I’ve been looking at maps of the cities. And I noticed that they all feature strictly straight streets, with only slight curves at intersections. All three cities. It’s as if they’re not cities at all, but chessboards.
If we think about landscape design, there’s a strict rule for small spaces: pathways should be curved, and this curve should disappear from view, creating a sense of “continuity into infinity”, where a person almost “imagines” what might be around that turn. What’s more — this is even partially used in park layouts in places like Dowon, where the paths are curved and partially hidden by grass and bushes. In reality — something like this:
But you can apply a similar technique to city streets! This would create that very sense of “coziness” that players often complain is lacking in InZOI and other life simulators.
I’m not suggesting we focus on the house designs themselves — it’s clear that’s “old European style”. But the street turns themselves look exactly like something you’d want to walk down to see what’s around the bend. I hope you understand what I mean? It opens up space for exploration, that feeling of “I want to keep going”.
I think this is quite applicable to high-rise cities too. The scale would just be a bit larger — we’d see how the street gradually curves into the distance in a smooth arc. This would also help deal with the fact that distant objects load right before our eyes — the effect would be less noticeable if the street didn’t go straight into the distance like an arrow in flight.
Not everywhere, but this approach could be used in some places, it seems to me. I hope you find the idea interesting enough to consider
Oh yeah! This would not only make cities look more cozy visually, but would also significantly improve optimization, since as long as we can’t see what’s around the “corner” or “bend” the game simply wouldn’t generate anything there, and objects would only appear once we walk past that corner. A similar optimization system is used in GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption 2!
Right now when you walk through the city, you see a half-empty map in the distance because objects simply haven’t been rendered — this spoils the city’s appearance. We want more coziness, picturesque streets, paths, trails, trees! This would encourage players to leave their homes more often just to enjoy the beauty of the city)
I agree. I think they’ve made the city maps to match their real life inspirations - so bliss bay has a grid-like streets and dowon has a mess of straight roads. They need to make a european city!
I just think this is exactly the moment that makes people say “Something’s off… I don’t know what exactly, but it feels like there’s no soul to it!” And this despite the fact that the developers are putting their heart and soul into it, trying their best.
It’s like there’s a lack of some kind of “spontaneity” in the planning. Usually cities, one way or another, follow the terrain. And when they don’t, when the map is based on a completely flat surface, without simulating the fact that construction happened gradually and took into account elevation changes — that’s when this sense of artificiality arises.
Yes, there should be straight, wide avenues. You can’t do without them in big cities. But there should also be something cozier. Besides, even a big and wide avenue can gently curve — for example, if it runs along a coastline. But with us everything is straight as an arrow right now.
I didn’t want to mention other games, but if you look at the latest cities in the same Sims, and now also the city in Paralives (ignoring the graphics) — it immediately becomes clear what I’m trying to say.
