One of the main goals was to present a way for the user to access the factual, statistical values from their decisions and make the projection model that the game was built upon transparent at all times so that they not only could make educated decisions from the gameplay side, but also would take it one step further and teach the player by turning the model itself into the gameplay. This chart UI would have been the primary user interface, allowing them to see the past and future results of their actions.
While the player would be able to take data from a graph, most of the gameplay would reside within these interactive menus and windows. We created a list of "big" choices and "little" choices based on how influential they would be to the simulation driving the game, and decided to make the larger window contain the "big" mechanics, giving them the visual weight that would match their influence. We had planned to create a unique 3d asset for each tile to draw on the influence of other city simulation games, while still seeking to abstract the display so as not to accidentally mislead the player with how the gameplay loop operated.
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