Navigation: Features // Prints
Theme & Palette
Theme describes the method of coloring. There are 3 themes: Atmospheric, Typical, and Anomaly.
Atmospheric describes monochromatic Ecumenopolis. All color palettes of this type of theme are single colored gradients. Each of these color palettes is named after a gas, which, when given an electric charge, produce colors.
Theme: Typical creates multi-colored scenes. All palettes in this theme (with the exception of “Throwback”) are also found in the Dreams series.
The final Theme is Anomaly. This is the most uncommon theme. It colors each building one color from a chosen palette, and varies the brightness of that color throughout the building.
When Anomaly is true, and the color palette is monochromatic, the effect becomes very subtle most of the time.
Lights
Lights is a feature that is either On, Off, or Party. This trait is always off for palettes that are not monochromatic. When Lights are On, buildings randomly have brightly colored spots, meant to represent lights on in a building at night.
When Lights are On, and the Palette is Lunar, there are two variants of the colors of the lights. These two options are identified by the change in palette names. These names are ‘Lunar, Pop’ and ‘Lunar, Rust’
Party is a special case for Lights, which cause lights to turn on with party colors. This is an extra rare feature.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere is a continuous measure of the strength of the atmospheric effect (the fogginess or haziness). This effect adds a sense of depth to the image. It has values from Clear to Heavy, with Thin and Thick as intermediate measures. This effect is going to be more subtle when it is in between, and will be more obvious in some more than others. This is dependent on how many of the foreground buildings cover the canvas.
Blueprint
Blueprint determines the overall placement of buildings. There are two variants, Chaos and Structure. These variants describe themselves. Chaos Blueprint creates more sporadic groupings of buildings, while Structure organizes buildings typically into rows.
Architect
The Architect determines the patterns on the buildings. There are either Multiple architects, or a Single architect. There are also two special case Architects that I will describe below in the ‘Takeover’ section.
Architect: Multiple is most common, with varying patterns on the faces of the buildings throughout the scene. However, when Architect is Single, the same pattern persists for every single building.
Painter
The Painter determines how color is ordered on each building. When there are Multiple painters, the color palette is shuffled for every building. When there is a Single painter, the color palette is never shuffled, and each building is colored in the same manner. Same as Architect, there are two special cases that I will describe below in the ‘Takeover’ section.
When Architect is Multiple, and Painter is Single, notice that there are duplicate patterns on different buildings, and when this occurs, they are colored identically.
When both Painter and Architect are Single, every building has the same color and pattern. This is one of my favorite combinations of features.
Lean and Complication
Features Lean and Complication both describe the bending of the buildings. Lean measures the strength of the bend, while Complication describes the style of bending.
Lean is measured from None to Max, with intermediate values of Slight and Much in between.
Complication has 4 options: None, Wind, Unsure, and Kinked.
When Lean is None, Complication is also None. This is a state where no buildings have any bending whatsoever.
Complication: Wind is most common. In this case, all buildings typically bend in the same direction, as if a strong wind is blowing them over. The bend is gradual, and in rare cases, may change direction. Wind always blows from right to left, causing the buildings to lean to the left. This was unintentional, and I am still unsure what the cause of this is.
Complication: Unsure describes a bending style of where buildings bend chaotically in either direction.
Complication: Kinked bends buildings randomly and strongly, creating sudden changes in direction.
Vertigo and Warping
Features Vertigo and Warping both describe the change in thickness of the buildings. Vertigo measures the amount of change, from None to Much, with an intermediate value of Slight
Warping decides how the thickness changes. It can either Increase, Decrease, do Both, or chose Either Or. If Vertigo is None, Warping is also None.
When Warping is set to Increase, buildings become thicker and larger with height. When it is set to Decrease, they become thinner, often resulting in spikes or tall, stick like structures.
When Warping is set to Both, the thickness will randomly increase and decrease along the height of the building.
Finally, when Warping is set to Either Or, each building either increases or decreases in thickness.
Stacked
Stacked determines if there are buildings on top of buildings. This varies from None, Some, Many, to All.
Height
Height is a measure of the overall size of each building. This value varies from Short to Tall, with a most common variant Variable, and a special case Constant. When Constant, all buildings have the same height, which can lead to interesting patterns in some cases
Scale
Scale is a measure of the perceived distance away from the scene. It varies from Far to Close, with intermediate step Normal.
Note that both Scale and Height work together to vary the perception of the scene. On a technical level, Height determines how many blocks make up each building (every building is made up of blocks), while Scale determines the size of each block.
Takeover
Takeover describes two special case features, ‘Robot City’ and ‘Overgrowth’. When Takeover is Robot City, both Painter and Architect become Robots. When Takeover is Overgrowth, both Painter and Architect become Nature.
Takeover: Robot City is a special case feature that creates fragmented patterns on the faces of the buildings. This feature represents a city where robotic life has taken over, creating buildings with circuit-board-like patterns.
Takeover: Overgrowth is a special case feature that creates patterns that continue from one building to the next, ignoring the boundaries of each building. This feature represents an abandoned city where plant life has taken over.
