JMK-portfolio_DD-SCplay_scenarios

							Appendix 1 - Design Documentation
SimCity 4 – three distinct play style scenarios, conceptual design

It was generally agreed early on that the next SimCity should have as broad appeal as
possible, to reach out to a variety of players. This document colorfully and specifically
illustrates how three very different players (Heartless Herman, Emily Entrepreneur, and
Caring-Sharing Cleo) might play the same game in their own distinctive way. The prose
descriptions are accompanied by a short list of game milestones.

The use of such play styles I learned from my time at LEGO, where it is standard
practice. I emply illustrative scenarios frequently during intitial and conceptual design
phases as a tool to share product vision.
play scenarios
Introducing Herman, Emily, and Cleo – three SimCity 4 players with three
very different approaches to city building:

Heartless Herman                                                   statistics    rewards
Herman is a fascist. He believes that sims should be slaves
and treated like dirt. He knows there are plenty of
investors out there who need a place to do their dirty work,
and Hermangrad is just the ticket.
Herman zones high density industrial and high density
residential. He keeps up the power and water for the
industries, and invests in port and rail to move product. He        10,000
also drops taxes for dirty industry, and then he sits back
and watches his city grow.
Dirty industry moves in pretty quickly, and after a few
years he’s got a nice spread of smokestacks and steam
vents belching along. Herman ignores the citizen sims’                           army base
pleas for more schools, hospitals, police and fire, but he           - aura
does provide some commercial zoning for his cronies to
build the company stores. Pollution is widespread. Riots
are common, with fires regularly destroying
neighborhoods, adding to the misery.                                50,000       Places Rated
Lifespan drops to the point that population growth is
impossible, and Herman’s shitty city stalls. He reluctantly         - - aura
adds some hospitals to keep the sims alive, which helps.
But the rioting continues to set back development and so
he also adds enough police to keep the sims at bay.                              prison
Hermangrad grows and grows, a big dirty mess. Herman                200,000
extends his empire to the next city in the region, and then
to the next. His fetish for belching smokestacks knows no
bounds.
                                                                                 toxic waste plant
But after a while, his cities start to look alike, so he decides
it’s time to consolidate. He provides good rail connections        1,000,000
and plenty of stations across his region. He starts a new
city, New Hermangrad, and zones nothing but high density
Industry. He raises Industry taxes in the rest of his region,
and in a few years New Hermangrad develops into an                               nuclear waste dump
industrial behemoth – a fetid image of hell – with satellite
cities of large tenements with a busy rail system shuttling         - - - aura
workers to there miserable fate.
                                                                   2,000,000
Emily Entrepreneur
Emily is into self-improvement. She works hard to do well
in school and she thinks her sims should work hard as well.
She has great ambitions for her city, Emily City.
Emily zones a mix of types and densities, and does her best
to provide adequate schools, hospitals, police, etc. She
also invests in port and rail facilities to give Emily City
every advantage. Things move along nicely as some farms
                                                               EQ1
and dirty industries develop.
After a few years, a new generation of more educated sims      8,000
begin to complain about the pollution and also to demand
better jobs. Emily enacts anti-pollution ordinances and
raises taxes for the polluting industries, at the same time               TV station
lowering taxes for manufacturers. The polluters start to
abandon, replaced by labor intensive manufacturers, and so
residential demand jumps impressively.                         20,000     chamber of
                                                                          commerce
Emily keeps pace with the surging growth of Emily City,         EQ2
continuing zoning more to accommodate the growing
population, while improving infrastructure and maintaining
a good level of civic services. A significant middle class
emerges, choosing to live on the outskirts of town, away       80,000
from the poverty and crime of the old neighborhoods. This
middle class, in turn, begins to demand white collar jobs;
Emily obliges by encouraging offices to come to town                      Places Rated
through taxes and ordinances.
It’s a balancing act, keeping income up to the expenses of
running a good city, but Emily’s been careful to keep
things in check. Yes, there are problems, like the chronic    120,000
crime and the remaining hazardous industries. But sure
enough, a fledgling high-rise commercial center starts to                 Performing Arts
arise in Emily City.                                                      Center
Ambitious Emily decides to expand to the region and starts
neighbor cities. She builds a new, larger port in one city
and encourages industry there, and also sculpts a lovely
                                                              200,000
and scenic city with parks and colleges – a haven for
middle class and wealthy residents. She invests heavily in     EQ3
transportation links, both roads and rail.
Eventually Emily has a thriving metropolis around Emily                   major league
City, with industrial satellites and green burbs, tourist     400,000     stadium
havens and bucolic farmland. Something for everyone.
Her emphasis on education pays off as demand for office
space soars, and Emily City becomes a commercial
playground abounding with glittering skyscrapers and high     1,200,000   stock exchange
tech industries.
Caring Sharing Cleo
Cleo is a lovey-dovey huggable sweetie pie. She loves
everything and everyone to be happy and sunny all day
long. Cleo starts a new city all her own, Cleosburg.
She loves animals and so zones for lots of farms. She
creates a small town for the farmers and their hands, and of
course gives them schools and parks and such to keep them
happy. The farms grow out quickly, but she’s upset that
the town neighborhoods are so barren and poor.
Cleo does all she can to give her sims good schools,              2000
hospitals, parks, etc. It’s not easy, as her budget income is     EQ1
pretty low. She zones some industry but makes sure that
she enacts all the right ordinances to keep that yukky
pollution down. Growth is slow, but her sims appreciate it.
After a while, her educated sims start to want better paying
jobs, and demand for manufacturing rises. She adjusts the         + aura
tax rates to discourage dirty industry and encourage              3000      points of interest
manufacturing, but she doesn’t zone any more. Cleaner
factories move in, but not enough to keep up with demand
– which remains high.                                             EQ2
As she has the money, she continues to improve her little                   Places Rated
city. She maximizes her school and health funding, zones         ++ aura
for parks, and plants lots and lots of trees. She takes her
                                                                  4000
time, not only because she wants everything perfect but
also because her little city can afford only so much
improvement at a time.
Fortunately, Cleosburg gets the attention of various
altruistic entities, who bestow grants and gifts upon the city              regional medical
in recognition of its quality of life. The superior health                  center
system draws the regional hospital, the and quality               5000
environment and plethora of parks draws wealthy tourists.
Another result of Cleo’s emphasis on civic services is the        EQ3       resort hotel
interest of the governing powers-that-be. The regional
court house is offered to her city, and a private college                   court house
                                                                 +++ aura
shows interest as well. But Cleo balks when the Bureau of
Bureaucracy and the University offer to move it – she
doesn’t care for those slick politicians and academics                      private college
interfering in her little city.                                   8000
Cleo’s conservative approach to growth, emphasizing
services and amenities over expansion, has Cleosburg
much in demand. Although her sims are happy in
Cleosburg, they are still mostly poor. Cleo decides to start
a neighbor city, Barneyville (after her bratty brother), to
accommodate growth and hopefully give the residents of
Cleosburg a better livelihood. Barneyville undergoes          25,000
explosive growth, with many manufacturing operations
and offices moving in. Cleo doesn’t pay nearly enough
attention to services and amenities in Barneyville, but
gives Cleosburg residents the ability to commute. She also    50,000    University
decides to locate the Bureau and University there.
Cleosburg residents grow wealthy, building nicer houses.                Bureau of
The burgeoning region population attracts a zoo, to Cleo’s              Bureaucracy
                                                              100,000
delight, and she gives it a prominent spot in her city. She
is encouraged to zone for some new wealthy estates in
Cleosburg, but gets an icky feeling about that.                         Zoo
But the problems of Barneyville weigh heavy on her, and
the commute seems to be a bother to her beloved Cleoburg      150,000
sims. Then one evening, after her bratty brother has
thrown another tantrum, she decides goes to Barneyville
and unleash her vengeance. She visits tornados, floods,
earthquakes, and volcanos on the cursed city, and in a few
short months the city lies in ruins. The city empties out,
and while Cleosburg remains unscathed, the citizens lose
their good jobs and their nice houses decay. But with their   10,000
parks, zoo, hospitals, etc., they are happy.
And that’s all that matters to Cleo.