With the idea for HAND IN HAND starting to take shape, it was time to figure out how I was actually going to build this thing.
After some experimenting and testing, I settled on Unity for the game engine and Blender for creating the 3D models. Both seemed like good tools to get started with, and I figured the best way to learn was to jump in and start building.
So that's exactly what I did.
The first version of HAND IN HAND was rough. Really rough.
I started putting together a basic city using simple, flat, static 3D models created in Blender. Nothing fancy, no elaborate architecture or beautiful graphics. The goal wasn't to make something that looked amazing. It was to get the foundations of a city builder working in Unity.
Roads, buildings, terrain, and vehicles. Just enough to start seeing how everything might fit together.
And that's when I discovered that even the simplest things aren't always so simple.
The Great Bridge Problem
One of the first interesting headaches was bridges.
In my head, the logic made perfect sense. You build a road, it reaches a river, and the bridge carries it across to the other side.
Simple, right?
Apparently not.
My first attempt at bridge construction had one fairly significant flaw: the bridge followed the height of the terrain instead of spanning the water.
So rather than crossing over a river, the road would slope down the riverbank, travel along the bottom, and climb back up the other side.
Technically, it connected both sides. I suppose that counts for something.
The funniest part was watching vehicles happily drive down into the water, continue along the riverbed, and come back out the other side as if absolutely nothing was wrong.
Not exactly the engineering achievement I had envisioned.
Learning As I Go
It's surprising how something that seems so obvious can turn into a complicated programming problem.
A bridge needs to work across different terrain heights, river widths, road lengths, and all sorts of situations you don't really think about until you're trying to make the system work.
What happens when one side of the river is higher than the other? How do you determine the bridge deck height? How do you make the road transition smoothly onto the bridge?
Suddenly, my simple bridge wasn't so simple anymore.
But that's really what this early stage of development is all about.
I'm experimenting, making mistakes, figuring out what works, and occasionally watching cars drive underwater.
I'm sure I'll get the bridges working properly eventually.
For now, at least the vehicles are getting to the other side.
They just have to hold their breath.
More to come as HAND IN HAND slowly starts to resemble an actual city builder.