#3 Construction
Hello and welcome to another installment of Metroland progress!
Last time I showed a preview of the construction gameplay in Metroland. I have added some enhancements since then which I wish to share with you.But first, please consider joining the discord. I post smaller updates more frequently there and enjoy speaking with you.
Farms
An important aspect of Metroland is the countryside. I liked the way the terrain in the game R.U.S.E (2011) looked with it's patchwork of farmland.
It could also handle going from a ground level view, all the way up beyond the clouds in a quick and smooth camera transition.
For Metroland, I wanted to create the same patchwork look to the countryside since the player is going to be spending a lot of time there. 
R.U.S.E (2011) by Eugen Systems, Ubisoft
Procedurally Generated Fields
Fields can be purchased in order to develop them into large housing estates.
In future, they may provide cargo such as milk and vegetables that can be collected from each farm and sent to a local railway station.
I also use farms to create a network of roads connecting neighbouring towns.The space between each neighbouring dot is equally distributed by tracing a line between each one using parabolas and a sweep line (Fortune's Algorithm).
This structure is useful for:
- Drawing farms with hedges
- Finding the nearest town or station.
- Drawing farm roads between towns
Fortune’s Algorithm
Blue lines represent field borders
Invisible Stations
Custom Freight Station
Building houses requires a lot of building materials. Bringing the materials up by rail is the most efficient way to start construction.
Above is an example of an invisible station where the cargo is unloaded directly from the rail wagon onto a neighbouring road vehicle. This allows for local freight distribution and storage of cargo.
Tracks can be zoned to construct these sidings. More information on shunting will feature in a future article.
Newly Added Wooden Platform
Part of the construction process means supplying the various building sites with workers.
Initially a simple wooden platform can be used to start a basic rail service in the local area.
Last stage of construction
Road Construction
An example of three different road layers
Road Construction
The game starts out with mostly dirt roads throughout the countryside.
To support higher overall speeds and increased road traffic in all weather conditions it becomes important to lay down some proper roads.The road construction system was built with traffic in mind.
I designed it so that one half of the road is out of order whilst being constructed, whilst the other is open for traffic.
This prevents roads from being unusable whilst road laying is in progress.
Partly open road
Other Changes
Complex intersections on a curved road
+ Support for complex road layouts, roundabouts, multiple-intersections
+ Construction Office (more information later) and Construction Workers
+ New Rural Church
+ Three new rural houses
+ Rail wagon for transporting Tar for road surfaces
+ Several types of rail signals including ground signals
+ Street signs and Road signs
+ Steam Loco Driver
+ Electric Loco Driver
+ Bus/Tram Driver
+ Various fixes and improvementsUpcoming
- Improved Game UI
- Scenario Editor
- New Express Electric Locomotive
- Rail Article focusing on customizable stations, shunting, and signals.
- Demo Discord Community Testing
- Gas works Industry (expected after demo)Game Demo
In the future I will be asking people from the discord community to help test and give feedback on the early game demo.
Remember to join the discord in order to take part when the time comes.Brief Development Road Map
There are generally two major types of content in the production pipeline:
1. Towns and Passenger Updates
+ More districts
+ More express passenger locomotives
+ More commercial real-estate gameplay
+ More entertainment buildings
2. Industry updates
+ Coal and Gas Industry
+ Building Materials Industry
+ More powerful freight engines like the F-class and K-class steam locos
This is not a complete list, but is to give you an idea of what future content to expect.As always, thank you for your support!
Photos Used