Kids Bedtime Stories

Sim City

Cosy up and snuggle down, for tonight you explore the complexities of creating a town from the ground up in SimCity.

You find yourself on flatland that spreads for miles in each direction. To the north you can see mountain ranges that stretch across the horizon. As your eyes follow the mountains to the east, you notice a haze. You've spent many holidays on beach fronts and the haze, you know, is sea mist and something you recognise immediately. The screeching gulls flying above confirm your observation of the landscape around you. To the west the mountains' jagged silhouetted tops are gently softened by the green-topped trees that eventually meld into the horizon. To the south the land stretches for as far as you can see. There is one lonely building in the middle of this isolated location which is blurred by the constant mirages that appear in the afternoon heat. You look down and notice you hold a tablet that places you in the centre of the land, a top-down map that is easy to read. You use the mountains and sea to orient yourself and calculate how far you are away from the building. But you quickly realise that your job here is to build a new town or city in this space, and there is no need for you to even go near the building, but rather to use it as a starting point.

You understand the map and you spend some time exploring the menu systems you have at your disposal. You can see there are options to build zones, specific landmarks, infrastructure like water pipes, roads, power stations and much more. You also notice there are options that you can't yet select as your city will need to grow in order to unlock them. Flicking through, you notice a topographical and a resources view in your map that show you the height of mountains and terrain as well as resources like wind, water, oil and gold that will need to be mined. There are also overlays for things like happiness and pollution. All of this is currently green, indicating that everything is fine, but you know your decisions on the growth of the city will have an impact on the environment around you. You make a note of these menus and resolve to build as a clean as city as you can.

You are comfortable with the menus and have all the tools you need to start building. You've played many city building games before and are excited by the challenge.

The first thing you need to do, as you know, is create a transportation network. You will have to divide the city into zones for living, working and entertainment, so getting your design right at the start will make it easier for you to expand your city and support its growth.
You start modestly with four double-lane roads that intersect and cross forming grid pattern that resembles a noughts and crosses game. These will be your main roads into and out, and will most likely be the centre of your city as it expands. You know this as you intent to initially expand in a circle.
Dividing the roads into residential, commercial and entertainment zones allows you to finally start planning and building. Making sure you keep a good balance between the zones will ensure your city will flourish and grow.

You decide you want to use the land to the south east that leads to the sea as an industrial hub. Here you want to build your commercial zone, as well as your major ports for air and sea. This will give you a good foundation for trade and tourism with other territories. Usually you'd consider putting your tourism industry by the sea, but the land you have is rich with diversity and you can easily place your tourism industry somewhere between the mountains and the sea.

You divide the grid into your sections: Residential from the west, Commercial through the centre and east, and industrial to the south east on the coast.
It's a basic foundation which you'll be able to modify as the city grows, but for now you're happy with the layout.

Slowly residents start to settle and new homes and businesses start to appear. You look up from your tablet to see the landscape transform before you. No longer does a lonely building stand in the middle of this vast space. Slowly, but surely, buildings are starting to appear with some ports being built almost immediately.
You know, before long, there will be an influx of people into your new town, and they will demand services which you're aware that you've not yet built. Things like water pipes, electricity, food shops, more convenient roads and even hospitals, fire and police stations and recycling centres. Your mind is full of ideas, and you start thinking of schools and tourist attractions, but you know you must stick to your plan to secure the basics. You have to be careful how you lay the water pipes and where you place the power station. So you concentrate on providing the things that your new residents will need. Good roads, electricity and water. You have to be careful how you lay the pipes and where you place the power station. You don't want to have it too close to the residential area, but you don't want it too far away either.

You choose to build the power station first. You open your building menu on the tablet and are offered a number of different power station types. Some are too expensive and others are either too big or too small. Each station generates varying amounts of power. Wind power, for example, doesn't take up much room, but only generates very little power compared to a coal power station. But then a coal power station produces a lot more pollution. But it lasts a lot longer and is more reliable than wind power.
Then you have hydropower, which are under-water turbines using currents to create electricity. But you don't have a river running through your town, so that isn't an option. Then there is nuclear, which is very expensive to build but produces a huge amount of energy.

Your choices are limited right now, so you can only start with either coal or wind power. Because you want to be as environmentally responsible as you can, you opt for wind energy, even though you know you may have to replace it with something more substantial as your city grows.

You turn your attention to water, there are now alerts popping up on your tablet informing you that residents and businesses don't yet have water. You also notice a flashing electrical bolt signal too, indicating that the city needs more power too. You quickly flick through the menus and place water towers where needed and check to see the best places to add your windmills. After about five minutes of planning and placing you've provided power and water to all your residents and buildings. It doesn't take long for the city to respond and grow much quicker.

As more buildings appear, you decide to expand the commercial district further east towards the sea. You place more roads and better connections within and around your initial grid road. The smaller roads feed into the heart of the city, like capillaries, while the bigger roads act as veins, allowing the traffic to flow freely. But as the city grows, the traffic increases creating traffic jams. By building smaller roads and expanding the city you should be able to make the traffic flow better. You also think about installing public transportation and find both a metro service and a bus service. You opt to use both; buses to connect the shorter distances together while the metro connects the farthest most points of the city. You carefully place bus routes and stops across your now bustling city and watch as the residents start to use their cars less frequently and, instead, use public transport. You take a glance up from your tablet and notice the city has expanded so far north in your direction that you can hear it. You can see the the wind turbines you've placed as they slowly rotate providing the city with power. But you notice one isn't working. You look down at your tablet and are greeted by a more notifications. You need more roads, more power, more water, more of everything to sustain the city's growth!
You put your head back into creation mode and look down with determination. You don't know how much time you have here, but you want to make sure the city is as good as it can be.

First you quickly check your maps. There is no major pollution, no major traffic jams, still plenty of water reserves and you still have a vast space that you can build out on to... for now. Next you check your cities infrastructure. You notice that water isn't reaching all the buildings, especially those in the newer districts. You place a few more water towers to help, but you also start thinking about a more permanent solution and you know that you'll need a water pumping station soon. But for now, the additional water towers will suffice.
Next you check the power supply. Because the city has grown so quickly, most of your city has no power at all. You quickly purchase and erect a few more wind turbines, but it's not enough. The city is getting too big now to be supported by only wind turbines, unless you placed a large number of them on the cities outer limits. But then you'd be using up all the land just for wind turbines. You look closely at the coal-poweredd station. It will produce more than ten times the power of just one wind turbine, meaning that you could easily replace all of your windmills with one power station and still have excess energy. It would take up a lot less room, but it would also mean that you'd be using coal, and polluting the land around the station. For now you choose to continue to use the wind turbines, even though you know you'll need many more to supply the energy the city needs.

As you fix the power and water, you notice more people emigrating to your brand new city and building houses and businesses. You are aware that they will need parks to explore and exercise, so you quickly try to build some green spaces to help. And you put some markets and food shops across the city, as well as a few fire stations and police stations.

Your initial grid road is now very busy, so you spend a long time upgrading the road so it can take more traffic, but also linking it to other roads to help the traffic move quickly and efficiently. You realise that road design is actually a very skilful job and you can't just place roads anywhere. You decide to expand the public transport system adding more bus stops and metro stations to reduce traffic. But they need power and water too, so you flick between your menus until you've reached a harmonious balance. You take a deep breath and release it slowly as you look up.

The night sky is falling and the city is bustling with life and is now at your feet. You had been so engrossed in making sure the city was working as it should that you hadn't noticed that it had turned to dusk. You look at the city and recognise the landmarks, like the wind turbines that fan over the top of the city from the north east. You are proud of what you've done, but you're exhausted. It's taken a lot of energy trying to map and plan the city and the way it will grow. You appreciate the work and time to build and think about cities that already exist and wonder how you make older cities modern.

It's too much to think about right now. Your legs are tired and you realise that you've not sat down once during this whole time. A park you placed not far from where you are is calling to you. You know that it's a big park, and because you invented it, you know where the quietest parts are. You make your way to the park, which is already empty, and find the mini woods in the south- eastern part of the park. Here you can lean against the trees and look up into the sky.

You stare into the sky taking in all the sounds and trying to identify them. It's a thing you do a lot when you've been building, you like to challenge yourself. But you know how tired you are, and all the sounds start to become one melodic mess that gently makes your eyes heavy and your mind cloudy. You know it's time for you to rest. You're tired now, more than you knew. You push your back into the soft moss and let your head fall heavier still. You watch the sky disappear as you close your eyes and drift away, awaiting your next adventure.