Building details…

So I’m getting closer to having the entire city generation engine re-written. It’s been a huge project (since it makes up a huge chunk of the game’s code and had to be completely re-written from scratch)….but the benefits have been awesome (as explained in previous posts).

In the process of re-writing the way that cities are generated, I’ve also changed the way that buildings are generated. Currently there are 15 different types of buildings (hospitals, houses, banks, stores, etc). Each building type had a specific custom interior (so stores have checkout counters, houses have kitchens and TVs, hospitals have beds, etc)…but in the old system the exteriors of the buildings were completely randomized. This means that a hospital might end up with the same roof and brick color as a house, etc.

The problem with that approach is that it becomes very difficult to tell buildings apart, without going inside to see the interior decorations. That also results in a very boring-looking city…where all buildings are essentially ‘the same’, in the sense that their colors and exterior decorations all come from the same set of options.

Since I’m overhauling the whole system, I figured it would be a good time to change how buildings are generated. Now, each building type has a unique set of possible walls and roofs that are specific to that kind of building. So, as you’re walking around the city, you can identify buildings by their exterior color and decor. When you see a steeple, you know you’re near a church. When you see an envelope sign, you know you’re near a post office. When you see a bunch of movie posters, you know you’re near a video store, etc.

Here’s a screencap showing a viewport preview of all the possible walls for each of the 15 building types.

Here’s a screencap showing a viewport preview of the possible roofs for the 15 building types.

As buildings are generated, first the ‘type’ of building is chosen, then its walls are taken from the corresponding group of possible walls, and then a roof is chosen from the corresponding group of roofs.

Here’s a screencap illustrating what a couple of buildings end up looking like, once their geometry is generated from the prefab objects shown above.

 Also for those who haven’t yet noticed…comments now require registration/login. It’s super easy to do, and avoids some of the problems that were happening earlier (with people posting under other peoples’ names, pretending to be them). If you have any issues with the registration/login system, or someone else has taken a username you previously posted under….feel free to contact me and let me know and we’ll try to resolve the issue.

31 Responses to “Building details…”

  1. Lamprabbit says:

    Hey Tyson,

    Just wondering how much all the geometry of your game is taking up? I’m planning to make a game with levels and such (after my current one). With all the additional pieces it must be getting up there!?

    • Tyson Ibele says:

      I don’t have specific memory-related numbers off hand at this moment, but the .fbx file that gets imported into Unity that contains all of the city geo is about 37mb. I’m pretty sure .fbx files don’t have built-in compression either, because simple .zip compression drops that size down further to 15mb. So probably about 40mb give or take 🙂

      • Lamprabbit says:

        Interesting, I’m using a build report plugin (purchased from the asset store) which reports my geo went from 16.1mb to 3.4mb. In saying that your game is so unique that people would still download it if its large.

  2. MrMaxwell218 says:

    Hai Tyson,
    I was hoping to see something new and as always, your work is so awesome! <3

    Keep it up man!

  3. ezeuz says:

    is there any possibility to bring this game to PC ?
    well, after seeing the last picture i wondering if we can play in third-person or maybe even first-person view with or without mod.
    thanks

  4. virtualjesus says:

    Muy interesante tu proyecto lo admiro mucho, yo con grupo de amigos estamos trabajando en un proyecto parecido, espero me apoyes:

    Thank you, estamos en contacto.

  5. cameron c says:

    Thank you for the log in Ty

  6. RoxXxor says:

    One simple question: will my poor iphone 4 handle this game or not?

    Thanks,eaiting for game 🙂

  7. RoxXxor says:

    Waiting *

  8. Fadi98n says:

    Thank for the update

  9. Fadi98n says:

    *Thanks

  10. Fadi98n says:

    oh and BTW, i posted a comment on the previous blog post and want to know what you think about it, so i copied and and i’m pasting it here:

    Hey Tyson
    You might want to consider adding a “God Mode” IAP for any one who wants to be invincible, and who ever buys it can choose if the world that he creating to be played in “God Mode” or not, because i was just looking at the Preview Videos and “God Mode” looks really fun.
    Thank You for reading 🙂

  11. Fadi98n says:

    Also Tyson i have another quistion i’m sorry i’m asking a lot of quistions

    My quistion is: when it was New Years time you posted that cool Christmas Picture and said your New Years Resolution will be releasing Zombox somtime in 2013 i want to ask, is that Resolution still a possability or will Zombox be released somtime in 2014.?

  12. curious says:

    Hello Tyson Ibele, what kind of developer tools do you use for this project?

    • Tyson Ibele says:

      Hey,

      I’m using Unity for the engine, 3dsmax for the 3d models and photoshop for the textures. I’m also using Notepad++ as the script editor.

  13. Fadi98n says:

    Hey Tyson
    Can you please answer the two quistions i posted.

  14. foxtroterinfinity says:

    Just a crazy idea but what if you added creative mode that would be awesome

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