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WEST END

Started by paroch, September 01, 2007, 03:12:02 AM

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bat

#20
Welcome to page 2!

Wonderful pictures of "WEST END"! Great work on it! Fantastic looking overview of that city! :thumbsup:

Sober

Those farms are stunning! I had a try with farms on rolling hills but them props and me didn't get along, plus it's not practical when you're near a river - runoff and such - you don't want 15-eyed fish for dinner, now do ya?

paroch

First of all, let me just say I really do appreciate your visit to this MD and for those of you who leave comments THANK YOU.  If no-one left comments then I think I'd lose heart.

Replies:

pat - I know you visit loads of MDs, so thanks for keeping West End on your list and I'm glad you loved the update.  I've just found your MD now as well.

Joan - cheers for the big comment!  I like the farms too.  I can see some things I want to improve but that's for future development.  Row Housing in pics 2 & 3: First up, in England we call them 'terraced houses' - Row Housing isn't really a term we use - and yes they exist.  Being squashed in like in Wardour tends to be in the more industrial towns and cities, typically in the Midlands and the North of England, e.g. Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool etc. but terraced housing was common in both the late 1800's right up to the 1960's across the whole of England, in the more R$ areas of towns.  I grew up on a 'council estate' in Essex, England in just such a terraced house.  Maybe not so sqaushed in as the pics from Wardour.  Our cul-de-sac had three separate terraces of four houses each built around a small grass square.  I'll try and recreate it and post it on here soon.

It's hard for me to believe you've never set foot on a train.  I live 40 miles east of London and work in the West End of London.  If there was no train network, London would not be able to function!!  We had a tube (subway) strike recently and it caused chaos. And as for the burger king, it's already there on the right hand side of the picture - flame grilled, yum!

jmyers - Hey, I am really pleased you've dropped by.  I have a lot more of your BATs in my plug ins (in fact you have your own folder!!)  I'm pretty sure that most of those fast food joints are yours too.  JB Hoard investment crops up all over my commercial areas as does SCGE Credit Union.  So a BIG thank you for your hard work in making all that custom content.

rooker1 - thanks for the visit and comment. Those farms seem to be popular!

bat - thanks for the support.

sober - 15 eyed fish???  Don't say it too loud, the sushi bar in picture 1.12 would like to have those on the menu !!

I'm working on an update which I hope to post tomorrow (Sunday) but I keep getting dumped to desktop whenever I zoom in or out whilst playing / photographing a city.  It's difficult to pinpoint the problem but it makes doing anything VERY time consuming (especially when you keep forgetting to save!).

Anyway, as a teaser here are two shots of LITTLE PORTLAND.  This is a medium sized tile that is based around a large lake.  Farmlands to the north, industrial to the west, main town to the south and a village plus some industrial to the east of the lake.  First pic is a close up of the lake (haha) and the second is the village church.



 



bat

Great two new pictures! :thumbsup:

Jmouse

OK, I see the Burger King now that I know it's there! The name is pretty obscure in the photo.
Thanks for explaining the housing in UK. Since my daughter married an African three years ago, I have become much more conscious of the difference in customs and cultures between the U.S. and other countries. Guess it's a bit late in life for me to wake up and discover there's a whole world out there, but I'm enjoying the experience just the same.
Love the teaser and look forward to more.

Until next time...
Joan

paroch

UPDATE 2 - 9 SEPTEMBER 2007

Bat - thanks for the comment. :)

Joan - I'm enjoying your visits to West End   :thumbsup:  I agree with you in that it's always interesting to learn about other people / places / cultures.  I've never been to Houston (only visited Florida in the US).  I am visiting Las Vegas in October but I guess you could say that Florida and Vegas aren't really representative of the US as a whole!
And I can see why you didn't realise it was a burger king.  At the moment I am using MS Paint to convert the city pictures to JPEGS.  I seem to then lose some quality when I upload them to Image Shack.  Maybe I need to do something different.


Nobody expressed a preference on which town/city to visit next, so here we are in LITTLE PORTLAND.  The town is so called because it is the neighbour of the larger Great Portland - original eh?  In real life London, Great Portland Street (plus surrounding streets, including Little Portland Street) used to be the heart of the "rag trade" in the West End of London.  Now, high rents have pushed many such businesses out to the edges of the city.

Little Portland is built up around a large lake.  It has some a small Commercial district in the downtown area and two Industrial areas, one to the west of the lake and one to the right of the lake.  Farmland occupies most of the land to the north of the lake.  See the two shots below for an overview of the town:

1.01  Little Portland (west)


1.02  Little Portland (east)


I had loads of problems getting these two shots.  I'm not sure why but when I zoom out on a region my PC just stops running SC4 and throws you back to the desktop  :'(.  As a result I'm having to go very slowly before zooming out and remembering to save after each change!  Maybe my plugin folder has got too big or I have some conflict in there, I don't know but it's difficult to know what's causing it.  If you've experienced something similar please let me know how you got round the problem.

OK back to Little Portland.....

I'm going to focus on the areas to the east of the lake today.  In picture 1.02 you'll notice a motorway.  Just to the right of this is a village.  The village has built up along the banks of a small canal / stream.  This is my very first use of canals and streams, so please forgive some of the mistakes (although feel free to point them out in case I've not seen them all).

The village is generally R$$ and R$$$ but of course there's always room for some R$ developments.

This is the top end of the village built around a small pond.  I didn't level the ground properly before laying the pond, hence the odd appearance :thumbsdown:.  But I have learned and future ponds won't have this.  I will improve this one but with the game problems I've been having I didn't really have time to correct this now.
The small church (SG I believe) sits between the stream and the pond.  This is the second church in the village and whilst not as picturesque as the main village church it still attracts a fair sized congregation. 

1.03 Village northern end. 


And now we move down to the middle of the village.  This is where the highest house prices are in the village.  Some of the most desirable places in all of Little Portland are here, backing onto the narrow canal.  I really like the mix of houses in this shot, I think they go together well.
1.04



And now we move down to the southern end of the village which is actually where the main centre is.  Here is the main church (Gascooker's excellent St Bartholomew's).  The small shopping area is popular with both residents and tourists alike with a mix of old fashioned grocery stores as well as a few antique shops.  The food court next to the church is very popular for cream teas during the summer months.

1.05 Village centre


1.06 Village centre (reverse angle).  Spot the error in the laying of the canal!



Just to give you an idea of the overall geography, here is a zoom out shot.  The village is to the right of the motorway.  To the left of the motorway is the farming area and in the bottom left corner is the edge of Lake Portland.  I enjoy creating the farming areas and picked up the idea of putting trees between the farms from other MDs.  I got nice comments about the farms in update 1, so couldn't resist including some here!

1.07 Village with farming area



One thing I haven't shown you yet is any Industrial zones.  Here is Little Portland's Arcadia Industrial Park (AIP).  It is directly to the south of the village on the opposite side of the canal.  The AIP is mainly high-tech although the mayor of Little Portland is very old fashioned and insisted on building a small canal dock.  No-one can be sure how many high capacity fluxometres are shipped out by canal barge but the barges add a certain charm to the town:

1.08 Arcadia Industrial Park with dock

Again you'll notice that I didn't level the ground before laying the canal which has resulted in a few dodgy bits.  But hey, that's how we learn eh....

1.09 Southern part of the AIP.  I like the way the Underhill Casket Company has sneaked in with the high-tech stuff.



1.10 AIP straddles the motorway.


I find Industrial areas the hardest to get close to RL, so I'd appreciate your comments on what you think of these and how they can be improved.  My plugin folder probably could do with some more Industrial stuff as well.


In the very south east of Little Portland is the Paragon Retail Park.  This is proving to be a popular place for the residents of Little Portland.  Its location on the banks of the Regent Canal has made it a popular place to come just to stroll and relax and enjoy a bite to eat whilst shopping.

1.11 Paragon Retail Park

1.12 Paragon Retail Park


That's out tour of the eastern side of Little Portland, I hope you enjoyed it.

As a teaser for the next update which will feature the main town plus some of the farming area here is a shot of the downtown area:
1.13 Little Portland town centre:


And I thought I'd share another of my 'mistakes' with you.  Here is a block that was low wealth houses with an alleyway at the back.  I forgot to make the low wealth house historical, so here they have upgraded but of course the alleyway is still there.  Just doesn't look right!

1.14 Remember to "make historical".


I hope you've enjoyed this - until next time.

paroch / Paul  $%Grinno$%



bat

Fantastic new pictures of your city! Great work! :thumbsup:

Jmouse

Little Portland is a nice town with all the elements blending well together. I've not yet taken the time to learn how to use canals, but they are outside of my visual experience so I'm afraid they'd look phony no matter how I placed them. I kind of like the alleyway, though as it reminds me of the house I grew up in. Looking forward to more.  :thumbsup:
And you are right about Vegas and Florida, but usually there is no single city, state province or whatever which is representative of an entire country. That's the beauty of diversity!

Until next time...
Joan

rooker1

Great work here.  I like the seasonal trees, but does that slow the gane down?  The canals look very nice as well.  I like the industrial area except for the high tech.  I have a little, tiny problem with blue buildings, I hate them, but hey that's just me.  The rest is great, I'll be back for more.

Robin   :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.

paroch

Hmmm, this update didn't seem to be so popular.  Must try harder......

bat - thanks for your continued support.

Joan - I'm glad you like Little Portland - the village part took me quite some time!  And as for canals, well this was my first attempt, so I'd say go for it - if you don't try you'll never know!   And I like the alleyways too, just a shame the housing improved!  Do you have an MD of your own going?  It'd be good to pay you a visit.

Robin - thanks for the visit.  I've not noticed that the seasonal trees slow the game down at all, certainly not in terms of game play.  And as for the industrials - I think this is my weakest part of my game. 

Update 3 is planned for sometime over the weekend and will be the other half of Little Portland.

Until then   $%Grinno$% $%Grinno$% $%Grinno$%

Jmouse

Don't fret too much over comments, paroch. Like updates, they seem to come in waves -- the tide goes out, then here comes a tsunami!  :D
Just focus on doing the best you can and the more experienced players will help you along. Besides, I think you're doing OK now, and I can't imagine anything that will improve your skills more and faster than committing to an MD.
At least that's what I keep telling myself as I work to prepare one I hope to post in the next few weeks. So keep up the good work, and look for me to jump in the deep end with you pretty soon!  :P

Until next time...
Joan

thundercrack83

Huge update, paroch! Little Portland looks great! Keep up the good work!

paroch

Welcome to update 3.

Joan - thanks for your comment and ongoing support.  You're right, I'll keep concentrating on this and if it's good enough then the comments will follow!  And make sure you let me know once your diary is up and running.

thundercrack83 - thanks for the visit and comment.  I only get chance to do one update a week  :-\, so it tends to be a big one!



Last time we looked at the eastern side of Little Portland.  This time I'm going to show you the western part of the town.

Little Portland has now reached a population of 25,000.  It's very much a small town with a wide variety of people living there.  A large number of people commute to the larger town of Wardour (next door to the west) or to the region's main city Oxford.  A good rail service takes workers into these towns very quickly.  The motorway is also a fast option but is not used as much as the rail.

Much of the land area of Little Portland is given over to farming, and in the north west of Little Portland is a very small farming village.  Many farm workers live here to be close to work.  The village has a small church, school and clinic.  It has a couple of shops including Deviant Desires - not the sort of shop you'd expect in a small village, but hey there's not much else to do in the village:

3.01 Farming Village


And here are some of the farms that the village serves - note the small exclusive housing development on the peninsular.  These houses are considered the best in all of Little Portland.

3.02 Farms


The town has a few industrial areas but can hardly be considered an industrial powerhouse.  This industrial park has a few meat packing plants as well as some automotive spare part manufacturers.

3.03 Industrial Area


The town is surrounded by many trees and the mayor was keen to keep the town as green as possible.  There are two main parks in town - Freeston Park is a more formal park with a playground for the kids.  Klean Park has a football pitch and some open space.

3.04 Freeston Park


3.05 Klean Park

Note: the apartment block "Sunset Terrace Apartments" (top right corner of park) was causing me a problem - The base texture disappeared which meant its base was just black.  At long last I worked out Lot Editor and changed the base texture so that it would appear properly.  I know it's simple but it was my first foray into Lot Editor!

The mayor also built a sports complex which is home to the towns football team Portland Rangers.  It is only a small stadium, holding 4,000 fans.  You'll see the complex also has tennis, baseball and skateboarding.  The food court is a popular place to hang out.

3.06 Sports Complex


The biggest feature of Little Portland is of course Lake Portland.  This is my first attempt at creating a waterfront feature.  It's a popular place to walk and be seen and the residential zone nearby is highly sought after.  In hindsight I think I should have made this a commercial zone.

3.07 Waterfront


To the south of the town is the Regents Canal.  Water is always a nice feature to live by, so perhaps not surprisingly you can find some nice family homes near the canal.  The water taxi is very popular.

3.08 Regents Canal


But not everything is going smoothly in the town.  Over at the Goober Gen Clinic there's a protest going on.
Apparently the mayor doesn't pay the doctors enough money so they are on strike.  So often I am concentrating so much on building new stuff I don't see the messages warning me about poor funding levels.  Am I the only one who forgets this?  Wouldn't "auto-fund" be a nice option to have!

3.09 Protest

And the W2W Polish building in this picture is very good but it only works well in a W2W environment.  Must remember to weed it out from there!

Here is an overview of the town centre.  It has just got its first high rise commercial tower - the Shark Building.  A very nice building indeed.  I just hope the developer knows what they are doing.  That's a big building for a town of 25,000.

3.10 Town Centre overview


Now here's a developer who understands the small town property market.  West End's biggest developer is Myers Corp and here they bought a large plot and built a selection of small towers.  Just right for medium sized companies and serviced offices.  This development is called Myers Concourse.

3.11 Myers Concourse


And our last shot of Little Portland is the eastern edge of the centre.  Here is where the fun takes place.  Century Cinema (I love the custom query sound), Dennys Diner, Flower Market and Courtyard Hotel. 

3.12 Town Centre east


For those who like some traffic data:

Apart from a few side roads traffic is flowing freely around town.  The buses are reasonably well used around town as well.

3.13 Traffic data


3.14 Bus data


Now I also noticed an eagle flying around in the sky above the town.  I'd never noticed him before.  Is this standard Maxis in-game or it id linked to a certain mod???? Any ideas?

3.15 Eddie the Eagle


And to finish off, here is a region overview at the moment.  Region population is up to 239,000.  Main population centres are Oxford, Wardour, Little Portland and Great Portland.  My first attempt at sticking pics together, so hopefully looks OK.

3.16 West End Region



Thanks for stopping by West End.  I look forward to seeing you again soon.






Sober

Awesome update! Looks like you're already getting ahead by naming regions and playing a little disconnected.

If you grabbed the underwater fauna plops, it'd be cool to see some green plants near lakes/rivers by the farms on slopes -> 'cause this usually happens (if you want to add a bit of realism :))

thundercrack83

Another great update, paroch! The region and the traffic shots are my favorite. I'll be looking forward to seeing more, my friend!

Jmouse

The farms look nice, and I always like to see a few factories mixed in with the growable industries.
The sports complex looks good and that's a great-looking overview of the city.
Also, I appreciate your including the traffic data. Traffic control is not one of my strong points, so I'm always interested in how other players handle the challenge.

Until next time...
Joan

nedalezz

Wow, paroch, great stuff! I love the few final shots, with the autumn scenery and the small town flavour...It really gives a sense of a quiet suburban environment. The trees around the lake also work very well.

bat

Fantastic update 3, paroch! Great pictures also great picture of the region! :thumbsup:

capo

Good lord, this looks totally amazing! A compliment for your eye for detail...this city has a very 'real' feel to it...as it should. I love London...and I love this, keep up the good work please and I'll be sure to check on your progress!

The complete history of Evergem ->My Mayor Diary <-
Come and visit Paroch Plein!

rooker1

Another super update.  Nice regional map, thta's going to take some time to fill.

Robin   :thumbsup:
Call me Robin, please.