The University of Clayhurst

[Jack_wilds]

Hello JBSimio, Jack wilds here...

What an awesome campus 

...as for being tardy then absent without a pass from the dean,  means: wearing the campus dunce cap with groucho marx glasses around the campus all week   

glad to see your still alive and well and the campus project is making timely progress

Jack 

[tamorr]

Well it has been a while... Looks like things are progressing well and I love all the new items shown above. This will make nice for the expansion. Keep it up.   *awaiting patiently*

[simdad1957]

This is all awesome stuff JB. 

I'm going to ask a very selfish question (only because I'm planning on redoing the capitol city of my region and I want a stylish new national university).

What do you anticipate the release date for your expansion pack to be?

No pressure! 

[thingfishs]

It's a good idea adding the ponds/lakes, my uni has a similar one. Personally though I'd prefer that they were more of a pond colour & less of a pool colour (a tad darker & browner). Maybe just one could be changed... 
Some of the props on the lawn in the last shot (it looks like the maxis picnic on rug animation) have lines through them. I think they need to be lifted .1 or .2 in the LE or LE_X.
Also I'd like to see a garden bed or two, not just trees and lawn. Plus your chairs are all facing away from the ponds, I'd add at least another one or two facing each one.

Well there's my thoughts, and last but not least, Happy Birthday!

[canyonjumper]

Happy Birthday Jon!

             -Jordan

[JBSimio]

Battlecat:  Thank you!  I'm glad the new pond lots will be useful.

Jordan:  Thanks!

TiFlo:  Thank you!  I've also seen several large campuses with rivers... Michigan State and North Carolina State both come to mind. 

CabraBuitre:  Thanks!  More of a wetland area, you say?  Something with no paths at all and a bit more undeveloped, perhaps?  I'm not entirely sure I know what you're after... can you please explain a bit further for me?

Jack:  Thanks!  I guess the dunce cap is a pretty light sentance for my transgressions, so I appreciate your leniency. 

Tamorr:  Thank you!  Getting closer...

Simdad:  Thanks!  I can't really nail down a release date just yet, sorry.  I have a few things to finish on my end, which (provided I stay on track and RL doesn't get in the way) should take me another week or so.  After that, Andreas and Ripplejet both take over with final modding, reward chains, translations, etc etc etc... so I can't really say how much time they will need before things can go to testing.

Thingfishs:  Thank you!  The ponds were made by SimGoober quite some time ago, so the water is what it is.  The picnic blanket was just a graphics glitch on my machine (which is now fixed) and can be ignored.  All the benches are facing the paths as they do on all the other campus quads and path lots, but I could add a few more around the ponds facing towards the water.  I don't really like the idea of flower beds on any of the pond lots because they are intended to have a bit more "informal" look about them (hence the more curvy paths).  I could make a couple additional quad lots with a more "gardened" look about them though if people want them.  And finally... thank you for the birthday wishes. 

Jordan:  Thank you, as well!

Had a very hectic weekend with the group in camp... Saturday was actually a 17 hour work day for me!     Needless to say, I didn't get anything more accomplished here in the last couple days.  I should have some time to finish up the campus fire and security lots tomorrow and possibly do a couple more of the lots suggested above as well.  That will just leave finishing up the last dormitory and the commuter lots before I can send things across the Atlantic.   

More tomorrow...
JB

[ecoba]

Happy Birthday, Jon.

In addition, there seems to have been some good progress here lately.

Ethan

[threestooges]

Happy Birthday Jon!

The new lots are looking great, and it's good to see the law school approaching the end of production (leave it to the lawyers to make you create two new lots eh?). I really like the ponds, and the lot witht he gazebo in it is an excellent one, especially for use around the dormitories. Any plans for a formal fountain/pond set too? You tend to see a fair few of those around campuses, and I can only think of one or maybe two that I've seen in the park sets that would work.

I wanted it to mimic the Maxis city hall, courthouse, etc.  However, in researching just what those buildings do, I learned that they don't actually do much.

For some reason I found that really funny.

So, I'm not quite sure what I'll do to set the law school apart just yet.

What about an abundance of coffee shops, bookstores, and an animated prop/effect that's a flood of people running out the front door any time there's a traffic accident nearby? (kidding, except maybe about the coffee shops). What about mimicking the SmallTown town hall that gave police benefits, perhaps coupled with a monthly income, or at least reduced costs (from the tuition and other such fees). I'm sure inspiration will strike for you.

Hope you had a good day today! Happy birthday again!
-Matt

[Jack_wilds]

Happy belated Birthday Jon... sorry about not being on the stick about it

Liking the new additions and direction of the ponds and windy walks;it provides variety in campus ground design options

Are the walks/paths bsc/sg's? if so will/do they change with that 'texture change mod' whatever its called  -as its escapes my train of thought, it appears to have derailed and now its all off track...  either I'm studying tooo much or my gray mater is losing its matter... 

See ya around campus

Jack

[JBSimio]

Ethan:  Thank you!

Matt:  Thanks!  I didn't originally have plans for more formal ponds or fountains, but I do now!   The only hinderance may be finding fountains that I like within the prop packs that I've been trying to base everything off of... but I'm sure something will fit.  Still not sure how to handle the Law School... maybe it could provide cap relief for high wealth residential?  Seems that with more lawyers, lots more people can get rich off of their clumsiness. 

Jack:  Thank you!  All the campus paths, including these new lots, are BSC Park compliant, yes.  Meaning that the path texture can be changed... which I think is what you were asking? 

Still tinkering with some new "formal" looking quads like Matt and Thingfishs have suggested... but nothing quite ready to show there just yet.  In the meantime, I put the finishing touches on the campus security and fire lots:





Nerdly_dood kindly provided some custom skins for the campus security cars.  Those will still become part of the lot once Swamper77 has finished modding them.  Otherwise, these are both checked off the list too!

I also think that the final dorm is just about done.  Winterton Hall will be a single building version of the larger Diggis Hall and looks a little something like this:



I still might alter the interior behind the large glass entry, but I'm still debating that idea.  I feel like it could look better, but might also be fine just as it is.   

That's all for now,
JB

[XiahouDun]

Getting myself motivated to BAT again. Thinking Clayhurst may need some sports facilities to go with it

[PrestonCo]

Sheer awesomeness, JB. Thank you!

To build on what CabraBuitre suggested, may I offer you a reference (or at least how I envision what Cabra suggested).

http://www.nbwla.com/featured/dell.htm

[JBSimio]

XiahouDun:  I think you may be right... sports facilities are definitely scheduled for EP2. 

Preston:  Thanks!  I had a quick glance at your link and will look more when I get home this afternoon.

Since we're closing in on the final details for EP1, one last thing I really need to hammer out is how the reward chains will progress.  I have a pretty finalized general idea of what will happen, but I need some help with the details.  With that in mind, I have a request for everyone who is currently using the University of Clayhurst in any of their cities.  If you have a campus in place, please query any path, driveway, or eye candy lot.  The query will display the "Number of Campus Lots" and the "Number of Campus Buildings" that you have currently used to build your campus.  Will anyone with a spare moment please jot those numbers down and post them here or send me a PM?

Thanks!
JB

[XiahouDun]

XiahouDun:  I think you may be right... sports facilities are definitely scheduled for EP2. 

Nice And here I was going to offer my services.

[CabraBuitre]

Jon,

Unfortunately the examples I was thinking of have trees blocking the Google maps view...  but maybe I can describe it better...

I'm thinking about an area that is perhaps surrounded by paths but isn't groomed... the lawn isn't cut, it's more of a prairie area maybe along one side of a pond or lake... a natural area or a "reclaimed" area that's been put back to its natural state... back to what it was before the college was there.

Does that make more sense?

[JBSimio]

XiahouDun:  As you know, I rarely turn down anything...   I don't want to give the specifics just yet, but I have three athletic facilities as iron clad additions to EP2 at the moment.  Beyond that... who knows?

CabraBuitre:  Thank you!  I think I can picture exactly what you mean now... it's what I thought originally, but I wanted to be certain.  I'll see what I can come up with.

I'm in the middle of a pretty busy weekend at work right now so there probably won't be any new pretty pictures here until Monday or Tuesday.  In the meantime... I just want to make this request again:

Since we're closing in on the final details for EP1, one last thing I really need to hammer out is how the reward chains will progress.  I have a pretty finalized general idea of what will happen, but I need some help with the details.  With that in mind, I have a request for everyone who is currently using the University of Clayhurst in any of their cities.  If you have a campus in place, please query any path, driveway, or eye candy lot.  The query will display the "Number of Campus Lots" and the "Number of Campus Buildings" that you have currently used to build your campus.  Will anyone with a spare moment please jot those numbers down and post them here or send me a PM?

Any help on this would be most appreciated.  I'd like to get a sense of what people are building with this so I can fine tune some of the details surrounding future campus "upgrades" and rewards.

Thanks again!
JB

[Jack_wilds]

Hello JBSimio, Jack wilds here...

not entirely certain what you want,  but here goes...

city one:  with the most U of C 73 lots, 13 bdlgs -alot of grounds used

city two: used all the bldgs in the package fc and non-fc and 23 lots

city three: used three fc bldgs, and 27 lots -still considering campus layout

city four: 1 ec-fc bldg

do you need more?  ()what()as these numbers have changed as I've revised what was done in city one and two
if you need pictures -I attempt a college try about doing so, but its been a real issue in the past and reluctant to deal with it again till its more 'dummy proof'... 

I like the progress and direction your campus development is taking, no real bright ideas at the moment   

Jack 

[Gusterfell]

Hi JBSimio!

As a long-time fan of your work I feel like honoring your request is the least I can do. 

I've built a few campuses, but my favorite has 13 campus buildings and 80 campus lots.

Thought you might like to see what it looks like, so :



It's in a rather urban area, just across the highway from the downtown of a good-sized city, so as you can see it's a rather densely-developed campus.  I'm eagerly awaiting EP1, but I'm running into the same situation as many real-world universities in that there's little room for expansion.  To the east is the highway and downtown.  To the west is a rowhouse neighborhood I really like and consider historic, and to the south is one of the main rail lines into the city's central station.  I'm thinking north is best, but rerouting that avenue is going to be a major project. 

[TekindusT]

My first post in SC4D is for you, JBSimio; to say thanks for that wonderful job you're doing! I just can't wait to download the EP1 and begin upgrading my campuses!

[PrestonCo]

17 Buildings
191 Lots