Not sure if it’s just me, but I often get a primal satisfaction whenever I see intricate patterns emerging out of seemingly disordered environments.
Think about the galleries of ant colonies, the absurdly perfect hexagons of honeycombs, or the veins on a leaf. No architect, no blueprint. Just simple rules stacking on each other that result in beautiful patterns. I can’t explain why, but seeing those structures always felt good.
Humans do this too. And for me, one of the most fascinating patterns we’ve come up with is the roads.
Sometimes I imagine aliens from faraway galaxies discovering Earth long after we’re gone. Forests reclaimed by nature, cities reduced to rubble, yet between them, a faintly pattern is still visible - the road network. I like to think they will feel the same way I do when looking at nature patterns. - “Man, someone really thought this through.”
City Builders and Their Roads
I’ve got to say, roads have fascinated me since I was a kid.
I still remember playing SimCity 2000 for the first time when I was about five or six years old. I didn’t understand much. Definitely didn’t know what zoning, taxes, or demand were. But roads fascinated me from the start.
I think roads lie at the heart of every city builder. It’s the fabric on which cities are built. Since that moment, I’ve played almost every modern-themed city builder out there. In the meantime, I’ve also started noticing them in the real world. Examining them in more detail.
Roundabouts. Interchanges. Overpasses. Merge lanes. Noticing every intricacy.
Despite every game bringing an improvement over the one before, something always felt… off.
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