In my experience, London's streets are terrified of straight lines, and Amsterdam is a melting city drunk on itself. My point is, the Western architects of old clearly weren't concerned with symmetry. Developer Polymorph Games wants to channel that freeform design in gridless city builder Foundation. It's now on Kickstarter: its campaign has raised $45,000 of its $59,000 and will run for another 20 days.
Inspired by the likes of SimCity, Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis, Foundation is centrally about organic development. You use a "paint" tool (think terraforming brush) to create and designate zones for farming, housing and so on. Your AI citizens will then build within those zones and get your city growing. Buildings can spring up every which way, and streets are determined by the paths citizens naturally take.
"When a building needs to be constructed between two existing structures that are not perpendicular to each other, the new structure will morph into the required shape and clip into the void between the existing structures like builders would have done back in the cities of old," Polymorph says of the system's adaptability.
You've got to do more than sit back and watch, mind. For starters, Foundation sports customizable monuments—and by monuments, they mean monasteries, cathedrals, castles, houses and more. Those are all customized by you, and come with an intuitive-looking snap tool.
As your town's lord, you've also got to stay on good terms with the populous. You'll need to cozy up to the nobility, clergy and peasantry to unlock new building options, not to mention embark on "procedurally generated quests and narrative-driven events." And of course, essential buildings like farms and sawmills and bakeries have to be unlocked and built by you.
Foundation will feature modding support, as well as a great soundtrack if its Kickstarter video is any indication. The game's original music is being handled by Audinity, the same folks who scored Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 4 and The Guild 3.
Depending on the success of its Kickstarter campaign, and according to its Kickstarter delivery dates, Foundation will release this fall.
