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Medieval Fantasy City Generator

41 points by vanni 9y ago

daemin 9y ago
That looks cool and all but it only generates Slavic or old English style towns. What I mean by that is it doesn't generate German style towns, where the central square is actually square with a grid going out from there to the walls. You can see this effect in towns of German design such as Wroclaw (formerly Bresslau), Krakow (the town was rebuilt by German planners and settled by Germanic craftsmen), Pilsen, etc.
- matthoiland 9y ago
  Just spent time in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Germany) – this generator nailed that kind of city layout.
jandrese 9y ago
Were triangular buildings really common in medieval towns? It seems like the generator maps out an area then bisects it with lines at odd angles, leading to some pretty strange looking houses. The castles also have some pretty unusual looking features.
- graphememes 9y ago
  There were actually some odd shaped houses in medieval times due to strange laws about the square footage of the base of the house and the window count, etc... So many times while building these houses they would create interesting awnings and overhangs in multiple directions many stories up to avoid these taxation rules. This lead to many interesting and strange looking houses. https://www.quora.com/What-were-High-Medieval-houses-in-cities-made-of-What-did-they-look-like https://www.quora.com/What-were-High-Medieval-houses-in-citi...
- novembermike 9y ago
  From what I remember, oddly shaped houses were actually pretty common. Remember that most cities didn't have central planning so you'd just get a plot and build something that matched.
pc2g4d 9y ago
This led me to https://www.reddit.com/r/proceduralgeneration/ https://www.reddit.com/r/proceduralgeneration/ Which is awesome
swah 9y ago
Very nice - fast too. Reminds me of something I saw yesterday http://oskarstalberg.com/game/CityGenerator/ http://oskarstalberg.com/game/CityGenerator/ This guy makes super cute gifs of his game: https://twitter.com/OskSta https://twitter.com/OskSta
- nkrisc 9y ago
  That's very cool, but coming from Chicago the layouts it generates would make me lose my mind if I lived in a city like that.
eridius 9y ago
Neat, but in every town I checked, nearly the entire town was "Craftsmen", and the Merchant ward was always extremely tiny. That seems pretty weird.
lonesword 9y ago
Too many craftsmen? Where do people live? And what even is a 'Gate' ward? But I loved the map anyways. Good job :)

41 points by vanni 9y ago

That looks cool and all but it only generates Slavic or old English style towns. What I mean by that is it doesn't generate German style towns, where the central square is actually square with a grid going out from there to the walls. You can see this effect in towns of German design such as Wroclaw (formerly Bresslau), Krakow (the town was rebuilt by German planners and settled by Germanic craftsmen), Pilsen, etc.

matthoiland 9y ago
Just spent time in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Germany) – this generator nailed that kind of city layout.

jandrese 9y ago

Were triangular buildings really common in medieval towns? It seems like the generator maps out an area then bisects it with lines at odd angles, leading to some pretty strange looking houses. The castles also have some pretty unusual looking features.

graphememes 9y ago
There were actually some odd shaped houses in medieval times due to strange laws about the square footage of the base of the house and the window count, etc... So many times while building these houses they would create interesting awnings and overhangs in multiple directions many stories up to avoid these taxation rules. This lead to many interesting and strange looking houses. https://www.quora.com/What-were-High-Medieval-houses-in-cities-made-of-What-did-they-look-like https://www.quora.com/What-were-High-Medieval-houses-in-citi...
novembermike 9y ago
From what I remember, oddly shaped houses were actually pretty common. Remember that most cities didn't have central planning so you'd just get a plot and build something that matched.

pc2g4d 9y ago

This led me to https://www.reddit.com/r/proceduralgeneration/ https://www.reddit.com/r/proceduralgeneration/ Which is awesome

swah 9y ago

Very nice - fast too. Reminds me of something I saw yesterday http://oskarstalberg.com/game/CityGenerator/ http://oskarstalberg.com/game/CityGenerator/ This guy makes super cute gifs of his game: https://twitter.com/OskSta https://twitter.com/OskSta

nkrisc 9y ago
That's very cool, but coming from Chicago the layouts it generates would make me lose my mind if I lived in a city like that.

eridius 9y ago

Neat, but in every town I checked, nearly the entire town was "Craftsmen", and the Merchant ward was always extremely tiny. That seems pretty weird.

lonesword 9y ago

Too many craftsmen? Where do people live? And what even is a 'Gate' ward? But I loved the map anyways. Good job :)