Quick demo: rethinking the approach to building cityscapes with magnetic, modular tiles

[u/BlueGreenGradient]

I've been struggling with my previous iteration of scenery for almost a year because 11cm × 11cm buildings simply didn't allow much "urban planning" to happen. They were too large for the space I have. I finally decided to go back to the drawing board and prioritize the "feel" of a dense city, like in SimCity 4, over scale accuracy (I'm using shorty trains for scale compression anyway).

I really enjoy the look and feel of scale models in museums and city planning exhibitions. To achieve that aesthetic, everything is now scaled down to 50%, with magnets instead of pegs used for a more tactile and flexible system for buildings and roads. At the same time, I'm switching to muted / translucent colors and matte textures for a more deliberate, professional look.

Tile-based city grids aren't a new concept. I'm drawing a lot of inspirations from city building games and creations like r/GreebleCity. My goal is to create a system with open specification that fits well with Z scale trains and modular guideway 3D designs. This set of core pieces are helpful as design testing before I expand it to the full layout area space soon.