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Cities: Skylines 2provides a genuine city-building simulation experience. As you immerse yourself in this simulation, you’ll naturally find yourself searching for additional elements that can enhance the realism of your city and bring an authentic experience to your virtual metropolis.
Deciding to enhance the realism of your city involves several steps right from the start of your new map. Fortunately, this guide is here to assist you in building a realistic city, step by step.
Inspiration From Real Cities
If you aim to create a realistic city, your initial step should involve gaining insights into how real cities are built.Observing various citieswill help you form an understanding of their creation process.
Every city has a unique structure. This diversity allows you tochoose a themethat resonates with you and dictates how your city should be shaped. Consider this step as the foundational idea for your city.
Real City Blueprints
Once you’ve chosen a theme that aligns with your ideas, startexamining cities' blueprintsto delve deeper into creating an authentic city.
You can alsoutilize tools like Google Maps or Google Earthto explore how cities are constructed and plan your own city. Additionally, you have the option toreplicate patterns from real cities.
Plan Before
To start any city, you mustcreate a plan to followclosely. Simultaneously, consider the vision you have for your city and how you want it to develop.
Begin your plan byenvisioning the overall layoutand the type of city you want to create. Then, initiate the plan byfocusing on a small zonewhile considering ideas for future expansion.
Crafting a plan involves experimenting on your map.Combine your ideas and the road layoutto form an overview.
Lay Out Roads
In your planning process, establishthe first layer of your city by laying out roads. Simultaneously, employ thelandscape tool to shape the terrainaccording to your preferences.
When we initially design the road layout, it’s common to form perfect square grids, following ideal standards. However, this doesn’t capture realism. Instead, strive tocreate roads that mirror the more natural patternsfound in real cities.
Start Small
Avoid expanding extensively from the beginning.Start on a small scale, selecting a small area to test your ideas. As yougradually expand, replicate the same steps while keeping future expansion in mind.
Feel free to experiment, you can’t know the result of your vision and plan until you try them out.Experimentation can be beneficial to prevent potential issuesin the future.
Avoid The Perfection
When you begin placing your buildings, remember thatperfection isn’t essential. Draw inspiration from real cities or mimic their patterns, butembrace the randomness, as it’s what adds a touch of reality to your city.
When playing this game, it’s common to create square zones, but for a more realistic feel, tryincorporating randomness into your designs.
Mixing Zones
In this game, we frequently use the zoning tool to create separate sections for residential, commercial, and industrial zones. This approach leads to a city that diverges from the authenticity found in real cities.
In real cities, it’s common to have zones thatblend residential and commercial areas. Sometimes, you’ll also find residential zones intermingling with industrial zones in certain cities.
Don’t Use Everything At Once
You will find that you’re offerednumerous featuresyou can include in your city, but to make it realistic,you must exclude some of them. When starting a city, we often follow the progression and include all available upgrades, but this doesn’t mirror reality.
For example, when starting an area, we usually begin with simple transportation. But as we go on, there’s a habit ofadding all kinds of transportation servicesto make our city better. However, thisisn’t quite like real life.
The same goes forhospitals. It’snot necessary to put them everywhere. Instead, choose areas where a high patient capacity is needed. In other regions, a medical clinic might suffice.
Instead, concentrate onoffering top-notch servicesand features tailoredto specific areas, rather than trying to include everything everywhere.
Parks And Green Areas
When it comes toParks and Recreation, we often try to include them in any area we can, to increase the citizens' happiness by offering them leisure opportunities. However, this doesn’t reflect reality.It’s essential not to add them everywhere. Instead,include parks in specific areaswithin your city.
The same goes forvegetation. While you may want to add trees wherever you can, it’s important not to turn your city into a forest.
