All aboard the MONORAIL!

After a little discussion with Patrick about my 'Skyscraper Walkway' themed map, he then introduced the concept of a monorail. I wasn't sold at first when he showed me a picture of what appeared to be an 80's perspective on 'what the future holds', with a vary cardboard box-esq design. However as I looked more into some Google imagery it began to grown on me. Some of the models have a very sleek design that could fit very well into a futuristic cityscape design.

This is the type of model I'd most likely base mine on if I were to apply it to my level. The design is a lot smoother and curvier than other monorails I have seen, which gives me the feel of design that has, or is moving forward. Ironically I mentioned earlier the '80's perspective on what the future holds', however the concepts of future technology still hasn't changed, it just seems that design has gotten a little bit 'rounder'.

To the right is a picture the Sydney monorail. This picture displays how a monorail would look in a real environment. I thought it was important to show this for reference later, as I'm not completely accustom to the way they work without assuming they're the same concept of trains but higher up... and I think I remember something about them being powered by magnet force, but now I'm just going of track. (< TRACK, Train joke). Will go into more detailed research closer to the date of implying the design providing I do.

Ok so my ideas for implementing the idea into my own map!

I've thought about 3 main ideas that involve the monorail into my design, and here they are:

-Visual Purpose Only.

By this I mean I would create a monorail strictly as a static object that would provide nothing more than something to look at or somewhere to hide. That being said I could also use the track as a means of walkway/ platforms etc.

-Danger Zone

The second idea would be to take the first concept, but to run the track through a part of the map that could gain heavy usage. This means the players would also have to be aware of their environment too because lets face it... No one wants to get killed by a train, and no players wants the humiliation of being killed by something being controlled by the computer.

-Scenery

This is similar to the first concept, but instead of creating the monorail and the track a part of the map the player can interact with, I would hope to make a fully functional monorail that travels passed the map at random moments. This would give the map a more realistic feel.