What's the thinking behind the "minimum distance between buildings" design choice? Everything looks so spread out. A lot of the town screenshots look like perfectly spaced out grids of buildings. When I think post-apocalyptic society I imagine a bunch of run-down and ramshackle buildings clustered closely together, either for protection or because that's how they were left standing after the explosion. Are there plans to include unoccupied ruins to build in/around?
From the screenshots and videos it seems like you're building a city from raw materials in the wilderness which would explain why things are spaced out. But it's still aesthetically.. odd. Also maybe I'm wrong and that's just the way it's shown in the videos and screenshots, I wouldn't know- I can't allow myself to shell out cash for pre-alphas. Not anymore. I would happily help you bug test your game for free, but I wouldn't gamble my money to help you.
I must admit it’s not something that occurred to me until you (and someone else) mentioned it. It was just the way I’d decided to personally lay out those towns.
One reason there might seem to be a lot of space is because Atomic Society is unusual in that you can build steep hillside towns on a 3D map, so the ground has to flatten in real-time as your town expands. If we let players build things too close together, one house flattens the ground, and the one next to it is left floating in mid-air. This is a technical limitation of being in 3D.
I think you might like the way it looks more when we add in natural paths. E.g. where the citizens walk regularly little trails will appear. That will help fill in empty space. But it’s a purely visual thing so it’s low down on the list of priorities.
You're not the only person to mention the oddness though, so I’ve been trying to fix it a little bit. We’ve made the game in quite a flexible manner so I’ve been able to reduce the minimum space required quite today in fact, by a third. I think that will allow for much more compact towns in the next update. I don’t think I can get buildings much nearer without causing bugs or leaving space for paths but I’ll see how it goes and improve if possible. Every map has dozens of abandoned ruins from before the war that can be repurposed for your town.
I understand why you might want to avoid the pre-alpha, that’s totally fine. I only mention it’s available and I’d be a fool not to, and so people understand this is already a widely playable game, not some fantasy on paper.
Author
Topic: Atomic Society: Post-Apocalyptic City Builder With a Moral Choice System (Read 11990 times)