pool and more complicated missions. The developers also added weather, the ability to go sightseeing in-game as a pedestrian, the ability to receive insurance reimbursement for damage caused by non-player cars, and the ability to purchase a new vehicle through a bank loan.

Development

The development of ''Urban Jungle'' started in June 2002. The game was financed through

by local and foreign companies and nonprofit organisations such as

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

. It also received funds from the government of the City of Rijeka. Around 40 people worked on the project. The game programmers built their own

3D engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term "software engine" us ...

, Urban3D. Parts of the game, including 3D models and some of the textures, were designed on

Mac Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

computers. There were plans to port the game to Mac OS X, which were abandoned with Apple's transition to

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

architecture.

Release and legacy

The game was previewed at the International Fair of New Technologies on 24 November 2005, and again in 2007. It was released on 6 December 2005, and made available for free download online, and distributed in computer magazines. It was published by Autoklub Rijeka and Talented Programmers Association of Rijeka (DIR, '). The game was hailed as the first Croatian driving simulation game where players had to abide by traffic rules. In 2006 Autoklub Rijeka held a competition in playing ''Urban Jungle'' for high school students, awarding the winner with free driving lessons. In 2016, Rijeka police used the game to promote road transport safety. It is popular not only on the Croatian market but also in the neighboring countries

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Sequel

In 2013, a sequel was announced, entitled ''Urban Jungle 2''. It is to be distributed on both Windows and Mac and possibly feature a virtual version of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, the capital of Croatia. ''Urban Jungle''s original engine, Urban3D, was to be replaced by Unity in the next installment. ''Urban Jungle 2'' would also be a

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, although t ...

. As of November 2016, ''Urban Jungle 2'' was still in development.

References

External links

{{commonscat, Urban Jungle (video game)
Urban Jungle homepage

Urban Jungle 2 project homepage
Driving simulators Advergames Video games developed in Croatia Educational video games Video games set in Croatia 2005 video games Windows games Windows-only games Single-player video games