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Econopolis: A Historial, Material, Procedural City-Builder! (Forums : Ideas & Concepts : Econopolis: A Historial, Material, Procedural City-Builder!) Locked
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Nov 28 2014 Anchor

For a long time, I've been wanting to take city-building in a new direction; heeding that which has come before while also implementing things that feel like they should be there but haven't been. The genre has done a number of things, but to my knowledge my take may be the first to do what it does.

My goal with Econopolis (tentative title) is to replicate, as closely as possible, the historical and material conditions that dictate how a city evolves. The game will feature a number of historical eras with different challenges and feels to each, added complexity as they go, and at its basis, the game is about capital; that is, the material means of production underlying economies. Though a number of city builders take resources into account, they're mostly looked at in terms of commodities to trade and/or sell, and many have the player handling them from the top down. In Econopolis, market forces, along with those resources available, will have a noticeable effect on the character of your city, though obviously, the player gets enough agency for it to be a fun game and appropriate mayor sim.

For just one example of how a city (or at the initial point, village) can evolve different ways in Econopois, picture this map: Towards the northern edge of the map is a river, by which grows a forest, just south of them is mostly meadows, and down near the southern edge of the map there are a lot of rocks. You can start your city anywhere. Let's assume first you zone development, particularly industry, in the North. Because of the proximity of timber, AI will determine that timber companies have a high probability of appearing there, and then they begin harvesting logs. As these logs present a separate resource than raw timber, they in turn inspire other industries to become lumber yards and/or carpenters. The wood isn't just a commodity; structures such as houses, stores, etc, will be made of it! Even degrees of wood processing will be taken into consideration; for example, with lots of residential development zoned, but only a small bit of industry, there may only be room for the timber companies to appear, and as such, houses will more likely be log cabins--or similar--than anything more advanced; however, if many tiers of wood industry are in place, houses made of lumber boards will be developed. Now let's assume you decided to start your city in the southern portion of the map. Because of the proximity to rocks, zoned industries will tend toward quarries, and as these dig up rocks, there will be more incentive for other industrial businesses to be masons, cement plants, etc; as before, buildings will be more likely made of stone and/or its by-products. If a map doesn't have the resources it needs for everything, that's okay; an assumed system of trade means they can access them, but economics simply favor more available resources. The construction of additional cities on additional maps will help get the economy going, and it will be fun to see how they turn out unique from one another.

Naturally, resources will not be the only thing influencing city development. Technologies enabling new resources and construction options will be available in each era to add further character, and the game will also feature many of the usual standards of the genre, such as taxes, desirability, education levels and wealth levels. All of these things working together will enable a fun new take on a fun old genre.

While the idea sounds ambitious, the plan is to develop and release each era one-at-a-time to garner interest while also keeping development manageable for the team and enabling a lower retail price. Then the new eras will be completed and sold as expansions to what was already a fun, but limited game.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about this!

Dec 10 2014 Anchor

like the idea please make open source

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