Drawing Board V: Grid(s)

This article originally appeared on The Next Generation blog at Simtropolis.com

************************

As I mentioned in my previous post, I think Metropolis will need to dispense with the Sim City 4 grid model (and I think there is a fair amount of community consensus on this as well).  Using a grid, as we all know, makes it difficult for any organic-looking city features: curved roads, of course, but also any thing that needs to conform to a terrain feature, a boardwalk for example.  But while we all want to break out of the grid, it must be admitted that it's also very useful:  Many cities are built on a grid basis, and a grid makes it easy to fill up space in a logical fashion.  So, how can we dispense with the grid while keeping it's benefits?

Let's get our old pal the Disclaimer out of the way first:

***************

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

This series of posts are not to be read as "official" ideas for the Metropolis Project, they are simply my personal thoughts about what some cool game features might be.  The final feature set for the game will be decided by the community and the development team contracted to build the game, and may not include any of these things.

***************

Cities XL took a step in the right direction:  while it was possible to build freeform roads, they would also "snap" to the cardinal and secondary directions.  This is an elegant solution but it's still lacking a few things.  First of all, the grid is not only a tool for alignment, but for measurement:  In SC4 you could use the grid to measure a block's length when you laid it out (indeed, doing this was the subject of constant strategizing.)  With non-standard lot sizes (as I proposed previously) this is less of an issue, since lots can fit into any area;  But a grid for measurement is still useful for those who want their block sizes standardized.

Another failing of the CXL method is that it is limited to eight directions:  It's possible to draw a road at an odd angle, but it becomes a nightmare trying to parallel that road over a large area.  The necessity for doing this is obvious if you look at maps of real cities which are gridded, but whose grid orientation alters at some point to follow the terrain, like so:

View Larger Map

The solution?  User-adjustable grid overlays.  Hitting a key would toggle on a grid overlay that your constructions would conform to;  You could set the "0" point of this grid with an a different key.  The standard grid would be towards the cardinal directions, with an interval of, say, 50 meters.  But, within a separate window, the player could create new grids:  They could adjust (or enter manually) the angle from 0 to 90;  And they could set the unit size and the base point.  That new grid could then be made the default, or could be assigned a new key combo to activate it.  This would greatly ease the task of making grids at unusual angles, and would therefore allow for much more realistic gridded cities.