How Townscaper is changing architecture
Townscaper is only one in the sea of games and apps that circle around architecture and city planning, how is that these software are changing the view of new professionals coming to the market and stablished firms?
Beginnings
City planning game aren’t a new phenomenon, they have existed at least since 1968, when Doug Dyment released the first version of “The Sumerian Game”, a simple text-based program that resembles nothing at all those of today. It took until 1982 for game developer Don Daglow to take the concept and create a fully graphic experience that’s somewhat familiar with “Utopia”. But still, relating those experiences with a profession or a field of study was farfetched to say the least, innovations in the field of Architecture mostly came downwards, from big offices that had the resources and name to experiment, and not from people entering the field carrying new visions they constructed by playing video games.
The Shift
In 1989 what is most likely the biggest Architecture related video game franchise began. Sim City was released. Now with over 20 games on it’s belt it’s hard to find an Architect or Architecture student that hasn’t played or at least heard of the game. This change happened gradually alongside the popularization of the personal computer and created a new generation of architects, those new professionals could visualize 3D worlds with much more ease and navigate them using concepts thought out by video game designers that had never before been used in real buildings, that’s in part one of the reason of the “render revolution” that we see today, were more and more computer generated imagery is being used not only to guide construction but to model, plan structures and communicate with clients.
Townscaper
Townscaper is a simple game with a simple premise, you click to build a structure in a plane and the computer procedurally generates something there. With this simple concept townscaper is able to generate complex and intricate European styled cities that sparkle with life and colour. But how is it changing Architecture? Well, the game was developed by Oskar Stålberg, a single person alone in Sweden and without a publisher, a huge budget or a complex infrastructure has reached over 100,000 people since its release on June 30th 2020. This is a huge shift from the hundreds of man hours and millions of dollars that Maxis, the makers of SimCity needed for their newest project, and even from the 17 person team behind Cities Skyline, its biggest competitor.
Conclusion
As coding becomes a more widespread skill and people from different backgrounds start doing more and more, we can expect to see new and interesting creations coming from people whose expertise intersect both architecture and programming. These individuals that are entering higher education now are not only consumers of digital games, but are makers. They will shape the perception of other around them and will be able not only to use tools to create architecture but to create tools that fit their needs and visions in a way never before seen. It is time to keep an eye out for underdogs, because before we now it, there is going to a be a new standard set by an innovative young architect that has the power to shape the tools he needs. Were are they now?
28/08/2020