Townscaping - Looking At How Things Generate

A basic guide to how to trigger known and certain townscaper features. This is very work-in-progress.

Disclaimer

The details of this guide are based on the current version of Townscaper. If any major changes occur in later builds, do check the time I last updated this guide. Details can potentially become redundant.

If any important details or information is missed, let me know and I will update this guide.

Apologizes for the poor quality of the some of the gifs. Valve's 2mb limit restricts showing ability.

Foundations

I am not sure what the official name for these blocks are; therefore, I will call them foundations - the thing you see below.

Your waterworld is the canvas. The placing of these blocks is quite obvious, but there are some features to note.

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Foundation Tunnels

I'm not sure what the official name for these are. I will refer to them as foundation tunnel.

If you put the foundation blocks in a single line, a row of little tunnel will appear.


Tunnel only generate within a one space area. If you make a solid foundation, they will not appear.
See below as an example.




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Tunnels With Large Foundations

Depending on the size of your foundation, tunnels can be centered with some manipulation. See below with a 4 by 10 example.





Be careful with 5 space spots. They can ruin your tunnel setup if you want to keep things aesthetically pleasing.


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Diagonal Foundations

Foundations can be placed diagonally. This will generate little bridges between the blocks and from a tunnel too.


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Beaches

Beaches will be one of the early aspects of generation from the game. Beaches tend to generate between two nearby points if the angle is less than 180 degrees (no idea what the specific angle is). Below are examples of this generation being caused:

5-point foundation:


L-shape:


T-Shape:


X-Shape:


You can also produce inner-beaches if you have holes within your foundations. This generation can be trial and error, as shown in the below gif:


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Stacking

Just to note, you cannot stack foundations. Whatever you put on top will be your buildings.

Buildings - Single Lines

So now you got your foundation in place and you have many colors to choose from. You probably have done some trial and error already with the placing of the multi-colored buildings, but read below to see what happens with certain placements.

Single Lines

If you have buildings in single lines, you're going to have long rows of houses. In the below example, the long line is 12 blocks.


This is the same for multi-colored too. As you can see, using different colors triggers some variety with the buildings.

Buildings - Stacking, Top Layer and Towers

Stacked buildings will merge if they are the same color.

Using the below picture as an example, take note of the buildings on the lower layers. Buildings on top will retain their unique look and buildings underneath will become similar-looking blocks.


With the yellow building on the right, the top-most building is one layer above the layer below. If you want a tower, you got the make the stack two levels above the layer below; for example, the purple tower.


You can make towers really high, if you fancy.

NOTE: If you make another building right next to your tower, you will lose the tower cone if the height difference is less than 2 layers - this includes diagonal placement.

Buildings - Spires

Credit to Jmawn, OrionOth and TOPO for finding this

In most cases, you will see spires appear on towers; however, there is a way to get them on ground level.

All you need is to have all your buildings the same color and then intersect them into a star or cross, as below:

Building Colors and Spires

Credit to DeeZeePeeZee8 for finding this.

If you generate spires on your buildings, a careful eye will notice the differences for each building color:

Buildings - Lighthouse

Making Your Lighthouse

A lighthouse is simply a fancy and unique tower, with a fancy top if you fulfill certain requirements.

To trigger your lighthouse, it must be a tower and you must use alternating colors. BUT ONLY TWO COLORS.


The two color method does not have to follow an one layer principle. As long as you have the two colors at a later layer, the lighthouse trigger will be made. See below as an example:


You can add a third (or more) color to the tower, as long as the two-color aspect is maintained near the top to trigger the lighthouse feature. If you lose the lighthouse feature, you dun goofed.

Buildings - 3-grid, 5-grid and 6-grid buildings

Chapter previously known as thick and thin towers. In hindsight, it is easier to explain the grid types for these buildings

Massive credit goes to Qxeii and BrutalZandax for the 6-sided buildings

For many buildings, the majority will be placed on various shapes of four-by-four grids. Thanks to the way the game generates these grids, sometimes you may encounter 3-grids, 5-grids, and even 6-grids.

3-grid

With 3-grid spots, you can create very thin buildings:

5-grid

With 5-grid spots, you can create thicker buildings. A personal preference is to use these spots for towers.

6-grid

6-grid spots can be quite rare (and in my case, I had the privilege of kind people providing knowledge and an example of these (thanks again, Qxwli and BrutalZandax).


Here's the map code for three 6-grid spots in the same area:

Originally posted by Qxwli:

rzBTRDCH5uExG

Buildings - Archways

Archways only appear if you have a solid structure using the same color for the archway pieces, and if the archway gap is one space apart. With that, you get Tidy Tim:


But if you replicate Tidy Tim with a 2 space gap (Thicc Tim), you get the scaffolding back.


And just to prove that the single space rule applies for different colors in the same building - Silly Sam


If you want to be more fancy with archways, you can even make a fourway one. Make sure the gaps are one space apart:

Buildings - Tunnels

Calling these tunnels is a bit of a stretch, to be honest. The ability to make them is utilizing the same technique used with archways.

You can link normal archways together:


And you can form little archways by using the same building linking technique at foundation level:

Buildings - Scaffolding and Extensions

I know they're more iron frameworks, but the term is condensed for the explaining.

NOTE: Scaffolding will always appear within the empty spaces under houses!

NOTE: Most single scaffolds have ladders!

NOTE: You can trigger balcony generation (or suspended flat roof buildings) if you place a building between scaffolding sections.

Scaffolding appears when you remove a building from a single stack (tower), if you pluck a building from a part of a larger structure that does not have any surrounding supporting buildings (see below for an example of this), or if you use different colors within an archway.

Using that massive tower as an example; with a piece removed, the scaffolding appears.


Now we added a new structure to our map (nicknamed, 'Messy Bob'). As you can see, different colors trigger the scaffolding appearance. And if you look in the bottom right, that is an example of 'plucking a building from a part of a larger structure that does not have any surrounding supporting buildings'.


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Extensions

This is in the same vein as scaffolding, but it allows you to extend buildings out from towers without needing foundations below. See below, with the very tall tower, as an example.


You also do not need a nearby building to complete the suspended look. Simply make a tower and remove all the stacks underneath until you are left with the very topmost house. You get a nice ladder for the look too!


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Fancier Scaffolding

If you make individual extensions from a pair of one-space-apart towers, you can generate 'fancier' scaffolding.

Also note that buildings placed between scaffolding will become flat-roof types and produce a random assortment of bushes and other items.

And another example (emphasis on gaps being one-space apart for them to appear):


You can achieve the same result for suspended buildings too:


Now if you want a nice fancy scaffold flooring; with the example of the above picture, if the bottom central piece is removed, this happens:

Half-Arches

(Sorry for the naming of these - trying to guess what they're called from what I see)

Half-arches is still within the same area of scaffolding / extensions. The different between this and the above information is due to some of the archway remaining. See the below gif as an example of this:

Half-arches only appear one space away from the building, and only appears if the scaffolding section is attached to another building. If you make the section 2-spaces long (as seen in the above gif), you get the metal-bar underside.

Like with scaffolding, balconies will generate if you stack the scaffolding layers.

Here's another example of the half-arches:


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With this, you can create new building foundations high in the air and utilize other features to produce castles extended out from very-very-tall towers.

Be warned, the scaffolding can make your town look very messy if you extend too much.

Buildings - Roofs to Flats (and Vice-Versa)

Remember the roofs and those lovely birds. They will disappear if you extend out towards a 3x3 grid.

To show the effects of the change, here's a step-by-step look:

1x1:


1x3:


2x3 (4 buildings)


2x3 (5 buildings)


2x3 (6 buildings)


3x3 (7, 8 and 9 buildings were all flat roof)


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If you have a ring of houses, the flat roofs are triggered if you have a layout of 2x2 buildings (unless you place your house over a 3 space spot (which is a 2x1 layout, kinda).


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You can have a thicker, roofed building if you have building all the same color and do not go beyond a 2-building width; as below:


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For anything else, I cannot specify to what exactly triggers the change. The most I can say that if you go beyond a certain width from your line, the roofs will change to flat (and you cause all the birds to fly away). The above should provide some idea to what causes the triggers.

Buildings - Beside Walls

Remember all those lovely different colored houses. Well, here they are again:


Now here they are in front of a big wall. See how they have changed.

Do note that roofs may become flat while you build the wall. Once the wall stack is high enough, the roofs will return. You may need to trial and error this if your building has a unique layout.

Buildings - Church Entrances and Roofs

Credit goes to 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood' for finding this:

Entrance

Church entrances utilize tidy archways within a large structure. For example, using a 3x3 building (which I have fancified):

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You can also make the inner portion a different color:

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You can also use the same effects for some fancy balcony windows. To trigger the look within walls, you need to go 2 spaces deep into the building for the door to appear.

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Roof

For the roof, you need a single row of buildings at the very top of the church. This row must be a different different color from the rest of the building:

.

This type of roof can be stacked. Just consider the width of the building when you start this. The initial example had a 3 wide building, this one is a 5 wide building:


And this one is from a 7 wide building:

Buildings - Four(or Five)-Door House/Tower

This one is quite simple. All you need is 5 individual foundations pieces set up like below:


Then build your house/tower in the middle:

Triggering Doors, Plants, Benches, etc

For specific items. doors, bushes, benches and other generated items are hard to determine how they are triggered exactly. Their appearance is quite random and you will need to place buildings down multiple times to see what results are generated.

HOWEVER, they all have one common factor - foundations and flat roofs.

All you need is a large open area and then start placing down buildings, As long as there is some space, the items will appear.

For water level triggers, you will find some doors appear with ladders (and sometimes a letterbox) if you do not have any surrounding foundations and buildings:


Some observations with some items:
* Observation binoculars appear near foundation rails
* Benches, chairs and bushes appear near walls
* Bushes can appear near doors.
* 4-chair tables can appear within single space alcoves if they're near a rail (e.g. if you have a 3x3 building, remove 1 part from one of the corners (you'll see it being generated within the above gif)).

NOTE: While I have pointed out some observations, all items still have a chance % of spawning when you place down your buildings, They are not guaranteed!

Crane Hooks

Credit goes to 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood' for finding this:

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Crane hooks can easily be missed unless you tried out this setup.

Hooks only appear within a one space. To help generate the hook, all you need to start with is your tidy (Tim) archway.

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You can even make a 4-pillar hook, starting with a four-way archway and a tower:
Sorry for the poor quality - Valve has a 2mb limit with gifs.

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And if you want to show off, you can even have a tri-crane, a 3-space crane and a 5-space crane (full credit to Topo for this one):


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With some careful placements, using the above info, you can make a pyramid of hooks:


You can even remove the middle buildings to make taller cranes, but you are at risk of breaking the game's scaffolding generation:

Birds

You want the birds? You got to make sure your builds have roofs. The appearance of the birds is quite random otherwise.


Birds can also appear on scaffolds.

Gardens, Fields, Stone Walls and Pathways

The Garden / Fields

To generate a garden (or a field if you have a very large space), make a closed ring of houses. The height of the houses do not matter. If you add an opening, the green disappears.


There is no limit to garden sizes (or fields, in the below example).

Stone Walls

Gardens can also have internal stone walls. To generate such, all you need is a couple of buildings close to each other. This might take some trial and error, depending on the shape and size of the surrounding structure.


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Long Stone Walls - Different Colored Buildings
For longer walls, it can be trial and error, but one of the main triggers is placing different colored buildings next to one another.

To show this, find below some examples:

Placing a same colored building against the wall:

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Placing a different colored building against the wall:

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A similar technique can be done for houses placed in the middle of the garden space. For example, with towers:

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And with 2-space houses:


!!! Remember to use different colored buildings to make this all work !!!

More examples, with still images:












And one more example with the larger block buildings on the left triggering the initial wall layer:


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Long Stone Walls - Same Colored Buildings
Credit to XxX69操西方69XxX for mentioning this one.

If you want walls triggered from a building that is all the same color, you need to attach an elevated piece to a taller building. From testing, the taller building needs to be at least 2-spaces tall. The gif below is using a 3-space tall tower:

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And from a fluke with clicking, suspended buildings also triggers the long walls:


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And as a bonus, someone made an excellent guide on how to make hexagon-shaped gardens, with a decent wall pattern (give them awards if you like the setup)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2429728114

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Pathways

All you need to trigger pathways are basic archways within the surrounding walls of your garden.

Taber's Guide

For specific details about everything gardens, I will pass you to Taber; who's guide is so detailed, the honor of explaining should go to him. Please give him awards for all the good work.

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Using the above examples and the below pictures, wall generation seems to follow this setup:
* Little walls are generated in one-space gaps between buildings, as long as the buildings are within a garden / field space.
* The initial layout for long walls are triggered from two buildings of the different colors being close together.
* For buildings in the middle of the field, one of the houses needs to be (at least) two spaces tall or 2-spaces long to trigger long walls.
* Alternatively, if you want to generate long walls from same-colored buildings, you need to add an elevated building piece to (at least) a two-space tall structure; or(and) have a suspended structure on scaffolding to trigger the wall generation.
* Walls will always lead to the nearest inner corners of the closed-off structure
* Walls will adjust towards the corners of any nearby buildings.
* Wall can also run between two different colors buildings.



Code for field if you want to trial and error your own setups:
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JCaIKbm2Xt_0v6OsOIrLw6EtuVrPrrO-eH_g8l5T03q1nsVXdP-eH_g8l5T03q1njVHbv6e_9O8B5LwnovVrXit_426NtqbsHbv6e_9O8B5LwnovVf0WXv1Zc9ZU1p1bsHbv6e_9O8B5LwnovVf0_6t_B46NkqLqnWvyes9q7537xHkvMfi_W9R7r36wfqDpXUPtej9Y7V3wv3hPIfZ_E9t6j26Tbq7nHSvoea9G7y2runfvDfQ_z8J6b16tG-ShvJ-hN19wDpXUPtej9Y7V3wvXmPRfrWHt1PK_HpeE_a8PtUnNvfeI906N2jtXdP-eQ_z8J6b1Ht1PL9o6V4fc6h6fapObe-806N2jtXdP-eH_g8l5T03q1LF9k6HL9NSqrlnNvfeI9i6p1bsHbv6e_9O8B5Lwno1nbUHJvWe28_5h0LqnWvyes9q7537xHkvMfiW-x53kouNek8a5Zw7nHSvoea9G7y2ru787d4DzXmPRrPlouNek8a5Zw7nHSvoea9G7y2ruJnfvDfQ_z8Ja9pE1tyjkXLPbe-8Q6F1Tr3YP2e1987d4DzXmPRrPToOJeb8I51zwm3PPkeR906N2jtXdP-eH_g8lZ9Dn1bAUXC1JRdbUHJ11Sd2U3PPkeR906N2jtXdP-eH_g8lZ9ZL1ZTd-8Q6F1Tr3YP2e1987d4DzXm1ntUnN19wDpXUPtej9Y7V3wv3hPIfZWfaTd-8Q6F1Tr3YP2e1987d4DzXm1b29Hbq7nHSvoea9G7y2wv3hPIfZW-82Dv-I3fspufeI9i6p1bsnfvDfQ_zs_Itndf5tvZTd-8Q6F1Tr3YP2e1987d4DzXm1n2U3PPkeR906N2jtXdP-eH_g8lZ9pN19wDpXUPtej9Y7V3wv3hPIfZWfaTd-8Q6F1Tr3YP2e1987d4DzXm1n2U3PPkeR906N2jtXdP-eH_g8lZ9pN19wDpXUPtej9Y7V3wv3hPIrPtpufeI9i6p1bsHbv6e_9Os_0m6_5h0LqnWvyes9q75X9pN19TdIVXUPtej9Y7VX9Wa-Is3b1LIVXU1pV9jZ-Bs6Sr_Rr6nxqD

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Butterflies

Nothing much to say about them, apart from that they only appear within Garden / Field spaces.

Stairways

This one is simple. All you need is to be one stack up and have a gap between two buildings. Perfect for linking generated beach and water levels areas to your town.


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You can also generate stairs from a two-space gap in some squares. For this to be certain, you need to have a flat roof or foundation for the layer the stairs are heading too. Overall, you can produce multiple stairways with this method:



And another example of 2-space gap stairs:


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Using a 2-space stairs example, you can also trigger one side to become a solid foundation wall if you put a foundation one-space away:

Buntings / Clothes Lines

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Massive credit to Holoy for the below information about clothes lines and buntings. Finding out about how they work is all attributed to them!
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To note: The coloring of buntings and clothes lines are affected by the color of the buildings they are linked to

Buntings

Bunting is the easiest to generate. They can spawn between buildings if there is a 1 or 2 space gap.

To guarantee the spawning of bunting, place down your foundations and place a 'base' color for your building (for this example, white buildings are used):


Now place any different color on top:


In most cases, the bunting will appear. The use of the 5-space building and the nearby positions is to highlight that buntings still have some limitations.

Those limitations (again, with massive thanks to Holoy for the info). The angle condition for bunting is around 80 degrees-ish (simply facing each other), and where the grid is compressed enough to allow the generation to occur. With the latter point, you may encounter some problems if the grid bends and splits out from 5-space and 3-space locations.

Buntings can also be stacked, as long as the requirements are met:

As per the above image, buntings will only appear once per color change and on the lowest level of that color change.

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Clothes Lines

The most I can show is a picture for these (and in the above picture), due to how finicky can be to determine their generation. Again, Holoy has given the answers for this:

Clothes line have a 50% chance of appearing if:

• The angle between the walls is less that 80ºish, i.e. they are somewhat facing each other.
  
• The world-space distance between the walls is less than one unit, i.e. you get them where the grid is compressed and not where it is stretched out.
  
• You need to manage the algorithm such that there isn't a door in the way.

The easiest way I found to increase the odds of generation is to place towers around a 5-space point (similar to the layout used to create the 4-(or 5-)door house:

Based on the above, clothes lines are not determined by the method used for bunting (different colors). You can have buildings completely the same color for clothes lines to appear.

Overall, if a clothes line appears, the game has blessed you.

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Holoy's map example (if you fancy a practical example of the above):

LTzjUZdIkhK7xUX253IiIiIiIiI_JqbEREREREREyDkjIiIiIivgAHREREREREvHOiIiIiIi4DFuREREREREREyXqX7u7u7u-SrKwMwMw8XKT3d3d3dfY7hqM6PpX0nyqvn9bxs-ghV-B7i_DOUVVVVV1-Qzqjwh9fqwMwMwMwvEbiIiIiI_HkVP_DjK3fG20M7u7u7Pxp6_NW1Y_GqYEREyfYMJiIiIieQKmfjQMiIi4Pkpl9TizZmZmZmnfa3P5QP8n8jiIiIiIP2kqfSdm6PpFjIiIiIeapMfJt01PJAGRERE-EAMiIiIe
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Floating Islands

Creditations

First, I couldn't have done this section without using LabrysWaltz's code. Finding the specific grid layout would have taken ages on my own. Please share your awards with them.

Preparing The Float

The first thing to do is to find the specific grid layouts.
Another guide has mentioned hexagons, but the primary trigger are grid layouts that do not have very sharp corners. The circles must be almost smooth, with any corners being no more than a certain angle. You will know if the angle is too sharp if a scaffolding piece is triggered for the corner.

Using LabrysWaltz's code, as per the above picture, you need to follow the below requirements:

* You need a roundish grid layout
* The grid must not trigger scaffolding poles (the ones that tend to appear on corners)
* You need to make your buildings two stacks (or more) high, then delete the stack(s) between the float layer and the foundation layer.

See below of an example I already prepared:


An example of the floating island pieces.

DOs and DON'Ts

DO

* DO delete your foundation if you want a proper looking floater (optional)


* DO fil in your island for that perfect castle.


Do not be alarmed if scaffolding pieces appear while filling the hole. Once everything is filled (or enough is filled to your liking), your floating island will return.


DON'Ts

* DON'T extend from the foundation area. It will trigger scaffolding.


There is a possibly that the floating island pieces will trigger if the area is round enough, but you will have to trial and error this yourself.

Post-Preperations

What to do now? Well, let your creativity shine! Once the floating island is ready, the other mechanics can still be used within the area (Gardens, Towers, etc).

Sewers

This is a more a design trick for foundations, instead of something spawning.

To make a realistic-looking sewer system, make your foundations, and make a gap one space away from the edge to generate the archway/tunnel/whatever:


Add a house beside the hole to allow you to place one over the hole:

And presto! Be careful not to remove the supporting house, otherwise, you'll have an ugly scaffold between the house and the hole.

TO NOTE:
Make sure the houses are different colors. If you use the same color, the house over the hole will have an ugly scaffold at the base.

Conclusion and Thanks

With everything I managed to share (with tremendous thanks to those who helped me find this information), I truly hope it helps to spark some creativity with your townscaping.

I hope the information helps. Do leave a comment if there is something unclear in my wording or if I have missed any information.

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Overall, thank you for reading this, and I wish you good health and happiness.

[please, just don't ask]

i came here trying to figure out the average amount of tyles that can generate when the grid is fully loaded

[BeanBoy]

Birb

[RyloCat]

now there is one on the fans of the same island plz add to bird setion

[RyloCat]

i just had a bird land on the tube thing of a flying island plz add to bird section

[Literally Just Freckle]

What about the new content?

[Nostradamus]

Things like benches and bushes don't seem to change no matter how many times I remake the house

[Den_drummer]

Regarding the 5-door house/tower: this principle works with the 3-grid, 5-grid and 6-grid as well, resulting 1 more door than the grid. 1 door down the foundation and 1 door for each diagonal foundation.

[dingdong]

The constellation in the last picture of "Scaffolding and Extensions" now creates a clock tower as the center building

[Elchar]

Woe, never knew about half of this stuff. Really neat!

[exquisitecorpus]

Thank you for compiling this so meticulously! I thought I'd discovered everything by playing around--never realized you could get floating islands!