So here it is, Microlandia, a SimCity Classic-inspired game with parameters from real-life datasets, statistics and research. It also introduces aspects that are conveniently hidden in other games (like homelessness), and my plan is to continue updating, expanding and perfecting the models for an indefinite amount of time.
What did you do, OP? I have a side project to launch, ain't nobody no time for that! :D
At this point I pushed an early access build to itch.io as soon as possible. It was very incomplete and full of problems.
I changed the alarm clock to 6am and started working for a good 3 hours before work every weekday, this was great to capture my early morning energy which is when I'm the most creative and sharp. Weekends were full-time days. I sacrificed my social life completely (which is what I'm now determined to get back) what I did not sacrifice was sleep.
I released a build every single day during those three months. Some of the time was new content, some of the time was bug fixes, most of the time was both. Shipping every day forced me to slice every task in something that can be managed in a couple of days so I would keep the daily cadence.
I'm fortunate to have my wife help me with art and my good friend Pablo with the soundtrack.
So basically my formula was: 1. Work before the job 2. Sacrifice weekends 3. Sleep well 4. Daily progress 5. Ask for help
Would be so much fun. People would be able to share their "worlds" and could download any... "dystopian", "utopian", "north korea like full dictatorship", "resource constrained", etc etc...
Will help with behavioral studies as well... plus, can open up an app economy on top.
there is a simulation parameters file that we document openly[1]
it’s a no brainer for me to allow playing with a custom simulation file.
buildings are typescript types with hook-functions, making new ones is quite fun and easy and after adding sandboxing and safety it should be totally doable to plug in custom ones
also, the simulation is a websockets protocol, so the game client can connect to a totally custom simulation
however at this stage data types and names are changing too fast for practical modding
"buildings are typescript types with hook-functions" - meaning i can use LLM to generate new ones?
"the simulation is a websockets protocol" - excellent again!
"however at this stage data types and names are changing too fast for practical modding" - no worries... my comment was mostly a suggestion... would love to see them part of the same some day though..
Best wishes..
Like a city with only stalin-era and soviet-era buildings. Or something where all the residents live in victorian townhouses.
I’m deeply autistic about city builders and figure out the systems behind them and build metropolises. I’ve spent well over 35k hours playing city simulators since sim city on SNES and most of that with Sim City.
I haven’t given Cities 2 a try because they think cars should be free from a parking standpoint and while I can design around that to minimize the number of cars overall, it doesn’t feel real.
Parking is something every city builder tries to pretend isn’t real so I hope this game considers that a problem to solve by city designers, not the game designers…
This is really exciting, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
That's what I've spent the past two years hoping for from Urbek City Builder, whose art style this immediately reminded me of. If you haven't already (which would surprise me), definitely check out Urbek. It's such a fun puzzle game, but development seems to have stalled.
Anyway, buying this right away, if only for the Microslop license.
Edit: I'm 2 hours in. Really fun vibe with a nice soundtrack. Still figuring out why my factory and farms aren't attracting more workers. And I wish I could see the buses drive around (after making public transport free). After bankrupting my first two cities, I'm finally profitable. The trick, it seems: low corporate tax, high income tax.
Humans simulated individually, trackable?
addaon•2mo ago