Ideas for Cleaner

[Cleaner475 150]

Okay so My CJ's are no way as good as any other CJ's here at Simtropolis and probably never will be but I though I'd make this thread as I kind of ideas section as well as telling you about my CJ's.

So here are my CJ's -

At Simtropolis

The Biggest CJ Project Simtropolis has ever seen! 

Tesism Island (Palua)

At Theplanningpages.com

Tesism Island (Palua)


Ideas

Okay so to improve my CJ's I need Ideas so I thought it would be great to have this as a idea section as well. Of course you can give me feedback on my CJ's here but also your ideas on how they can be improved and how they compare to other unskilled CJ's or people new to the CJing community

My Thanks,

Richard (Cleaner475)

[Mulefisk 15]

You're making another CJ? How about finishing the 2 you've already started?

[Cleaner475 150]

I don't want to finish them i'll give you a reason why I want another one -

- The biggest ever CJ one will be a big project taking a long time so I want something to do when I can take a brake from it

- Te small and is very sism Island is onlyeasy to run

- The new one will also be very small and also very easy to run

- so I won't have any problems running them 

- I don;t plan to finish any CJs for  while and the Japan project will take a very very very long time but Tesism Island will not remain open forever although I'm not going to give a date as to when it shall close - anyways I like tesism island

[Amerikaner 42]

hmm why dont you just work on these two, tesisim isalnd dosnt need to be so small...its kinda retarded to build something so small for a short period...whats the point...i wouldnt mind helping you with a story...but 3 Cjs is a little outrageous

[Cleaner475 150]

Maybe you don't understand what I'm saying - This new CJ is only on TPP just to attract more visiotrs to the site and plus it needs more CJ's its only small like Tesism Island. The reason I like Tesism Island being small is the fact that there are barely any small CJ's around and plus not everyone wants to read massive CJ's 80 pages long.

Its not as if 3 is outrrageous I remmber on one old SC4 fansite a guy called felipper did 10 CJ's at once! Tesism Island isn't going to end yet I have a lot more updates to do and a lot more to show - Of course its not going to go forever as Its a small CJ and not something I can keep building bigger.

But anyways you have your own opinions but anyone got any ideas on how I can improve my CJ's?

[patriots_1228 51]

hmm this seems like just an advertisement thread....

[Cleaner475 150]

Its not - I just want ideas

[mjig_dudy 11]

This thread reminds me of something... I just can't think what... Hmmmm....

(BTW, the correct grammar would be Cleaner's CJs as there are multiple CJs, and rather that it belongs to the CJ )

[Cleaner475 150]

Thanks for the correction Mjig_dudy - i didn't know homeandaway had one? Does anyone else? Is anyone going to give me ideas or just go on about all this crap about advertising and copying? I only posted this thread for anyones opinions and ideas

[frogface 352]

My suggestion is to have less CJ's as possible, concentrating all your efforts on one CJ will look better than spreading it over two or three.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

I would suggest first deciding on a theme you want to explore - mountains, rural, urban, historic, future, etc. then build to suit.

PS: I kinda like the 80 page CJs....

[patriots_1228 51]

i agree with frogface. I always close all my other CJs before starting a new one. its easier and it makes the quality much higher because your spending more time on it.

[Amerikaner 42]

yes...1 cj at a time or they will all be the same...if you have 3 Cjs, then your going to have to use the same buildings you download in every Cj, so there gonna be 1 small city and one large city that look exactly the same and stop with the give me suggestions crap...WE ARE...were telling you that you need to take it one at a time, if doing more than one CJ were easy, and gave a good quality, then people would be doing many Cjs, even alex dosnt do more than one at a time as far as i know...dont take it the wrong way, but 3 topics for 2 BRAND NEW CJS is a little overboard

[Zelgadis 638]

My advice would be to start something and stick to it. My own CJ stank up a heap when I first started. But I watched other CJs here very carefully and gradually refined my techniques. It's still a work in progress, but the important thing is that it's really difficult to go anywhere if you start and stop a lot. With an established CJ that people trust will go on for a time, you'll develop a more loyal readership.

ISF

[ilikehotdogsalot 307]

Well, I will echoe what others have said, stick to one city journal, just working on world takes a lot of time and effort, i can't imagine keeping up with eyecandy aswell. here are a few tips i posted on choco's stickie:

* Organized layout of pictures and text - don't put your pictures all over the place, use the ST tools to make your posts organized and attractive.

*Frequent Update - Update once a week if you can, Give information, Teasers for the next update, keep people interested.

*Try to limit how many pictures per update - I'd say to limit to 20 pictures per update, if your update is too long, and pictures take too long to load, people with slower connections might not want to wait for your update, try and save the excess pictures for the next update, however, don't take the easy way out by posting 2 images, work hard on the updates and be proud of them.

* Easy name to remember - Don't name your journal something like... 'The Democratic Monarchy Soviet Kingdom Union Cities of Ylpmnap'. I think short titles makes the journal more attractive and stand out behind all the black and white titles, that's just my opinion though.

* Post in other journals - Give good advice, make friendships with other members, Keep the 'Great work, Looking forward to more' posts to a minimum, Say the parts of the update you enjoyed, and improvements that can be done, Usually, People will want to return the favor.

* When starting a journal, Always post an update - First impressions always count, People don't like 'Coming soon' journals, Try to start the journal with a simple update, a map, graph or teaser can work.

* Use programs to make your pictures POP - Use photo-programs to enhance the look of the pictures so they are easier to look at, But try not to go overboard.

* Make the theme of your journal to attract wide range of viewers

* Borrow things you like from other journals - Try and take things from journals you like that you think will make your journal more pleasing to readers, But never copy EVERYTHING from another person's journal.

* Respond to your readers - Answer comments and questions every update, If you don't reply to comments, People will notice and won't ask questions, and your journal will lose interest.

if you put in time into your updates, you'll get responded with many great comments.

one more point i have to add, don't over-advertise your journals, no offense, but i think this is perhaps the 3rd or 4th thread you've done that relates to your journals.

[Cleaner475 150]

Thanks for your help guys - I'll take it all into account

[RHMgerards 7]

what you also should do, is get a new terrain mod and a new tree mod. the ones availible are way more detailed then the original maxis terrain and trees. Why not some terrain mods from cycledog, they are extremely detailed! and so are his tree mods. and why don't you take a look at sc4devotion, there are also some terrain and tree mods, that aren't availible on th STEX.

[jacqulina 162]

hi there i think 1 cj because you can spend all your time on it,terraform it build it ect: a nice terrain mod like the olympic a nice water mod there are so many  to choose from,and so many trees now to choose from.take your time,look at other cjs and get ideas and tips.

[Cleaner475 150]

natuurzoon - I have already so in My CJ's you see them popping up soon.

Jacky - I appreciate your opinion but you'll just have to wait and see how I do my CJ's I have commented on lots of CJ's here (a large majority) and have learnt a lot from them already