JBSimio Inc.

[Pat]

LoL Duane thats so funnie.... Jon I love how the phone both turned out and I hope you have fun cooking tomorrow for the wedding.... Will see you on sunday..

[SC4BOY]

In the US nowadays you rarely see that kind of phone booth anymore.. on campus they are usually solar supplemented phones for emergency help only (just a phone on a pole.. usually marked by a blue or red light). The pay phones are in the dorm common area. Not many students use them anyways since every student comes with a cellphone permanently stuck to their ear..   And the pay phones that are there are just the mount-on-the-wall type.. no more booths. Pay phones appear almost nowhere anymore other than bus stations, airports, etc.. Try to find one anywhere else and you're out of luck.. even the ones you do find are usually card operated.. a real coin phone is rare now.

[Shadow Assassin]

It doesn't look busy to me. Maybe the people are moving between classes or it's their lunchbreak?

As for the phones, even though they're not in use anymore, it still fits in just fine. I mean, you never know what the science department are cooking up, anyway...

[JBSimio]

Matt:  Thanks!  I took out one tree, which I think helped somewhat.  I'm still undecided about the flowers at this point.

Duane:  I don't know if fun was the right word... but everything went alright, anyway. 

Pat:  Thanks!

SC4Boy:  The phones are security call boxes.  I know they're much bulkier than the usual ones would be, but the slimmer "pole with a blue light on top" would be so small in the game that you'd never be able to identify it.  Frankly, I'm so used to pay phones being gone, that it never crossed my mind how similar this looks to one until you mentioned it.  Funny how quickly we forget as time marches ever forward, isn't it?

SA:  I think the people moving part is even better now...

I spent most of this afternoon making a (rather large) set of prop families to better manage the crowds.  I probably went a little overboard because that's just what I do... but we'll see as I test them a little more.  Basically I have two sets of families now.  One set is mainly for the 1x1 path lots and gives a one in four chance of a crowd showing up at all.  It turns out that 1 in 4 is a bit too litte, so I'll try 1 in 3 next.  They are divided up by morning, midday, and evening... and the crowds last around 4 hours at a time.  The other set will always have a crowd show up, and it's just a matter of which size and how long they stay there.  There are the same 4 hour intervals as well as 12 hour intervals (which is what the standard Maxis crowds use).  Anyway... here's a look at what that does on the same two quads I showed Friday.  The game time for these are 8AM, Noon, 4PM, and 8PM... in that order:









I'm still tweaking the settings, but the effect is there.  I'll fine tune it a bit more and it should work even better once everything gets sorted out.

That's about it this time,
JB

[CabraBuitre]

JBSimio,

These look great!  Because there are already so many lots that are compatible with the BSC parks, would you consider either releasing this as (or releasing a second bunch) with the BSC choose-your-own texture, so that we could like our university to our city parks too?

Just a thought... These are really well done, can't wait to use them!!

One other question (that you may have already addressed...  Since this has so many pieces, are you going to make (at least?) one of the university tiles functional, so that the university will truly work as an educational asset for the city, or are they all going to be eye candy?

[Shadow Assassin]

As far as I know, they're compatible with the choose-your-own texture set, and a number of the university buildings will be functional - I don't know which ones will be functional, though.

Nice job on the parks, JB.

[spa]

Looking good JB. This is just a random thought but have you considered a plop student protest lot? You know a grandstand and a bunch of militant idealists listening aptly below.

[JBSimio]

Before I do the replies, I need to back up to what I should have posted yesterday... but forgot.   

The voting for the university name is now closed (was last night already).  Thank you to everyone who voted!  The response was a bit more than I really expected and it was really fun to watch it progress.  Congratulations to Diggis!!!    Winterton University has won the voting and Diggis has won... the right to make the MML's?    To be honest, I got so sidetracked with work this week that I haven't yet finalized the "prize."  I have a pretty good idea... but the "official announcement" will have to wait a couple more days.  I extend my apologies for that.   The lawyers also feel that I should forward some paperwork to avoid any complications, but I've decided to ignore them today.  Anyway, thanks again to all who participated with the suggestions and the voting!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled update already in progress in some time zones...

CabraBuitre:  Thank you!  Yes, every lot for the university packs will use the same interchangable textures and be BSC Park compliant.  As for the functional lot question, that's a little more complicated, but the easy answer is yes.  Many buildings will have functional as well as eye candy versions.  In most cases, the academic (or classroom) buildings will function much like a college or university lot.  Outbuildings will have various functionality depending on what they are.  The library will funciton as a library... the maintainence boiler will function as a power plant... etc.  The only buildings that will have no function whatsoever are the dorms.  I'll make a complete listing again of which buildings do what when I begin the final lotting for them.

SA:  Thank you!

Spa:  Thanks!  Hmmm... a protest lot, huh?  I hadn't considered it, but it sounds like a fun idea for a future addition.  I'll have to dig through the game files and see if I can find the riot effects and somehow turn that into a prop.

OK... lots to see today.  I got two more of the quads done today.  I won't show all four times of day again, but rest assured that the effects are there.  Here is a look at both of the 5x5 lots.  These are both around noon on the game clock, which is when they are the busiest.





I also made some adjustments to the 1x1 path lots and I think I found the right mix now for the students coming and going.  The paths don't seem overly crowded, but there is definitely plenty of life and movement going on.  This time I will show all four views during the day.  These are again at 8AM, Noon, 4PM and 8PM in that order:









I know the trees look really crowded on these right now, but I'm not going to worry about it just yet.  I doubt that you guys will really cluster them together quite this much.  We'll see how it looks once all the other lots are finished.  That's about it for now...

JB

[TopCliff]

Those walkways look great! I can picture other uses for them as well. I look forward to using this whole project once it's done. Man, you've really progressed since you started with the Smalltown USA project. Later dude.

[SC4BOY]

Don't forget the *($*&^*^& crime problem for large lots.. might make sense to make SOME building (security or guard shack or whatever) that functions like a police kiosk

[threestooges]

Great job with the lots. I think the people placement is pretty good. If anyone wants more or less they can just replop but this seems good for the average use. Even without the crime thing that SC4BOY mentioned I think a public saftey (P-Safe) building would be a neat addition (someone has to answer the calls from the emergency boxes after all). But that may be getting ahead of the project. As for the 1x1 lots, I think the tree density is good the way it is. It may be more dense than the quad lots, but then quads are usually meant to be more open. Good work on all of this.

[pvarcoe]

I can't wait to blow up my Maxis university and replace it with Winterton U in a custom layout.

It is looking Fabulous JB, just super work

[tag_one]

Great work on those paths. I think they're also great as park lots in suburbs. Don't worry about the trees, If you think it dense you haven't bin to the Netherlands. In my town there are trees every 3 meter (10 feet) allong some paths

[JBSimio]

TopCliff:  Wow!  It's been a while... nice to see you again.  Thank you!

SC4Boy:  Patience my friend... I thought about the security thing, just haven't gotten that far yet.

Matt:  Thanks!  The more I played around with plopping the lots, the less concerned I became with the trees.  There's little chance I'll change them after all.

Pvarcoe:  Thank you!

Tag One:  Thanks!  That's a lot of trees in your town! 

I finished lotting the final two quads today.  Since I've shown so many of these now, there isn't much to say about them anymore... so I'll just shut up and put the pictures in here:





I'll try to finallize all the path and quad lots today or tomorrow and then send them on like I did with the driveway pieces.  Next up will be the building lots!  Nearly a year later, I finally feel like this thing is going to make it...

JB

[TopCliff]

That second one reminds me of Harvard. I like how there's a kite flyer. Maybe he's a long lost relative of Ben Franklin.

[Pat]

Jon you are doing a fine job there!!! BTW Happy New Year

[SC4BOY]

Wow.. you're getting heavy into it..

Glad to see you're not resting.. hehe

[JBSimio]

TopCliff:  Thanks!  Yeah... the kite flier is there for research!  That's the ticket... 

Pat:  Thank you!  Happy New Year to you as well!

SC4Boy:  Thanks!  I'm just trying to get this thing done... nap time can wait!   

Well let's see here... things are happening all over the place right now.  The menu icons for all the path lots are just about done.  That part of the project is finished except for translations and MML now.  That brings us back to the buildings.... so that's what I worked with a little more today.  Here are all three dorms, front and back:

Centenial Hall




Hillcrest Hall




Summit Hall




These three are the "eye candy only" buildings.  I need to finish modding them and they will be done.  If I'm reading my lists correctly, that leaves me with the three main trigger buildings left to lot.  After that, it will be a lot of modding and finishing touches left to go.  This whole thing could go into testing before the end of the month... depending on how things go.  But there I go getting ahead of myself again.  Any thoughts on these lots?

JB

[TopCliff]

The lots look great. I'm seeing a lot of inspiration here from Fordham University in New York. Now, where's the Mess Hall? 

[oldrogue]

Happy Gnu Year Jon,  Lot's of progress for these....sometimes it blows me away how fast this seems to flow for you....good feeling isn't it.  everything is looking fine, and I sure can't find anything to quibble about. ..love the ideas of  a) security  b) using the paths as part of something else (I'm a big fan of creating riverwalks).... 

Duane