A/B Street
Version: 0.2.61 Web: https://github.com/a-b-street/abstreet
For as long as we can remember, there has never been a decent SimCity clone for Linux. So, if you wanted to try out the role of city mayor, you needed to look elsewhere. However, we’ve discovered a city simulation game that brings a completely new experience. A/B Street is an open source city traffic manager that puts you in control of real-world transportation issues. Moreover, A/B Street can import maps from OpenStreetMaps, enabling you to manage a real city’s routes in a sandbox.
The most impressive thing about A/B Street is that its mechanics are incredibly close to what goes on in real life and what genuine city managers do regarding public transport. In the game, you have a top-down view over a city, as though you’re flying around it using a drone. There are streets, lanes, junctions, pavements and all other elements of urban routes. You can see cars, buses and bikes travelling along the roads, pedestrians walking around, and more. The goal is to solve common problems and optimise the transport network to create shorter journeys and a safer environment. The game greets you with a wellmade tutorial that explains all the essentials and eventually asks you to complete small tasks, such as altering lane restrictions in order to make the journey safer or save time.
The zoomed-out city plan doesn’t show a great deal of detail, but once you zoom in you can interact with a whole range of elements, including all the lanes on a road, various buildings and smaller routes. For instance, it’s easy to make changes to a junction: select the junction in Edit Map mode, make and apply your changes, go back to the map, then press the Spawn Agents Here button to see how cars, bikes and people now use the junction. A/B Street can be used to solve issues that could lead to traffic jams, or eliminate risks for people without cars. It also offers help, such as not letting you close a junction without reconnecting pavements in some other way.