CityMania

[Nique]

I realy think this is a good idea for simulation. But i would keep in mind that it isn't a tycoon game.. so this process should go automaticly. In your first city you absolutely need industry, but when there are industrial cities across the country the cities commerce should import products from other cities (but fully automaticly, because it is a citybuilder (simulation) not a business tycoon game ).. but what we cán implement is some options to stimulate kinds of business. Making commerce completely depending on real industry in the game will be very hard.

[townscape]

This is more to influence demand than really control the industry. All the production simulation is not influenced by the mayor, only through dezoning, demolition or ordinances.

[dragonshardz]

My idea is, as townscape said, more to help regulate demand. It's also looking towards making things more realistic, rarely are there mines (Primary Producers) right next to factories (Secondary Producers). This creates a need for warehouses (Storage) at transhipment points like seaports.

Commercial (Service) is connected to Industry (Storage) and Industry (Secondary Producers) because it sells what they produce/store. Commercial (Office) regulates C(S).

As was said, the idea is to help regulate demand, control where industries grow, and foster realism, not to control what goes where.

Also, it would help make your roads LOOK as busy as they ARE. I(PP) generates trucks which travel to I(S) areas near transhipment points (freight stations, seaports, and airports) throughout the day. At the TS points, material is transferred to rail, air, or sea vehicles. The TS points then generate air, rail, or sea traffic, which travels to other TS points where it is offloaded into more I(S) buildings. Then, automata from I(SP) travels to I(S) areas, pick up material, and take it back to I(SP). Then, trucks from I(SP) return finished products to I(S), which then ships it out to C(S) via rail, road, air, or sea.

Of course, I(SP) near railways can have dedicated freight stations that bring material directly from I(PP) or transhipment points.

[Atomius]

Well as weak as my lack of skills are, i have finished Virtucity (due to me getting article writing work that limits my time working on projects) so i will devote all my free online time to this project... although of course there is little i can contribute as my C is awful.

[Nique]

I think it's a good idea to make up what classes / methods needed to make and list them. Afterwards we can assign programmers to write these pieces of the game. Then we can review it and adjust where needed.

There is no overview at the moment about.. who is working on what. Maybe we should setup a WIKI and make a list of objects that we need. Then assign people to it?

[croxis]

We need to either use trac, launchpad(take the tour), or convince the devs to upgrade to SMF 2.0 and install http://www.smfproject.net/

I also suggest having programmers work on features instead of individual classes. For Vista Microsoft programmers were divided to work on specific classes, while for Windows 7 they were divided into teams and worked with any source they needed to add their feature they were assigned. Windows 7 turned out to be a much more stable OS. CPP (makers of Eve Online) use the scrum development method which is also feature centric, not class.

In order for a feature centric paradigm to work a coding style will need to be established.

[Nique]

https://launchpad.net/citymania

Do we use strict MVC for our project? (for best overview)

[croxis]

MVC is the only one I really know. Can you add me (croxis) onto maintainer or diver list?

[Nique]

Can you add me (croxis) onto maintainer or diver list?

https://launchpad.net/citymania

[JoeST]

so...you chose launchpad...at least you didnt try and get that smf thing

Joe

[daeley]

https://launchpad.net/citymania

Do we use strict MVC for our project? (for best overview)

I know I'm not involved (yet) with this project, but I think this one is a no-brainer. In a big project with a GUI, data representation and background processing there's really no reason not to go with MVC. Clear separation of concerns will be a bit more difficult in the beginning to design, but will pay itself off tenfold later in the development process.

[Nique]

indeed, we should make some standard coding rules e.g.

- This_Is_A_Class
- thisIsAMethod

[croxis]

I've been using the Python PEP8 Style the best that I can. mixedCase has been used for functions because that is what the Panda Engine uses.

[croxis]

Launchpad no worky. And I was going to post a blueprint x.x

[Nique]

i don't understand.. its gone?! 

[croxis]

You might want to contact them with the issue see if it was a technical error or they were not happy with something. Usually they notify you if there is something that violates terms of usage.

In the interim I developed a team for us: https://launchpad.net/~citymania

[townscape]

 Lately I have seen a lot of talking on the open source side of things and for now have noticed a lot of independent open source city simulators:
-Simtropolis
-CityMania
-Metropolis( still in theory )
-Cities of [the] World

When I think about the quantity of work that all these projects will need the issue of human resources arises in my mind.
The community is big and willing to help, but this resource is almost limited and the more projects there are the less people working on one project. That gives us a smaller chance that ANY project will succeed.
This is a thing to worry about. If one project can get 20 volunteers to work, 2 projects will have to split them, 3 even more, 4... 5...etc.
     
Sure you can find more people outside the community, but will there be enough motivation for them? There is also the issue of community support:
If there are too many choices, won't that confuse the community?

I'm not sure that people will support any project if the number of developers is small. Also if most DO succeed I'm not sure you'll get enough support to continue development, because different people will take different sides and that means the supporting community will get smaller.

Maybe find some common compromises in a Universal Design Document and unite all the project starters, their developers and the work already done. It is better to do this now when the work is fresh and easily modifiable, people are more open to this. Later the projects will separate themselves more and more. First discuss all the details and debate the most serious ones, then plan the development and share work. If you don't like something, argue your choice or work on it yourself as a plug-in or an option, the more choice the better. Most people have a very resembling idea on what are the base ideas of their project, and everyone should unite their efforts to at least create that common base. A single game with different options is better than many weak games. First develop a powerful base that everyone will like and then develop the other features.

I call every project to unite and create the best open source game ever.

Also posted on the Simtropolis 1000 topic
http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=39&threadid=89591&startpage=27#1640363

[daeley]

I disagree. Simtropolis 1000 is pretty much a dead project that never really got started. A project forum/homepage was created for it and it was renamed to "urbs urbis" but they basically never got any further than the planning stages because there were too many people involved. Basically, the Simtopolis 1000 project is not an open source simulator, it is a wishlist for an open source simulator...

For my experience - which is not very extensive, so I might be wrong - a lot of open source project start with a few people that flesh out the major lines for the project and start on the basics. When those start to look like something valuable, people will start to get interested and will offer help. Then, if someone interesting comes along, the project admins can pick them up and add them to the group. IMO the architecture of the game should not be too detailed (yet), but should be focused on extensibility. The advantage of such an approach is you can actually get started on something. A positive side-effect of starting small is that you have a low threshold to get started on something.

just my 0.02$...

[townscape]

I disagree. Simtropolis 1000 is pretty much a dead project that never really got started.

just my 0.02$...

actually there was a guy that announced that he needs help with a project he called "Simtropolis*tm*"
see the last page of the topic I posted higher to see it

[JoeST]

actually there was a guy that announced that he needs help with a project he called "Simtropolis*tm*"
see the last page of the topic I posted higher to see it

this is true, but he wont get anywhere...