The Design Document

[Nique]

=====Contents=========

Project Overview 1.1 Title 1.2 Logo 1.3 Game Description Goals 2.1 Main Goal 2.2 Target Audience 2.3 Platform Basic Agreements 3.1 Measuring Standards 3.2 Gamespeed Logic

1 Project Overview 1.1 Title The title of the game. CITYMANIA 1.2 Logo The logo that the game will use to represent itself in a graphical way. 1.3 Game Description CityMania is a SimCity 4 Clone. The difference from SimCity 4 is: We want to make this game customizable at all needed levels. Therefore, the core of the game will be designed in such way that it uses modules (scripts) to function. 2 Goals 2.1 Main Goal Main Goal 2.2 Target Audience Every human from 9 years old should be able to play this game. Mainly (ex) SimCity 4 players. Our target is the niche simulator market, not the causal player. 2.3 Platform The game should be playable on Windows XP or higher, Most popular Linux distributions and MAC. 3 Basic Agreements 3.1 Measuring Standards The game uses the following measurement units as standards. 3D axis (space): (X = width, Y= length, Z = height) (!) Distance is measured in meters or kilometers (m or km) Time is expressed in hours, days, month's and years.* Weight is expressed in kilograms (kg) Velocity is expressed in meters/second (m/s) Volume is expressed in cubic meters (m³) Force is expressed in Newtons (N) Currency is expressed in credits (cr)** Angle is expressed in radians (rad) Power is expressed in Watts (W) Temperature is expressed in Celcius (c) * A new game starts in year zero (0). We don't use 'realtime' dates. For example: Of course depending on the decision if we use the region method like simcity is using, the year zero starts when the first city has been saved to the region. This date counts for the whole region. If you start a new city in the same region 6 years later. All (new) cities use the region date and time it is based in. ** Based on Euro's (€), the name 'credit' will not be shown to the player. The value will be converted on the base of € to the player's desired currency. 3.2 Game Speed Logic to be edited... With speed we mean the time in milliseconds. How many milliseconds before a AdvanceOneHour() like method is called. This should be edited as i don't know on what we base the time. to be edited... Speed multipliers: 0 = pause 1 = slow 2 = medium 3 = fast 4 = ultra?

W O R K  I N  P R O G R E S S

[croxis]

This is the stage where the previous attempt (UrbUrbis?) died.  Lot of talking over ideas but not much coding or asset creation.  Everyone has their pet idea on what will make this the Best City Game Ever™ and some of these ideas will conflict with each other.  A design document makes sense for standard commercial applications which ships a final product, but not for open source project.  Some elements of a design document is needed such as coding style and how the components fit together.  What makes a lot more sense is a roadmap. 

Example pulled from my rear:
0.1 basic rci, citizens can use road network
0.2 basic land value calculations, basic budget
0.3 terraform tools, custom content system
0.4 - sim city equivelnt gameplay
...
0.7 sc3k equivelnt
...
1.0 sc4 equivlent

Doing it this way instead of a full blown 1.0 document will help keep the team focused.  There have been awesome ideas like being able to go into city hall and see your advisers or underwater cities or whatever, but going for a full design doc will cause the team to focus on these awesome end-point ideas instead of the more boring but more important practical matters.

[croxis]

I like OTTD suggestion policy, if you want you idea in game make it yourself    Then the devs go over the code and commit it to the trunk if it meets quality standards. A lot of features in that game were added as patches from people whoa re not on the official dev list.

[Nique]

I like OTTD suggestion policy, if you want you idea in game make it yourself    Then the devs go over the code and commit it to the trunk if it meets quality standards. A lot of features in that game were added as patches from people whoa re not on the official dev list.

The first priority is creating a base, like simcity 4.. and do it in such a way, mods can be add with ease.

[croxis]

Right, I fully agree. I threw up an unsorted list on different features in sc4.  I also have the delux edition prima guide which provides numbers to help give us a closer approximation.

[gottago]

As croxis noted, don't call for input now because you'll be inundated with pet projects that may sound wonderful but will sink the boat. Stay focused, your roadmap is very clear: build your core, and when you get it to run like SC4 with SC4 modded content, then invite everyone in for a party. A core team building the core should be your first goal.

Work like the NAM team; who knows really what they do; the suggestions don't faze them, they just do their stuff, and when it appears it's great and everyone's happy--but no one voted.

[tomkeus]

I have created basic outline of Roadmap and it is here:

http://wiki.github.com/Nique/CityMania/roadmap

I invite you to modify it and expand it in detail. It would also be very good if someone would set tags so it look a little bit nicer. For quick review here it is

Roadmap:

-Write Design document:

   Specification of goals:
      Minimum features required.
      Optimal features list.
      Nitpicking.
      
   Description of social model.
   Description of economic model.
   Description of transport model.
   Description of environment model.
   
   Outline of software structure.
   Choice of programming languages and development tools.
   
   General software implementation.
   Simulation-Graphics engine communications protocol implementation.
   Economy implementation.
   Society implementation.
   Transportation implementation.
   Environment implementation.
   Interface design.
   Graphics implementation.
   
   Additional modding tools.
   
-Based on design document write pseudocode for critical parts of the project.

-Develop simulation engine until minimum of wanted features are reached.

-Simultaneosly develop "quick and dirty" graphics engine for tests of simulation engine.

-Get people to test simulation engine.

-Gradually add features to simulation engine.

-Start developing actual graphics engine.

-Start developing additional tools needed for the project (modding, content tools).

-By this stage, simulation engine should support everything from optimal features list.

-When minimum of simulation features are supported by graphics engine get people to start testing.

-Add features to graphics engine up to the optimal features.

-Reach version 1.0

-Add further features both to the simulation and graphics engine.

[Korot]

Ah, that way. Well, it does look pretty good to me, though there are already a few errors I spotted, and since it looks unfinished, I think there will be many more to follow.

Regards,
Korot

Ps: Het Engelse woord voor moeder taal is 'native language', niet 'mother-tongue language', alhoewel het begrijpelijk is, voor mij, iemand die Nederlands kan, althans.

[croxis]

Ack, hard to copy and paste text embedded in flash so I could edit it  And git hub is down.

[Nique]

Ok lol,

Well see the attachment.. here it goes.. i know exactly what i want to write. My weak point is my English, (still learning it while I'm 25)

docx = Microsoft Office Word 2007
pdf = Adobe Acrobat Reader

[Korot]

Nique, I suggest saving the Word file as a .doc instead of a .docx. Why? Because Word 2007 can open .doc files, but Word 2003 has a difficult time opening .docx files. Still, I've got the file, now to check it on grammar issues.

Regards,
Korot

[Korot]

Thank you.

Regards,
Korot

[Korot]

Found and fixed some grammar mistakes, now if only my permissions were set properly to allow me to upload files. I already contacted jeronii, but I think that Dedgren might be a better call. Though, Nique, having you mail address in your profile means I can send the file to you, which I'm doing right now.

Regards,
Korot

[WC_EEND]

uhm, my version is finished but I can't upload the file

[Korot]

uhm, my version is finished but I can't upload the file

Send the file to nick by mail, you can find his mail address in his profile.

Regards,
Korot

[WC_EEND]

Send the file to nick by mail, you can find his mail address in his profile.

Regards,
Korot

just did that

[Nique]

Ok, thank you

I think i will approach you guys in the future (if you want) for more. This document is far from finished, but it is a start.

[WC_EEND]

Ok, thank you

I think i will approach you guys in the future (if you want) for more. This document is far from finished, but it is a start.

sure, count me in

[croxis]

I threw my edit on the wiki

[Korot]

Wasn't the Wiki down?

Regards,
Korot