I've spent a lot of time over the past year or so reading and lurking both here and over at ST, though I have been trying to start posting more recently. The majority of my time at SC4D is spent reading tutorials and the huge number of fantastic mayor diaries on offer.
And so over the last few months or so, I've found myself increasingly wanting to start my own MD, and as you should have gathered by now, that is exactly what I have done.
The older MDs tended to start with the author saying a little bit about themselves and then say a little bit of background on the region. This seems to be fading away a little these days, but I'm going to do it anyways. I guess I'm a little traditional.
So, let's begin.
Hello all, my name (and hence my username) is Connor, I am a student and I reside in England, in a town not too far from London. Infact the journey from my house to central London can be done in little more than an hour on a good day and is less than an hour by train. I am a student, and I have always had a keen interest in geography, and I suppose that is what attracted me to SC3K and then onto SC4.
I would love to know how many cities I have started building and never finished. About six months ago I finally started a region and actually stuck with it, but then my computer crashed, my hard drive got wiped and I never saw it ever again. I now know that I must always back up important files... Unfortunately like most people, I learnt that the hard way.
Moving on, after the 'trauma' of losing my region after endless hours of work, I had no choice but to make a fresh start. And that fresh start is Darley Island...
...It's a very small region, only 2x3 large tiles, but I'm not exactly the fastest of builders. A picture speaks a thousand words apparently, and I can't be bothered to type that many, so I will indeed show you a picture of the region rather than drone on for a thousand words describing it for you.
So, here's the image that Region Census produced:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg708.imageshack.us%2Fimg708%2F3038%2Fconnorsregionedited.jpg&hash=f7cde17a1dfe16a207dacfbc70e65858e5146d25)
As you can see, it's a fairly irregular shape, with flat smooth coastlines and whilst the majority of the island is flat, there is some hilly areas and a small lake inland. This hilly area will be forested and undeveloped apart from a few roads, parking lots, rest areas, camping sites etc, and the rest of the island will be made up of towns and agriculture.
I know it's not a particularly good region, but its my first proper attempt at terraforming my own region rather than downloading one, and so my terraforming skills are rather lacking at the moment. And although its not good - it its the right shape and size that i wanted and has all the features i wanted, so i'm gonna stick with it.
All undeveloped as of yet, but of course that will all change in the near future. Connor.
hi conner,
nice start.
i´m also working on a small map like this, but it´s a lot of work to do for me...
i also know the "everything is away" feeling.
brown things happen sometimes. &mmm
so i check this know regular to see what´s comming...
pete
Welcome aboard! That's an interesting looking little island! I'm looking forward to seeing what you're going to do with it.
Hello.
You have nice small region in my opinion. I would like to see what will you do with it.
Replies:
pete3d, battlecat, 976: Thanks for the replies, guys. Hope you stick around for what's to come in the future.
---
Moving on...
Something that is often said at the beginning of MDs by various people, is something along the lines of... 'I'm looking forward to see what you're going to do with it' just as 976 and Battlecat posted above.
So, that does rather beg the question... What am I going to do with it?
Hmmm.....
Well, that's exactly what the next update (to be posted tomorrow) will show you.
Enough about tomorrow, what's happening today?
Today, I'm going to show a few things that I did yesterday after posting the intro post.
Firstly, here's a little map I made. Its basically just the region overview with a few labels rather than an actual map, but it was just a quick thing I decided to do and only took a couple of minutes.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg19.imageshack.us%2Fimg19%2F2374%2Foriginalmap.jpg&hash=57c32b38e220d8f5da6a458149fe8d9791f7b371)
Generally, before I start building a city I lay out the basic infrastructure first. I often used to build big downtown areas and I used to start by laying out the highways, avenues, rails etc then build. I've always done this, it just seems logical to me.
And so that's what I spent yesterday doing. Darley Island is much too small to have its own railway system or highways or even avenues really. But it will have a few major roads, so that the various towns are all linked together.
Due to the island's size and relatively small population there will only be a few major(ish) roads on the island and the rest will be what SC4 calls 'streets'.
Here's the basic road layout for the island, showing major roads only.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F1626%2Fmajorroadsmapedit.jpg&hash=44b7c28c0cbebbfded62f0d40f73823df3348427)
This is my first ever attempt at any kind of mapping, so its pretty poor quality at the moment, but I'm still learning how to even use my photo editing software, and so my mapping ability will (hopefully) grow as this MD progresses.
There will be much better maps in the future, but that's all for now.
As I have mentioned before, Darley Island is British and so you will notice the road types are British. So here's a short explanation for those of you outside of Britain (most of you) what an A Road and what a B Road is:
A Roads – I think the best way to describe A Roads is to call them 'Primary Routes'. They're usually pretty direct and their function is generally to link major settlements together. They can be single carriageway (i.e. one lane of traffic in each direction) or dual carriageway (i.e. two lanes of traffic in each direction).
B Roads – I would then describe B Roads as 'Secondary Routes'. They tend to be cover shorter distances than A Roads and there are more of them. They often link A Roads to other A Roads, or branch off of A Roads and carry traffic to smaller settlements.
I didn't want to leave you oncemore without anything to look at other than a zoomed out picture of the region, so I thought I'd post a few pictures of those roads...
1 – Here's the A398 following the coastline on the east side of the island.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F9499%2Fupdate21.jpg&hash=d76d5222cf41a64930cbac96f5b2e504b9f03958)
2 – This roundabout is where the A398 and B467 intersect in where the town of Darley will be located.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F2069%2Fupdate22.jpg&hash=e9cbde5f71b02f8b58b1859188771b2e2b8fad12)
3 – The B467 running through the town of Kendal beside the Strate River, and just a short walk from the Kendal Lake.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F2254%2Fupdate24.jpg&hash=6f69a675d1e58d1f437d4bf4ed067c121990af83)
4 – The B467 and B482 intersection in where the town of Stratemouth will be located, and the bridge across the Strate River.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg19.imageshack.us%2Fimg19%2F15%2Fupdate25.jpg&hash=c9254cfe48f4efcc73ed9a7a09a15b0d44c3f188)
That's all folks.
Next update, we'll be steering away from looking at roads...
(Warning: as this MD progresses, you'll see a lot of pretty bad puns. Sorry in advance).
In all seriousness, tomorrows update will be a preview of what i intend to do with this region, and then after that its time to start developing it.
Connor.
great job !
Very nice start. I look forward to see how it develops. looks like we have similar taste in terrain mods :P
Yeah, very nice start in your MD!!! :thumbsup:
Very interesting indeed! Nice job on the mapping, looks like an excellent plan. I fully approve of your plan to use roads as highways in your region, particularly given the size of it.
I quite like the way your roads are laid out, you've done a great job with the wide radius curves as well.
I very much like how you introduced yourself at the beginning of your MD. A nice personal touch. Your region is well made. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it. Nice start and welcome aboard.
Geoff
Nice update!
Just a coincidence, but I was planning on how to plan out roads on an island like that, except on a larger scale. I might end up using this as an example. It also looks like you have the same terrain mod and a similar water mod as mine. (Olympic, Mas71 Water)
I'm imagining a small town or at least a gas station at the B429-B425 junction. Is anyone else thinking that too?
This looks like it will be really good, and you've got good pre-planning done forthwith, so I think you'll have a good idea of what you're building where.
Can't wait to see more, it's promising!
Ethan
Replies:
warconstruct, turtle, Tomas Neto, Battlecat, callibanX, 976, ecoba: Thanks very much for the kind comments, its much appreciated.
Emgmod: Thanks, and yeah I'm using the olympic terrain mod, though I'm using PEG's Brigantine water mod, not a Mas71 water mod. As for that junction, you'll have to wait and see.
---
Here is a little phrase I like...
'If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail'
I like the above phrase because it is so simple and logical but also very true and can be applied to pretty much anything in life. So, how have I been applying it to Darley Island? Yesterday, when this update was written, my general plan was to just give a picture of each tile (there are only six) and write a couple of lines to say what that tile will contain.
It's pretty simple stuff really.
The purpose? It helps me prepare because it involves me having to think about what I want to put on the region and where I'm going to put it. And it helps you, the reader, get a feel for the region before I go and start developing it.
To begin with, let's take a look at the region in the game itself rather than on region census...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F984%2Fupdate31.jpg&hash=c4857e9a2f9fea4874e1fabc9ce20e3331e2a1f7)
As you can see, each tile is named in a pretty simple way, from A1 to C2.
Sitting comfortably?
Let's begin, with the western half of the island.
Here is tile A1.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F5813%2F52093054.jpg&hash=5af7dbf904506e027228e5dd6ddc48ec77272994)
This tile contains the small headland known as Darley Head. This area will contain some of the suburban areas to the west of Darley, which is situated to the easr of this tile on Tile A2.
Here is tile B1.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg19.imageshack.us%2Fimg19%2F808%2F79643048.jpg&hash=8e536b5658588305df65d1cf64ce6c44bb16c826)
This tile has a little bit of everything really. The flat coastal area to the south of the Strate River will be used for agriculture. The flat area to the north of the river will also be used for agriculture, though there is the town of Stratemouth on the coast, and the town of Kendal further inland, which is situated beside the Kendal Lake, which we can see half of in this tile.
Here is tile C1.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg710.imageshack.us%2Fimg710%2F4470%2F20117022.jpg&hash=b1e667ac9f769c2cb3a3b9bd27788b20b38cf85a)
The small bay area on this tile is where the town of Southsea will be located. Outside of Southsea there will be agricultural areas and some little hamlets scattered around.
Now let's move on to the eastern half of the island.
Here is tile A2.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg705.imageshack.us%2Fimg705%2F4044%2F59807297.jpg&hash=e82be2f905b1a89ee4ee8b670de612bdd404cf1d)
This tile is where the town of Darley will be located. Darley is the largest town on the island and the island's largest harbour is on the Darley coastline and connects the island to mainland England via a short ferry journey.
Here is tile B2,
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg19.imageshack.us%2Fimg19%2F7051%2F72261507s.jpg&hash=ad3a445b91f757b57c836f26aa5ab1ce1659af35)
I may place a few small villages on this tile, but it will mainly be agriculture. The hillside will be forested and will provide a perfect place for hikers, campers and dog-walkers alike.
Here is tile C2.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg5.imageshack.us%2Fimg5%2F2162%2F73720440.jpg&hash=9f573caa92ef04902aa85cb9abdb50d811ee7a5a)
Similarly to B2, there is no town on this tile, though I may choose to put a few villages or hamlets. Other than that, the land will be used for agriculture.
That concludes this little update, though the next update should be up later this week. By that time, things will have moved on a bit and there'll finally be a built up area to look at. :thumbsup:
Connor.
Good to plan ahead and know where you're going. Looks like you've got this well in hand. It's amazing how much help such a simple organizational system can be.
Wow, great work!!! :thumbsup:
Great update, I like your plan for the region.
Btw, you're using brigantine water mod, aren't you? For an island region I like to use PEG's hawaian holiday mod because it's more suitable in my opinion, but it's just my opinion, maybe diffrent with you.
Wow! Very nice region! I like those waves in the river; it gives it a nice effect and look.
Replies:
Battlecat, Tomas Neto, sumwonyuno: Thanks for nice the replies, guys. Hope you like the update.
976: Thanks for commenting, and I do agree that the Hawaiian Holiday water mod is very good for island regions, though this region is located next to the south coast of England, and so the Hawaiin Holiday mod would look too clean and tropical compared to the sea next to England which is quite dirty and polluted.
---
Today, as promised we'll be looking at some actual development.
We will be looking at the little village of Kimble.
So to begin, where is Kimble on this region?
If we look at the 'in game' region view from last update, I can tell you that it is close to south west corner of B2. It is situated along the B429 (see map in a previous post) and has a tiny population of approximately 1000.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F984%2Fupdate31.jpg&hash=c4857e9a2f9fea4874e1fabc9ce20e3331e2a1f7)
Anyway, before I show any pictures I would like you to know that this is showing how Kimble looks at the moment. There are various improvements I can make; and I most certainly intend to make them at some point. Plus, this is the first settlement in the MD, so if it's not very good, it can only get better ;)
Anyway, let's get the ball rolling then shall we?
1 – This is Kimble from the in-game zoom 1.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg710.imageshack.us%2Fimg710%2F6739%2Fu41.jpg&hash=190ab7769ab12bb1404cf71f3993c7d79afc599c)
2 – Let's get a closer look...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg705.imageshack.us%2Fimg705%2F6554%2Fu42.jpg&hash=879b060c64e60c6ebdf050dda29a35dc5b9e4b4a)
3 – Even closer...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg707.imageshack.us%2Fimg707%2F6634%2Fu43.jpg&hash=404bfb03637b19f8ef1bc08cde9dbf71d2729e67)
4 – And now we are at the in-game zoom 4, where we can see the heart of the village.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F6199%2Fu44.jpg&hash=7e48de5d78f6a2cf693d274fc972d3fbe953dbb4)
5 – So, now we're getting close up and personal at zoom 5, where we can see a few little local shops and a pub (far right – The Victorian Inn) which serve the people of Kimble and the hamlets in the surrounding area. I love these BATs (by rp2005 available on the STEX), and if you are British then you'll see that these buildings are rather realistic and seem to crop up everywhere. Behind, that is Kimble Park.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg705.imageshack.us%2Fimg705%2F2128%2Fu45.jpg&hash=42c90e870364d6d7026caed8eed8a7b38edcadab)
6 – Kimble Park from a different angle.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg710.imageshack.us%2Fimg710%2F3428%2Fu46.jpg&hash=02b3233f2171727e0c1cd94c1ba7286983a60b53)
7 – This is Kimble Primary School (primary school is the British equivalent of elementary school in the US). It's a very small little school with pupils from Kimble and a few little hamlets. It's another BAT I love but and I think it's by deadwoods. I resized the school field in the lot editor, so that the field could be bigger, making it a little more realistic, though its still very small compared to most school fields in real life.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg9.imageshack.us%2Fimg9%2F5641%2Fu47u.jpg&hash=e1f104daec9a48f6e1af93e84b257d37f53063a0)
---
And that's pretty much exhausted everything that Kimble has to offer, but it was nice to finally post some actual content rather than the 'planning posts' I've been showing you.
Will be working on the next update over the weekend.
Connor.
Pretty good start! I guess you must have a maxis blocker, that a pretty large quantity of the same non-maxis homes here! It's a very nice looking town, with an interesting layout! Looking forward to your next update!
My only suggestion would be to consider looking into adding some addition housing styles. Mattb325 has a pretty diverse collection available on the LEX.
I expected a bit more sprawl, but that's pretty good for only 1000 people. I also liked that school a lot.
Quote from: emgmod on December 11, 2009, 02:33:37 PM
I expected a bit more sprawl, but that's pretty good for only 1000 people. I also liked that school a lot.
Sprawl ? Why ?
Connor is English, sprawl is an American thing.
Looks good Connor.
Nice Town!Its very nice,and my favorite place is the pub :satisfied:
Nice update. Hmm so, this region is not suitable with that mod.
Nice work on your MD, your first village is looking very nice and I always like seeing GC bats being used. Gives your development a distinct English flavour.
Replies:
Battlecat: Firstly, thanks very much for commenting again.
As for additional housing styles, I was expecting at least one person to say this. And like many people, I base my gameplay on real life. I don't know what it's like in other countries such as USA and Canada, but when I look out the window of my house all I see on the other side of the road is a bunch of houses looking straight at me, all of which look pretty much identical to my own, and its pretty much the same all over the country.
Because I like to make my gameplay realistic I implement this into all my residential areas. However, I do agree that in Simcity it can look rather repetitive and quite bland to have all the houses in one area looking exactly the same, and so whilst I agree that adding different houses would look better, I didn't want to spoil the realism that I was trying to create.
Emgmod: Firstly, thanks for commenting again.
Secondly, by sprawl I assume you are referring to urban/suburban sprawl. When it comes to the bigger towns on the island there certainly will be sprawl, but this is only a little village, and so there isn't much sprawl here.
Vester: Firstly, thanks for commenting, and welcome to Darley Island.
Secondly, although sprawl may be more common in America, sprawl is happening over here in England as well. Nearly every time that I read the local newspaper there's lots of articles and letters from people opposing new developments and trying to prevent sprawl, and so I can tell you that it most certainly does happen in England, though is much more common in America.
Luke09: Thanks for commenting, and welcome to Darley Island.
976: Thanks again for stopping by, and yes I did feel it wasn't suitable. It's a great mod, but I wanted the water to look more dirty and polluted.
Kwakelaar: Thanks for commenting, and welcome to Darley Island. I love those GC BATs and as you said they're great at making the area look English.
---
So, that's the replies done.
I've got some RL things to do this weekend though I'll be trying to cram in as much simcity time as possible.
Connor.
Good point about the housing! If you're shooting for your local brand of realism, then you're doing a great job!
At least around my part of BC, even an individual subdivision of 20 -40 homes will have 2 - 4 different building designs. As you move from subdivision to subdivision, the building styles can vary quite dramatically depending on the age and context of the development! Interesting how personal experience colors our view of what "realistic" looks like; thanks for sharing your thoughts on the matter!
Hope RL doesn't slow you down too much, I'm looking forward to your next update!
Replies:
Battlecat: Sounds like a lot of variation in housing styles over in your area, especially compared to where I live anyway. In England, whenever they build houses somewhere, they tend to build them so they all look the same. For instance, the town I live in has a CBD area, and surrounding that are various residential areas. Each residential area tends to have its own housing style, and so all the houses in one area look the same, though they are normally a different style to houses from other residential areas of the same town.
---
This isn't the update that I had intended, but I got a little distracted.
Firstly, I decided to try out a few different terrain mods. I've been using the Olympic terrain mod for atleast a year now, and just out of curiosity i tried out a few alternative mods, and I've now settled on using the Meadowshire Terrain Mod.
So, here's the updated region overview, which now includes the village of Kimble, and of course the new terrain mod.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg695.imageshack.us%2Fimg695%2F1744%2Fupdatedoverview.jpg&hash=dd1cc450e7fb5d83bd5ea4c3f02b44654530c59f)
Here's a couple of pics showing the Meadowshire terrain mod on the western side of the island.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F4743%2Fb19jun001260704207.jpg&hash=97402be13b87a80c6ea95b48fcc12f1cfed853d3)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F3773%2Fb112jun001260704226.jpg&hash=e687e8b8e6985b5398c45bcab89b25888851d75a)
Secondly, it was my intention to make a little map of Kimble. I went looking through various mapping tutorials and got a little distracted. One thing led to another I ended up making a topographical map of Kimble's tile (B2), which can be seen below.
All credit goes to degren's fantastic tutorial, which is here: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=112.msg50350#msg50350 (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=112.msg50350#msg50350)
I'm not sure why, but i found that topo mapping was rather enjoyable.
Note that the grey areas are water, the white area is land, and the black lines are the contour lines. The grey area on the east side of the picture is the sea, and the smaller grey are on the west side of the tile is the eastern half of Kendal Lake.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg695.imageshack.us%2Fimg695%2F8130%2Fb2topofinalresizedk.jpg&hash=37b71b5f811689e93608efa537bf7d5dea52e74e)
Due to the rather small size of the island, I'm considering doing this for each tile, giving me a topographical map for all six tiles, which I can then also use to create a map for the region as a whole.
---
What I intended to do over the weekend I'll start working on tonight, and post the next update midweek, probably Wednesday.
Connor.
It's a nice Md you have there, Connor. I liked a lot discovering your region and your progress with the roads layout. Kimble looks like a nice village, quite a pleasant town to live in. Nice work with the green open fields behind the houses, it's not something we can see usually but the result you've done here is quite nice.
Can't wait to see more urbanization and/or vegetation.
-Arthur. :thumbsup:
Nice start on the topographic map! Nice simple colors are a good place to start, you can easily replace the black and white to create a color map in the future!
Good choice of terrain mod as well!
Great!
It seems you try to use meadowshire terrain mod, actually I also try to use it in my MD.
I like the topographical map idea, and I'm interested to see one for the whole region. What is the spacing on those contour lines?
Replies:
art128: Thanks for the nice comments. By the way, im assuming the 'open fields' you referred to was the empty areas outside of Kimble. The only reason these areas are empty is because i have not had the time to develop them with trees and farms.
Battlecat: Thank you for stopping by again, and yes any future topographic maps will be in colour.
976: Thanks for replying, and yes i've begun using the meadowshire terrain mod, and as you use it yourself you can see how good it is.
sumwonyumo: Thank you for replying, and i hope you like the region topo map when its done. I don't actually know what the espacing is on the contour lines. To make the map i just followed David's (dedgren's) tutorial from 3RR and i dont think it didnt say anything about the spacing so i dont actually know.
---
I apologise for the lack of proper updates, but over the last couple of months i've had a lot of work in RL to do, though thankfully the assignment i have been working on is due in for tomorrow and so i finally finished it last night.
I'll have more free time on my hands now, which means more SC4 time, and some actual proper updates rather than the random little posts i've been showing you so far.
I intended to have the next update ready for today, but i haven't done as much as i had hoped, and i had problems with the LE, which have been solved now.
Anyways, i'll try to get the next update done as quick as i can.
Connor
It's been a while since any proper update, and I do apologise for that, but as you will find out, updates will be much more development based.
So, I launched up SC4 and opened the region to find this:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg695.imageshack.us%2Fimg695%2F1744%2Fupdatedoverview.jpg&hash=dd1cc450e7fb5d83bd5ea4c3f02b44654530c59f)
Then I sat there for a while looking at this screen wondering what on earth I was going to do. Then, I decided that enough was enough and it was time to start some city building (though strictly speaking this is town building).
So, what do I build first...?
After a slight moment of hesitation i decided to build Darley.
Darley is the largest settlement on Darley Island, hence the name of the island. Because Darley is the largest settlement on a small island such as this, Darley is the centre of commerce on the island. Anyone wishing to go from the island to the mainland can do so via the car and passenger ferries at Darley, which connect the island to the mainland. A fair chunk of the island's population does this on a daily basis, due to living on the island, but working on the mainland, as there is little opportunity for highly paid and skilled jobs on the island. The ferry service is not only used for commuters but also by students and shoppers. The ferry journey is only twenty minutes long and runs regularly throughout the day from early in the morning until late in the evening. The population of the town of Darley is approximately 15,000.
Its about time I posted some pictures. So, let's begin with some town planning.
Here's tile A2, where most of Darley will be located.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg32.imageshack.us%2Fimg32%2F5602%2Fdarleyplan1.jpg&hash=489a72061d8f1183711deae62a16a700580ad9c3)
Zoom in a little...
Time to plan. Remember...fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg706.imageshack.us%2Fimg706%2F3357%2Fplan4darley.jpg&hash=56c7918e035b805d07f9ee9fc09008ed8139a93d)
*Retail park...british terminology. I think they're called strip malls in the US.
Okay, okay planning done.
It's now time to start building. To begin with i will be focussing on the area labelled town centre on the above image.
No English town centre can be complete without a High Street.
Whether the town is big...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg707.imageshack.us%2Fimg707%2F5461%2Fhs1h.jpg&hash=d25f618ebca339934b4bff14a6d87d27ce35b88c)
Or the town is small...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg32.imageshack.us%2Fimg32%2F3995%2Fhs2e.jpg&hash=c4f15f9bf8050baea5b0bd96e6d23e27975ca2e2)
No English town can be without its high street. A British high street is normally a road or pedestrian area, lined with shops on one or both sides. The shops are normally built in old wall2wall buildings.
Here's some pictures of what I mean...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F8076%2Fhighstreetdm468x351.jpg&hash=11d688bc9aa1cbe7cc599b7b6cf778497e0bcb9b)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg32.imageshack.us%2Fimg32%2F521%2Fhighstreet05olarge.jpg&hash=349c622cf84c05b18d391e253e4e697c5308d48d)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F188%2Fdevahighstreet.jpg&hash=7a399b5c1979fe4d7758a2ccbd6d42fbd0139ca2)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F1084%2Fhighstreet.jpg&hash=90a19a7628643b4d81d47403be0459ef9f61e4ad)
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Luckily for me, there are some fantastic BATs out there, and I look forward to developing Darley high street and the rest of the town.
---
Connor.
Nice update! They are called strip malls, not only in the States, but here in Canada too. The high street also has an US/Canadian equivalent: the Main St. Same thing as the high street, except people don't walk on road. If they did, they'd get hit :D. Hope next update is just as good as this one, if not better :D
-Jordan
Hi all, i've been under the weather today, and have ended up stuck in bed all day. I'm hoping to recover quickly because as a result i'm unable to play SC4, and i've fallen well behind in RL stuff, and i've got a lot of catching up to do.
However, i did feel a little better for a short while, and had the energy to start working on Darley High Street (see previous post).
All i did was download some Gascooker lots, and put them in game so i could take a look at them, and i really like them. They are very realistic for British towns.
I'll show you how they look at the moment:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F1654%2Fdhs1.jpg&hash=13180902a4331488da52e6333cfcee139b9a792f)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F7882%2Fdhs3.jpg&hash=13ec0cad08234f6d369c539c3404019a2f63cae8)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F3820%2Fdhs4.jpg&hash=06876511d77601ece0e37605712ece4c27e8ac70)
I need to do some lotting on these, and i want to start putting into place some more BATs, though my SC4 time may be limited for a few days.
I'm hoping to do a full update before Christmas.
Connor/
If you wanted a High street like you showed in the pics, use the NAM's Pedestrian Mall tiles, so that people can walk in the middle of the road. Cars won't be able to get through though. Nice work on the high street. :thumbsup: &apls
Very nice looking start to this town! Those are great buildings!
That's a beautiful looking High Street. It's got great character and it's very inviting. I'm looking forward to what you build around it.
Geoff
wow very great job in your cities !!
That is a beautiful High Street.
When I was reading through the update, I was thinking "This looks similar to the Commonwealth of Marathon, except smaller. And British." I liked the style of that MD, so I consider this one good too.
Very good start, looking forward to seeing how this develops!
Was also chuffed to see a pic of Chester on here!
Nice town.
Nice work!!
Replies:canyonjumper, Battlecat, calibanX, warconstruct, emgmod, wallasey, 976, Tomas Neto: Thanks for the replies, guys, it's much appreciated!
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Here's a quote from canyonjumper's reply:
Quote from: canyonjumper on December 20, 2009, 12:02:26 PM
If you wanted a High street like you showed in the pics, use the NAM's Pedestrian Mall tiles
That's a good point...
So i decided to apply my pretty bad, though slowly improving LE ability.
Before...(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F1654%2Fdhs1.jpg&hash=13180902a4331488da52e6333cfcee139b9a792f)
After...(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg30.imageshack.us%2Fimg30%2F1654%2Fdhs1.jpg&hash=bc1740249bece8d531df58bc87fd3466a7feb57d)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg709.imageshack.us%2Fimg709%2F4893%2Fdhs2.jpg&hash=ea4f5da14d162350d799670156746eb9e459bcf4)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg38.imageshack.us%2Fimg38%2F7882%2Fdhs3.jpg&hash=5fd444e035dfe069f8bf7d5c20b32d908d3ab4d5)
Progress is
extremely slow at the moment, but things will speed up after the Christmas period.
---Merry Christmas...Connor.
I like the change. You had created a nice American Main Street, now you've made a great British High Street. :thumbsup:
Geoff
I like the way that turned out! :thumbsup: That looks more like a British High street.
-Jordan
I love the look, very European. Excellent job man!
calibanX, canyonjumper, BuildingUp: Thanks guys.
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At the time of writing, it's nearly quarter past eleven here in Britain, and so Christmas Day is less than an hour away. It's gonna be the first white Christmas in my area for a very, very, very long time, and I hope that myself and of course everybody else has a great day tomorrow.
Christmas is about being with the people who are important to you, and enjoying their company (and gifts of course ;)) and i hope everybody has a great day.
So from me, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg704.imageshack.us%2Fimg704%2F6809%2Fxmasui.jpg&hash=6b22ee5db06776452f26975a8547f99546c1d8e4)
Great looking little street there! The pedestrian style really makes it look even better!
Really very nice street!!! Great work!!! :thumbsup:
Merry Christmas !!!
Merry Xmas :)
Nice region overview so far my friend and merry christmas to you too (a bit late but hey !)
Also, it's a nice mains treet you've done there my friend, I liked it a lot, and it looks better with the pedestrian street instead of the classic street.
Take care,
-Arthur. :thumbsup:
Replies:
Battlecat: Thanks for replying, and i'm glad you liked the pedestrian style.
Tomas Neto: Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you had a good christmas.
scott1964: Thanks for visiting, and I hope you had a good christmas.
art128: Thanks for commenting, and i'm glad you prefer the pedestrian street to the normal street.
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After a busy Christmas period, i finally got a chance to start playing Simcity again yesterday, though i only had time to plop in a supermarket and make a parking lot in the LE, so there's no point showing any pictures at the moment.
However, it's a new year, and one of several new year's resolutions for me is to start progressing with this MD.
Plus, I've got something big planned for this MD which will all be revealed in the near future...
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Connor
Ooohh... I'm intrigued!
I just caught up with all of the updates here, and I must say that you're progressing nicely... I love your parks and High Street, super realistic!
I can't wait to see your agricultural areas and the rest of your island... :thumbsup:
Havva good one,
Adrian.
I can't wait to see your plan!