BAT Showcase

cammo2003 · September 09, 2009, 07:15:51 AM

Wow.

Just... wow.

Between yours and c.p's excellent homes, the Maxis ones look very sorry indeed.

mattb325 · September 11, 2009, 04:10:07 PM

To answer the questions:

joelyboy911: the 'cottages ornee' is a reference to the original 'ferme ornee' and was popularised by Loudins pattern book in the 18th Century which had detailed plans for country cottages, farm buildings, estates, gatehouses, dairys, inns and the like - these were all highly romantic and drew from many architectural styles. But, despite being "ornamented" these farm buildings were still intended to be practical - how this became 'ferme ornee' to 'cottages ornee' is the notion of a farm building being visible in the round (ie from all sides) and this was transplanted to suburban cottages and bungalows in the 19th/20th century by use of many gables and projections which didn't necessarily have to be at the front of the cottage; the sides and the back of the building can have just as much visual intrest.

SimNation: yes I will be making more terrace houses - in fact, I actually intend to revisit the very first set(s) I made to polish those up a bit

SC4BOY: the Bathurst St Station has a large coverage radius and is able to combat the crime in mega lots. I have looked at small police stations and we have many here that are W2W which would probably fit that bill.

To everyone else, thankyou for the lovely comments, much appreciated. As indicated, I was going to post some more pictures of homes as they grew:

Californian craftsman style - R$ limited only to corner allotments

Minnetonka: a small, but very elaborate Queen Anne cottage with multiple angles gables and so on. Also seen is the large English Tudor revival (ortho version) in the second picture

The radcliffe - a typical colonial revival; actually a very common house type in the US, but not too many versions made for the game....

The Connecticut - angled and ortho versions shown. Has complicated gabling along the side of the house in true cottage ornee spirit. Also in the last photo is the Hickory - a very popular style of cruciform on plan home

The Ortho version of the Kimberly

The Texas - georgian lines and sensibilities, this was quite a large home for its day. Offered in two versions, both R$$$

Most so far have grown (I have only limited time these days to actually play the game). There are a couple of others (I think) which will bring the set to aproximately 35 new houses and 70-odd new lots which, I hope will ensure your suburbs have a lot more variety....

JBSimio · September 11, 2009, 04:15:22 PM

These are great, Matt!

I always seem to have a little gap between CP's 19th century houses and your more suburban sets... these should make the perfect transitions between the two. I'll definitely be watching for them and thank you so much in advance!

JB

joelyboy911 · September 11, 2009, 04:16:25 PM

Ok, thats very interesting. As I say, I'm very much looking forward to the day I see these on the LEX frontpage. Excellent BATting.

Jack_wilds · September 11, 2009, 04:37:19 PM

Hello Matt, Jack wilds here...

These are really awesome, you have captured a real sense of residential variety... like the lotting, colors and the details... so then is there a good craftsman/mission ranch I could move into? anticipating thier release and thanks ahead of time

see you around the neighborhood,

Jack

tamorr · September 12, 2009, 10:05:36 PM

Looking good... I really like the first one, the texas-georgian, and the Connecticut ones. I really have to agree that it is a nice addition well needed..

CabraBuitre · September 13, 2009, 02:02:39 PM

Hey Matt, those houses look good... especially the last couple!

I'm having an issue with your Eastern Hill Fire Station. I've got it plopped and, though it is completely funded, I keep getting these "low funding" notices. Has anybody else reported this?

I haven't tried to replop it to see if this fixes it... but it hasn't been updated since I DL'd it.

mattb325 · September 13, 2009, 05:01:33 PM

Thanks everyone! I packaged the BATs last night (all 35 models) and it's off to the scruitineers to make sure I have packaged correctly...

CabraBuitre : I haven't heard any reports of the fire station causing the slider bugs, but in my time I have had other fire stations from other creators suffer the bug when I have deleted a particular fire station file from my plugins without first bulldozing it from the city: any missing fire station/police station etc, etc will cause all others (including Maxis) to slide to zero...at first guess that sounds like it could be the issue....

SimNation · September 14, 2009, 10:22:08 AM

Cannot wait til this set is complete and released. Looks fantastic so far.

serebii666 · September 16, 2009, 12:10:29 PM

They're beautiful!! It looks like they could fit into any suburb; from Greenwich to Newport to New York to the Valley. Bravo!

jimbo_jj · September 16, 2009, 12:56:33 PM

More houses by mattb325? I love it! I have most of your other house BATs and these look like they'll be a great addition.

Can't wait to see them on the LEX.

-James

Henry Midfields · September 19, 2009, 06:36:41 AM

Hey, great to see some new updates. Those houses look lovely; they'll fit suitably within any suburb in an English-speaking country!

Sciurus · September 20, 2009, 07:26:33 AM

Magnificent Matt, congrats!!

I love those houses snce you do it!

Guillaume

rushman5 · September 20, 2009, 08:22:46 AM

This i probably the most worthwhile thing I've downloaded this season. I am loving the detailed, yet simple designs and architecture of these houses which have been overlooked for to long by creators!

SC4BOY · September 20, 2009, 10:33:02 AM

Quote from: mattb325 on September 11, 2009, 04:10:07 PM
SC4BOY: the Bathurst St Station has a large coverage radius and is able to combat the crime in mega lots. I have looked at small police stations and we have many here that are W2W which would probably fit that bill.

Great news!! I don't recall that being mentioned in the doc's directly..I know that its "revealed" in that list of numbers you so kindly put in the docs, but ya gotta hit some people on the head a bit as they may not understand the wonders those number reveal..

(not that its a biggie) but its such a wonderful feature, it is certainly worthy of mention.. at least on the "dl page" ..

GREAT WORKS.. you've certainly earned your way into the premier SC4 artists..

mattb325 · September 22, 2009, 02:38:19 AM

Thanks everyone...

As many of you have guessed, I have started uploading the cottages ornee - the main file is here: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2202. I'm about half way through and am just taking a breather from installers and read-mes

But, in the mean time, I have taken SC4BOY up on his request for more suburban police stations which may well fit in with these cottages....

This one is modelled off Pittsfield New Hampshire:

I will likely make a fire station and some other civic buildings as well - I also saw JBSimio had a "community centre" in his MD which gets the brain ticking over - I'm thinking something oh so Stepford perhaps....

Girafe · September 22, 2009, 04:33:03 AM

Your work is awsome mat very nice job

tamorr · September 22, 2009, 02:57:38 PM

Oh very nice... Definately a match up to the style of the houses you released.

I'll enjoy DLing em' all since you do make some pretty good stuf like the rest here.

rushman5 · September 23, 2009, 02:20:13 PM

I really can't wait until all of the new homes are released, it keeps me coming back to the LEX every 6 hours or so.

I also love the fact that you aren't uploading in one large pack, it really lets us have some initial control over which homes we want to grow, and gives a lot of flexibility with our plugins folder.

It doesn't matter as much to me as i am downloading all of them anyways, but I like the idea fr sure.

Keep up the excellent work!

hooha47 · September 25, 2009, 03:15:04 PM

These houses are outstanding, just what the game needed. Thank you for sharing your talent with the community.