OpenCity tutorial - Step 1: toolcircle

So, you have just downloaded and installed succesfully OpenCity, another 3D city simulator. But you didn't figure out how to play or how to earn money in the game then this tutorial is written for you. Just follow it step by step to build the basic infrastructure for the future development of your city.

First of all, if you didn't do that yet, please read the OpenCity guide for the basic mouse and keyboard usage. The secret in OpenCity is the toolcircle menu. The toolcircle is displayed when you click the right button of your mouse. When the toolcircle is opened, a right mouse click or clicking toolcircle button will automatically hide the whole toolcircle.

The main toolcircle

Image 1-1 : OpenCity main toolcircle

The Image 1-1 shows how the OpenCity main toolcircle looks like. The main toolcircle is the top level menu in the game. It allows you to choose the elements that you are going to build in your city.

Building roads

The first city infrastructure that you need to build is the road. Don't build too many roads at the very beginning of the game because you don't have enough income to support the road maintenance cost yet.

Image 1-2 : Road building in OpenCity

Click on the road button in the main toolcircle and draw a T cross-road as in Image 2. The road button is located at the bottom of the toolcircle, and it's highlighted in the Image 1-2.

The zoning buttons

Image 1-3 : OpenCity zoning buttons

In OpenCity, the most basic elements which compose your city are zones. There are 3 types of them: residential (green), commercial (blue) and industrial (yellow) zones. When you click on the house icon at the top left corner of the main toolcircle (see Image 1), the zoning toolcircle shows up as in the Image 1-3.

The zoning toolcircle has 4 buttons: the white triangle is the back button and one for each type of zones. The back button takes you up one level in the toolcircle menu. It means that you return back to the main toolcircle.

Now choose each type of zones, and build them as in Image 1-4. Use the same area of residential zones and commercial zones. But build a bigger area of industrial zones.

Image 1-4 : Basic zone planning

In the step 2, you will learn how to power your city. But it's recommended that you've read thoroughly this tutorial first.