The Shellworlds project got stuck. It became too complex at some point and I wanted to take a simpler approach for a game. I was looking for a concept that was easy at the core but very scaleable in assets. After watching a Minecraft SimCity-esque mod called Simburbia I decided to try and make a building game. Strategy games are amongst the hardest to create, but that is mainly in balancing, not in the complexity of the code. Choose buildings, place 'em down and watch the effect. If things go poor, start optimising. The interaction is simple enough.
The scaleability lays in the variety of buildings. Buildings can unlock other buildings and influence the environment (polution, happiness, land value, traffic, ...). I decided to split the building gameplay in two parts: placing buildings on plots, and placing "lanes" with trees, roads, railroads or rivers around the plots. This way the player can lay out the city with the plots, and optimise with the lanes to try and get the most efficient city. It also adds a welcoming level of detail in the visuals.
Screenshot time!