"Cims" having different needs, avoid to go to the same store over and over

[wakko2k]

So I posted this in another thread, but I wanted to see what people actually think about this.

It would be cool if the "sims" had different needs, which leads to different buildings depending on the citizens needs and demands.

For example, you have 3 stores nearby a set of houses. They are just regular stores, but then a citizen feels like he wants a pizza. But there are no pizza shops nearby, so the citizen has to drive around town to get it. One of the store owners notice the pizza demand and remakes his store to a pizza hut.

This would probably also lead to where rich people live, they probably dont want your regular pizzas. So a shop owner opens up a real fancy pizza hut nearby their houses instead. (bit of a joke)

Also, with this system you'd probably eleminate a problem where everyone goes to the same commercial store. Seeing as they're going to the store that they have a interest in at the moment. Rather than just go "a store" to buy stuff, they think "buy food" , "buy clothes" or "buy new furniture". So hopefully we'll have more variety where people ends up traveling and not everyone will end up at the same store (or other places) all the time just because it happens to be the closest because doubtly everyone wants to buy the same thing all the time.

I'm not that great on explaining, but I hope the rough idea came through. This would make the "Cims" feel much more real and I think have a great inpact on immersion within the game.

So.. thoughts?

 

[dodlake24]

I just wanted to chime in and say that I like this idea.
You could break down the different "needs" of different demographics, as you said above.

IE: Sim "A" lives in house "1127". He works at middle class industry "22". Based on his income level he needs - middle class department store, restaurant, health care, etc.

So his neighborhood and "happiness" would be based on his ability to go to these places.

IE: Sim "B" is wealthy. He wants high end restaurants, organic grocery stores, yoga workout places, etc....
Sim B wouldn't be happy if he had to go through Sim A's neighborhood to reach his destinations....

 

[wakko2k]

Good points. Although not sure if this system should be made to make the citizens happy, rather having them not going to the same store all the time. But yeah their happiness would probably increase if they went to a different store once in a while ;D

And if the buildings being built in the zones is depending on demand in the neighborhood, that would also mean that we most likely wont see 2 of the same commercial buildings next to eachother. Right? Because it would be probably very unlikely for the whole neighborhood to be ordering pizza at its local pizza store at the exakt same time, unless there would be a very, very high demand for pizzas. Which would probably make another pizza store pop up instead of a less demanded commercial building (because the other one is fully loaded with Cims). Which would mean there would be two pizza stores next to each other... roughly.... :blink: but then there would be a reason for it They're making awesome pizzas!

Man this got complicated..... Also my explainations are AWESOME.

 

[Darkath]

This would be probably quite complex to simulate i think and require a very granular level of detail to every building and every citizen. Especially the supply/demand aspect of your idea.

However may be CO could add a bit of randomness to the the pathing of citizens so they don't always go to the nearest store but might randomly go to a commercial zone farther away

 

[wakko2k]

Dont know how hard it would be to code, really. It doesnt have to be too complicated to make it feel much more indepth than just randomly going to another store for the sake of randomness.

It could just be the basic things. For example

Cim needs to have; Fun, Food, Items

So the simulation begins with; Cim gets hungry (he really doesnt, it doesnt impact him in any way. It just says he is hungry). He goes to the closest fast food/food store. Cool. He finds none nearby, so he takes the car a bit further away to get food, he goes home.

Now the "demand" system (which basically just checks that all different kind of buildings are spread out and not having 5 of the same building in a row, but in a more "realistic way". Are there a food shop nearby these set of buildings? Nope? Lets place one here then) notice that there are two the exakt same buildings nearby where he lives. Two Car parts stores. The system notice that there are no way for nearby Cims to get food, so they simply change one of the stores to a food store.

Now we have solved two problems, there are no exakt same buildings near eachother (because frankly, why would there be 4 car part shops in a row?) and the Cims feels like they're actually living in your city. They're going to different places because of their different, VERY basic needs. So it doesnt feel completely random.

Note though, these things and only to make the Cims feel alive and not have the same buildings next to eachother with a bit of flux! It doesnt really have any impact on the Cims lives (afaik). And there could be room for a lot of humor here. If you for example click on a Cim to see where he is going... and what he is going to buy.. oh think of the possibilities! ;D

 

[Person012345]

Dont know how hard it would be to code, really. It doesnt have to be too complicated to make it feel much more indepth than just randomly going to another store for the sake of randomness.

It could just be the basic things. For example

Cim needs to have; Fun, Food, Items

So the simulation begins with; Cim gets hungry (he really doesnt, it doesnt impact him in any way. It just says he is hungry). He goes to the closest fast food/food store. Cool. He finds none nearby, so he takes the car a bit further away to get food, he goes home.

Now the "demand" system (which basically just checks that all different kind of buildings are spread out and not having 5 of the same building in a row, but in a more "realistic way". Are there a food shop nearby these set of buildings? Nope? Lets place one here then) notice that there are two the exakt same buildings nearby where he lives. Two Car parts stores. The system notice that there are no way for nearby Cims to get food, so they simply change one of the stores to a food store.

Now we have solved two problems, there are no exakt same buildings near eachother (because frankly, why would there be 4 car part shops in a row?) and the Cims feels like they're actually living in your city.

Note though, these things and only to make the Cims feel alive and not have the same buildings next to eachother with a bit of flux! It doesnt really have any impact on the Cims lives (afaik). And there could be room for a lot of humor here. If you for example click on a Cim to see where he is going... and what he is going to buy.. oh think of the possibilities! ;D

The thing is that would require assigning a type to every commercial building model in game then writing some code to make sure that they distribute relatively evenly. Unless type is just randomly assigned by the game as each building is built I guess regardless of it's appearance.

 

[dodlake24]

That methodology almost seems like the type that they used in the old city building games doesn't it?
If I remember correctly, playing Ceaser, Zeus, and the newer have something similar to this.
A building first needs water...then it expands to needing water and food...then it needs fancier food...etc...
So perhaps that can be adapted to a like this....

 

[Darkath]

That methodology almost seems like the type that they used in the old city building games doesn't it?
If I remember correctly, playing Ceaser, Zeus, and the newer have something similar to this.
A building first needs water...then it expands to needing water and food...then it needs fancier food...etc...
So perhaps that can be adapted to a like this....

Impression Games' games (ie Caesar, Zeus, Pharaoh, Empire, and a few that i forget) used a distribution system based on agents rather than zones or service area.
Instead of your well having a area of effect around it, it actually sent a little dude carrying water through the streets, giving each of the building he walked past the "water need" fulfilled.
This became a huge part of the gameplay because you had to organize your city in districts by making sure your water-carrying dude would not stray off to far from his designed district.

But there was no citizens going out of their houses to go to the well, they were locked inside (unless you destroyed the house, then you would see a little guy taking his things to leave the town)

Also in some games the only zoned buildings were the houses. Shops industry and services were all individually placed buildings.

 

[dodlake24]

Ahh...yes...the agents...
Doesn't the Anno Series have something like this as well? I don't remember if the residents have to go out to reach the resources or not....

 

[Darkath]

Ahh...yes...the agents...
Doesn't the Anno Series have something like this as well? I don't remember if the residents have to go out to reach the resources or not....

Nope. Anno use a supply/demand system but there is not really any delivery beyond the good transportation (usually with ships). Goods are being produced in production facilities you can plop down anywhere as long they are connected to a road. Goods are then being transported to a market/warehouse that will supply all the house around it with the goods it has in stock.
For instance a weaver will produce say 1 ton of cloth each minute, and 100 citizens will consume 1 ton of cloth each minute, so you'd need 1 weaver shop per 100 citizens to meet 100% of the linen cloth needs of all your citizens (arbitrary numbers for explanantion purpose )

 

[dodlake24]

ahh..okay...I kinda remember that...

Thanks