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The next Angry Birds?

“Tiny Tower” lets players build, manage their own skyscrapers

Wannabe developers who fancy themselves the next Stephen Ross or Gary Barnett can now practice building their own city skyscrapers, thanks to a new iPhone application.

Called “Tiny Tower,” the addictive game lets players build their own high-rises — and collect rent from the “bitizens” that inhabit them — in real time. Designed by NimbleBit, a Solana Beach, Calif.–based company founded by twin brothers Ian and David Marsh, “Tiny Tower” launched in June, and was named Apple’s 2011 iPhone Game of the Year.

The game, which can also be played on an iPad, allows users to take control of a high-rise building, then add residential apartments and retail spaces. Rent from these tenants generates money, or “bux,” which the player can use to build the tower higher and higher.

In picking tenants, players can choose from a diverse range of dining, residential and retail options, such as coffee shops, luxury apartments and hat stores.

David Marsh told The Real Deal that the founders have no real estate experience, but thought the game would appeal to players’ capitalist aspirations.

“I think everyone can relate to a bunch of little people having to get along and interact in a small building,” he said.

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Plus, watching the tower grow and “amassing profits,” he said, is “very motivating.”

Gamers have long been fascinated by real estate. “SimTower: The Vertical Empire,” a video game released in 1994, allowed players to build and manage skyscrapers.

“Tiny Tower” expands on that idea by using the unique design of the iPhone to engage players, Marsh said.

“We were trying to come up with ideas for a game that used the natural portrait orientation and dimensions of smartphones,” Marsh said. “A vertical tower that you could zoom up and down at the flick of a finger seemed like a place to start as a foundation for the game.”

Being named Apple’s Game of the Year has already increased the game’s popularity. “Tiny Tower” now has more than 1 million daily active users, almost double the number it had in early December, and has reportedly been downloaded more than 9 million times.