"Inner Space V" — Building a Roundabout Park and More [Cities: Skylines Farewell Project] - video Dailymotion

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This 5th episode of Inner Space explores a virtual "Bay City" and bids farewell to the original Cities: Skylines software.

Transcript

00:00Hello DP community, and welcome to another episode of Innerspace.

00:06Today, we pick up exactly one year since the topic of Innerspace 4, namely City Skylines.

00:13My foray into CS was indeed so late that the software is about to begin its journey into obsolescence.

00:20City Skylines 2 is coming out in the fourth quarter this year, and wow, does it look fantastic.

00:27Feeling like someone who arrives at a party when coats are being returned to the guests,

00:31I really wanted to squeeze in one more go with the soon-to-be classic, City Skylines.

00:37Last year's Groveland Heights project was my first and only experience with the game.

00:42The purpose of this second and final city was to explore new assets and new approaches to modeling a much larger city space.

00:51So please join me as I lead you on a virtual dawn-till-dusk visit of Bay City, with its sprawling seacoast, rivers, and ample green space.

01:02Last year's Groveland Heights was a single-tile city with a population of 10k.

01:08I had to unlock four tiles for this project, but density-wise, Bay City is really a three-tile city, home to a population of 30,000 residents.

01:19So everything I want to show you today is stuff that wasn't part of last year's city.

01:24We'll begin by visiting the college campus at 8am.

01:28Then we'll head to Sunset Beach at 10am.

01:31While there is plenty of coastline, my decision to develop a beach only in the eastern corner is tied to the city's water system.

01:39You see, freshwater is sourced in Riverside District, and treated wastewater is dumped downstream near the Harbor District.

01:47So water pollution is higher along the western and central coastlines.

01:51At noon, we'll zoom in to Bay City Heights and its unique roundabout park.

01:57The latter is something I had never seen other CS creators explore, and it was probably my highest design priority.

02:03I really wanted to see it work.

02:062pm seems like a good time to visit the zoological park.

02:10At 4pm, we'll head back to the coast to visit the harbor.

02:14Once there, it's an easy trip to the Bayview Commercial Plaza.

02:18And we'll end the day at Ocean Park, partly to enjoy the evening fireworks.

02:24Oh yes, 8 o'clock classes are a real thing.

02:27We're traveling on Shoreway Drive, which passes the front entrance of Bay College.

02:32You can see the campus up on the right.

02:35Right across the main entrance, on the left here, is a monorail station.

02:39Groveland Heights had a city university, which was just a large building that you plop down like any other common asset.

02:46But this campus add-on is like a game within a game.

02:50Campuses are designed and developed gradually.

02:53As the school levels up, more buildings become available.

02:57Although it does have three dormitory buildings, I'd say Bay College is on the smaller side.

03:02And its layout is no doubt influenced by the many urban campuses I've experienced in my own life.

03:09Varsity sports is a fun component of the campuses in Cities Skylines.

03:14The Bay College baseball team has a stadium, which isn't technically on campus, but is an easy 10-minute walk.

03:21There are actual games, and whenever the home team wins, the city is awarded cash.

03:27But after a loss, it seems the residents get pissed off and irritated.

03:32Ah, it's a perfect day to cut classes.

03:35From campus, we can walk to Powell Station and take the monorail along the coast right to the beach.

03:45Last year's city had only buses and the underground metro lines.

03:49Bay City has two parallel monorail lines.

03:53One servicing the coast, the orange line, and one servicing the inland neighborhoods, the blue line.

04:01Such beautiful weather today. We picked a good day for the visit.

04:07As usual, the beach is jumping.

04:11My vision for this beach was very clear from the outset.

04:15I used pedestrian zoning for the actual beach space.

04:19You can even rent a cabin here for a more rustic experience.

04:23The main strip, Beach Avenue, is the divider,

04:27with the hotels and shops set off on their own road, aptly named Hotel Drive.

04:33By the way, if you do visit Sunset Beach, I can recommend the Jens Hotel.

04:38It's highly rated on TripAdvisor.

04:41Now, the question is, where did this come from?

04:44Because normally what you see are hotels and shops lining the main strip.

04:49But I have scattered memories of a place like this,

04:53where the main strip was conspicuously open, uncluttered,

04:57and all the hotels were set back on side streets.

05:01I can't be sure, but there might be some influence from my Florida spring break days.

05:07If you know of a real beach with a similar layout, please leave a comment.

05:14Bay City Heights is the largest and oldest district, for this is where the city began.

05:19You can see the World Highway connection at the bottom.

05:22While predominantly a residential community,

05:25it does have pockets of commercial and government buildings,

05:28such as the city's first public library and clinic.

05:32Bay City Heights, and the bulk of its business sector,

05:35are served by Main Street, running north-south,

05:39and Center Boulevard, running east-west.

05:42Today, there are plenty of low-density and high-density businesses,

05:46as well as high-rise condominiums.

05:51Bay City Heights is most famous for its huge roundabout park.

05:55Roundabout space is traditionally decorated with grass, bushes, or the occasional statue,

06:01but Bay City converted this one to a bona fide park,

06:05complete with food stalls, restrooms, and playgrounds.

06:09It was the government's campaign to unveil the space as lookout park,

06:14because the pedestrian walkway affords such impressive views of the city, even down to the coast.

06:20But many of the city's parents insist the real reason for the park's name

06:25is one has to be on constant lookout from all the surrounding traffic.

06:30In fact, the government already determined that drivers are more alert when driving on a roundabout,

06:36and the park has natural collision avoidance.

06:39Huge-ass rocks!

06:42So, contrary to all the snarky moms, no one has ever been struck by a vehicle.

06:48At night, the park is usually home to teenage gatherings.

06:52No one under 20 calls this place lookout park.

06:56In their vernacular, it is affectionately known as make-out park.

07:02If you're on the eastern side of Bay City Heights, you're close to the city's zoological park.

07:07It's on the smaller side, but there are enough walking paths and animal exhibits

07:12to spend 90 minutes, two hours, if you have lunch here.

07:17There are three facilities for which I didn't have enough space.

07:21Elephants, sea life, and rhinos.

07:24But this condensed layout showcases what a nice asset the zoo park is.

07:28For example, I like the animal animations that are visible in the open enclosures.

07:35As we move to the main entrance on Center Boulevard,

07:39this first green building is the Monkey Palace.

07:49If I were to enter here, I think my natural inclination would be to do a clockwise walk,

07:55so I would first end up at the bison enclosure.

08:05Moose and reindeers.

08:11And then we have a little structure for tarsiers.

08:19And this large house is for insects, amphibians, and reptiles.

08:25I really like this giraffe enclosure, and it just so happened

08:29that the terrain was elevated here, so it ended up on a hill and it worked out.

08:36Flamingos.

08:40This is the side entrance on Lewis Street,

08:42which is right next to one of the Bay City Heights neighborhoods.

08:48And a rather large building.

08:50And a rather large birdhouse, and right behind it, the antelope enclosure.

08:58It may seem counterintuitive, but when we're at street level,

09:02I often have no idea where I am.

09:04When you design and micromanage a world in games like SimCity or Cities Skylines,

09:10you are spending so much time in god mode, looking down upon the city space,

09:15that street level can feel like foreign land.

09:18For example, right now I'm not sure where we are,

09:21but I can tell you that we're driving to the harbor as the afternoon winds down.

09:28Constructing a harbor space had its pros and cons.

09:32First, it's quite lively, boosting the movement of both tourists and commercial goods.

09:39Bay City's harbor shares pedestrian zoning,

09:42Bay City's harbor shares pedestrian zoning with the adjoining Bayview Plaza,

09:47so there's lots of foot traffic in this area.

09:54Visitors are drawn to the multi-level market hall,

10:00and to the magnificent observation tower.

10:06However, I am not a fan of the sloppy ship animations.

10:09I hope that ship traffic behaves more realistically in Cities Skylines 2.

10:15The harbor also nearly destroyed the local road traffic.

10:20When I originally introduced the cargo port,

10:23there was a traditional road and street system in place.

10:26Nearly all of the offloading cargo vehicles would set off for this intersection,

10:32which then crippled the neighborhood's traffic.

10:35It was pretty bad.

10:36So bad, in fact, that I had to design a new service expressway just for the cargo port.

10:45You'll notice that Bayview Industrial Way is completely inaccessible to local area traffic.

10:53All cargo vehicles must use the service expressway

10:57and then drive to a later exit to access specific neighborhoods.

11:07In the real world, I suppose this would be a crazy expensive and outlandish traffic solution,

11:14but it was a solution that worked for Bay City.

11:17Traffic in this general area still tends to be heavy, but it's no longer dysfunctional.

11:26From the harbor, one can take a leisurely stroll into Bayview Plaza.

11:32Vehicle roads and streets give way to spacious sandstone walking paths

11:37that are lined with trees, art exhibits, shops, and modern rising buildings.

11:42This is probably the number one regular destination for both residents and tourists.

11:48Bayview Plaza is the city's commercial and office epicenter,

11:52so people come here not only for work,

11:55but to enjoy the seaside, sunsets, and scattered attractions.

11:59For the city's elite, there are also a few luxury apartment towers

12:03with views well worth the rental costs.

12:06As you can see, there is a dedicated bus route servicing the entire plaza.

12:11There is also a monorail station on Shoreway Drive that serves both the plaza and the harbor.

12:17Bayview Plaza was designed for commuting,

12:20but for those who must drive in, there is a multi-level parking garage right across the entrance.

12:29Those screams you hear are the screams of thrill and fun at Ocean Park,

12:34which connects with Bayview Plaza. Indeed, seaside is where it's at in Bay City.

12:40Ocean Park is effectively an extension of Bayview Plaza,

12:44so pedestrian traffic can, and often does, flow between these two sections.

12:50While the public is free to enter Ocean Park, as we're about to do now, the rides are not free.

12:56To get the most out of the park, one must pay at the main gate and get their hand stamped.

13:01Definitely pay the admission fee to enjoy the newest attraction, the Derrick Death Drop.

13:07Let's swing over to the main gate side and wrap our city tour from there.

13:26♪

"Inner Space V" — Building a Roundabout Park and More [Cities: Skylines Farewell Project]

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