User Reference Guide: Controlling Micropolis

Getting Help

If you wonder about a control or graphic in Micropolis, you can point at it with the cursor, hold down shift and click the left button, to bring up a helpwindow describing it.

Using the Mouse

In Micropolis, you will primarily use the left mouse button to edit the city. The main function of the right mouse button is to select from pie menus. The middle button is used to scroll the view in the Edit Window.

Clicking a mouse button means to press and release it without moving. Dragging means to press and hold the button, move the mouse, then release the button.

Pie Menus

Pie menus are designed to be very fast and efficient to use. You can pop up a pie menu by pressing and holding the right button, then select from it by moving in the direction of the item you want, then releasing the button.

Once you are familiar with the directions, you can use pie menus very quickly by smoothly pressing the right button down, moving in the direction you want, and releasing. If you do this without stopping, the pie menu will not even display on the screen -- you will just hear the name of the item spoken, to remind you of the selection. The more you use pie menus, the easier they are to use. See how fast you can get!

Micropolis Chooser Window

This window lets you select which city to simulate. You can see what the selected city looks like in the map window. Give your city a name by typing it into the Name text field.

Click on "New City" to generate a random map to start a city from scratch. Click on "Load City" to load a saved city from disk.

You can go back and forth between your previously selected cities with the "Previous Map" and "Next Map" buttons.

Click on any of the Scenario buttons to play any of the eight scenarios. When you click on any of those buttons, the city is displayed in the Micropolis Map Window. The Scenarios provide both real and hypothetical problems for you to deal with in seven famous (and one not-so-famous) cities. They present various levels of difficulty. Some problems are in the form of disasters which will occur some time after you start. Other problems are more long-term, such as crime.

Your task is to deal with the problem at hand as well as possible under the circumstances. After a certain amount of time the city residents will rate your performance in a special election. If you do very well you may be given the key to the city. However, if you do poorly, they just might run you out of town.