April 27, 2004
Grand Cell Auto: Sprawl City
Screenshot, although a lot of what I've worked on is getting the growth and decay to transition smoothly. You kinda have to see it in motion to get the full effect:
I also worked on adding features like texture mapping, different basic models, 3D text, even able to do transparency. And now, seeing a lot of these things in action, I may not stick with them (for instance, I certainly won't use the texture in this screenshot, and I may stick with the foggy silhouettes). The street signs as well are going to get a lot of work, or possibly be dropped as well.
On the other hand, the cellular behavior seems to be working out well. One variant I have has a few cells start alive at the center (or corners), and you gradually find yourself being boxed in by ever-growing, labryinth-like skyscrapers. A lot of stable cellular automata have a "wake" of cells that precedes the more permanent fixtures, so you can see the sprawl coming at you like a tidal wave...
Still a lot of work to be done, but I've a lot of the infrastructure (in many senses of the word) in place. Sound is the next necessity.
Comments
i like the street signs. i think they add a nice touch that brings me right into the world, for some reason. rock on, todd.
Posted by: kellee at April 27, 2004 10:55 PM
In these images the street signs are the only elements that give the masses/volumes a scale. If this is important, you may want to consider another element to imply human scale.
Would it be possible to keep one street sign constant at the corner of the image, as a avatar-like element, and change the names/numbers?
For those that are familiar with the urban grid, the signs also provide some sense of orientation. However, this could also be achieved through the use of shadows and infinite one point light source.
Posted by: andrew at April 30, 2004 10:25 AM
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