0.5.3: Neighbourhoods, alleys and buildings

Neighbourhoods

Neighbourhoods are groups of adjacent wards of the same type. The idea is to reduce amount of labels on a map: if there is a cluster of 3 "craftsmen" wards, for example, labelling each of them is overkill. Instead, a single label can be placed somewhere close to the center of the cluster. The placement of labels is far from perfect and it can be easily improved, but I'm going to refrain from it now to see where all this is heading. Ideally, I'd like to implement custom editable neighbourhood labels and autogenerated ones as an option. I think that toponyms such as The Shades or Diamond District may add a lot of character to a map.

To enable colour coding of neighbourhoods check the new Watercolours option in the Palette submenu which is unchecked by default.

Alleys and buildings

In every update I announce improvements in alleys and buildings generation, but this time they are really visible - there are much fewer ugly triangular lots and buildings are inscribed into these lots much tighter. As a result, even with buildings option checked maps don't look like a shattered Lego thing. All in all I'm pretty content with the current state of this part of the generator.

Other changes regarding alleys and buildings:

• House view option is replaced with Buildings submenu in which you can choose Off (no buildings, just lots), Simple (rectangular buildings where possible) or Complex.  The "B" key switches buildings on and off.
• Every neighbourhood has a "local temple". It's just a large building with a small plaza in front of it. Obviously you can ignore their "temple" idea, as they are not marked in any way.
• Buildings no longer touch city and castle walls. It looks a bit odd, but probably I just need to get used to it...
• Large temples now have mostly symmetrical plans.

⚠️ There is also a post about the alternative (and more traditional) way to generate cities.