My Plan for a Game

[srsedate 118]

I've just had this idea for awhile now, and I felt I needed to share it with somebody.  I thought this would be the right place to start.  I am taking many programming and 3D modeling classes in 10th grade this year, so not only will I have the increased ability to make the game, but if you're a fan of my work, my BATing skills will improve greatly.  I would love to have a group of proffesional programmers and designers to help me, but I have no idea how to get someone's attention.  I was lucky to grab a few viewers here.  I would also appreciate volunteers, as long as they know what they're doing.  If everyone likes this idea so much, you should submit it to somebody.  I myself am trying to spread the news, but the more people spreading the word out, the mroe attention this article gets.  And the more attention it gets, the more likely it is to get published.  That's the way it works.  So please, whether you are a lowly member of ST who is drooling to buy this game, or a very esteemed publisher, I ask you for your help.  I can't express how much gratitude I would have towards the person responsible for getting my game idea recognized.

                                                                                                                  -Skyler S. (A.K.A. Daddyo117272)

[JFman00 1]

Please compare your idea to that at www.urbsurbis. A coherent plan, management, and project teams will be up within the next month.

[Cob92 360]

This is the concept for the ultimate city builder. All it needs is a development team and promotion. This needs to be spread to urbsurbis.com. Last I heard they're putting together a team to make a new city builder. The only thing I would ask for is the option for your city limits to be expandable. That way, cities can grow as large as your computer can take.

Also, zoning should be more like what is described below:

Rather than plopping buildings, zones would still exist, but buildings would grow out of them that would be grouped into subfamilies(supermarkets, restaurants, car factories, hotels, etc.) that would also exist with the wealth denomination. Let's say you set set up a ghetto area near a bunch of foundries. If you zoned commercial near there, you would be able to only grow the run down grocery store, the roach motel, and maybe a Burger King. However, if you zoned along a beach, not only would the area become desirable for higher wealth buildings, but also particularly appealing to the hotel subfamily. Therefore, you would be most likely to see luxury hotels growing in that area, even over other high wealth buisinesses, due to the specific desirability for hotels.

The subfamilies concept would be applied across all zone types. Therefore, when zoning an area, conditions would not only affect the wealth level of the those who move in, but also the types of residents and businesses that show up. Of course, having one subfamily in an area can affect the desirability of that area for the other subfamilies. 

Various buildings could influence an area's desirability for a subfamily. For example, if an area is placed aound a college or university, it could develop into a university town. If a university town grows, the surrounding area will now become more desirable for middle and low class restaurants, bookstores, and possibly nightclubs. If a suburb is zoned with a quality education system, good healthcare, and a high level of police protection, the area would lend itself best to wealthy conservatives. Good park placement will help increase the occupancy of the houses by making the neighborhood more attractive to families with children. By bringing in large wealthy conservative families, nearby buisness will also be influenced. Nightclubs would find the area less desirable, but there would be frequent occurence of the restaurant, superstore, and supermarket subfamilies in their wealthiest forms. By bringing in conservatives, you will find that the area would have a higher tolerance for dirty industry than if environmentalists move in. 

By creating a city rich in museums and libraries, artistic/creative Sims would come by the thousands. You would be able to see the signs of their appearance, such as murals on buildings (if the appropriate ordinance has been passed), the development of art studios and TV/radio broadcast stations. Having them in the city can help to improve aesthetic conditions within it. Also, such a group would be a requirement to earn large museums and libraries.

[JFman00 1]

Most of your ideas have already come up and been discussed on UU.

[srsedate 118]

Cobhris96:  I have already thought about that, which an excellent idea.  However, the game must appeal to "ploppers", "builders", and "growers".  Your example would appeal to a grower.  You can grow all kinds of stuff, and not only that, your subfamilies will appeal to buildings you may have created or plopped.  Ploppers plop pre-made buildings to shape out their city in a breeze.  Builders like to build their buildings, using the method I described earlier in this forum.

JFman00:  I'll definititely take a look there, thank you.

It seems that a majority of people do not like the name "Urban Life", and therefore, we will need to come up with a few more names.  I encourage you to share your names and ideas for this game!  If you have an idea, share it!  I may just be able to fit your idea into my game!

[srsedate 118]

You would be able to name your streets whatever you want, in any language you want, and using any method.  You right-click on a road or transportation line, click on "Properties", and under "Label", you would type out the name.  Feel free to use any special characters!

That's what I imagine it should be like in the game.

NEW IDEAS:

1. Feature to set speed limit in individual lanes rather than the road as a whole.  Use this feature to make HOV lanes.

2. Construction:

      -After you lay out a road or building, it becomes a plan.  This plan is NOT permanent, and can be changed at any time.  Using this plan, you will begin to see the structure being constructed over the course of time.  You will see construction workers, cranes, dump trucks, food trucks, bulldozers, and even outhouses.  Just like in SC4, but with a bit more realism.  For example, the way they build a bridge would be that they would build support beams first and then lay out the towers, then begin laying out the roadbed and paving the asphalt.  Construction signs can be automated, or you can place them down manually.  This "Auto-Sign" feature works with stop signs and street lights and speed limit signs, etc. also, and can be turned on or off in the options menu.

3. The Build Checker:

      -This feature will work just like spell check.  It will show you where a sign may be needed, (when Auto-Sign is off), where a tunnel may have collapsed under weight, (something like this would show up in the news for your city), or if it would be a good idea to make a bypass "from here to here".  It would also warn of potential hazards, such as setting a speed limit too high for a sharp curve.  (When you set the speed limit of a road, you can also do so for individual sections of the road.)

4. Underpasses and Tunnels:

      -If you've done some research on ST, you will know of the "Tunnel Project" for SC4.  Basically, BATers are trying to make it possible to make underground roads that flow under the city.  (This would be a good feature if you wanted a highway to go through a city, but didn't have enough room between buildings.)  This feature will already be available in the game.  Building a road bridge would be as follows:

Building a Road Bridge

Click somewhere on the grid to place a starting point for the road segment.  Click again in another spot to create the ending point.  If you would like to make the segment curve, click and hold when placing the ending point, and move the mouse left or right to make a curve in the road segment.  You may use the ending points of other road segments as your starting point for new road segments.  When you put many segments together, you form a road.  Or, the road could consist of only one segment.  Use the following diagram:

0--------0

Road Segments: 1

This is one individual road.

                                         /-------0--------\

                                        0                       0

0------------------0--------/                           \---------------0

Road Segments: 5

This is still one individual road.

Road one is simply a straight line, whereas road two goes straight, S-Curves to the left, S-Curves to the right, and ends.  IF this doesn't make sense, it is probably because instead of using an image, I simply typed it out, and there are no curve "keys" on the keyboard.  Each "0" you see is a point.  You maneuver these points to change the road.  Think of it as "Connect the Dots", when you move the dots around.  If you already understood this concept, I apolagize, as I felt the subject needed more clarification.

Let's say you wanted the road to go up or down.  Naturally, the road would follow along with the land, but let's say you wanted it to cut through the land, rather than move with the land.  For example, you could build a road atop 3 hills and have a bumpy road.  Or, you could cut through those hills, creating a cliffside wherever the hill is or was.  When placing or modifying a point, you could hold down the "Shift" key, and move the mouse up or down to move the point up or down.  Once you release the mouse, you can move the mouse left or right to make a curved incline or decline, or leave it where it is and have a straight incline/decline.  Once this happens, you will be prompted by the game accordingly:

If you ascended:

You get to choose whether you snap the land to the bottom of the road, (If so, the entire road or just a percentage of the segment?  (Like when it first lifts up off the ground, then go to support beams.)), or do you want it to go straight to a bridge?  Either way, you eventually lead to a bridge, and you get to choose the type of material, color, and if it has guardrails or concrete dividers.  (To prevent cars from falling,) or neither, (so you can amuse yourself watching cars fall off the edge. )

If you descended:

You get to choose whether the land surrounding the descent follows, making a ditch, or if the road cuts through the land, and the surrounding land isn't affected?  (Use the second option to make underpasses.)  Once you do so, you get to, once again, choose the type of material and color.  You also get to choose whether or not it is lit, and what color the lights are.  In an underpass, there are usually lights stuck to the roof to light up the road, in case you're confused.

What I've just gone through does not just apply to roads, but to any form of transportation.  The "point system" is also used for non-transport lines, such as walls, gates, pipes, and power lines.

This game should be as real as it gets, and should allow for a player to recreate ANY city anywhere!  Thanks for reading.

[_MostlyHarmless 17]

Sounds pretty cool. But I'd need a demo and some screens before any real judgment.

[dralin321 0]

I agree with northsider1983, but if it turns out to be as it seems, I'm all for it! but I do have one question, would there be weather, if so, would it effect the game? Such as if there was heavy rainfall, would it flood streets, cause congestion, you know, that kind of stuff? Or if there was a heat wave, electrical outages and smog?

[srsedate 118]

Yes, just like there will be natural disasters, there will be weather and seasons.  This will all be according to what climate your city is in.  Also, in God Mode, you can manually control the weather and disasters.

Weather:

Rain, Fog, Snow, Clear, Cloudy.  (All weather is based on percentage.  0% Rain would be off, 100% Rain would be a very strong thunderstorm, with lightning strikes frequent.)

Disasters:

Tornadoes (Size = F0-F6), Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Lightning Strike, Volcanoes, Sand Storms, Blizzard (85-100% Snow), Thunderstorm (85-100% Rain), Avalanche, Mudslide, Meteor Strike (Size Dependant on Meteor, Comet, Asteroid, etc.  Small size may cause it to dissolve in the atmosphere.  Careful, one could destroy the entire game of cities.), Acid Rain (aturally occurs in industrial areas.)

The seasons of your city will be dependant on the location of the city.  You could always make it winter, so you create the illusion of a high plateau.  Tress will show seasons also.  Car accidents, and number of people using the streets and public transportation, will be affected by the weather.

Anything you could think of about the weather, will be in the game.  If a volcano goes off, then it will most likely rain ash, and possibly lava bombs.  A lava bomb is like a comet from the volcano.  We will put a lot of effort into the weather.