SimTower

[rsd6000 8]

oh wow - no wonder we need new fresh sim tower

[FreewayofFlight 41]

I would enjoy playing a 3D version of SimTower, where you have to rent/lease out space. I think current game engines would allow more creativity in the design of a skyscraper. I think the idea of building a tower floor by floor is unrealistic. You could start out with an empty lot and reach stages where you could 'renevate' and add 5 or 10 floors at a time. Or build different towers for different cities, like in RL.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

You should see IsoTower.

SimTower was a room by room construction type where dragging the room across the floor left gaps. An ideal tower sim would allow you to drag and drop and to "zone" certain areas, like cubicles. Then, once you have an ideal floor plan, you should be able to save it and apply it to new floors above it. Of course going 3D means you need to have hallways.

[rsd6000 8]

yeah isotower looks great - i think they need get more people to grow the project

[thedaian 1]

Hi, developer of Isotower here. I've been a fan of pretty much all the Maxis games from the 90s, and I dream of someday taking most of those games and upgrading and improving on them. For some silly reason I chose to start with Sim Tower (which wasn't even developed by Maxis, but anyway). I've been dreaming of something like Isotower for ages, and have been working on it for about 2 years (though too much of that was sitting around doing nothing..) About a month ago, I released a demo, but it was a really really basic version of the game, and honestly there wasn't much to it and it was actually pretty boring. So I've been working on improving the game and Isotower has started taking it's first steps from "really basic engine" to "some semblance of gameplay". There should be a new, better version out this weekend, actually.

Honestly, there's a few problems with it (it uses placed rooms, instead of the much better 'zoning' system, and it's impossible to watch more than one floor at a time...), but rather than let the game sit around forever in development, I figured it'd be better to move forward and get the game out. My eventual goal is to allow for a level of control over the rooms via a javascript scripting engine, and lots of support for user made content. Stuff like custom scenarios should be possible, along with abilities to change the game in ways that I probably won't even think of.

A lot of the custom user plugins are a bit of a way off, though. My current goal is making the game have all the major features of Sim Tower, it's close, but not there yet.

Finally, I plan on streamlining the elevator configuration. Saving/loading, copy/pasting elevator schedules.

Side note: Theme Hotel is a pretty decent Sim Tower-esq flash game, though it suffers some control problems common with sim games in flash.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Personally, I would recommend multiple viewing angles.

[rsd6000 8]

Hi, developer of Isotower here. I've been a fan of pretty much all the Maxis games from the 90s, and I dream of someday taking most of those games and upgrading and improving on them. For some silly reason I chose to start with Sim Tower (which wasn't even developed by Maxis, but anyway). I've been dreaming of something like Isotower for ages, and have been working on it for about 2 years (though too much of that was sitting around doing nothing..) About a month ago, I released a demo, but it was a really really basic version of the game, and honestly there wasn't much to it and it was actually pretty boring. So I've been working on improving the game and Isotower has started taking it's first steps from "really basic engine" to "some semblance of gameplay". There should be a new, better version out this weekend, actually.

Honestly, there's a few problems with it (it uses placed rooms, instead of the much better 'zoning' system, and it's impossible to watch more than one floor at a time...), but rather than let the game sit around forever in development, I figured it'd be better to move forward and get the game out. My eventual goal is to allow for a level of control over the rooms via a javascript scripting engine, and lots of support for user made content. Stuff like custom scenarios should be possible, along with abilities to change the game in ways that I probably won't even think of.

A lot of the custom user plugins are a bit of a way off, though. My current goal is making the game have all the major features of Sim Tower, it's close, but not there yet.

Finally, I plan on streamlining the elevator configuration. Saving/loading, copy/pasting elevator schedules.

Side note: Theme Hotel is a pretty decent Sim Tower-esq flash game, though it suffers some control problems common with sim games in flash.

wow sounds great so i would support you alot

[rsd6000 8]

wow looks great update so let me know when its released because i would give alot suggestions and help with testing stuff - you can contact me via PM

[GMT 389]

actually, what I totally missed from the alpha-demo was a bulldozing option and an option to turn the rooms.

other than that, I feel like a little more pixelated graphics (thus giving some sort of retro-feel) would do the game a favor. EDIT: something along the lines of the - what it looks like - discontinued isotown-comic or the likes, you know what I mean

  Edited March 3, 2012 by GMT  

[rsd6000 8]

i done the payment so its should be good

edit: i have full version so i am glad i bought today because i hope there is update is coming out very soon

  Edited March 3, 2012 by rsd6000  

[Ocram's Razr 964]

About IsoTower, what format is your images for the rooms?

I made several mockups of towers with my own images (or images made by other OpenTower artists that I modified) and I was wondering how hard it would be to draw them at your angle. I also think it would be wonderful if you plan to add a couple more viewpoints/angles so people could see several floors (classic view and 90 degree rotation).

Here is one of my first pictures:

[rsd6000 8]

About IsoTower, what format is your images for the rooms?

I made several mockups of towers with my own images (or images made by other OpenTower artists that I modified) and I was wondering how hard it would be to draw them at your angle. I also think it would be wonderful if you plan to add a couple more viewpoints/angles so people could see several floors (classic view and 90 degree rotation).

Here is one of my first pictures:

wow looks nice - best is contact todd on google 1+ or facebook - he will give you a advice

[thedaian 1]

actually, what I totally missed from the alpha-demo was a bulldozing option and an option to turn the rooms.

other than that, I feel like a little more pixelated graphics (thus giving some sort of retro-feel) would do the game a favor. EDIT: something along the lines of the - what it looks like - discontinued isotown-comic or the likes, you know what I mean

Yeah, bulldozing and 'rotate room' are coded, but are fairly buggy right now, so they didn't get in the first release. I'll try to have the bulldoze function working in the next one, though. I plan on working on and improving the graphics this month, probably something along the lines of a pixelated graphic setup, though exactly how that will turn out, I'm not sure.

About IsoTower, what format is your images for the rooms?

I made several mockups of towers with my own images (or images made by other OpenTower artists that I modified) and I was wondering how hard it would be to draw them at your angle. I also think it would be wonderful if you plan to add a couple more viewpoints/angles so people could see several floors (classic view and 90 degree rotation).

All the room graphics are simply .png files, and replacing them is a simple matter of saving a new file on top of the old one (or changing the xml files that include all the data for a room) Though, the layout of the files, and a few other things, will likely be changing, as I intend to add animations for people in rooms, and a few other things.

I don't really plan on adding a "Sim Tower" style view for the entire tower, as there's a lot of edge cases where that view just wouldn't work out too well. But there will probably be something like a minimap view which will give you a basic overview of everything from a "Sim Tower" perspective, but it will probably just focus on elevators and other transportation options, and won't really show off the rooms.

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to try to get a new version out by Sunday night.

[rsd6000 8]

actually, what I totally missed from the alpha-demo was a bulldozing option and an option to turn the rooms.

other than that, I feel like a little more pixelated graphics (thus giving some sort of retro-feel) would do the game a favor. EDIT: something along the lines of the - what it looks like - discontinued isotown-comic or the likes, you know what I mean

Yeah, bulldozing and 'rotate room' are coded, but are fairly buggy right now, so they didn't get in the first release. I'll try to have the bulldoze function working in the next one, though. I plan on working on and improving the graphics this month, probably something along the lines of a pixelated graphic setup, though exactly how that will turn out, I'm not sure.

About IsoTower, what format is your images for the rooms?

I made several mockups of towers with my own images (or images made by other OpenTower artists that I modified) and I was wondering how hard it would be to draw them at your angle. I also think it would be wonderful if you plan to add a couple more viewpoints/angles so people could see several floors (classic view and 90 degree rotation).

All the room graphics are simply .png files, and replacing them is a simple matter of saving a new file on top of the old one (or changing the xml files that include all the data for a room) Though, the layout of the files, and a few other things, will likely be changing, as I intend to add animations for people in rooms, and a few other things.

I don't really plan on adding a "Sim Tower" style view for the entire tower, as there's a lot of edge cases where that view just wouldn't work out too well. But there will probably be something like a minimap view which will give you a basic overview of everything from a "Sim Tower" perspective, but it will probably just focus on elevators and other transportation options, and won't really show off the rooms.

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to try to get a new version out by Sunday night.

so i will try make a exit door as idea - to replace lobby - as entrances - for example tower can have alot exits or entrances for example two separate buildings with two entrances - and also inside doors for corridors and possibly a fire exit doors (firefighters entrance and people can exit through this door in emergency)

i will show a rough idea of exit door - not full detailed but worth looking - the lobby could used for reception areas or Main entrances

here fire exit door - double doors - i will send him a image of fire exit door idea for outside walls - this functions for staff or firefighter but in emergency - this functions a extra exit to empty the tower quickly

  Edited March 3, 2012 by rsd6000  

[Ocram's Razr 964]

What about an angle that is tilted 10 degrees to the right and 5 degrees up from completely horizontal? That way you can see multiple floors at the same time and parts of 2 sides of the levels.

[thedaian 1]

What about an angle that is tilted 10 degrees to the right and 5 degrees up from completely horizontal? That way you can see multiple floors at the same time and parts of 2 sides of the levels.

The real problem with having multiple angles is that the game is normal old 2d, so multiple angles means needing double the amount of art (or more). Maybe at some point in the future I'll end up making Isotower 2: In 3d, but for now, I'm just going to keep things in 2d.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Our plans for opentower was to have 3 viewing angles (classic, trimetric, and top-down). Seeing as most games have huge file sizes (multi gigabyte), most hard drives are measured in hundreds of gigabytes, and you have a new volunteer for sprites, I say "Why not?"

[rsd6000 8]

Our plans for opentower was to have 3 viewing angles (classic, trimetric, and top-down). Seeing as most games have huge file sizes (multi gigabyte), most hard drives are measured in hundreds of gigabytes, and you have a new volunteer for sprites, I say "Why not?"

oh nice - i think its possible - in hotel giant 1 and 2 - there views - top down and 2d and first person

i am trying to invent a corrdior pieces - simllar to shell - empty floor the corrdior would be walls without doors in it but if you drag and click the room - simllar to other games which you can build rooms easily to fit in shapes and the door icon would be appears and you click at one of walls - can be have two or three doors or more

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Something that us OpenTower people wanted to implement was drag and drop room zones. You select a room and if you hold down the mouse, you can have rooms right next to each other in one direction (you obviously cannot do it in 2 directions because you would need hallways. We were also planning on making actual 2 direction (possibly entire floor) zones: cubicals for offices, food court for restaurants, kiosks for shops.

[rsd6000 8]

Something that us OpenTower people wanted to implement was drag and drop room zones. You select a room and if you hold down the mouse, you can have rooms right next to each other in one direction (you obviously cannot do it in 2 directions because you would need hallways. We were also planning on making actual 2 direction (possibly entire floor) zones: cubicals for offices, food court for restaurants, kiosks for shops.

cool - i thought opentower was dead?

[Ocram's Razr 964]

All of our ideas and brainstorming in 2008 was probably one of the factors of our failure. Yes, you heard it right, all the ideas I mentioned were first brainstormed in 2008.

[thedaian 1]

Our plans for opentower was to have 3 viewing angles (classic, trimetric, and top-down). Seeing as most games have huge file sizes (multi gigabyte), most hard drives are measured in hundreds of gigabytes, and you have a new volunteer for sprites, I say "Why not?"

Multiple viewing angles is a lot easier in 3d, where assets don't have to be created for each angle (See: Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 vs Rollarcoaster Tycoon 1&2). Most games with huge file sizes have budgets of a few million dollars, at least, and anywhere from 10-200 people working on them (depending on size and budget). Meanwhile, I am one person, working part time after work and on weekends, with a budget of exactly $0 (or at best, whatever money I end up paying out of pocket to people for their work). The current engine isn't really designed around multiple viewing angles, and it makes a lot of assumptions based on that fact. It's unfortunate, but rather than delaying progress for another few years while I rewrite everything, I'd prefer to have the core functionality done, and release a game that people can play now, and eventually mod excessively.

If the first version of Isotower is successful, then I can take suggestions and ideas for a sequel, including using an actual 3d engine. If it's really successful, I can hire multiple people to help with coding, graphics, etc, and the end result would be an even better game.

Sadly, I was not able to get a new version out tonight. The current elevator code is buggy, and it's not quite on the level of polish that I want. I intend to keep working on it when I can this week, and hopefully will have a new version out soon. Thanks.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I could start with making some images for rooms in your format, maybe some variation on what you have already (maybe a different theme or color scheme) and once I get a hold of that, maybe I could make some images for other rooms that are not in Isotower yet. Adding those new rooms might be difficult because you said that the format for adding in custom rooms was difficult and soon to be changed.

[thedaian 1]

I could start with making some images for rooms in your format, maybe some variation on what you have already (maybe a different theme or color scheme) and once I get a hold of that, maybe I could make some images for other rooms that are not in Isotower yet. Adding those new rooms might be difficult because you said that the format for adding in custom rooms was difficult and soon to be changed.

The only major change that's going to happen in the next month or so is using smaller tile sizes. So tiles will be 64x32, instead of 128x64. Beyond that, the only real problem with custom rooms is that the game is hard coded to only load the three basic rooms that exist right now (2 hotel rooms, and the office). It probably will stay hard coded at least until the tile size changes, most likely a little bit longer.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Is there a way to change the code or is it closed source? I was able to add as many (virtually nonfunctional) rooms into OpenTower as I wanted by adding a couple lines of code in the rooms file. So the rooms were hard coded but I could change that code (on my own computer) as I wished.

Furthermore, what is the angle of viewing? I ask because I could take screenshots in The Sims Complete Collection if the viewing angles were the same.

  Edited March 6, 2012 by OcramSeattle  

[rsd6000 8]

thedaian - i read your news about delay so what was problem with elevator?

[thedaian 1]

Is there a way to change the code or is it closed source? I was able to add as many (virtually nonfunctional) rooms into OpenTower as I wanted by adding a couple lines of code in the rooms file. So the rooms were hard coded but I could change that code (on my own computer) as I wished.

Furthermore, what is the angle of viewing because I could take screenshots in The Sims Complete Collection if the viewing angles were the same.

It's closed source, but the assets are loaded from xml files. I suggest checking out the demo if you're interested. Once the core functionality is in the game, then I'll be focusing on adding more support for modding and adding custom rooms. As for the angle, I'm not entirely sure what it is. It's a fairly typical Isometric viewing angle, though I'm not going to use any assets that come from The Sims or other games, period.

thedaian - i read your news about delay so what was problem with elevator?

In short, I've been trying to get the elevators to carry more than one person at a time. At a few points, it would work, but one person would be stuck in the elevator forever, or a few other bugs. I'm going to be working on it tonight, so hopefully I can manage to solve the problem. Once I get it working, I'm going to release a new version.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

So it is completely isometric? The Sims are diametric, tilted slightly down. That means that I cannot make custom rooms with plants from the Sims (I am no good at plants but I can draw furniture pretty good). Half of the imagery in OpenTower was downsized/scaled/modified from free stock photography.

Most of the occupied rooms I drew were primarily pixel art I made by hand but I took stock photos of a ficus, a fern, and a palm, deleted their backgrounds, shrunk them, then pasted them into my room images with some minor alterations.

  Edited March 6, 2012 by OcramSeattle  

[rsd6000 8]

Is there a way to change the code or is it closed source? I was able to add as many (virtually nonfunctional) rooms into OpenTower as I wanted by adding a couple lines of code in the rooms file. So the rooms were hard coded but I could change that code (on my own computer) as I wished.

Furthermore, what is the angle of viewing because I could take screenshots in The Sims Complete Collection if the viewing angles were the same.

It's closed source, but the assets are loaded from xml files. I suggest checking out the demo if you're interested. Once the core functionality is in the game, then I'll be focusing on adding more support for modding and adding custom rooms. As for the angle, I'm not entirely sure what it is. It's a fairly typical Isometric viewing angle, though I'm not going to use any assets that come from The Sims or other games, period.

thedaian - i read your news about delay so what was problem with elevator?

In short, I've been trying to get the elevators to carry more than one person at a time. At a few points, it would work, but one person would be stuck in the elevator forever, or a few other bugs. I'm going to be working on it tonight, so hopefully I can manage to solve the problem. Once I get it working, I'm going to release a new version.

nice let me know

[thedaian 1]

nice let me know

Good news! I managed to solve the problems, and now the elevators carry multiple people! The demo and paid version have both been updated, with people arriving to the tower at somewhat random times, instead of instantly, and some improvements on rooms (darkened rooms when there's no one there, red rooms/floor if the path is blocked). The next release will include a bulldoze tool, as well as the start of changed graphics (and hopefully the ability to click+drag to build a rectangle of floor, instead of having to move the mouse over every square)