Hello!
It occurs to me that one of the biggest factors influencing the character of a city is the era of architecture during which the city experienced its biggest periods of wealth & growth.
Just as an example: Melbourne, Australia Boomed during the Victorian era in the late 19th century after the gold rush, during which time it was briefly the wealthiest city in the world. Today, Melbourne's inner city neighbourhoods are still characterised by dense Victorian terrace houses and its CBD still has a sizable collection of elaborate Victorian architecture reflecting the city flaunting its wealth during the time it boomed. Another example would be Detroit's growth with the boom of the auto industry in the 1920s being responsible for the city's beautiful art deco architecture downtown, as much as the auto industry's collapse is responsible for half of those buildings being abandoned today!
I think something that would be a great idea for the look & feel of a city to really come to life and tell a story would be if each building (this could also extend to modes of transport) perhaps had an attribute that attached it to a particular era. The game would start in a past year (the player could select which year to start the game, if they wanted to just start in the present and have all buildings), and as the years pass in game time, new buildings become available as you move into the next era. So a player couldn't build a glass & steel skyscraper in 1925, but an art deco skyscraper may pop up if your city's growth/wealth/demand is high enough.
A city that experiences a massive boom in the 1920s may end up with a Manhattan-esque skyline! While on the other hand you may build your city's economy on a particular industry that becomes redundant, and you'll revitalise your city by turning a dying shipping district into a vibrant waterfront entertainment district or building a theme park or stadium on an old manufacturing district, turning an industrial town into a tourist hub that will sprout a plethora of new high rise apartments & hotels.
The decisions you make that influence the peaks of when people and money starting flooding into the city would then really impact the look of the city and it would really tell a story. And like in SimCity 4 - and this has been mentioned before a few times on here - you could also have the option to make buildings historical so they can't be replaced when the next development boom comes along, so you can preserve historic districts or your favourite historic buildings so they aren't demolished as a slew of new glass & steel apartment buildings start popping up around them!
It occurs to me that one of the biggest factors influencing the character of a city is the era of architecture during which the city experienced its biggest periods of wealth & growth.
Just as an example: Melbourne, Australia Boomed during the Victorian era in the late 19th century after the gold rush, during which time it was briefly the wealthiest city in the world. Today, Melbourne's inner city neighbourhoods are still characterised by dense Victorian terrace houses and its CBD still has a sizable collection of elaborate Victorian architecture reflecting the city flaunting its wealth during the time it boomed. Another example would be Detroit's growth with the boom of the auto industry in the 1920s being responsible for the city's beautiful art deco architecture downtown, as much as the auto industry's collapse is responsible for half of those buildings being abandoned today!
I think something that would be a great idea for the look & feel of a city to really come to life and tell a story would be if each building (this could also extend to modes of transport) perhaps had an attribute that attached it to a particular era. The game would start in a past year (the player could select which year to start the game, if they wanted to just start in the present and have all buildings), and as the years pass in game time, new buildings become available as you move into the next era. So a player couldn't build a glass & steel skyscraper in 1925, but an art deco skyscraper may pop up if your city's growth/wealth/demand is high enough.
A city that experiences a massive boom in the 1920s may end up with a Manhattan-esque skyline! While on the other hand you may build your city's economy on a particular industry that becomes redundant, and you'll revitalise your city by turning a dying shipping district into a vibrant waterfront entertainment district or building a theme park or stadium on an old manufacturing district, turning an industrial town into a tourist hub that will sprout a plethora of new high rise apartments & hotels.
The decisions you make that influence the peaks of when people and money starting flooding into the city would then really impact the look of the city and it would really tell a story. And like in SimCity 4 - and this has been mentioned before a few times on here - you could also have the option to make buildings historical so they can't be replaced when the next development boom comes along, so you can preserve historic districts or your favourite historic buildings so they aren't demolished as a slew of new glass & steel apartment buildings start popping up around them!
