3D Visualization

After reading this page

• you've learned what the 3D World is
• you've learned how the 3D world relates to the Tygron Engine
• you've learned out of which elements the 3D world is created
• you've learned how to create a 3D world
• you've learned how to edit the 3D world

File:3dworld1.jpg

What is a 3D World?

The 3D World is a visual representation in three dimensions of (a part of) the real world or a virtual area.

What is the function of the 3D World in the Tygron Engine?

When playing a game in the Tygron Engine, a three dimensional (3D) visualization of the game area is rendered. In this 3D world the players can together navigate and perform their stakeholders' actions. The effects of their actions are also instantly visualized, delivering direct visual feedback. When for example a stakeholder's action negatively affects water storage in the game area, floods will occur and be displayed during heavy rain fall.

File:3DWorld2a.jpg

Tygron Engine 3D World

Elements of the 3D world

The 3D world consists of certain elements. These elements will be shortly explained below, however, for more details, please follow the links for the specific pages of these elements.

Constructions

Constructions are all the objects that can be build/ placed in the 3D world. They are split in three main groups:

File:3dworld3.jpg

Constructions panel in editor

1. Standard buildings:

   These constructions are divided in sub groups, such as offices, housing, industry, agriculture, etc.

2. Landmarks:

   To improve player immersion and recognition, some objects are moddelled from real life landmarks. Examples are renowned constructions such as huge Dutch Delta works, university faculty buildings in Delft, the freedom towers in New York and other large spatial objects.

3. Roads:

   This group contains all different types of road surfaces, from African dirt roads to high tech Vietnamese Rapid Transit train tracks.

For more detail, please see Constructions.

Zoning

The 3D world can be divided in different zones. Each zone can have it's dedicated zoning plan, describing which types of constructions are allowed. The municipality usually has the task to approve building permits according to what is allowed in these zoning plans.

For more detail, please see Zoning.

Ownership

Another important element of the 3D world is ownership of property. Actions can normally only be performed on property that is owned by the acting stakeholder. To accomodate this, stakeholders can buy and sell land from and to each other, opening all new ways to approach the objectives. It is one of the mechanics that can force players to communicate and cooperate directly with each other.

For more detail, please see Ownership.

Behavior

Behavior refers to the type of surface that is used in the 3D world. This can be grass land, sandy dunes, urban concrete and open water, to name a few. This behavior can also be adjusted by players through their actions. A player can construct open water, or decide to fill an area with concrete. Behavior affects indicators; open water has an impact on water storage and concrete on urban heat stress.

For more detail, please select Behavior.

Ground Price

To facilitate land transactions between players, a ground price is set per surface unit. This price can be adjusted, as negotiations take place. When a player has a substantial advantage if another player buys land from him for a certain action, he can entice the other player to purchase the land by lowering the price.

For more detail, please select Ground Price.

How to create a 3D World in the Tygron Engine

The 3D world can be created through the wizard. In this part of the editor, the user can select the game area, decide to base the game on real data, use custom shape files or start with an empty 3D world after selecting the size of the game area. Also at least one stakeholder must be selected; more if more users will edit the game at the same time. At least one indicator needs to be selected too, however, these are not set in stone and stakeholders and indicators can be adjusted later too. The only selection that is permanent from start on, is the game area and the data type it is based on. It is not possible to change a game to be based on real data, after the game is rendered as an empty world first; or to add custom shape files after generating the 3D world is completed.

When basing the game on real data, the Tygron Engine uses data provided by Open Street maps and, if available, data from municipal land registries etc. Since Open Street Map data is not everywhere in the world as consistent, the Tygron Engine also offers the option to combining this data with custom shape files. These files are a standard format (.shf) used in spatial planning and management and the game can even be based on these files solely. It is also possible to create an empty 3D world, which can be manually filled with constructions and behavior in the Tygron Engine Editor.

For more detail, please refer to the Wizard.

How to adjust an already existing 3D World in the Editor

Upon creation of a game, it is possible to adjust the game's 3D world afterwards too: by loading the game back into the editor. It is then possible to replace any of the constructions by any other construction in the engine, or to address any of the other elements of the 3D world; zoning, ownership, behavior and ground price.

Please refer to the Editor for more detail.