Skagit County is Officially Dead

[sunrise 0]

Great work so far. Good integration of buildings and nature in the suburbs.

[GreekMan 246]

wow i like the downtown and this current update

Yeah it was luck that the chargers got in and i think that was the first time we were 8-8 and got in. We don't get in on crummy records

are you a Bucs fan?

[SounderBruce 173]

Ooh... nice story teaser!

[Raysfan16 5]

Tomasneto: Hey, glad you like ym teaser, but what's with you calling me guy?

jacqulina: Hey, thanks for stopping by and come back again!

suplado!: Glad you like it, Happy New Year to you too!

sunrise: Welcome to my CJ! Glad you like it and stop by again!

GreekMan: Glad you like it, thanks for stopping by again. And no, I'm not a Bucs fan, just Rays and Lightning. I don't really like football, I just pay enough attention to it to know what's going on. (Considering this year, I'm pretty darn glad I'm not a Bucs fan!)

CG: Glad you like the teaser. I like your avatar and sig, by the way.

"You have the plans?"

"Yes we do, Mr. Commissioner."

Next: What the Heck does this mean?

[SounderBruce 173]

Ooh... lemme guess... a new city county?

[Raysfan16 5]

CG: Don't get ahead of yourself here. I think I just gave it away though.

Episode 2 (Update 19): "Get out of here"

The county commissioner invited them into his office, and let them sit down while he looked at them at his desk.

"Okay, what do you have for me?"

"We have a map for you. I believe you'll know where this is. 

The map was a crude one of empty wilderness west of the Gateway Peninsula, a rocky cape with good fishing potential but unarable land.

The county commissioner looked puzzled on the appearance of the map. "That is the worst map I've ever seen! Get out of here! Not only did you get the land wrong, but do you expect to start a city on soil like that?"

Their looks turned from anticipation to disappointment.

One man spoke up. " I'm sorry for the crude map, sir, but we were too busy doing calculations of our financial situation."

"Well, how much money are we talking about?"

"I think we will need a 500,000 dollar loan. We will pay it back in ten years, if not you can sue us for that exact amount."

"How could you start a city with 500,000 dollars on rocky soil? You'd be out of your mind to try to even get steamrollers there, much less any resident that gives a crap. You'll lose all that in no time."

"Remember about being able to sue us. You have nothing to lose, Mr. Commissioner." 

The County Commissioner sighed. He reluctantly uttered, "Okay. We will give you 500,000 dollars for you to pay back in a year before next week. I'll give you a free helicopter ride over the land to give you a feel for it."

They climbed in the Helicopter. They could see every main town in the county, even the remote Valley Landing. After enough time, their own peninsula came into view. Then the future townsite appeared before their eyes.

 

One snobby and spoiled man, from the rich Goldberg ranch, was incredulous. "How are we gonna build infrastructure on this land?"

To this, a hard-nosed man from Pescadia snapped back, "You're providing the shovels."

Next: Construction begins

[Sydney Claridge 106]

Maybe an opportunity exists to create a "green" city there... I would hate to see that scenery spoiled by too much development.

[WillR116 60]

I like it, could you post some stuff of Fitfield in the next update?

[dfnva 34]

Looks nice, I like the dirt roads, fences, and wilderness areas.

-Dan

[SounderBruce 173]

Nice update!

[Twenty20 28]

Nice update, beautiful scenery, fences and dirt roads are very realistic.

[Raysfan16 5]

Houston_Fan: Hey, welcome back. I've looked in to your ideas and you'll just have to see what is planned in future updates! Come back soon!

Simsamerica: Fitfield? Fitfield? That update was pretty much all of Fitfield, it was on a small tile. If you really want I'll PM you a whole city tile of Fitfield, but posting it here would ruin my story.

Dan: Hey Dan, nice to see you back. Glad you like my rural stuff.

CG: Hey, thanks for stopping by, glad you like it. (Thanks for bumping it too.)

Twenty20: Hey, welcome back. Glad you like the scenery. Come back again!

Update 20: Beginnings

Next: Weekend Drive(Robert included....uh oh!)

Plugins used in this update: PEG Logging Scenes, Cobb Harbor Village, many tree mods

[dfnva 34]

Cool, the virgin land of Cape Gateway looks so serene, its a shame it will be developed. That being said, nice pics of the cutting down of trees with the lots you used and the Sam texture lends credibility to what you're going for also.

Not sure if I commented on the Lodge Pole fences you asked me about, but they looked nice in your previous update.

-Dan

[suplado! 23]

wow -- the logging props looks great and very realistic to the story, the development there are looking good...

[PhilsCafe 8]

Amazing CJ there... I sense the Digby spirit. Great job with the picture editing, it makes for a great presentation. I also like your mix of Maxis stuff and custom content, it's good to see that people feel still comfortable with showing Maxis stuff.

[Petrovar Ambassador 15]

nice couple of updates! the story along with the pics are also nice, cant wait for the next episode/update!

[danielcote 9]

This town is shaping up I can't wait to see more!

[Raysfan16 5]

Dan: Hey, I'm The founders are not gonna make a huge metropolis covering all of Cape Gateway, so no worries about seeing that wilderness disappear. Glad you like my pics and lodgepole fences (again!) Haha, come back soon.

suplado!: Gald you like the realism of the logging props! It was almost a miracle that they appeared like that a few days before I was gonna start on this. Stop by again!

PhilsCafe: Hey, welcome to Skagit County! Glad you like my photoshopping and that you don't look down on Maxis stuff either. Come back and visit again!

Petrovar Ambassador: Hey, It's nice to hear that you're actually reading the story and you like it. Come back soon!

danielcote: Hey, glad you like it, more is right here!

Update 21: Weekend Drive 

People in car when drive began: 2

People in car when drive ended: 1

What does that mean? You'll have to see...

[SounderBruce 173]

Great updates!

[Hawkeye9 0]

Wow, beautiful landscape: Cape Gateway looks awsome and great usage of the trees!!!

This cj is great and Dang you update constantly!!!

Ill be back for more!!!

[Raysfan16 5]

Not much of an update, just  being bored on photoshop. I wanted to take a break from the story, and replies will come in the next update.

Enjoy!

[BANDITp61 7]

well im not a big fan of suburbs but i like ur ideas of it

[SounderBruce 173]

Nice map!

[Muck308 55]

That IS a nice map. Great story, Raysfan!

[GreekMan 246]

great map rays!

[Raysfan16 5]

CG: Hey, thanks for stopping by, good to see you back.

Hawkeye9: Hey. It's cool that you enjoy the landscape. And I'll make sure to not update quite as frequently.  

BANDITp61: Hey, welcome to Skagit County! Glad you like the ideas of my suburbs, stop by again!

CG(2) Glad you like the map, thanks for stopping by again.

Muck308: Hey, welcome to Skagit County. Glad you like the map and story. (Hey, someone is actually reading it!) lol Stop by again!

GreekMan: Hey, glad you like the map. Btw about San Diego getting in the playoffs with crummy records, don't you remember the Padres embarrassing the whole NL West division winning it with only 82 wins?

And A Word From the Creator

I've noticed that now that the Trixie nominations are open, everybody is updating their CJ VERY VERY regularly, and with attractive slogans. I lol at them!

It seems like the CJ section is getting more and more cookie-cutter. Examples are everybody doing the above, and having a journal containing one of these: Skyscraper cities, some type of country/state/municipality, and some just showcasing their cities. Those take lots of talent and painstaking attention to detail and planning. However, I sometimes see cities with cheating mods and bats, just to make a cool city. It looks cool, but it gets old!

Skagit County was intended to be not just a CJ, it was supposed to be a Pacific Northwest CJ with some storyline to it. The Pacific Northwest part is obvious, from the terrain mod to the trees, to the place where I borrowed the name from. Then, I also see in CJs the abundance of custom content. I have a lot(by my standards)of custom content. And there is absolutely no doubt that the stuff I have featured has made it more attractive. But replacing seemingly every daggone Maxis building with something else gets old too! That is something Skagit County includes most definitely: Maxis content. And with everybody making cookie-cutter metropolises and just accompanying a picture, it keeps readers far away from the cities. Skagit County includes a story currently going on, Weekend Drives which get us acquainted with the cities and their country roads, and extra captions including minor city details or what building is which. 

If you notice my favorite CJ's list, look at them. Digby is...well...Digby. Eureka included details on the city and very thought-out plans, and historical info. Ellis Valley is a vanilla cj with a storyline! Halifax has some stories and detailed parts of the city, and is based on realism. Liberty County is using photoshop-type programs and efficient usage of custom conent to make the history story seem real. And Winchester pays attention to road networks. It even sometimes branches off into separate stories. See? Some of them have stuff in commom, but all of them are unique in some way.

To sum it up, I am not making this to win a Trixie (at least this year...) or to make people say 'Wow' at my PLOPPED BATs and PLOPPED houses or at the skyscrapers that actually grew, but with a cheat. This CJ is here and very much alive due to a quest for uniqueness.

Phew. Had to get that off my chest.

Happy Viewing,

Raysfan16

Btw, next is a weekend drive. I almost forgot!

[GreekMan 246]

wel I think that you can get nomiated for one but who knows you can somewow get a trixe. Yor Cj is very unique and very realistic. So you don't have to win a trixe just go out with a CJ and maybe next year if you keep up your cj skills you can win a trixe.

Just keep up the great work!

Bah Padres rock regardless of records! Sd is going to be in the super bowl!!!!!!!!!

[mnmsimmer 0]

Cool CJ and story with it! good work

[SounderBruce 173]

I had already nominated Skagit County for a Trixie!

[PhilsCafe 8]

You know, there are always different ways to achieve uniqueness. If that means to add some fancy graphics, using cheats or plopping a Downtown... everyone has to know for themselves where they wanna go with their journals. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.... obviously your CJ belongs to the first category.

I personally think Maxis content isn't bad... maybe sometimes it just doesn't fit into a certain style very well, but some of my favorite buildings are Maxis buildings though. And you're doing a great job with them... I also like the added graphics too, especially that Downtown map was very well made.