Hit the road again!

[dasilva]

Hello, my name is Nicolas, I’m the lead programmer of the simulation part of the game. I’m also in charge of the transport system. Today I would like to share my views concerning roads in Cities Unlimited.Recently, we’ve been following two discussions in the English forum started by Phil(Road Creator (/index.php?/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,6/func,view/id,3759/catid,9/lang,en/)) and MadScientist289 (The unofficial road thread (/index.php?/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,6/func,view/id,1682/catid,9/limit,15/limitstart,30/lang,en/)) as well as another discussion in the German forum by th.cb(Verkehrswege Transportsysteme (/index.php?/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,3/func,view/id,424/catid,25/lang,de/)) where you can read a few ideas on the community vision of how roads should be implemented in Cities Unlimited.Back when I was working on City Life two years ago, we felt that having a grid free system for placement was the way to go if we wanted to allow players more freedom. Also going for full 3D was the required condition for bringing more realism and enabling players to build unique-looking cities. However this system came at a cost, having multiple intersections and roads that crossed at arbitrary angles and bridges that crossed over other bridges was deeply enjoyable as a player but also a mind-boggling challenge for the programmer I was then! So, the main question when I started on this project was: How can we improve it? Both for the player and for us programmers! Which direction to take for roads in Cities Unlimited?We therefore decided to move down the route of what we called “Multiple Lane” roads.

More... (http://www.cuplanet.com/index.php?/content/view/6/33/lang,en/)