Design Goals V: Scalability and Mutability

Another challenge for PC games is the wide variety of hardware they have to be able to run on.  City simulation games tend to be especially demanding of system resources, with a lot of processor power needed for the simulation and a good GPU for 3D rendering.  So, when creating a game, we want it to be scalable: able to take full advantage of advanced hardware while still scaling down gracefully to an older system.

As with everything else, modularity is key to implementing this.  I already discussed the standard way in which games scale their graphics options;  With a good modular design, a similar idea could be applied to the elements of the simulation, in order to make heavier or lighter use of the processor.  This could be a matter of either adjustable complexity within a single module (e.g., simulating more or fewer variables), or of switching out modules altogether for more or less advanced ones.  Ideally, the game could be setup to either tax the most advanced multi-core processors, or to run even lighter than Sim City 4.

Another goal, which is achieved by the same means, is mutability: allowing players to tweak the game to best suit their own playing style.  Some players, for example, enjoy Sim City more as a canvas for creating a detailed work of art;  These are the players who prefer to plop every building, with an eye to aesthetics over utility.  For them, the simluation is more an annoyance than anything else.  Others prefer the play aspect of the game and feel that the graphics are secondary to the challenges of simulated mayorship.  Both these groups (and indeed any other kind of player) would be able to tone down or disable what they consider the unimportant aspects of the game in order to devote more system resources to the aspects they enjoy.

While it's likely that an initial release of the game would not have a wide variety of these options available, this would be an area where community contributions post-release could add substantial value and replayability.  The responsibility for the initial development team would be to make sure the core architecture supports this process.  Properly implemented, the game could be scaled and adjusted to almost any computer, or any playing style.