Hi Everyone,
I was hoping to provide a further update a few weeks back and I was looking to provide a details description of how the maps work within the game. However, to implement this properly to give actual in-game footage, I had to redo other parts of the game which I was planning to do later. Rather than hack it together to be able to show some screenshots, I decided to fully implement the later parts.
This means, for this week, I should have three weeks of updates in one go. I'll post these between now and next weekend.
So first, let's start with the maps system.
The last update I gave on this was the new logo:
This was a screenshot taken of around the centre area of the map. It was built using the initial builder and included all buildings that I had previously made as an example. However, it doesn't represent the actual initial game maps as all buildings are mixed together (for example, the building site is next door to the your Mansion).
In the actual game, there will be 4 different zones. These are:
- Civic/Commercial - Where most of the management and Shops are
- Industrial - Where you make and distribute goods
- Residential - The suburbs where most people live
- Farmland - Where you grow crops
You can build pretty much whatever you want in each area, however, mixing building types will usually have some a negative effect on some of the buildings (e.g. pollution, etc). In addition, as you progress through the game, more areas will become open (not in the initial release though).
So, let's start with the Civic/Commercial sector:
Civic/Commercial:
So, I've made a few changes since the previous update. Firstly, I'm sure you'll notice the area is now much more sparse. I did this to give the player more opportunity to build things in the centre. Although there will not be too much to build in the first release, you'll have more options in later releases.
Secondly, each model has been re-worked. take the Mansion for example. This is now significantly bigger (previously it was 3x3 and now it's 5x7). This was done to make the Mansion be more 'dominating' in the village. Each model is now fully to scale for the renders at each screen. For example, the pool behind the Mansion was squashed in behind the Mansion previously and now it's accurate to it's size in the renders.
I've also removed the smaller houses (I may add a few back) and replaced them with blocks of flats. These are the cheapest per population in the game so is something the player will hopefully want to replace with nicer housing as they play the game.
On a slight detour from the Civic/Commercial area: The scene now contains a few icons to help navigate:
- Bottom-Right > Rotation Box: The screen is now fully rotatable:
- Bottom-Left > Pai Icon: Allows you to communicate with Pai. This also acts as a general status screen
- Top-Left > The top left will contains a Status bar, however, I wasn't happy with the design so I removed. I should have it back by the end of the week. Right now, it contains the debug menu
- Each Edge >Navigation Arrows: These allow moving between different areas.
In addition, the time of day is now reflected in each map:
Each building has an unique image depending on the time of day which will help the user see instantly if the building is open or not.
The rotation and time of day apply to each area and every building in the game. In addition, each building can be rotated when being built.
Back to the Civic area, it contains the following buildings:
- Mayor's Mansion > The big building in the centre. This is where you live and where the population will come to to petition for different policy changes or give you different quests. Also contains some offices to control different aspects of the town
- Grocery Store > Left of the Mansion. This is where your population buys basic goods to keep them fed. Has a very limited supply of more expensive items
- Emergency Services > Bottom Left. Holds the Police, Fire and Health departments which I covered in an earlier post
- Diner > Small building south of the Mansion. Social area for the town. This is where you'll interact with characters outside of their work, at least at the start
- Clothes Store > Right of the Diner: Sells and creates clothes for the population
- 3 Blocks of Flats > Spread around: The worst accommodation you can get in the game for your population
I may change the layouts slightly (I may offer a few different variations) but the buildings themselves in each area will remain practically the same.
Industrial:
The Industrial area is where you mainly make goods (which in turn will make you money) and where things initially arrive into town. This will be the most common area the player will likely visit to control what the town produces.
- Station > At the top: This has two functions, it allows people to arrive in your town (left side) and it's how all the goods are delivered (right side).
- Building Site > Below the Passenger side of the station. Where you build things and maintain your town (more details in the next post)
- Small Bakery > Below the Building Site. Converts various ingredients into goods for consumption by your town or for export
- Depot > Below the Cargo station: Manages the import and export of goods and the distribution of goods across your town
- Utility Base > Bottom left of the Depot: Manages the Utilities of the town (Water, Electricity, Internet and Sewage)
- Small Factory > Bottom left of the Utility Base. Closed when the game starts. Can be used to create different type of goods
- 2 blocks of flats > Across the area: The cheapest of cheap living accommodation
Farmland:
Farms Buildings work differently from other buildings within the game as well as the goods they produce. Most farm buildings have a building that must also be in the same area to either be built or to grow a specific crop/animal.
- Farmyard > Top left: Allows the construction of farm buildings within an area. The player can visit to control the entire farm production of that area. Contains room for one small industrial machine related to the produced crops. This will be a General Farm goods packaging at the start of the game
- Silo > Tower in the centre: Stores crops and allows the production of grains in fields within the same area. Requires Farmyard in same area
- 4 Fields > Spread throughout the area: Grows crops or supplies animals over time. Starts with Wheat growing on a rotational basis (each field takes one month to generate the crops, but each field will be timed so there will be a delivery every week)
- Small Chicken Coop > Not Shown: Provides either chicken meat or Eggs if fed with Grain.
As the Farm does work differently to some other aspects, I'll cover it in more detail in a later post.
Also note, there's a different road type in the screenshot above. Different road types will have an impact on the amount of traffic that can be supported within a given area.
Residential Area:
I haven't completed the Residential area of the game yet, however, this will be the least important area at the start of the game. Once it's done (probably before the end of the week), I'll post a quick update (along with the status bar mentioned earlier)
Other:
Each of the trees/rocks that you see in areas that don't have buildings are separate objects in the game. I'll add more variety to these before the first release as they'll have an impact on the construction costs of new buildings.
General:
When interacting with buildings, a menu will pop up that will provide various actions for the player.
When you Mouse Over:
When you click:
This will give you different context dependant options. In this example:
- Car: Travel to that building. On mouse over, will show the cost
- Question Mark: Info and Status of the Building
- Cross: Close this menu (you can also click anywhere else in the map)
These options will appear around the area that you clicked. I'm hoping this will provide an efficient way of navigating and accessing the info the player will need.
Background:
The reason why I chose these buildings for the start of the game is because it introduces the player to the core concept of the game. The most efficient way of creating a successful town is creating a full supply chain.
When you start, the only industry that you have that produces final goods (which you make the most money on) is the Bakery. The main ingredient for the Bakery is Flour which virtually all the goods that the bakery can produce needs. Flour is made from bags of grain in a Factory.
When you start the game, you are exporting bags of grain from your farm, and then importing flour for your Bakery. This is inefficient because, in effect, you have to pay for the grain to be transported to another town, converted in a factory to flour and then transported back to the town (the cost is the difference in import and export costs of different products).
This is why, within the Industrial area, there's a closed factory. As part of the first month, you'll be guided through opening this factory and setting it up to produce flour to complete this chain.
Things still to do on maps:
- The residential area (over 50% complete) (first release)
- Status bar on the maps and redo movement arrows (first release)
- People icons to show who's in which building (first release)
- A few extra houses in the Civic area to make it look less sparse (first release)
- Quest Icons to show if a building needs to be visited for a specific quest (first release)
- Fields shows crop stage of growth (first release)
- Chicken Coop Model (first release)
- Emergency Services doesn't rotate properly (first release)
- Additional buildings for the player to build (keeping them a surprise for now)(first release)
- Additional random ground parts (e.g. more tree models, ponds, etc) (Continuous)
- Full Town Map for quicker travelling between areas (later release)
- Road and Building entrance: each building has an entrance however the road network doesn't reflect this. I want the roads to turn in to these entrances for a crisper look. (later release)
- Multiple initial layouts (later release)
- Station model improvements (it looks bare) (later release)
Some questions you may have:
- This sounds complicated, will there be a guide with the game? The game will contain a detailed help menu within the game that explains each concept in detail. This will be built up over time however Pai will guide you through the basics during the first week. This is for general gameplay. As for walkthroughs, I will cover the Quest system and tracking in a later update. My aim is to make the game so you don't need an external guide.
- Will there be a Sandbox/Story mode where money doesn't matter? I currently am not planning for this but I'm sure someone will mod the game if it's gets popular to do this type of thing
- Can you customize the layout of the town at the start? Right now, I'm planning on including a few different layouts to start with. I have not decided yet if these will be assigned randomly when you start the game or if you can chose which you want. As for creating your own starting layouts, this won't be in the first few versions, but if there's demand for it, it could be possible
- Will there be different seasons in the game? This is something I've considered and written out the gameplay logic for it. However, implementing seasons will quadruple the number of renders needed for each building, so right now, I don't think they'll be present. In addition, I feel this will add unnecessary blocks to certain parts of the game (e.g. the pool) as people would not want to use some features during the winter
- Will certain buildings be limited to certain areas? Only farm buildings will have limitations, however, in theory, you could build a farmyard in each area to combat these limitations. However, certain buildings will receive negative penalties if they are too far from other buildings. This can be combatted by having smaller versions of key buildings further out to increase the coverage area of different buildings (planned after the first release). However, some areas will have 'Special Buildings' (see below)
- Will all areas be equal or will some provide additional benefits (like better crops)? For most buildings, each area will be equal (however, they could have a positive or negative effect on their surrounding area). There is plans for 'Specialist' features however. For example, one of the areas you'll eventually open up will be a coastal area. Here, you'll be given a choice of developing a beach area or a fishing area. These type of buildings will be limited these specific areas but you could also build any other standard building in these areas too.
If you have any questions on some of these concepts, how they we're implemented or just general questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer as soon as possible.
I'll showing how different concepts have been implemented in the coming weeks. However, the next one will be in a few days where I'll be covering the how the construction system works. I still need to complete a few renders for the UI, but it should be posted in the next day or two. While you wait, here's a preview of what the construction screen will look like:
