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Hey, well this is a new project from me, but as to what it is, I'm not sure myself. Allow me to explain, earlier on in the year I was really impressed with a city journal by Antimonycat. It was called Endora and is sinking down the archives over at SC4D, regardless it was a really impressive representation of a steampunk environment that I have never seen done before and I don't think had. This really inspired me, although I have had a lot of false starts with cities for public display. Either way I diligently started preparing a region, a story and all that associated gubbins that comes with being part of a city journal. It was at this point I hit a snag.
There just didn't seem to be the right map out there for me that hadn't already been snapped up by other journalists. This probably shouldn't have been an issue but for my ego and pride's sake it was. I took the decision to create my own. Considering I had done no terraforming whatsoever, this seemed an unnecessarily complicated way of doing things but, what the heck aye? It was at this point I procured some squared paper and started sketching out my map.
A few days later I had not one map but three.Each map consisted of a coastline, mountainous areas scribble shaded, large settlements all marked, along with major motorways and rail links. Also marked were rivers that would have to be done with ploppable water. Again something I have virtually never experimented with. Although I had high hopes for the maps, I doubted my own terraforming ability could match up to these somewhat complex design ideas.
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This peninsula had all the craggy, hilly coastlines that I wanted to nestle towns in between, while still allowing for some sizeable settlement on its more planar northern flanks. A large river and small islands provided scope for bridging too. I felt this map gave me all the variety a city builder could ever want.
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The second map had a more flowing coastline with a much larger river inlet. That would form some approximation to a mudflat delta with a myriad of islands and sandbars to decorate in game. Along the banks I envisaged a huge sprawling coastal metropolis. Further east in the region there are some uplands and a raised lake. A slighty simpler map to create but not as much fun.
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This final map, is mountainous for the most part with mountain lakes and streams aplenty. It also boast two large bays, and a river running up what I'd like to imagine as a glacial valley. This map with its high level of ploppable rivers and mountainous terrain intimidated me a lot but on the other hand was a sizeable project to get my teeth into and really learn the techniques.
I really couldn't decide which one I liked most, so well I may have made them into one large region. Ok the three image above are actually the modified versions of the three maps, tailored to piece together in a large jigsaw puzzle, but the thematic elements are largely unchanged. This presents itself as a beautiful section of shoreline, known to me as the The Iron Coast. A combination of virtually every type of terrain possible in a swathe of land encompassing a staggering 6720km2, this presents problems in itself.
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It was at this stage in April that I got a new job that took up a lot of my time, and as many before this project got pushed to the back burner. Strangely though the region just wouldn't stop nagging at me, it was something I refused not to finish... so 6 months later I dug out all the files and well started the enormous ball rolling again.And it is the story of me trying to tell this story that presents itself to you. You with me?
EDIT:- It seems that i have to post some form of evidence of results, the cj content guide i the forum says that to merely state ones intention with the first post will alienate potential clients/viewers/knaves so here is a picture from an update somewhere in the future.
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Either way i hope this sparks a few interested minds....
Quote from: mightygoose on December 27, 2009, 06:37:17 AM
Either way i hope this sparks a few interested minds....
Oh yes, it definitvely does :)
I'm really looking forward to this :thumbsup:
Fabian
I think this MD will be very interesting! :thumbsup:
I must admit I'm curious about what will follow
Excellent start, i am very intrigued.
Looking forward to how this develops.
I like what I see so far! Looks like you've put a lot of thought into the terrain already. Endora is an amazing MD, well worth the read! Looking forward to your next update.
Everything's looking good here, MG. Can't wait to see some more work...
Ethan
Wow, great plans here, in the your MD!!! Fantastic!!! :thumbsup:
QuoteEDIT:- It seems that i have to post some form of evidence of results, the cj content guide i the forum says that to merely state ones intention with the first post will alienate potential clients/viewers/knaves so here is a picture from an update somewhere in the future.
Well I don't think you had to worry about that, your map sketchs were ample to grab ones interest. I'm sure that plenty of peeps here will be interested in your initial planning and where it leads us.
Good to see an MG MD ;D
One for everyone to watch with interest :thumbsup:.
Dave
So the Goose is up again ?
Nice start, looks like there will be some planning :thumbsup:
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Replies
Fabian93 - Your MD is something I draw inspiration from and your work is superb, thankyou for your support.
Bobbi - Thanks for stopping by.
WC_EEND - Hopefully this helps alieviate your curiosity.
Connor - Thankyou for your support.
Battlecat - Adara is stunning, another inspiration MD, and your recent uploads to the STEX were much appreciated, you may or may not see them later.
Ecoba - Thanks for your kind words, as with all responses, if you want to criticise or provide negative feedback please do, this is a journal about making a journal, so why not help to make it better?
Tomas Neto - Thankyou very much.
Tooheys - Thanks, you know I was looking around and have decided I cannot let the likes of you and Derry and David take all the glory. Now it's my turn.
Wouanagaine - Yup, I'm stepping up to the plate again, abit more nervous now Chuck Norris is watching.
This Update wasn't planned, I just had a few hours to spare this evening, and thought I could elaborate more on my first post.
II:- Why the Story of the Story?
I want to talk to you about why I am doing this city journal, and why unlike my previous failed attempts it may in fact succeed, beyond update number ten. City Journalling is something I have always wanted to be good at, however it is always something I have as yet not been able to find the right formula for.
My first ever CJ attempt was on a large fantasy map called Macedon and was done with primarily vanilla stuff. Unfortunately no pictures still exist from this journal, unless they are buried deep in the ST archive. Following this failure I soon realised that I had a fixation with massive cities, it was just finding a project that I could commit enough focus to allow me to get to that stage.
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This is a good example of my early work, I was still heavily maxis based but I was starting to add mod's to my setup. These images were uploaded in October 2006. This is post Macedon, and was my first experiments with no maxis in commercial and residential areas. It was over the next six month's that I got a taste for alternative histories and decided to get away from maxis as much as I physically could.
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My next brainwave was to go mad for custom lotting and make an oriental themed city based entirely on my own produce. This incorporated my own sidewalk mod (my first release on the STEX) and was a pipe dream to the extreme. I quickly moved on. I delved into interchange theory and transit manipulation for a while, and also went through a period of 3D modelling. When beta testing for the CAM came round in August 2007 I jumped back on the bandwagon.
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This is a shot of the beta, playing with only maxis structures but modified terrain, an idea I also played around with for a while. I went back to the 3D modelling and started teaching myself some of the more intermediate render techniques, for application in Simcity four. And for another long period I had Journalling aspirations.
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New NAM came out along with the SAM, and then the GRV project was started by mrbisonm after the demise of Nexis of Genesis, one of the greatest CJ's of all time. I decided to take part, and got to about update 8 before I faltered, I was at university and things just kept coming up, although I honed some of my techniques during my time, and it was the first time I played with ploppable nature items, and the first time I ever attempted to deal with coastlines realistically.
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I then had a series of stand alone cities that I didn't journal about but just created eye candy with. This is one such example, back on the no maxis train firmly for good, I was trying to create realistic urban gradients and reduce the steeping of the transition between skyscraper and suburb. This particular picture is from around May 2008. From here on in I felt I was now merely polishing my skills as a Simcity player and that I had mastered most of the basic and intermediate techniques.
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Late in 2008 GRV II was launched and I decided to have another go at it. I lasted 5 updates, hah, but to this day that journal attempt still contains some of my best work. My nature work was improving with each passing month, and my appreciation of the subtleties of plugin selection and urban flora was greatly increased. It was at this point that wide radius curves started appearing everywhere.
I wobbled off the scene over Christmas 2008, and reappeared in March with some silly idea about a hand drawn map. Oh and again courtesy of the Journalling code of conduct, another teaser for you. I hope you agree that there is clear progression in my work and that I think there is still room for improvement.
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As you were.
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That was an interesting read, and some great pictures as well.
Nice teaser too. :)
Goosemeister, great to see you back in the MDing business here, and an interesting couple of updates here. I'm curious to see more of how your Iron Coast region came out--I know how much you've been working on it, and it was really quite neat to see the sketches! It was also interesting to see how your city-building style has changed over the years, and can't wait to see what you've got planned here on that end!
I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one. :thumbsup:
-Alex
QuoteYour MD is something I draw inspiration from and your work is superb, thankyou for your support.
Thank you very much - I feel quite honored about your words :).
---
Fantastic Update &apls &apls.
It was really interesting to read through this Update and to see how you developed over the years :thumbsup:.
I'm definitively watching this :)
Fabian
Hey someone said the Goose had started another MD.
Another one - surely not $%Grinno$%
But yes it true he has :D and what an interesting start. :thumbsup:
I like the story of the story and yes indeed you can see the progress you made using the different mods
and tools for the game &apls
Quote from: Tarkus on December 29, 2009, 01:37:11 AM
It was also interesting to see how your city-building style has changed over the years, and can't wait to see what you've got planned here on that end!
I agree :D
Derry
How could I miss this new CJ !?
Some pictures are really fantastic, particulary the rural shots ! :thumbsup:
What a surprise, a new Goose's MD !
It was really interesting to read these lines, long, but interesting. I like to see so much experiments of the game's faces, and you've done it really well, nice job.
I agree, the last shot show nicely how you managed to get the best nature shot, and IMHO, you've done it, great work !
Take care,
-Arthur. :thumbsup:
I love that eye-candy Border Town picture! The foliage and shoreline are beautiful!
Coolio, John.
I've always admired your works in different competitions, and found your experimenting very fascinating. I hope to see some more work from you soon, and all of your pictures are going to keep me staring for a while.
Ethan
It's cool to see the drawings and then the in game pictures. I love the downtown shot. Awesome! &apls
Certainly a fascinating look at where you've come from and where you're trying to go here! I certainly don't have as much history with the game as you do since most of my early work never even made it off my computer!
Love that teaser, it looks great indeed. Looking forward to seeing what you've got next.
Let's say it like this: You did work on more maps than me with my 2 maps since beginning of 2005 ... ::)
And yes, I did see the progress you made. You know, after such a long time of playing SC4 a kind of retrospective lies on the hand, thought about it recently, too.
Regarding nature, well, the last pic shows one of those areas I am not goog at all ...
Let's see where this will lead us to (and good look to receive a 2-digit number of updates! ;))
Take care, don't forget to make backups
and
Happy New Year!
Bernhard :thumbsup:
Fantastic!!! &apls &apls
Happy new year!!!
As a regular peruser of MDs, I've found there are several elements which tend to grab my attention right from the start. Interesting maps, stunning scenery and some author-created content come to mind.
You've given me another element to add to the list, though. An honest, straight-forward approach! This is where I started, this is what I've done in the past and this is where I'm headed with this MD. It makes me want to be part of the cheering squad that helps you succeed. There are some interactive MDs out there, but you've managed to redefined the genre!
So go for it! Do it! And while you're about it, provide some inspiration to those of us who are still a little too shy to jump in the deep end again. &ops
Happy New Year and Happy New Decade to one and all...
Joan
Wow, a very nice start of your MD. ;)
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Replies
Engorn, Tomas Neto, BuildingUp, sumwonyuno, Yan077 & Connor - thanks for stopping by, your comments are all appreciated.
Tarkus - thankyou for your kind words, yeah working on it has been a long but enjoyable process, seeing my baby brought to life, It has given me time to thoroughly mentally prepare and roadmap what i want to do with this CJ in the long run, something i have never taken the time to do before. I also look forward to the road ahead and i am glad you can be here to enjoy it with me.
Fabian93 - thankyou, i too am watching your journal in earnest.
Derry - good to see you here, your journal is an old favourite of mine that i must admit i have neglected lately, and fingers crossed this one is a keeper.
Arthur - good to see you, thankyou for your words, i know english is not your first languauge so i appreciate the effort you invested to read it all.
Ethan - thanks, just don't stare too long, you might hurt your eyes, and i could do without the lawsuit.
Battlecat - you know, i still have my older machine, i could go and dig up some really really old stuff, if i find a monitor or a HDD enclosure... maybe one for the future eh.
Bernhard - high praise from you sir, do not worry i have everything backed up, online offline and on discs. hopefully my next few updates may help you with converting your maps into playable regions too.
Joan - your making me blush, i think you give me too much credit. but my gratitude is omnipresent regardless. You see, I honestly am learning how to do a proper City Journal as i go, i am just winging it so, rather than disguise that fact i thought i could offer insight into that learning process, to maybe help others do the same.
Now that i have responded to your wonderful comments, i can move on to the meat of the story. This update has been written and rewritten about four times, trying to decide which bits to put in which update. This particular method of mapmaking is as far as i'm aware never been done to the scale at which i have. so while the first of this series of posts gives you a taster, the followers will go into quite some detail. Plus i wanted to sneak another update in before the years end, so here i present to you my third update....
Setting the water
Welcome back, I know a lot of you are probably wondering how I can get on with such a large map. I decided that being that the full map was not a nice rectangle that could be converted easily into a useable region, I would have to play the area as three separate regions in game with the same plugins, and do any mosaic stitching as necessary. Simply because it is my favourite map and it has the most variety the Vagrant Peninsula will be the first of the three maps to get converted.
Now that we have our hand drawn map scanned/photographed nicely into my computer next was to try and translate that into Simcity 4. There is really only one method to convert hand sketches into maps, and it's essentially tracing. The way I chose to do this is not the simplest. You will need a good photo editing suite such as Photoshop, the mapper, the terraformer, patience and some spare time. Here is a brief rundown of the steps.
You need to know your config.bmp size, you need to multiply these dimensions by 64 then add one to each. This gives you the size of your grayscale canvas. So for me it was:
(40,56)×64+x+y=(2561,3585)
Next I needed to figure out what heights corresponded to which colour grey so I booted up the terraformer, created a gradient from ground level down to the bottom of the sea, and exported it as a grayscale image.
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Load this up in Photoshop along with your canvas, which you should fill with 100% black and edit the image type to 16bit grayscale. Paste in your scanned/photographed map as a new layer and resize to exactly fit your canvas to the pixel. Using the lasso tool carefully cut round the majority of your landmass; alternatively use the magic wand tool, dependant on whichever seems to be having the best results.
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Once it is all selected, hide that layer and bucket fill the selection with a grey that you know to be above sea level. Try to use the grey closest to that level to give you more flexibility later. You can flit back and forth between terraformer and photoshop if necessary to get the right heightgray (new word, you all get the meaning right).
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Invert the selection and pick a large feathered brush with a lower, darker heightgrey, border your landmass to give some basic shallows. Save this file as your working map, then delete all layers apart from your canvas, save this file as a PNG file, this is your first test region. Boot up the mapper and then create region using this PNG. My result was:
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Go back to the working file in Photoshop and select a lighter heightgrey than your land grey, using a large feathered brush gently apply some low hills. Start experimenting after about 120 minutes I had got what was starting to be some semblance of my original map or so I thought.
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Next time we will come back to Photoshop where I learnt some hard lessons in how I had bitten off significantly more than I could chew. Although again I haven't really shown you anything particularly exciting so here is one last shot showing that the terraformer can make beautiful pictures....
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Have a happy new year, although shadow assassin & csgdesign are already well into 2010.
Great to see the Goose at it again.
You definately have my attention!
Robin :thumbsup:
Well regardless of how long it's potentially going to take to build, it's a great looking region already! There are some interesting details in there, I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll look like once you start working with them!
Here's one thought for you, what about using the SC4 Terraformer tools to do the next phase of bulk terraforming now that you've got the rough edges of your region in place? That pale green area you've created as of the last working shot would be a pretty good indicator of where you want the mountains to go.
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RepliesRooker1 - great to se you here, i hope this is worthy of your attention.
Battlecat - my computer can handle a region this large in terraformer but it lags to a point where it becomes pointlessly ineffective to try and do anything. i would also like to point out that the vagrant peninsula region is actually fully terraformed now anyway XD.
Well here we are with another Update, ok replies are abit thin on the ground but i am undeterred. It seems that from now on updates here will be 2-3 days ahead of ST thats just the way things are going to happen, no particular rhyme or reason. this update may seem rushed but that is a perfect dichotomy to the amount of work put into this mammoth project for just the pictures you see here. well lets get to it shall we.
LandformerWell I said I'd show you why I had bitten off more than I thought I could chew. So this update will not be as verbose as the majority of the others, I'll simply leave you to enjoy a series of pictures taken over the course of 36 hours work terraforming the region. There were ups and downs, which I will talk about at the end. But till you get to the bottom enjoy...
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Firstly, I thought I was having issues with height. You can see in maps 3 and 4 that I had grossly underestimated the contrast required for mountain, then again in 5 & 6. By 9 & 10 I realised something must be amiss. It seems in the SC4mapper I was importing 16bit PNG greyscale images as 8bit greyscales, which meant the terrain was being greatly compressed. 11 & 12, and 13 & 14, were mainly tonal correction work to bring the terrain back into kilter, now that I was importing via the 16bit button. The final tile I consider to be over correction so the region as it stands is map 13.
However some final alterations and changes are required in game so although I have the map, its not ready for release or upload yet and probably won't be for some time. I have not yet opened every tile, although am in the process. To round off this rather shallow and picture heavy update I present some mid terraforming test eye candy. These images are all very raw and don't represent how I envisage the final product looking.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh4.ggpht.com%2F_PecwKpTZwxk%2FS0P4ZI44SDI%2FAAAAAAAAFOw%2FQlcMAXnqfaU%2Fs640%2Flandformer%252011.jpg&hash=60eaca782f8712bd023a8dce60da9f0d2eaf0fda)
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Anyway see you next week for a very much longer post XD
Very interesting look at how you made those maps, MG... I didn't expect the process to be quite so time-consuming, which is probably why I typically just stick to downloaded maps. :P
And even for being only very raw images, I really like that scenery. :thumbsup:
Oh i Love this a lot Goose...
especially the way the terrain looks..
But of course the hand made maps are grand &apls
brian
I gave up on figuring out creating a greyscale map that had both correct elevations and accuracy for my region. ()sad()
The in-game pictures, especially that mountain, look very nice.
This is all quite fascinating, mightygoose. There are many good - and great - MDs posted here, but too often, all we ever get to see is the finished product. I really enjoy the opportunity to study the nuts and bolts of the various creative processes, though. I appreciate the opportunity to see what the author sees from time to time.
The results of your labor look good from what I can see. The terrain mod you're using is a favorite, and I'm especially fond of that optional beach mod.
The Iron Coast is shaping up to be a very interesting MD, and I await the next installment with much anticipation. :)
Later...
Joan
That's a lot of iterations to go through for terraforming! Looks like a pretty cool region already, I'm looking forward to your next update.
That's a really fantastic MD, mightygoose! Your pictures of your terraforming are wonderful and nice region pictures! Looking forward to more... ;) :) ;)
I'm very fascinated by your working method, the results are wonderful &apls &apls
It's absolutely brilliant! Awesome work man! &apls
by god man! Thats impressive! &apls
Wow, John. This work is just breathtaking. The amount of time you're spending to get your region just right is really amazing, and i know that once development sets in it will get even better.
I hope to see the next update up next week as you mentioned.
Ethan
An interesting read, and the map is looking very good.
Bout time I showed up here.
Looking good so far, Mightygoose! I look forward to seeing some development on your newly terraformed landmass!
wow a MG MD sweet!!! looking real good here MG :thumbsup:
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RepliesDeathtoPumpkins - thanks for your kind words, and don't be scared of a little work, it is well worth it in the end.
B22rian - your continued support is always appreciated.
Sumwonyuno - you shouldn't give up, there will be my attempt at tutorials further down the line, these may help you achieve what you wish to.
Jmouse - Thanks again for your comments, they are always that little bit more insightful and i thank you for taking the time to make them so, there ar some nuts and bolts here for you today so i hope you enjoy.
Battlecat - there are in fact far more iterations than this, these are just the ones i remembered to take pictures of. I hope this wordier update is just as interesting.
Bat - thanks for stopping by, i love your video's and i hope to see more of you round here XD
Yan077 - as i said i will be coming back to the method i na few updates, but for now i am trying to give a flavour of everything you are going to see in the future.
Buildingup - thanks.
Oktoberfest - thankyou very much.
Ethan (ecoba) - thankyou, and here it is :P.
Kwakelaar - welcome to the Iron Coast, for the first time your custom content has entered my plugins folder so it is an honour to have you here.
Haljackey - hey, it may be a while before you see developement anything like the greater terran region, but thanks for dropping in.
Pat - good to here from you old friend, welcome, i hope i see more of you than i have of late.
Anyway, there is a big warning sticker attached to this update, it is a pretty heavy read but i hope you find it interesting never the less.A Little Bit of HistoryWell, I am lying. There is a lot of history. For me this whole project transcends Simcity, it is as much about a literary interpretation of my imagined nation as it is about the visual tools I have used to portray it. This is something that I find makes it easier to know where I am going. As I intend to do this as a natural growth style journal (thanks CSG for coining the term), I thought it would make sense if I at least knew where and when each of the towns and villages were founded.
That is where I was at the map stage, since then it has kind off spiralled out of control. I take notes on everything Dedgren does in 3RR, and if I knew how I'm sure I would create a wiki for all the information I intend to throw at you. As it stands you can expect timelines, family trees, treatise; letters from soldiers, sailors and fathers to their daughters; bank notes, wedding invites, newspapers and flyers. All accompanied by full narrative written by me.
I thought I would show you some of the things I have been working on behind the scenes, getting ready for the commencement of storytelling. (Told you it would be the story of the story) First up is something I wrote back in March, it is the first part of a biography of Sir Arthur Lock I, Founder of The Iron Coast.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F005%2Fa_little_bit_of_history_2.png&hash=5393b6391b9901e815a45cbcbb70a46bd862679c)
As you can see it is brief and far from complete. It was meant to be a pilot almost. I think it is suitable, and have since built up the picture to ensure this piece is still accurate to the canon*. I think that to portray a realistic history you have to have the good with the bad, so I do warn you, some parts of the history you will be exposed to are grim and sometimes unpleasant but that is part of the rich tapestry of life I am trying to put across.
The key to longevity in journals it seems is to be prepared for the long haul, early on. Thus I have started spreadsheets recording just about every possible bit of data there is on The Iron Coast; Replies per member, views per reply and all manner of such statistics. These I will share with you once sufficient data has been collected. Here is a shot of some of the excel work that I have going on currently.
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As I mentioned earlier, Endora is another one of my influences, and my primary consult for steampunk in the SC4 medium. On this line of thought I decided to try my hand at one of his fantastic collages. Made up of many parts of many images and then put together in photoshop to look like a particular scene. This is my first attempt and I don't particularly think it's very good. I have posted an original Antimonycat collage first to demonstrate the concept.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F005%2Fstylist_required_52.jpg&hash=20bc8efa4f8cac3b8730b70cf4cd7053dc8e2e5a)
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I know that city looks somewhat advanced for 1762, but that will be explained in a couple of updates. As you can see I am not even close to the level of finesse that my inspiration demonstrates. But I intend to produce many more of these style images to show some of the key moments in The Iron Coast's history.
To show you something more up to date, here is another excerpt from the Biography of Sir Arthur Lock I:
"On the ninth of February, 1482, Sir Arthur married Lady Elizabeth Huxley. This marriage was by arrangement of Victor Grosmont Huxley, First Duke of Lancaster. His daughter was not the most abiding of potential wives and the Duke took rather a risk to ensure his daughter was married prior to her 25th birthday. However lowly this marriage seemed for the Huxley family, the rise in status it brought to the Lock's echoed round the chambers and lodges of England, and many otherwise disinterested businessmen began to look at The Iron Coast as a potential investment. The marriage turned out to be such a success that Lady Elizabeth's niece married her son in 1507."
As you can see, now it is somewhat more detailed, and includes more culture than the previous representation. This also gives you an idea of the scope of the project, there are five people mentioned in this brief passage, each in need of a biography, so the threads of history can be woven into a wonderful work of multimedia art. I don't wish to get too romantic so I will call this an end here. Further reading below is available for those who wish to but today's teaser is here.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F005%2Fplaying_god_11.png&hash=61d3f8ae7341bf56f483903977c0b2e8728025ba)
*here comes a really nerdy bit. Canon refers to literary universes, and is used to describe the nature of additional media, and to define what is to be held as true within that universe and what is deemed fan fiction. The opposing term is Apocryphal, where everything on the subject counts, no matter the author, its just sources from points of view and the reader has to make up his own mind. Below find an essay I wrote for a website associated with Warhammer 40,000, a tabletop battle game that has a massive fictional universe with much fan fiction around also. This ended up in their equivalent of the Omnibus.
Games Workshop needs a clearly-defined policy stating which books are "official background material" and which are not. Some works, particularly older ones, should not be considered official.
To start I wish to clarify a few definitions.
The term Canon/Canonical denotes fictional material that is "genuine", i.e. created by the original creator/s of the fiction. This material is taken to be absolute truth and any contradictions in supplementary fiction are considered incorrect.
The term Expanded Universe denotes the 'extension' of a media franchise with other forms of media such as comics and original novels. This typically simply involves new plot arcs for existing characters within the franchise; however in some cases entirely new characters and additional themes are introduced.
The term Apocrypha/Apocryphal denotes fictional material that is created by a source other than the original creator/s. This material is taken to be valid exempting contradictions to Canon, although not to be treated as absolute truth. It may or may not be endorsed by the original creator/s and may or may not become Canonical at later stage.
From a business perspective there are several points to be considered. If a company adopts a Canonical/Apocryphal distinction then they can significantly constrain themselves and reduce interest and sales in the franchise. Primarily this distinction turns enclosed novels into enclosed fact, any mystery or speculation on a plot & its implications become somewhat pointless as unless clarified at a later date in Canon, any consensual conclusions drawn by the fan community are entirely worthless. This can rapidly lead to stagnation and a decrease in community interaction, leading to alienation and eventually to a reduction in consumer base and general sales. This also imposes incredibly stringent constraints on everything that the creator/s publish, as any internal contradiction totally undermines the entire corporate stance on Canon.
In a non canonical system, all material created that is enclosed by the expanded universe, by any author is equally valid. This is a direct parallel to reality; WWII only occurred 60 years ago and even today massive debates rage across the historical community arguing over specifics based on the evidence of any source they can find. What gets printed in the history books is just the general consensus among those same historians. As fans of a franchise in a totally apocryphal expanded universe we are the historians, archivists, reporters and even the characters. Our battles take place, we can write about events we witnessed (even if that witnessing is only implied by authorship) and we the community decide what really happened because that is our obligation, we have to make that decision. It is this debate and ciphering of sources that keeps the community alive, it is what keeps up lying awake at night dreaming of epic battles implied but not detailed. It is that sense of perpetual ignorance that keeps us buying the books, and posting in the forums. We want to garner every morsel of information from the new sources that are released. And it is this free advertising that keeps the Franchise afloat.
To compound this initial argument I will quote Marc Gascoigne, a publisher at the Black Library, don't worry I wont use the whole quote, just the relevant bit:
"Keep in mind Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 are worlds where half truths, lies, propaganda, politics, legends and myths exist. The absolute truth which is implied when you talk about "canonical background" will never be known because of this. Everything we know about these worlds is from the viewpoints of people in them which are as a result incomplete and even sometimes incorrect. The truth is mutable, debatable and lost as the victors write the history... "
So Games Workshop don't particularly want to adopt a Canonical/Apocryphal approach, because it is simply unrealistic. Remember newer versions of the same sources exist in real life and are treated as separate sources; this is because they were written at different times with different influences and with different intended implications. An article written in Rogue Trader era about space marines describes them the way he understood them to be, what he felt they were like. The same article written now may describe them in a totally different way and even flatly contradict the first source, but it was written by a different author. This author may be the same person, but his influences and intentions will have changed and that is why it is a separate source. Even real life quotes get misquoted down the ages, and how many versions of the bible are there, denominations of Christianity, interpreting the same sources differently.
Now for the second half I want to talk about why I don't want Games workshop to adopt a Canonical/Apocryphal approach. I love the Iron Warriors; I love their persona, their attitudes and their methods. There are codex entries, there are rogue trader references, there are novels, and all these sources are pieces of a puzzle, for me to assemble, to create a consistent portrait elaborately integrated with the rest of the expanded universe. There are massive voids in the literature though, and I feel as a fan it is my responsibility to try and fill them. I went to find more sources; I searched my White Dwarf collection, and then various other articles written about them by official creators. Then I went to the other historians, looked at the sources they had created based on their interpretation of the available evidence. I had looked through the primary sources and the secondary sources.
All that was left was for me to pull all these resources together into on continuous, tangible thread of potential truth. There was no way that all the sources could be true so I deferred to consensus, just like a real world historian. I began to fill in the gaps with my own logical reasoning: "for event A to occur, condition B had to be true, which implied case C", as this continues that thread slowly became an expanding tapestry of history. A history that is just as valid as any other, published or as yet unwritten. If the general consensus agree with parts of my tapestry it becomes accepted, but parts will not and they become new secondary sources, ready for the next historian to interpret.
Also as a hobbyist I want to convert models from both my own range of miniatures as well as some of those from other factions. Now in a Canonical/Apocryphal system there is no place for this. These new vehicle variants that I have created are in actuality wrong; they don't exist and have no place in the universe. This is an absurd notion to me, why should my creation be branded eternally as implausible fluff, apocrypha that looks pretty but has no background, and no point. My Ram-raider is a siege tank used by some Iron Warrior forces, just because there have only been one or two sighting's does not mean it exists. In WWII, to flog an analogous parallel to death, there are examples of vehicles that never made it off the drawing board, or vehicles that only one or two prototypes were ever made, and even some vehicles that were hastily converted in the field, lashed together to try and make the most of what they had. Flak emplacements were welded to the top of artillery tractors because a commander needed mobile air support.
As much as the Adeptus Mechanicus would disapprove I am sure many a guard general has ordered similar retrofits to vehicles under his command in desperate or unusual circumstances. Sometimes it is these lash together individuals that later go on to create a fully fledged variant. For those who don't know that is exactly how the Predator Annihilator came into existence, prior to one particular engagement only Destructors were built. It may have taken hundreds of years of testing and augury to acquire the blessings of the Machine God, but they were gained eventually and now no decent anti armour formation is without them. Even the Adeptus Mechanicus, a fanatically ritualized organization learnt to accept apocrypha into their canon, so why should we as open, inquisitive and imaginative historians deny it?
A Canonical/Apocryphal system, if adopted by Games Workshop would be unrealistic, difficult to implement, detrimental to sales and community participation. I do not wish to deny that to an extent there is a canon. The rules Games Workshop publish in codex and rulebook are Canonical. Homegrown rules are very much Apocryphal. However, to the broiling clouded expanding universe that is the 41st millennium and the other forty that passed before it, that's history, which is very much open to interpretation.
Now, for those familiar with the game that probably made a lot of sense, but for those not versed, I hope the message I was trying to portray got through. There will come a point where I may ask some of you to take part in The Iron Coast, either writing fictional pieces or helping decide the history. Any and all fan art, fiction, ideas, I will try to incorporate to the best of my abilities.
Further to this, you may have noticed the ever changing banners at the top of each post. This is because in March a member called shadeslayer created a joke banner for me. In honour of this his banner was used in the first update. This updates banner is brought to you by Benedict. Any other submissions, no matter how silly will most certainly be used at some point.
Anyway enough for this week, peace.
Awesome update my friend!!! I delayed a good time for read everything this, and I liked very much!!! Congrats my friend!!! :thumbsup:
Very interesting update indeed, I really enjoyed the history lesson. Very nice images today as well, that nature shot just before your essay looks fantastic!
The size and insanely rugged terrain of my region is just too much to figure out on a bitmap /wrrd%&
Those pictures are beautiful! &apls I especially like that field!
Another very interesting and rather promising update. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, and i like the way you are gradually introducing this project bit by bit.
I eagerly await further developments in what looks set to be a fantastic project.
The teaser looks great, and i think you've made a great attempt at the collage as well.
Connor.
High quality and professionally done...
as your work always is Goose.. i especially liked
the wonderful collage you did. looks great !
thanks, Brian
Enough text? ?=mad)=
Ah well, it was a good read. The stuff about Games Workshop was a wee bit much, but other than that nice update! I was pleased to see one screenshot from Simcity 4 as well.
And don't worry, I'll be patient in terms of development and whatnot. You gotta set the stage right before that happens!
-Haljackey
Nice work on the text there.
And nice pictures there between the texts.
Great work on that "little bit" of history!! :thumbsup:
You've certainly been doing your homework, looking forward for more. &apls
Looking like a very ambitious project, and anything with this kind of history involved I am certain I will find interesting. Although your collage is (as you already mentioned) not quite of the same quality as Antimonycat, you have made an image that is making an impression and showing us something of what we can expect to see here.
Looks like you have hit upon one of the vital ingredients for a successful MD, mightygoose - immersion! You already have one of the others at work for you - interaction with your audience.
Knowing the history behind the story helps you know where you're going with the region, as opposed to merely filling up space and posting random pictures. Also, it strongly suggests that you're in this for the long haul, which is reassuring to your audience. Covington by JBSimio comes to mind as a classic example of this theory. Jon didn't include as many historical details as you plan to use, but you can bet those details exist somewhere in his mind.
I like your PS'd picture of Lockstone, circa 1762. And I enjoyed reading about The Iron Coast's background. I'm tempted to offer a small suggestion at this point, but I believe I'll present it first in a PM.
This is an enjoyable update which has left me anxious to see more!
Joan
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Replies
Tomas Neto - thanks for dropping by again, i am very pleased you took the time to read what i had to say, i hope you found it all fascinating. there are a few more pictures this time.
Battlecat - That was more a history of the history lesson, the history won't really be broached in significant detail till the storytelling starts, which is some way off.
Sumwonyuno - you are aware that there is a full size map of oahu on the stex [linkie] (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=19092), thanks for your kind words nevertheless.
Conner - thanks i'm glad you understand how i am trying to introduce the project. hopefully you will enjoy the continuation of it just as much.
Brian(b22rian) - your compliments are always a pleasure to hear.
Haljackey - Yeah i thought it was abit tangential, hence why i declared it optional reading. Glad you like the obligatory teaser, i would like to point out these are all from the region itself, these are not random images i am pulling from a single eye candy tile elsewhere.
bat - thanks.
Janype - oh yes, but the prospect of creating a whole alternative reality just to give a solid grounding to one nation represented in SC4 is something that fascinates me. I get very excited about it sometimes, probably overly so, but i do have a couple of RL friends who are part of various online steampunk communities, and they have been very helpful style consultants.
Kwakelaar - thankyou for your sentiments, i think if i can get readers to feel part of the world and have an idea of what the place is like before i start telling the stories, then the narrative itself would be far more compelling.
Jmouse - Immersion will be key as project progresses, you have hit the nail on the head with your comments on overall direction, and i would rather you were eager than anxious to see more :).
Setting the Water IIRight lets get to it shall we, this week we start a more in depth run at terraforming from a hand drawn map. This time round the region is 14x10 large tiles in a landscape configuration so the greyscale image has to be (56,40)×64+x+y=(3585,2561).
Now crop your photographed map and expand the correct portion to fill the canvas.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2a.png&hash=b18f31e51167c398eb9905a64df35645b428fe27)
Next I lassoed and deleted any unnecessary text & drawings in the water areas of the map; this makes it easier to see for future stages.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2b.png&hash=65a54025fe9e3b1030753ef2b7e54d1a1c5a6484)
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Start tracing in a narrow black brush all coastlines and water bodies, do this on a separate layer. This is also your last opportunity to make any significant changes to the map without making things much more difficult later on. As you can see I edited the river mouth on the right hand side of the image.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2d.png&hash=2c1a94dbdf72a0c8a64ae4cd5addc82a98dd83c6)
Once you are happy, create a new plain black layer and sandwich it between your trace and your photo layers. Then invert the colours of the trace layer.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2e.png&hash=81b71743f2407b4d7c0e0b25ac04d00dc2d33fb4)
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Go back to the photographic layer by making the plain black (greyscale) layer invisible; next trace any major contour boundaries you feel like. I chose two more, the bottom of the treeline for Meadowshire tree controller, & the snowline. For reference, shoreline is at RGB 12, treeline at RGB32-RGB35, snowline at RGB54-RGB57.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2g.png&hash=98888cb200771b2767afb78874e2fc24d440d802)
In theory if all your lines are continuous and run to the edge of the map, you should be able to use the magic wand tool to select all the areas that will be at shoreline to treeline altitude in your trace layer. Swap to your greyscale layer and bucket fill RGB12.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2h.png&hash=42d28c97ab90578c7b22dba5eb39809e8cf13342)
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Rinse and repeat for the other contours until you have what looks like a very basic cell shaded map on your greyscale layer.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2j.png&hash=08c4227e97e4f00d8783f007d2de9c0b0fd68643)
Save the whole collection of layers as "[name of region] working map"; then delete all but the greyscale layer. Flatten the image so the layer becomes background, finally please check that the file is a 16bit greyscale, save as a copy, a PNG file named "[name of region] test one". Do not save changes to original file when exiting photoshop, otherwise you will lose the other two layers which are still handy for reference.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2k.png&hash=98dfbdc280a00650badda0c1d56443cef2392968)
If you want, at this stage you can boot up the mapper and create a region from your current test file. This is not the exact method I used in the first region, this is a more streamlined version I hope. My result in the mapper shows considerable noise, this is from chopping and changing between the best options for import into the mapper.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2l.png&hash=5a40d8bab947f466b379b3a4ee22595f5cf25e05)
Well as you can see all the various elements are there. In a few updates time we will come back and look at some detailing techniques. Next time we are going to be looking at steampunk as a genre, and the stylistic direction I wish to take the regions architecture in (i.e. what plugins I will be picking). Finally as per requirement we have the fundamentally key teaser image, this is one of my favourites so far. Enjoy.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F006%2Fstw2m.png&hash=fefebd0497ca6bcdb28c44f3e35c11364ae0519f)
Anyway, I hope this has shown that going from hand drawn map to sc4 map is not quite as impossible as it first looks. See you soon.
Wow, very nice! I should have stopped in before, this looks like a very good MD! I love how you're showing all the development details of making the region.
Vince
great display of map making skills !
Especially in terms of diversity.. Just amazing here goose :)
Brian
Great job Goose! I really liked how your rough drawings turned out in the last two images. Nice work! :thumbsup:
This just gets better and better, John! I've always wondered how greyscale maps are made, but never got beyond curiosity. Seeing your map go from pencil sketch to playable region is a rare and intriguing experience, indeed.
Of all the maps I've seen used in MDs/CJs, there can't be more than a handful which are player-created in this way. I've always thought extensive terraforming on a downloaded map made it "uniquely mine," but as usual, you're a giant leap ahead of me! :D
Then, getting a peek at the results in the last photo is nothing short of amazing. I'm confident there will be more surprises and a lot of impressive work to be seen here, and I don't want to miss out on any of it!
Quote from: mightygoose on January 17, 2010, 06:24:48 PM...and i would rather you were eager than anxious to see more :).
So "eager" it is! :)
Later...Joan
Nice work on the mapping, and as always a great teaser as well :)
Nice tutorial, that's a pretty cool approach to bringing your hand drawn map into the game. Also, very nice detailing on that nature shot, it looks excellent as well!
Welcome to page 4!
Great work on the map... :thumbsup:
Looking forward to more...
Fantastic update!!! &apls
John,
this is superb stuff. &apls &apls
I've just managed to catch up on all you've done so far and I must say I am very impressed.
It is fascinating to watch how your ideas in your head are being turned into reality :D
Just the amount of work in creating the greyscale map and all the steps involved then to get it in game
amazing. Personally I wouldn't have the patience to do all that. $%Grinno$%
I can see you are in this for the long haul and I too am eager to see what you have in store for us :thumbsup:
10/10 for the last pic. Its spectacular &apls &apls
Derry
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Even though I love to see concrete jungles it's always nice to see some uninterrupted splendor. Brilliant! :thumbsup:
Good idea - I like it! You're just full of innovative surprises. :)
Later...
Joan
Nice idea, from what i can see your region looks fantastic. Looking forward to more.
Connor.
You can almost hear all of the "oohs" and "ahhs"! :thumbsup: The terrain is beautiful!
Wow, that region teaser is absolutely magnificent!
You should really consider uploading this MG, I think that it would be a great candidate for the LEX, and would probably be a highly downloaded map, I know I would download it.
I think that most of the splendor comes from how smoothly the transition from rolling plains to snowy ridges is. I think that the magnificent tree placement really ahlps this as well.
Can't wait to see what plugins you're thinking of using!
Ethan
Amazing shot! That's a massive region and it's certainly a view we don't get to see very often!
Nice to see how you get from your hand drawn map to Simcity.
That's a nice view of your nice looking region! Looking forward to more of it... :thumbsup: ;)
Wow, awesome!!! &apls &apls
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RepliesVince(blue lightning) - thankyou my friend, to be honest as much as you guys like it it is a bit of a cop out showing all the background stuff, it makes it look like i have done more than i have.
B22rian - thankyou very much.
Haljackey - yeah there will be more of that soon.
Joan(jmouse) - your input is always apreciated, and it makes me greatly pleased to know that i can help other members understand new things about the game. that is what i want to give back, not just pretty pictures.
Connor - thankyou for your plaudits.
Battlecat - as far as im aware its pretty much the only way of bringing a hand drawn map into the game, even indirectly.
Bat - thanks.
Toms Neto - thankyou also.
Derry(TheTeaCat) - ha, you flatter me sir, i am glad you are enjoying the show.
BuildingUp - glad i could show you something different.
Joan(jmouse) - heh, i wouldn't call that innovative ;)
Connor - thanks for your compliments, remember that is only one third of the region total.
sumwonyuno - thankyou friend.
ecoba - well the map although useable is along way from upload quality, as you will see later on, yeah the smoothness was something i really wanted to be key here, and i think i achieved it well, as for the tree placement, don't thank me, thank the meadowshire tree controller, thats all the trees the region has had at this first pass stage. ask and you shall receive, sort of, plugins are somewhat discussed this time round.
Battlecat - yeah the view is kinda awkward as i had to get a strip of 14 large tiles into a vertical column, i will have shots of much longer strips of land in the future, so i hope you are "eager" to see more XD
bat - thanks.
Kwakelaar - thankyou my friend.
Tomas Neto - glad you like it.
Now lets get to some nitty gritty, so what is steampunk exactly, and what kind of plugins are you going to see in the Iron Coast...Stylist requiredEssentially I want to talk about my motivations and ideas when it comes to the architectural style in the Iron Coast.
Architectural integrity is important to me, as I think it can bind a region's settlements together to compound their obvious direct relation into a more rounded national identity. Not to look as if all the buildings were constructed at once, but more to look like there is some form of design progression, this implies a history to your cities making them feel all the more authentic and believable.
My original intention was to follow a steampunk theme in light of Antimonycat's, romantic, industrial, shambling, parisienne city. If we analyse one of his photos we can see below, that there is in fact more industry in the picture than residential and commercial put together. Architecturally we have Industrial brick construction harking memories of the industrial revolution, but also some half timbered buildings near the top. Half-timbered construction was a technique that rose to fame through the Tudor and Elizabethan periods. The remainder of the buildings being industrial metalwork, this image of overly complicated yet somehow old fashioned machinery is archetypal of the steampunk ideology.
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Also note the custom ferry sign and automata that have been edited postgame in photoshop, these touches help complete the images identity and leave no anachronisms to distract the viewer.
Steampunk itself is a sub genre of scifi/fantasy, with one of the key requisites being the prolonged use of steam beyond the advent of the internal combustion engine. The theme is stylistically Victorian although modern inventions are often shoe horned in as if they were invented at an earlier date, such as steam cars, airships, computers(digital or Babbage like mechanical) and on top of that inventions and theme that approach Vernian and Orwellian levels respectively. Often closely associated with cyberpunk, with its generally dystopian feeling and the ever presence of heavy industry, steampunk however can be utopian in nature. (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F007%2Fstylist_required_37.jpg&hash=577fd7027f3d8c96d3ef7df7dff5cfefdedd7c2a)
Names of people & places are normally overindulgent and representative of the base country subculture you superimpose your steampunk onto, although picking names from between 100-500 years ago usually is the benchmark. Technical terms are flamboyant to say the least. Just try to imagine you were an inventor in 1780 and had just invented an Amerific Lodestone Reactioning Vessel (nuclear reactor to you and me). You can see the progression. As for dating things, general convention from what I've seen is that you call the date whatever the date is today and wind it back one hundred and fifty to two hundred years, this gives your the appropriate scope of the early Victorian period while still giving you scope to move into the future.
In light of that brief introduction to the genre, I'm now going to talk about some of the style decision I have made. When selecting my plugins I decided to go for a British subculture, in a similar fashion to Antimonycat, however unlike my inspiration I intend to have Germanic influences on that and try my best to steer clear of that parisienne romanticism. I want city to be tangibly grittier, darker and push that dystopian edge.
There is I should mention a third option, you can do steampunk with art deco and neoclassicism as your architectural base. This can be done extremely well and Mr. Glamazon made a couple of releases in this neoclassical steampunk style. See below for a more elaborate artistic impression.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F007%2Fstylist_required_57.jpg&hash=cbf9305493a6f3742089d623a4cf62097d2bf864)
Anyway back to me, Tudor, Gothic and Elizabethan architecture for the most part, with some medieval Germanic extras thrown in. At this stage I am merely selecting rural plugins, and so I have picked up every non-American/non-Mediterranean farm I could find and blocked maxis agriculture. I picked up the RRP plop paths, culverts & fences, as well as the aubrac stone walls, some half timbered cottages by tag_one, the full Manchou set, (French I know but very rural and with HD models looks superb up close) some Tudorbethan Revival houses from mattb325, and well you get my drift.
To be honest with you the real struggle to pull the architectural theme together will begin when I run out of gothic buildings in the bigger cities and duplicates pop up everywhere but this is something I hope to address. I have been known to don some tools and make the occasional BAT in the past, not that I've been able to successfully export any of them. However with the super duper new BAT4MAX released by Simfox, maybe that will change. Below just to get you more into the feel of things are a few shots of buildings in the styles that I will be looking to replicate or emulate.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F007%2Fstylist_required_34.jpg&hash=6c1bf93510d21dd4affa681a59ce824b1a98c2e9)
This is an example of decorative gothic design. Key features of this particular style are the crenulated roof sills and the tracery in the windows along with the equilateral peaks. All these features date this structure to between 1300 and 1350, however some of the embellishments above the main entrance on the right are clearly orthodox in suggestion and inspiration. If I were to replicate this design, those particular features would be left off.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F007%2Fstylist_required_5.jpg&hash=b8d1b669a3f521f90ec66adc9da07b226a3e1b1c)
This is a brilliant and exceptionally large example of Half-timbered construction located in London is great for showing that older architectural styles can still achieve the kinds of urban densities required for a large city to function in Simcity 4. Furthermore note the Jetty floors (the top three floors are all cantilevered in series). The structure was built this way as your council tax was based on your land coverage on the ground floor, thus by jettying the upper floors you gained additional space for no extra fee.
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Here you can see where the cathedral was built in stages throughout the gothic period the traceries on the tower are far more decorative and ornate than the rest of the establishment. This probably occurred due to a lack of funds on behalf of the contractor. Either that or the architect was changed and hence made embellishments...
Anyway, this has been the first part delving into the world of architectural style, if not relatively lightly. Do not panic, although the "Stylist Required" feature will be back, it won't pop up very often, so see you next week with something entirely different again.
Whoa, goose, you my friend are an most certainly an expert in this field... Thank you for that wonderfully informative explanation of what exactly constituted steampunk, and the hint at your architectural selections.
Very cool your explanation, and I also liked your interest in architecture! :thumbsup:
The link of example of decorative gothic design needs be fixed!
Very cool update, you've certainly put a great deal of thought into your approach to this region! Nice selection of pictures to illustrate your thoughts! I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what you've got coming up next!
A very interesting read and some wonderful architectural photo's as well. ;)
Great reading, I must confess that I had to look up a few words to try to follow your meaning. ()what() Never heard about steampunk before your introduction, and actually quite interesting to look at some of the references on internet, also in the direction of cyberpunk as that is a little more familiar.
It seems it will be quite a challenge to be able to fill your cities with Tudor, Gothic and Elizabethan architecture, there just is not that much made in these styles, I am curious to see how you will solve this.
I see the Neues Rathaus from Munich as first reference for Gothic style, dated to between 1300 and 1350. You do realize that this is a 19th-20th century design, and I am a bit confused about the orthodox embellishments, as I don't know this expression in architecture.
Both following examples of buildings are more accurate examples of medieval architecture, though you are a bit quick to jump to conclusions regarding council rules and change of architects. ;)
I have really enjoyed reading about your ideas for your MD, and I look forward to see what you will come up with next. :)
Excellent description! Steampunk is a really unique subject, I really like the way you used pictures and words to describe it. Not just describe but show the person.
Awesome! &apls
You've discussed some excellent ideas here, John. Once again, you've caused me to stop and really think about an element of game play which I suspect is often overlooked - architectural style. Thank goodness we don't see very many horribly mismatched styles, but there's more to choosing BATs than just deciding between American, European and Mediterranean architecture.
I like the idea of design progression, too, and it's one I've devoted a bit more thought to. A RL city doesn't just pop up overnight like springtime clover. There will always be an older part of town as well as a newer part. And I believe we can achieve that contrast in SC4. I'm anxious eager to see how you meet the challenge.
I enjoyed the history lesson, too... :)
Joan
Wow, so much backstory! I hope the themes you plan to use work out well for your MD!
Nice work on the seventh update!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Great plans, awesome ideas and the mightygoose, doesn't get much better than that for an MD.
Congrats on the very well deserved move to OSITM this month.
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Congratulations from myself and The SC4D Staff!
Congrats MG, this should be an interesting month. Enjoy.
Congratulations, John. Looks like February is shaping up to be an exceptional month in OSITM!
Later...
Joan
Congratulations! &apls
Yeah my friend!!! Congratulations on OSITM!!! &apls &apls
Congratulations! Looking forward to more... :)
Congragulations on OSITM, my friend! It's well deserved.
Ethan
I'm very humbled to be featured alongside your journal MG.
I think this is an excellent opportunity and timing for us to produce our joint project... while we're both featured in OSITM.
Good luck with your upcoming entries, and congratulations on being featured!
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RepliesDeathtoPumpkins - thankyou for popping by, i am by no means the expert on steampunk, and i am still learning things about the genre on a daily basis, however i imagine there are a lot of people out there who have never heard of the subcatergory and i thought it would be nice to explain somewhat. i will divulge more details and nuances of steampunk at a later interval.
Tomas Neto - thankyou and thanks for the bug report.
Battlecat - what i am trying to do is convey my influences to my audience, i want to share the vision with you so you can help me realise it, if anything i publish is out of character or could be improved i want you guys to feel confident enough to speak up and give more reasoned imput.
Connor - thankyou my friend.
Kwakelaar - firstly, i would like to thank you very much for taking the time to put together such a lengthly reply, it is most helpful to me if there are people out there to question and challenge my ideas, please continue to do so. As to the matters you raise, I know there is a real lack of "tudorbethan" architecture available on the exchanges and well i may or may not have a little surprise in store for helping to fix that issue. Secondly, the Neues Rathaus; you have rumbled me, i should have mentioned that it was a gothic revival structure, however it is such a great example that particular style of gothic architecture i was hoping nobody would notice. Rounded towers were my primary eastern orthodox church architectural citing, although crenellated sills are also a revival addition.
Ok the land area based taxation is very much true of tudor england and is in fact the motivation for the jettying.
"Where the houseowner could afford it, the more expensive technique of jettying was incorporated in the construction of the house. Home owners were taxed on their ground-floor square footage; jettying allows higher stories to have larger square footage than the ground floor."
[linkie] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_framing)
And the separate sections constructed at different times would be a reference to Salisbury Cathedral.
"The only major sections of the cathedral built later were the Cloisters, Chapter house, tower and spire, which at 404 feet (123 metres) dominated the skyline from 1320."
[linkie] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salisbury_Cathedral)
I hope this answers most of your questions, feel free to ask any more that you see fit.
BuildingUp - thankyou, i am glad you like seeing the influences also.
Joan(Jmouse) - I know that very often one of three or four very popular architectural styels dominates the simcity world to an extent, i really want to break out of that mould. AntimonyCat proved it could be done and it is such a shame that he is not around any longer to aid me. But in a small sense this entire project would not exist if it were not for him. As to my all round approach to this project, i see the Iron Coast more as a vison in my head, an idea, an alternate reality that exists merely in my head, SC4 then becomes just another art medium, like canvas, like pen, like music. Then it merely becomes a matter of ensuring you have the right brushes to paint on your canvas, so your vision is portrayed effectively.
Haljackey - thanks and i hope so too.
Bat - thankyou.
Rooker1 - awww shucks, i am honoured when i consider the callibre of journals that have passed through this right of passage, and my company is certainly illustrious this month. I will do my utmost to uphold the standards expected in here.
Tooheys - i will do my darndest to make sure this is a fascinating month.
Joan(Jmouse) - thankyou, i just hope i can live up to the expectations.
Battlecat - thankyou my friend, you deserve to be in here virtually every month.
Tomas Neto - thankyou for the sentiment.
Bat - here is more.
Ethan(ecoba) - thankyou for your kind words.
CSGdesign - your humbled, considering you busted out a 3D night render of your entire region not so long ago, along with 3D topological data graphs of a mining operation, i think i am the one to be humbled, as to our joint project, i plan on putting that on in around 48 hours. I will go back and edit it once yours is present.
Anyway, now that the rather lengthly replies to my last update are over with i can move on to my first update under OSITM...Playing GodHere we are, the first totally in game update, still not storytelling by any stretch, however, I will be sharing with you some of the natural development occurring on this somewhat barren terrain. Don't get too excited it is still only my first attempt at "plop-water" rivers. There is only one picture of my very first attempt and that is below. I tried to follow the contours of the valley and gradually make my way downhill. This didn't work out to well as I ended up following the grid for a significant portion of the route. I also forgot to put down any form of riverbed first.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F008%2Fupdate8a.png&hash=4d3730b99a22a447e252fce3a77630ccc4c8cd20)
Second time round I decided to try to learn from my mistakes and improve my technique. Taking a leaf out of 3RR's book, I decided to try and pursue realism more vehemently; I used the road and rail tools to smooth out a path for my stream. Note that although this is more realistic than just following the contours, it is nowhere near the realism David achieves as my gradients are far too steep for such a tranquil stream.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F008%2Fupdate8b.png&hash=587baab41bb597cc033fd9984ec5e49122dba4dd)
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My next task was to trace along this route, in a very lazy and haphazard manner. You will need to select an appropriate riverbed texture; I chose Chris Adams' marsh texture from the RRP. Don't worry at all about straying off course a little, however, major deviations may lead to uphill streams, so you may need to go back and modify the terrain with the road and rail tools again.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F008%2Fupdate8d.png&hash=2bffdbbe52f2650c2a818e6fedcae78547e79d43)
Next, follow your riverbed down the slope roughly again with the plop water tool of your choice; I used Jeronij transparent blue & the half tile size for the upper stream and the whole tile for the wider, lower sections. By minimising the amount of plop-water tiles you use you in fact allow more space for riverside plops such as trees and bushes.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F008%2Fupdate8e.png&hash=27747da7b5a1503fe972bfc5c8c3f57bd06b70d8)
At this stage the visual modifications such as rock, water, beach, terrain, plop water & even the techniques I am using are still very much flexible, so at this stage I will leave this here. A lot of the things I am having to do a large number of times, I have only done once or twice before, so this is all pretty new to me as well. Either way I hope you have enjoyed this little insight into playing god. (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F008%2Fupdate8f.png&hash=1a58bc911721821edc5ede0a070d57b220340817)
This is the same area in region view, at the time of writing this entry. As you can see there is much work to be done. I leave you today with two pictures of meadows that I found knocking around. All of the eye candy shots I keep posting are merely experiments in plop flora. It is all practice though and gradually meadow by meadow this region is coming to life.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F008%2Fupdate8g.png&hash=1bbebd187c6b0cbb48b096e4dfc97dca93f374a7)
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See you later
A very interesting update, John.
I think that your entrance to plopping rivers was a great one. Some of David's techinques are the greatest to be found. I do agree with you on the difficulty of plopping streams if you don't have a defined riverbed before hand. On account of that, I've had some streams flow uphill before, and some look like they were graded with machines. &mmm
That first region view is absolutely stunning, even if only two tiles are visible rendered, but the Terraformer coloured tiles are pretty cool looking too, in my mind. Those screens of the meadows are very well plopped and the variety of flora in such a small space is really amazing!
Ethan
Cool stuff John! This is a fascinating MD that I hope to keep an eye on!
-Jordan
Congratulations! :thumbsup:
I really like how the streams turned out, and I'm marveling at those meadows! :P
Wow my friend, another awesome update!!! Fantastic!!! &apls &apls
I really love your combination of terrain textures, trees, and creek/river things.
So many things you inspire me to try but I'd have to start a new region to do it.
...must....resist....
Great work as always mightygoose. congrats on the OSTIM!
Love the streams, great work and looks so natural - really nice...and always inspiring to learn from.
Creating surface water is one of my favorite things in this game now! You're so very right about the challenges with creating them, but looks like you've got it well in hand. I particularly like those small ponds and the braiding you added to your stream.
Nice job with the detailed shots at the end as well!
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it possible to turn a rough pencil sketch into a playable region - and a beautifully-terraformed region at that! The landscapes you've shown in this update are absolutely remarkable.
When I played SC3000, realism was out of reach. When I got my hands on SC4 Dx, I quickly designed a grid pattern which took maximum advantage of the radii of various civic buildings like schools. What unspeakably-ugly neighborhoods those were! Now, however, we're fortunate to have the work of forward-thinking players to use, and realism is ours for the taking!
So, considering your obvious talent for terraforming, your eye for detail and your extensive pre-planning, watching The Iron Coast develop is going to be a unique experience. I'm curious to see how you'll deal with the coastline "wrinkles" I see in the partial region view.
More than anything, though, I admire and respect your approach to this entire project. Amazing. Simply amazing!
Later...
Joan
My first comment here, and It will take you to Best Sellers. Very, very nice little PW streams there. I'm always interested to see how other people go about these things, and yours are very different to my methods.
Congratulations on the OSITM, and now on your move (once February is over) to Best Sellers.
Lookin good here Goose.
Oh, and congrats on making OSITM!
nice man
Nice new update... and looking forward to the next... ;)
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RepliesEthan(Ecoba) - thankyou for your kind words, there will be more on rivers by the end of the week, and as for the region shot, keep your eyes peeled for abit of a better one.
Jordan(Canyonjumper) - welcome to the Iron Coast my friend, glad you like what you see.
Sumwonyuno - thankyou for your continued support.
Tomas Neto - thankyou my friend.
CSGdesign - well when you are done with boston, perhaps the next city you decide to grow can have a few more mod's involved.
Newsimaddict - welcome to my new project, i am honoured that i inspire you, and i hope that my thoughts are useful to many.
Battlecat - to get my streams the way they are, i trapsed through all of your CJ/MD and then pootled around googleearth looking at streams and rivers and tried to create a easily repeatable process that looked good. The finishing up of that stream will be in the next update.
Joan(Jmouse) - I too am stupendously greatful to the forward thinking players before me and the custom content creators that make the game so much more than it was when you first installed it. As for your initial method of play, that has a quality of efficiency that real planners only dream of, it is amusing to think that it seems that the grass is most definitely greener on the other side of the fence for both parties. My talent for terraforming is entirely accidental but i hope that i can hone my skills and polish out some of the bumps and issues i had with the first map when creating the second. Your admiration makes me feel warm and fuzzy, it is a pleasure to share my work among an appreciating audience.
Joelyboy911 - thankyou and welcome, you are indeed correct, you have taken me into the best sellers section. This will not go unrecognised and see below for your award.
Haljackey - thankyou and glad you think so.
Bat - thankyou for your continuing support.Censing the JournalistThe city journal census project is something me and CSGdesign have been talking about behind closed doors for many weeks now. The overall idea is to perform and record data on City Journal Regions, and on the Journals themselves, once a month. Obviously he and I are going to lead the way on this with a first post. It is sheer luck that we both end up in the OSITM on SC4D together. So as much of a trial run, I present to you the first Census Report (January 2010) from the Iron Coast. At this stage it is just data on the Journal itself, and the format is far from final. Any and All feedback is most welcome.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F009%2F20100206views.png&hash=fbdc05f9dfc594b5e754cd0f33bde5801395bc71)
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Now we also get to celebrate a somewhat special occasion. The Iron Coast has reached 100 replies on SC4D, to commemorate this milestone I have made the first Iron Coast Badge of Merit. Congratulations Joelyboy911 and thank you to everyone who has contributed thus far.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F009%2Fbadge100sc4d.png&hash=9e01da856b28bff90c456e66c645dc4461f6aa8f)
Now it took six weeks to get to 100 posts, lets see if we can get to 200 is the same again.
This one is beyond being a keeper, John. I sense the arrival of a new MD God on the scene.
More, please?
David
I've just visited for the first time John, and I'm thrilled to see your artistry and your great ability to tell a story. You've drawn me into your MD and I'm a big fan for sure.
Take care.
Geoff
Hahaha that's so cool MG.
You've done an excellent job of presenting your side of SC4 Journal Census.
I also particularly like your deconstructionist style merit and layout in general - nice work.
Now I'd better present my own side of the SC4JC I spose... I might go to a little less effort naming each of the entries and stuff since I've now got 72 of them, but at least I only have one forum to census now - SC4D. ::)
Nice graphs! Its always nice to see stats presented in a visual. Nice work MG!
Congrats on hitting 100 too! When OSITM is up, you'll be a best seller! :)
Congratulations on getting OSITM!
Wow, I admire your patience in starting such a large MD and it's great that you're going for a whole immersive universe with its own unique history etc.
And while some may find it 'excessive' (if that's even the right word) to conjure up a whole world for a Sim city mayor diary, you can always turn to your imagined creation for anything creative - be it writing a novel, painting a picture, or even making a game or film.
Good job also on posting some background information on steampunk as I'm sure it'll help some readers understanding the characteristics of the genre.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing more!
Looking forward to more from the city journal census project...
That are nice graphs and congrats on
over 100 comments...
Doggoneit! If I'd realized you were just a single post shy of 100, I'd have held out and tried to be the one who put you into the next category. Unfortunately, I don't notice things like that, though.
Nevertheless, congratulations on reaching your first milestone. Considering the quality of your work, I've no doubt there will be many more to come.
Later...
Joan
Wow!!! Great graphs!!! Very nice stats!!! :thumbsup:
MightyGoose-
I came across your new MD, which is very good and which I am enjoying, while researching mapping problems and solutions, specifically the all important 16 bit grey scale. I've read your tutorial and while it answers some questions, it leaves or creates a lot more, at least for me.
For all intents and purposes, I have a "hand-drawn" map I want to create a game map from. In reality, my map is a scale accurate bathymetric map of a portion of the Atlantic Ocean seafloor off the coast of New York. I have contours drawn at 200 meter intervals as well as smaller seafloor landscape features shown. I actually have 2 maps, one a greyscale (no idea what bit) and the other a color gradient. However, there is a lot of graphic "noise" on both maps due to the fact that all information was generated via sonar. The maps I downloaded were in PDF format but, using Adobe Acrobat, I have been able to save them as JPG's and open them in Photoshop.
I pretty much assume that the usual method for creating scale accurate game maps from USGS maps is not going to work in this instance and that I am going to have to trace my maps in Photoshop and then create a grey scale. I'm willing to give that a shot, but I need to better understand THAT process.
You seem to have a good grip on that, could you help me?
Lora/LD
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RepliesDavid(Dedgren) - how is a humble soul like me supposed to respond to that level of praise eh. The key difference between me and the true gods, is that they know what they are doing, their tutorials are explicit. As Lora rightly says mine have a very large amount of wiggle room, largely because i am making them up as i go along. If it works i stick to it, if not i find another way. This is a ramshackle stumbling shoggoth compared to the deft elven cavalry of yourself and other Hall of Fame inductee's. This is City Journalling the russian way, if it's broke; bash it till it works.
Geoff(CalibanX) - welcome to the Iron Coast. I hope there are many things that make you go: "ooh, i wonder if i could apply that to my own game experience" as that is my intention, this is a collection of ideas, badly ordered, but then i think that reflects the personality of the thing, jumbled. XD
CSGDesign - well thankyou for your words as i said, just dump an updated file in the dropbox and i can annotate my graphing process with your data.
Haljackey - thankyou, its surprising how well this is rolling along, i wasn't expecting half as much attention as this.
Antimonycat - firstly, welcome back, secondly, your timing is superb, i have many questions, as your PM box has surely discovered.
Bat - thankyou for your continued support.
Joan(Jmouse) - well as of this update this is further than any previous attempt by me at a city journal has ever got in terms of update number and even chronological period of sustained interest. I think it is telling that i am actually more excited by the scope and grandeur of the project as each day passes and i add ever more details to the behind the scenes world that the Iron Coast resided in, as food for thought i just wrote a revised list of Gallacean(Spanish) Kings from 1326-1581 last night, including assassinations major protests and coronations, why you ask, because it is all in the details....
Tomas Neto - thanks.
Lora(ldvger) - i am well aware that my tutorialling technique is miles below par and is incredibly vague at many points. Unfortunately that is the way i am with most things, its more of a general guide for someone already relatively profficient with the tools. The Bathymetric data may have been false coloured so you will need to ensure that the colours are in the correct order. I have virtually no experience importing USGS data so i cannot really ascribe my tracing technique to your problem, i wish i could help more but it is simply something i have never needed to do. i hope you find an adequate solution in your thread in the map request section. When i return to the subject in the not too distant future maybe i can shed a little bit more light on the matter.Working for GaeaSo welcome back to frantic February. This, the third update of the month, follows on directly from Update VIII, Playing God. As I continue to battle with custom content with the aim to creating an aesthetically pleasing stream. If you remember I said I was looking for an iterative process that would be relatively straightforward to duplicate, as there could well be many of streams in the region. I happened to stumble blindly into the method I'm showing you today. It was all because I was fawning over Cycledogg's terrain textures.
Well I was thinking that there is a veritable treasure trove of detail and even flora represented in the terrain textures that make up the Meadowshire terrain mod that I am using. I thought why not use that as my guide for the ploppable flora. So I parked the spring of the river right on top of a natural rocky outcrop. Cleared the surrounding tree-controller trees and set about making my barebones water trail a bona fide stream.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg1.png&hash=6ac17dd0cae17f0b1b3c8fe6c321e5e004503c49)
In this first image you can see I have used a combination of Pegasus' plop rocks from his plop stream kit, and some of the maxis rocks re-modded by Chrisadams3997. Around the edges is a smattering of Aubrac rocks from Orange O that are available on the LEX. Notice the various elements of the Meadowshire terrain mod in just this small expanse of land. You have yellow, white, orange & pink flowers, strewn rocks & detritus, scrub bushes and mossy rocks. All of these things we have a corresponding ploppable available.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg2.png&hash=745ab0cdb14d1cc7138d4ed28921c31d11c82665)
Using the various ploppables available to me you can see how I have begun to fill in the landscape, matching ploppable to texture as closely as possible for now. I did however notice that Jeronij's transparent ploppable water sits very high off the ground and that Pegasus' plop rocks and shoreline pieces don't sit on top of it. I decided that I should sacrifice the transparency for the sake of river shape and switched over to Pegasus' water also. It turns out that this water matches my water mod better anyway.
I found that if you are using Ennedi's HD sandstone brown rock mod like I am, Pegasus' sand brush helps with cliff blending quite well. This is especially useful considering most of the rocks from the set are very mossy and need some form of interface for them to sit comfortably adjacent to a different rock tone.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg3.png&hash=975eab9edf47cb99774c57966256963b3d0e4a72)
As you can see I am just steadily adding bits a small amount at a time. Unfortunately you have to do this and also save often; as when working at this level of detail the fact that the bulldoze tool has to demolish whole tiles can come and bite you hard in the rear. Patiently filling in gaps one by one I begin filling up the open areas, at this altitude you would not have open forest but clumps of trees, with a much larger percentage of bush.
After all the major elements are complete I begin a final pass with the two weed brushes in the rural renewal kit flora, and then the green rye grass. Now obviously you have eyes, if anything looks out of place, you can go back and edit it, but I was pretty happy with the result.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg4.png&hash=d663c04edfb3c54d69f6d71f6633bf0a05a4ef7d)
This small area is largely complete now. The following images show the same technique used with varying degrees of human override. This next pair shows the immediately downstream segment of water that is on a far steeper gradient between two cliffs. Obviously I wanted a rockier stream bordering on rapids; however I thought that excessive for such a small body of H2O. I used the mayor mode sub-arctic tree controller for the major flora in this area.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg5.png&hash=735a2696210d79fd4ae677b29f53b454efe92854)
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The next section downstream is a wider gentler slope and I wanted to attempt some form of weaving in the river. I laid out the basic weave first before beginning my flora plopping. It is a tough process getting the balance between too much interest and too little interest in any particular scene. I like to think I am getting better at it but I am by no means the best.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg7.png&hash=31fbba44799ec4cc927b20bab97c0d209227c6eb)
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Just to round off this update I have a couple of shots of the area as it currently stands. Now I may have done these three little sections of this one stream but the surrounding hills remain untouched at the time of writing. But there you have it, that is how I am making my streams.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F010%2Fwg9.png&hash=fd8d8f933d7525b4e50cf747904fcac572f33a99)
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See you soon.
Interesting update, John. I think that adjusting your ploppable flora to match the terrain textures is a very good idea, and I think that it is also a new one, comparitively, I'm pretty sure David did something pretty similar over in 3RR. Or that might have been something else, well I don't know what he hasn't done.
Anyway, The end product really was outstanding and definitely rewarding. The final pictures of the streams in their photoshopped forms are quite awe striking. Keep up the good work!
Ethan
Whoa, Goose! Amazing update. That stream is just gorgeous. How DO you do it, man!?
Eagerly awaiting more.
Fantastic work on the stream, very impressive update once again. &apls
Awesome!
I had no idea that the tools existed to make such unreal natural scenes.
Very inspirational - must be very time-consuming.
Wow! Very realistic stream, Goose! Great stuff!
-Jordan :thumbsup:
Really a marvelous tutorial!!! Fantastic as you create a place that looks to be so real!!! Awesome!!! &apls &apls
That's a very interesting approach to your detailing! I really like how you're using the terrain texture to guide your work. Thanks for taking the time to detail your approach, I'm looking forward to seeing more of this!
I really enjoyed seeing how you went about creating a little stream and "decorating" it, John. There's so much available to us now, it's hard to know what to use where, when to use it and how to use it effectively to achieve a realistic look.
Also, it gave me great pleasure to see this in your reply:
Quote from: mightygoose on February 10, 2010, 06:12:13 PM...i am actually more excited by the scope and grandeur of the project as each day passes...
A lot of originality, strength and determination have already been invested in the Iron Coast. I, for one, feel connected to it somehow, and based on posts herein, I don't think I'm alone in that feeling.
Later... :)
Joan
Damn that looks great!!! &apls Your putting all the ploppable nature downloads to great use. Keep it up man!
BTW:
WELCOME TO PAGE 7!!!
The final products are nice and realistic! :thumbsup:
So much detail in every single tile. Nice work Goose!
Goose-
Lovely stream work, indeed. Using plop water has always been a challenge for me, especially getting it to run downhill realistically. I'm really hooked on jeronij's tranparent blue but do find it's elevation above the terrain to create some odd effects from time to time. A little word of advice: don't forget to add rapids and turbulence to your streams, as RL water doesn't flow at much of a downhill angle before it becomes turbulent.
As for my PS issues and greyscale problems, well, I think I am figuring it out, with lots of help, a little bit at a time as I stumble through my first attempt at creating a greyscale map from scratch. I've started a thread over on the Mapping Tutorials forum you might want to stop by and read if you have time. I've invoked your name and work there a couple of times as an example of what I am attempting to achieve. Plus, that's where I'm asking all my questions and describing my PS problems, rather than taking up space in your MD. Your guidance would be most appreciated!
Keep up the great work!
Lora/LD
Congratulations on your OSITM, you deserve it.
Your style of handling natural features is very good, the different brushes work together very well indeed. And like Lora mentioned before me maybe put in some waterfalls on the way down the mountain. Also the meadows from the previous update are great looking examples of someone going into the smallest details when playing the game.
All though this is something from two updates back I will just give a few thoughts about your architectural references. I am sorry but this is something I truly enjoy contemplating.
First the reference for the Neues Rathaus I would say is more in the line of Flemish Gothic (Town hall Brussels) rather than a reference to orthodox church architecture. And the problem with NeoGothic is that it is often more Gothic than any original building from the period. :D I don't think these are the best examples of real medieval architecture.
Secondly in most countries where you can find timber framing you can also find the construction technique of jettying. It would be quite a coincidence if all these places would have the same rules concerning council tax. In Germany and the Netherlands taxes were often based on the size of the property rather than the size of the ground floor of the house built on that property. Jettying was indeed done to gain extra space, but also to protect the front of the house against the weather. There are also examples of jettying in rural areas, were the need to gain extra space is not so obvious. This can have been done because the load on the floor/roof beams is better distributed using such a way of construction.
And my last comment concerning the Salisbury Cathedral; When the cathedral was built there were no architects in the way we know this profession today. Very often the concept for a new church building would be given by the clergy (the bishop), and the translation of this concept would be handed over to master builders. From what I have read about the Salisbury Cathedral it is one of the (few) examples of a Gothic cathedral being built according to one concept or plan. It is true the tower and spire have been added on later, but this building has only had two periods of construction. The cathedral itself was built in one go and then the second phase of construction saw the completion of the tower. My point is that this building is not the best example of a cathedral built in stages throughout the Gothic period.
All though this is not very relevant to your MD, I hope you don't mind me going a little further in explaining my earlier comment.
Gjermund/Kwakelaar
I have a feeling that this is going to be an MD worth following for sure, Your terraforming is both interesting and realistic as well as informative.
Of course the presumed steampunk setting adds to peaking my interest and curiosity...
Keep up the good work!
What a great MD! Great work!
NIce work on the pretty mountain terrain and the stream's source! It looks very natural. Will we see it turn into a larger river a few miles (or city squares) down?
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RepliesSC4DevotionEthan(Ecoba) – as far as I am aware, David(Dedgren) plopped his flora wherever he wished. Thank you for the kind words and I do believe I will adopt this technique region wide.
Deathtopumpkins – I just showed you how I do it! Thank you and welcome back.
Connor – thanks, if you have any suggestions don't hesitate to blurt them out though.
CSGdesign – all in all it was about two hours work on the sections you see in the previous update. I'm glad I inspire you.
Jordan(Canyonjumper) – thank you for your continued support.
Tomas Neto – I hope you found that update useful.
Battlecat – it was as much an experiment as a tutorial, I will see how it plays out in other areas. Thank you for your tenth comment.
Joan(Jmouse) – as I mentioned to you previously, immersion is a vital part of what I am trying to achieve, and I am ecstatic that I have hooked at least one fan, I would love to think you are correct about the others too, but I feel they may take more convincing. As to the stream and available plops, I think people are too determined to use just one set and call it a day, I think that a mixture of all available content is the only way to achieve high levels of realism.
Marsh – thank you and I will try my best to maintain the standard of my work.
Sumwonyuno – thank you for your kind words.
Haljackey – thanks my friend, and when are we going to see GTR 3.0 eh?
Lora(ldvger) – welcome back, I did notice the lack of turbulence and rapids in my stream; this is yet another thing I have little to no experience in so I need to do some experimentation before I start using it effectively. I did spot your thread over in the mapping room, and I watch with interest as you progress down your route simultaneously with me and mine. I will continue to monitor and will interdict as and when I feel I can be useful. If however I haven't dropped by and you are stumped do not hesitate to leave me a reminder and brief overview of the issue here. I am always willing to help if I can.
Gjermund(Kwakelaar) – your continuing contribution honours & enthrals me, I quite look forward to your responses. Thank you for your kind words regarding The Iron Coast achieving Of Special Interest This Month, and also for your comments regarding my nature work. Now to business, having further researched Flemish gothic architecture (a subgenre I did not know about), I agree it is perhaps a better definition of the influence. The exaggeration of many revival styles was a somewhat deliberate choice. While not the best example of medieval architecture it does demonstrate many elements typical of a classic late gothic construction in a very profound and obvious way. To the casual reader it was therefore quite appropriate; however it seems I got caught telling "lies to children" [linkie] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie-to-children).
By no means was I suggesting that taxation was the sole motivation for the technique, but many people in real life have asked me why it was so prolific in more urban environments, I plan to implement a similar tax within my MD so was trying to cut corners again. It is true that this image is not the best example of a cathedral built in stages throughout the period; it is an example that clearly displays the dichotomy of design between the stages to even the passing observer. It is fantastic that you would challenge my choices and there are a couple more updates on the way that I think will definitely tantalise your obvious passion for architecture.
Swesim – welcome to The Iron Coast, I am elated that you like the terraforming and I am pleased the steampunk sparks your interest. I just hope I can satisfy that curiosity of yours.
976 - welcome to The Iron Coast, thank you for your kind words.
Antimonycat - thank you for your words, the stream actually stay pretty small maybe doubling in size downstream when it merges with another. It exits into a relatively narrow channel between an island and the mainland.Simtropolis ForumBenedict – thank you my friend.
Tostartpressanykey - :D
Skimbo – welcome to The Iron Coast, I am glad you like what you see.
Korot – it appears as though you allowed adequate loading times, are you sure you allowed adequate loading time as there were a veritable plethora of images on that page. I look forward to your comments and thank you for your responses.
CG – thank you for your kind words.
Roger51 – welcome to The Iron Coast, it will be some time before that stream gets close to civilisation so do not be worried just yet.
TmiguelT – I just did, didn't I. Or are we guilty of only looking at the pictures.Simtropolis City Journal SectionMaxcormier – thanks and welcome to The Iron Coast.
Boon1234 – thanks and welcome to The Iron Coast. I am thrilled to be among your favourites and I am very relieved that so many are happy with the style of journal I am producing. I also like the fact you have an interest in steampunk. Good show.
Roger51 – thank you for your additional comment.
Jamonbread – thanks and welcome to The Iron Coast. This project is not going to be a short one, but I am prepared for that, it means I am not rushing for updates. I can show what I want when I want, and people seem to be happy with that.
Irvingtwosmokes - thanks and welcome to The Iron Coast. I hope to see you back again in the future then.
Harishna – thanks and welcome to The Iron Coast. The trees you speak of are made by Simfox, just search for him. They are made by Simfox, just search for him on the STEX.From the SketchbookThis update has taken far longer to create than it will to show. My main achievement was getting something to render from 3dsmax for the first time in nearly two years. Once this had been achieved I decided to start researching exactly what I want to make for The Iron Coast. So here I present to you, what I have been up to.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F011%2Ffts2.png&hash=88b9913d20e2ea78f735f4fa17e23bd4ea4878de)
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Now I hope I have your attention, and that you suddenly realise the possibilities that I now have in front of me. No major promises just yet but I am sure I can come up with something. From now on all replies will be shown in all locations, that way any useful tips in one are not missed in the others.
See you soon.
Seems like you've got all planned up, but there are some things I don't understand: first, where are you going with this? are you trying to make a 200mts high cathedral? Also, I don't see how a religious building would fit with the steampunk concept... however, if you're looking for ideas, I'd recommend to get more inspiration from mainland Europe gothic, famous for its verticality (St. Nikolai ruin in Hamburg, Köln, Ulm, Beauvais, Rouen, etc.) than English gothic, which tends to horizontality (With important exeptions of course).
Oh, and a last thing. If you're going to make large buildings, I wouldn't recommend rendering in HQ, rendering times will grow enormously, as well as the file size.
ah these are the first actual city and region pics ive seen
very nice, quite nice.. all of them.. i would say my favs..
are the sprawling suburbia, goose does the rural areas
better than anyone ive seen.. , and than the landscape and
nature pics add the final touches.. to a game that most of
us relate to urbanism alone.. great overall variety and certainly
one of the best MD's we have currently going on.. i look forward
to future updates.. thanks Much again goose for all your hard work and
diligence and most of all for your patience !
Looks like you've got things well sketched out. It'll be interesting to see some of these ideas become a reality!
The way that you presented your idea of the BAT project that you want to do for the Iron Coast, I'm sure it will be something fantastic!!! I loved the examples of Gothic windows!!! :thumbsup:
The idea looks like it will look great! Excellent way of presenting it, Goose!
-Jordan :thumbsup:
good luck :thumbsup:
It's always great to see you get out the sketchbook. It was, after all, the birthplace of the Iron Coast!
I'm pleased to see you've attracted the attention of several architectural aficionados. Reading and studying their comments is, and will be, a great help to folks like me. I enjoy seeing pictures of vintage structures, but, sadly, have no idea of the story behind what I'm looking at. The unexpected ideas and interests fostered by "a simple computer game" are phenomenal.
And speaking of clever ideas, it seems you've designed your updates to read like an exciting novel. At the end of each "chapter," there's a hint of more delightful things to come. :thumbsup: Good job!
Later...
Joan
Getting Bat4Max to work remains one of my greatest challenges.
At first it was because it is in Program Files and the script doesn't work with a space in the folder name.
The new Bat4Max overcomes this apparently - I gave installing it a quick go but it failed and I've spent many long hours trying to get Bat4Max to work so I lost interest fast.
Shame, since 3ds Max is sooooo much better to use than Gmax, but what yer gonna do?
Glad to see you've mastered it - congratulations... I look forward to seeing your modeling skills get applied to your diary.
What a great ambition, designing your very own Steampunk cathedral. Pulling off any kind of design for a building is quite difficult, but making a large (200m long/high?) church in a mix of styles is quite something. Your sketches so far have only a few very basic ideas in what direction you are heading, it is a rather long way from there to any kind of finished building. Still it will only be for the virtual world which should speed up the process considerably.
The only advice would be to find a building resembling what you are aiming for, model this and implement your own changes to this already existing building. But this is of course entirely up to you. I would love to see you succeed in this, and I will most certainly follow the development of your design and modelling.
And like Debussyman said, making this building in HD will surely increase your rendering times and your file size.
Gjermund
I love that logo on the main page... I wonder who made that.
It's looking good, though.
Interesting last update - why not add in a bit of Art Deco for adding more of a 'steampunk' feel, at least on the newer major buildings... steampunk doesn't have to be limited to just neo-gothic, after all.
Looking forward to seeing some of your BATs being done.
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RepliesSC4DevotionDebussyman – welcome to The Iron Coast, of all the people's input on this project I could have had at this moment I would have wished for yours. I am just throwing ideas around at the minute to try and envisage how a modern (20th century) steampunk cathedral would look. Although steampunk primarily affects science its effects on architecture are seen universally, so a cathedral would be built in a slightly different manner. These differences are what I am trying to cipher. 200m was merely a ranging shot, I have no idea where to size this thing from 50m long to 500m. I do understand the implications of all of those scales, but I want it to be as iconic as say Old St Pauls Cathedral [linkie] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St_Paul%27s_Cathedral) or even the contemporary Abraj al Bait [linkie] (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=334299).
I have done plenty of research into cathedral architecture from all over Western Europe, as well as common themes in fantasy cathedrals that have been imagined by others. Verticality is important to me in this design, and for the gothic side of things I tend toward German & French cathedrals, although I would not be influenced as far as to have an ambulatory. I do not intend to render this in HD, I was merely testing both options with the same stone. With your more complex projects do you break down the overall design into sever X-ref scenes or do you just plough on through with the one?
Brian(b22rian) – that sprawling suburbia is in fact Antimonycat's. It seems you didn't quite read all the surrounding text. Thank you for your kind words and I am glad to keep you interested.
Battlecat – I have a sketchbook full of bits that I will show over the time I am Journalling. Thank you for your continued support.
Tomas Neto – I hope the projects will turn out fantastic too. I am pleased you enjoyed the presentation.
Jordan(Canyonjumper) – thank you for your support.
Marsh – your kind words are most appreciated.
Joan(Jmouse) – Indeed the sketchbook is my way of keeping track of the data and ideas that I myself have forgotten I had created. Without it I would have fallen apart long before I started. I too am ecstatic that I have attracted just the attention I wanted. I know that Simcity started out as just a game, but there is so much scope for development and management beyond its face value that we are still here developing new ideas seven years after its release, think another year and computers will be 4x the power they were when the game was released. As for reading like a novel, well you wait till the storytelling starts!
CSGdesign – getting BAT4MAX to work is like a right of passage, it always has been. I will have to trawl through the hard disks and see what models I can now export/remaster and export. I intend to apply virtually every skill I have to this diary, withholding my physical ones anyway.
Gjermund(Kwakelaar) – great ambition doesn't come into it, I failed miserably at trying to design a dystopian church before; without doing much research at all lets just say I abandoned the project pretty quickly. Here is a picture of as far as I got [linkie]. Design is something that fascinates me, and trying to translate my visions and ideas into characterful but appropriate design elements takes some doing. I hope open minds will be used when I start showing progress on the model, as certain key features I want to maintain.
The design is meant to be a dominant feature in the skyline of its encompassing city so verticality and scale need to be on the larger side of normal. I am in no rush to finish this particular BAT as I feel it shouldn't be and in fact couldn't be. I fear it would only suffer as a consequence. I think I have answered your further concerns in my response to Debussyman. Thank you for dropping by and leaving your input.
Shadeslayer – I was honestly not expecting to see you again, welcome to The Iron Coast, I am glad you like what you see, and you shall forever be a part of its history. I hope you stick around and keep watching.
Daniel(Shadow Assassin) – welcome to The Iron Coast, I was wondering when you would stop lurking. It seems you have read my mind, yes I do intend to include some art deco elements into my work for some of the "later" developments.Simtropolis ForumKorot – I started using Jeronij's blue transparent plop water but it was too high off the ground, so I swapped to Pegasus' Tahoe plop water after image two. I feel a 40-60m expanse of bush is not uncommon; however I will review the area next time I have that tile open and see if I can improve on the existing scene. I am glad you like the eye candy shots. I know it seems like a tall order to detail every stream in the region to this level of detail, but I am in no rush, and it means I never run out of things to do.
Thank you for your feedback on the following update, as you can see I really am just brainstorming at this point. As far as I am aware there is only one barrel-arched roof church in the world that has been at least reasonably photographed. That is St Thomas's church in Diu, Gujarat, India. I intend to find as much information as possible on the roof structure of this church to give me ideas of how to handle it in my own project.
Tostartpressanykey – I would love for you to send me a copy of the report by PM so could have a read. If not perhaps you could post a couple of relevant passages here when you see fit. Thank you for your continued support.
Roger51 – I feel I would not be doing myself justice if I did not have a good stab at doing something of my own for this region.
Benedict – thank you for your kind words, and I am happy you like what you see here.Simtropolis City Journal SectionDocrorlach – welcome to The Iron Coast. You give me high praise, but you are correct in part. I do intend to produce a number of models for the project and by not rushing and taking my time with the journal it will allow me adequate time to create them. I hope to see you here more often in the future. Plus I just dug up your old city journal; it is fantastic have you ever thought about a resurrection. It is Easter soon after all.
Crushedcar – welcome to The Iron Coast, the overlay is just a vector graphic I mixed up in photoshop.
Well it seems as if more than a thousand words are needed for replies every update. That tells me people are contributing and that I have to respond. Fantastic now lets see if you can push me to the two thousand word barrier.Setting the Water IIIYou May wish to refresh yourself with the previous entry found here [linkie] (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=9760.msg303282#msg303282).(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F012%2Fstwiii1.png&hash=43e7d0edddc0254e4e183aee581e6af32074ddfc)
We left The Crown Shores like this previously. It is the second of three regions I will need to create for this city journal. It sits directly to the North of The Vagrant Peninsula (North on all my regions is right to left). Now we can continue with the terraforming process by beginning to blend the various cells together.
First begin by using the magic wand tool to select one of the cells, typically the highest/lightest one. While maintaining that selection, use a feathered brush set to lighten with a lighter heightgrey such as RGB 92 as the primary colour. Give this innermost contour band some basic peak shapes and graduate the heightgrey used for variation. If you repeat this for the next contour down ensure the heightgrey used as primary lighten colour does not exceed the base colour of the next higher contour. Graduate the next contour down.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F012%2Fstwiii2.png&hash=042061e9089e44810f8a56214eeb9539af4e4bfa)
As you can see I am still left with a couple of pesky outlines from the magic wand selection. These are easy to fix.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F012%2Fstwiii3.png&hash=17214b6633a551a106697cb27a088d21977b737f)
Note the outlines of the contours still clearly visible in this area. Set your lighten brush to the exact primary colour of the lighter heightgrey at the boundary. Trace the relevant boundary with this brush. I have highlighted the relevant boundaries in my example below, note that there are two boundaries highlighted and require different heightgrey settings.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F012%2Fstwiii4.png&hash=c9cd16c405b6ab6bfdca5e90a59186f4f84cf080)
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Here you can now see that most of my outlines in raised areas have been cleaned up. However let's look now at some of the estuary islands to the right of the image. Using identical techniques to those described above you can begin to build up the islands. Below is a before and after followed by a comparison with the original trace outline.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F012%2Fstwiii6.png&hash=809aea6998be583e53cff43f2d25d7a04a8b4656)
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At this point the region stands very rough, the key shapes are in place but there is little to no detail added. Below is a final sequence of four images showing firstly the region as it stood at the end of this tutorial, and its mapper counterpart, then after a bit of noise reduction and cleaning up. In the simplest of terms the final image shows a playable region, however I refuse to stop until it is suitably detailed.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F012%2Fstwiii10.png&hash=929cd90763563373c2a24cd56992b62157214954)
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And that is how for now. Next time we delve back into the history books to see how my quest for historical plausibility is going.
I'm not all that active on Simtropolis, so that might explain it.
I've been checking this out for a while now, but I guess I missed the first page, because I just noticed the logo today. Kind of funny though, I was going through my Image folder recently and I came across the those two logos I did.
Anyway, it's looking good, but it's going to be quite a few city tiles, hey? 1 grid square is a small city tile, right?
The preoccupation with every detail at the beginning of your MD, shows us how great will be the sequence of your updates!! I liked this region very much!!! :thumbsup:
What a wonderful update, John. The way you've showcased the fine-tuning of a greyscale to then open in TerraFormer seems really simple. Someday, you should post this down in the tutorials section.
Ethan
Fantastic job on the fine tuning!
Those are some wonderful results! :thumbsup:
Looking at the images from Old Saint Paul, I can understand where your inspiration comes from. I think it is a good choice as a base for your creation.
Good work on your mapping. I find it difficult to make smooth transitions from one height level to the next, but your technique seems like a solution to this problem.
Gjermund/Kwakelaar
Nice upate as always. This and the Vagrant Peninsula are both looking like fantastic maps, and I'm sure the third map will be just as good
This is nothing short of absolutely amazing. I've always enjoyed terraforming but never dreamed of taking it to the level of an art form! You've certainly given us an inspiring and entertaining time in OSITM.
Later...
Joan
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RepliesSimcity 4 DevotionShadeslayer – I understand that, yeah the total area covered is initially 420 large tiles broken up into three separate regions. I only have that banner, if you have another one I'd be more than happy to use it.
Tomas Neto – thank you for your high praise and I am thrilled you like what you see.
Ethan(Ecoba) – when all is said and done I do intend to formalise many of the tutorials you will see in this diary over the coming months. I am glad you enjoy the demonstrations and it really is pretty simple when you get used to it.
Battlecat – thanks.
Sumwonyuno – thanks, but there is a long way to go on that particular map.
Gjermund(kwakelaar) – yeah I really want this structure to dominate its skyline, and the St Paul's reference just leapt into my head. Secondly, it really is the easiest way I have found of smoothing gradients in a greyscale map.
Connor – well this may well turn out better than the Vagrant Peninsula, if it is a marked improvement I may well go back and update certain elements of the original.
Joan(Jmouse) – well terraforming in this sense is unbridled creativity, it always has been an art form. Although really its geoscaping rather than terraforming as there is no atmospheric manipulation involved here, just sculpting of terrain. I will squeeze this update in just before the final whistle, and will endeavour to set up a contents page in the first updates post if it is possible could I get a pinned contents stapled to the top of every page, like in various NAM threads.Simtropolis ForumCG – congrats on taking me to 100 replies here on Simtropolis. I have tried to keep the scenery varied to allow for many possibilities, but also challenges to the city planners and to me as a player, I want to face aspects of gaming in Simcity that I have deliberately avoided up until now.
Ded – welcome to The Iron Coast, I am pleased I have you as a follower and I think you can never put too much detail into a project. Furthermore if that is my credo, why not share it with everyone.
Roger51 – that map is far from finished but I am glad you like it.
Korot - as I said above, it is merely where the map stood at the end of that update, there is at least another 20-25 hours of work to go into it.
Tostartpressanykey – thank you for the quote, I hope so XD.
Benedict – I am thrilled you like the name of the area, and as to the title not standing out enough, I tried various borders but all made it stand out too much. I felt that this was the nicest overall composition.
Will(Penguin007) – thanks for your kind words, there will be more of all of those things later on.
After nearly 2000 words of responses for two updates on the trot, under 500 here seems like a blessing, although it did worry me a little bit, Setting the Water II was my most replied to update and this is third from bottom. I am confident things will pick up again soon. Anyway on with the update.A little bit of history II. Last time I showed you some of the work I was doing behind the scenes conjuring up the back story of The Iron Coast. I want to elaborate at this point on what this is trying to achieve.
Alternative history is a sub-genre of fiction that consists of prose set in worlds not unlike our own but where history has diverged to a greater or lesser degree from the actual history of the world. It can variously be described as a child of literary fiction, science fiction or historical fiction. Works of historical fiction may contain devices or common themes from any or all of these genre. Alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a subgenre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate history works may use tropes or devices from any or all of these genres.
Initial works in early alternative history primarily involved some form of parallel universe or time travel. This cross time awareness thus invoked a clear character or situation based reason for the distinctions in the literary timeline. While effective and clearly understandable to a fresh audience; it lacked artistry and became rapidly repetitive. This is also why virtually all early allohistories where seen as science fiction.
As the genre grew in size and age, other approaches to the theme were adopted, the great "What if?" Craze followed with many, many titles being released in this new and exciting refreshed genre. This second stage led to subtler changes to history leading to further reaching changes in the timeline. This was finally compounded and reaffirmed with the popularisation of the butterfly effect.
This basically takes us to where we are now, succinct and seemingly insignificant changes 1000 years ago leading to a drastically different reality in the present. I want The Iron Coast to be that subtle. So what changes have I made to the timeline you ask, some of the core ideas are charted below.
1. Climate Sphere, The overall global climate is around 4-5 degrees centigrade warmer than our world. While this means that the Polar Regions are smaller and more inhabitable land exists at higher latitude it does mean that the deserts at the equator are somewhat larger. However this increased temperature does not lead to higher sea levels as the remaining moisture is stored in the atmosphere offering globally higher levels of humidity and rainfall.
2. Geological Sphere, obviously The Iron Coast has had to be supplanted onto the British Columbia coastline, and the Kingdom of Aetheria added to the Siberian coast; other than that there are minor changes to small island chains around the world.
3. The English Sphere, Ælfgifu of Northampton succeeds King Canute, son of Swein as ruler of England through her son of Canute Harold Harefoot, who acts as Regent of England in the absence of his younger half brother Harthacanute (son of Canute and his chosen queen, Emma of Normandy). This is not different from historical events and Harold was made King of England in light of the continued delays of his younger sibling.
a. My change is that in 1040 Harold I does not die, but instead lives and subsequently repels the invasion of Danes from his half brother. This is the key authored change.
b. This repulsion of the rightful King of the Empire cuts confidence in Harthacanute among the Thanes and raises the profile of Harold I. This is Interpolation.
c. In 1062 Harold I is killed by Norman assassins and his son Harold II (not Harold Godwinson) rules in England. In reality Harold II was unrelated to Harold I and ruled after Edward the Confessor to die at Hastings in 1066.
d. In 1066 Harold II proves his worth by repelling the Norman invasion and Duke William II of Normandy dies in battle. This is the key resultant change in the English sphere of influence.
e. Following talks with Wales, Scotland & Ireland, Britain is united and forwards Harold II as King of the Empire to rule over Norway and Denmark also. This victory at Hastings was not expected and the Thanes vote to Depose Harthacanute in favour of Harold II. Harold II goes on to conquer much of Normandy and gains lands in northern France. This is Extrapolation.
f. This is the first instance of an English Empire, date 26th March 1067.
That last part (Point 3) is the first of a series of Spheres of Influence that act like giant cogs in my narrative machine. Once all the cogs are in place, I simply crank the handle and the story writes itself. This sphere can be summed up in two points; firstly, the key authored change (KAC): Harold I survived past 1040; and the key resultant change (KRC): the result of the battle of Hastings is reversed. The former causes the latter. Everything else in that sphere is just logical interpolation and subsequent extrapolation of those two points.
So far I have charted maybe 20 spheres and bar 1 & 2 all are minor changes such as 3 that have far reaching implications. The master timeline passed four hundred entries as of writing, but there is still a myriad of things to chart and describe. Here are a couple of out of context examples.
"Veny Sainvillaird, captain of the Tapageuse, founds the French trade Embassy in Ho Chi Minh"
"Jasper Huxley III, marries Frances Riddington in the Kensington Monastery of Order of Moral Flagellents"
And one more...
"Iano Sandoario, leads the Revuelta Honesto, 8000 people march through Gibralta protesting anti-Semitism", leaders are executed many hundreds injured"
Great bit of history, Goose! Looking forward to seeing how it's implemented &apls
-Jordan :thumbsup:
Your text reminds me of many things, such as Lost, Fringe and Flash Foward! I liked of the text very much!!! :thumbsup:
Quite the impressive background you're developing here! Neat approach to organizing it as well.
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RepliesSimcity 4 DevotionJordan(Canyonjumper) – I will warn you now, it could be quite some time before you see any implementation.
Tomas Neto – all of those shows have fantastic writing, I take that as very high praise indeed.
Battlecat – when you are dealing with such large quantities of information structured organisation is paramount, as I am sure David (dedgren) or Fred (mrbisonm) will testify.
Simtropolis Forum
Aleking – high praise from a city Journalling master; welcome to The Iron Coast.
Aldender – welcome to The Iron Coast, the terrain will be used to the best of my ability in due course.
Roger51 – changes to the time can be good but the long term implications have an equally high chance of turning out very badly. We will just have to wait and see.
Simtropolis City Journal Section
Crushedcar – the diagram is very much incomplete, but when it is nearing a closer state of readiness and visual interest I may well show it to you.Censing the Journalist IIPresenting this months update on the stats for The Iron Coast. As you can clearly see the addition of updates in the city journal section on Simtropolis is starting to have an impact in the view total but has yet to emerge as a major factor in the replies. Note these are gauged by update, not by date, so some may have unnaturally few replies; my previous entry to this one being a prime example.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F014%2Fctj2a.png&hash=c0075dcbbc9d21329625e9247f9818873629cc85)
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Expect a significant update at the weekend.
Its really the most involved and thorough project under taken in the sc 4 communities..
And that is no over statement.. Interesting touch with the graphics at the end there..
Thanks , Brian
Enjoyed reading the alternative history, and i'm certainly looking forward to this weekend's update.
That is some butterfly effect indeed, the English taking over Normandy, Denmark and Norway after the battle at Hastings.
Interesting :satisfied:
Intresting!
Its definately a well planned project you're doing here.
The intent is to eventually show a city right? And its growth? This is the lead-up...? Or will that be a whole other journal perhaps?
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RepliesSimcity 4 DevotionBrian (B22rian) – Well I wouldn't quite go that far, just simply look to 3RR and you quite clearly find the largest scope project in the community. I am just working towards a long distance target through a series of achievable goals. No matter how far away the finish line is I still feel like I am achieving things on a weekly basis.
Connor – Well that weekend's update was delayed as I will explain below. I am glad that you like the alternative history bits, there will be more of those to come in the future.
Gjermund (Kwakelaar) – Yeah well, I can imagine that in a suddenly politically weakened Normandy, counter invasion would have been a very sound political move for Harold II as it offered a unified cause to quell and distract from any continued dissent regarding his instatement over Harthacanute.
976 – Thank you for your kind word.
CSGdesign – Oh yes I intend to show the city/region, eventually. I just thought that I would chart the progress of me getting to that point as part of the project.Simtropolis Forum Larks2242 – Thank you for your praise.Censing the Journalist IIIFirstly, I owe you guys an apology; I have neglected this thread for precisely one month. I have recently changed jobs and have found my routine rather hectic, it was a conscious decision to miss four updates. Those four updates have been reshuffled into the schedule further along and so we continue our merry dance in no short order. Thankfully my timetable has somewhat stabilised and I will be returning to one update every week. Of course I may throw in the odd extra update when I have a little more time.
Secondly I need to present Computer Guy with his medal for being the 100th poster on Simtropolis. It turns out that globally (amalgamation of all sites) we have just passed 250 replies and are rapidly approaching 10 000 views.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F015%2Fcg100stf.png&hash=4db1f6022f8546c88ac6c88fcdbaf20b66f602ed)
Well without further ado we can move onto the graphical data representation.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F015%2Fcjc3a.png&hash=6622c4beb4c35fdebe83b20d0b16b39e504e9385)
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Obviously from the views and replies data you can still clearly see that the majority of my traffic comes from SC4D. In fact in every update published there have been more responses on SC4D than on both sections of Simtropolis combined. Essentially I believe that many people have become disenchanted with the multiple options for city journal hosting on the same site, and this reduces traffic flow to both sections. At this point I will repeat that I would like others to volunteer similar information to verify my findings, or in fact disprove them. I am entirely open to modifications of my hypothesis and more data can never be a bad thing.
And finally as we have hit 250 global replies, here is a graph showing you the people that made them. Well ok it is a graph of everyone who has posted more than once. But these guys account for the majority of my responses and I feel contribute to the project as a whole.(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmightygoose%2Ffinalupdates%2F015%2Fcjc3c.png&hash=7019301693536ee36acb5170d8431184bf8f46d5)
So as you can see Korot and Battlecat have commented on every single update. I am eternally grateful to them for their enduring support and I would also like to especially thank Kwakelaar, for providing me with some much desired architectural challenge.
That finished up this Census entry, see you next time.
John Bottomley
Interesting (and very well presented) data as usual.
Don't worry about not updating for a while. RL can throw up surprises, and of course has to take priority over SC4. Glad to see the MD is moving along oncemore.
Nice to see you back working on the Iron Coast.
I know from my own experience at simtrop (only as a reader), the way it is organized and the often slow loading times has stopped me looking at the CJ sections there.
Excellent update as usual, John. You seem to be an expert at everything you do – even charts - and a perfectionist, too. I didn't realize I'd missed posting three times, and it surprises me. The Iron Coast is one of my all-time-favorite MDs, and I follow it closely.
Hope the new job works out well for you, and I'm really glad to know you haven't abandoned your work here. You gave me a bit of a scare, so knowing what's going on made me feel much better! :thumbsup:
Later...
Joan
Cool stats, MG! Great to know the reason of your absense.
-Jordan :thumbsup:
Nice census there really surprised how few comments you have in the simtropolis city journal section (not forum!!)
Will
Nice work with the stats!
Looking forward to the next update. I know real life commitments can hinder things -
sometimes after returning from uni or work I just wanted to have a drink rather than work on something. I'm glad
you're still working on this though. Keep up the good work.
Quote from: mightygoose on April 04, 2010, 09:28:14 AM
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That's a nice logo.
By the way, most census's are performed every 4-5 years, or at least with an update between them. :P