The New Official City Journal Critics Thread

[Zelgadis 638]

Personally, I'm not interested in "positive" reviews. I'm interested in constructive reviews. Taking my own work, for example, if you enjoy it, then that makes me happy. However, in a review situation, I find it more important to find out where it isn't working. I cannot improve if I don't know that. Where in my story is the point that I'm trying to convey not coming across? Where are the times when I write something and it's awkward or misunderstood? When are my characters falling flat? Where does my story inspire a face-swat and mutterings of "Oh puh-leeze..." (<--I still clearly remember a big one of these that abcvs pointed out in Carpathia II.)  Most importantly, is what I'm writing coming together to form a big picture? Are the characters believable and are their choices consistent with who they are? I need to know these things. If I'm not up to the best possible standards in any of these areas (and I know I'm not), then I need to know where and how.

As for SimCity content, where are my cities getting repetitive? Are the cities getting same-y? Stale? How could things have been done differently to make them better? And they can always get better.

I believe that a reviewer has two responsibilities. One of them is to what I have written above. The other is to figure out what the creator's concerns are. If someone were to say "Too much Maxis" as a critique of my cities, I wouldn't care about that. I happen to *gasp!* like Maxis! As some of you know, I have written science fiction stories. Now if someone were to criticize that there's not enough "hard science," I'm not going to care about that either because that's not the kind of story I write. However, it is good to know when the science is getting too soft. It's been pointed out to me before and I've made adjustments. My next story is going to lean more towards the fantasy than the sci-fi, so now my main concern is creating a fantasy world that is consistent within itself, not whether what I'm writing is plausible now or in the future.

It's not easy to try to get into the creator's mind and figure out what they are trying to accomplish, but it is essential. Hopefully, the creator is clear, either implicitly or explicitly, about what sort of message they're trying to get across. Then what you do in your review is ask yourself, where is it working and where isn't it working?

ISF

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

 

(<--I still clearly remember a big one of these that abcvs pointed out in Carpathia II.)quote>

 

Really?   Did I?  

 

[Follarch 327]

A CJ Review By Archean

City Journal Here in the new City Journal Section.

Abbey-Upon-Tyne

authored by iGod is a very well accomplished City Journal, based in the new section which means most of you old section dwellers have never heard of it.

As I looked through it's 20+ entries, I noticed one thing. iGod started off talented and grew from there. The first entries had their grits and uh ohs, but overall iGod made great use of the newer NAM like the GLR and ELRail above Road, custom content all around and a knowledge on how to place it well.

iGod however has a unqiue style of city planning. Most of his larger cities have skyscrapers that suddenly turn into open grass and trees. The transition between bustling metro and undeveloped nature is sudden.

Images such as below:

and

These images show just how talented iGod is with SimCity 4. Nice smooth roads running along high mountainous terrain and a quite ralistic airport which many find hard to create. Of course if you want to be nit-picky, there are slight bugs in the planning. The airport for one has some stretches of taxi-ways that aren't large enough that will allow one of those 747's to safely taxi without the wings scraping against other planes that are at their gates. But just add on a few more tiles of space and it'll be better.

And now an Archean Good/Bad breakdown.

The Good

iGod has shown talent and knowledge

of city planning and creating realistic

airports and road ways. Great use of

custom content from the STEX or

others and shows progressing

build-up of skill as time goes on.

The Bad

Some nit-picky errors in the cities

where it ends and nature begins.

Very small error with the airport.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Abbey-Upon-Tyne  can be found in the City Journal Section. 

Thank you abcvs for pointing out what was missing. ~Archey

[Shingure 56]

I've returned and not to worry but I have been reading what has been going on. Apparently , based off of Simfox's observations and review it has come to my conclusion that there is a need for a standard to be imposed in regards to format for a CJ.

As such the  standard format will be in order of the following;

1. There must always be a Title for the review and this title can be either started with the CJ's name or ' City Journal Review By...'. The text must be in the medium size and Bolded with the Verdana typeface. There is also the option of using a banner. However rules apply to banner usage. Banners must be 250px in height and 650px in width and centered. This standard will allow for a more professional looking title and a smooth introduction.

2. All reviews are highly recommended to be a colour that is not blinding to the eye. Usage of Black ( preferred ) or Dark Blue is encouraged. The font must also be in the Tahoma or Verdana typeface. All fonts have to be in the Normal size in order to make it look presentable.

3. The body should contain a paragraph that highlights the positive and another to highlight the negatives. This layout is the standard due to the ease of reading for both CJ'ers, Readers, and Reviewers.

4. There should be a section titled 'Conclusion which can be displayed with a banner or with text. Please keep in mind the previous dimension rules regardiing banners being 650px in width and 250px in height and it must be centered.

5. The conclusion section should be rather short and should provide a link to the CJ if it is not included in the leading banner.

6. The Summary is split into the 'The Good' and 'The Bad.' This section is completely optional. But for the ease of readers it is recommended for quicker reading and retainment. This section should be a 2x2 Table with the title words coloured Green for 'The Good' and Red for 'The Bad'. This has to be centered. 

And that's it.

Also there will be a change to the first page as well in regards to Review Rules, Thank you!

[Follarch 327]

Well. Out of the darkness comes someone who takes charge.

I'll try my best to perform review by your new standards Shingure, but perhaps a demonstration is in order?

[Shingure 56]

Indeed. I will try and see if I can get a demonstration up within the next couple of days. Also Once again, apologies for my long absense, this is what happens when you're towards the end of high school ;-P

[thepokemaniac 18]

Quad Cities Region

By Mayorm

The Quad Cities is a CJ by Mayorm, a very experienced city builder. This CJ is only 3 pages long, but showcases very fine cityplanning. The Quad Cities region is a metropolis made up of 4 cities. They are connected by highways.

As I looked through this CJ, I saw many great examples of what city building is all about. I also observed great realism and several good examples of a well planned transportation system.

The region it self is very pleasing to the eye, and features a river and an ocean, as well as some small mountains to the east. There are numerous bridges that cross the river, and highways and rail lines criss-cross the region. The population is a nice 1,030,066.

 

The good

The Bad

The city is very well planned and the transit networks seem to flow together. Updates are always thorough and complete, always a good sign of a great CJ'er. As noted in the last picture, Mayorm names certain locations in the city as if they were real (see "Seaside Sam's). This gives the reader a sense of added depth to the CJ. Newspaper and "website" pictures are always well photoshopped and error free. The CJ features a good use of the RHW, which adds a ton of realism to it. Traffic is well routed through various networks, including rail, road, highway, and bus systems.

The city boasts a lot of Maxis made content, which is fine, however in my honest opinion, a little bit more custom content would look great in this cityscape. Some spots the coastline is a bit uneven, and in certain places a seawall would add some nice character and definition to the coastal areas. In many pictures, the grid seems to be turned on. This is very common, and I myself even tend to do this, however the pictures look even better with the grid turned off (can be done by pressing "G") A slope mod would also do this CJ nicely, as terrain seems to vary by area.

Here are some examples of what I saw:

The University looks great and the surrounding buildings go along nicely with it, although a sea wall along the banks of the river would look very good in this area as well.

If you look at the road, it is a bit jagged as it goes up and down. This can be fixed by smoothing it out or by using a slope mod. There is however a very nice use of custom content in this picture, and the CJ as a whole would benefit by using just a tad more of it.

Now, with that being said, lets move on to the good in the CJ, and there was a lot! 

Here are some good examples of what I observed:

Note the planning of the RHW in the suburban setting. The highway seems to just fit as it would in a real life city.

This website clipping features all the things a normal one would - well placed ads, links, headlines, pictures, and on top of it all a well written news article.

Final Thoughts...

This CJ is well made and planned. Although there are some issues I found with it, there are none that cant be fixed easily. Overall, I found Mayorm's Quad Cities region to be fun, creative, and overall great! This is a great CJ to visit if you can, and I highly reccomend checking it out. Being the airport buff that I am though, I would reccomend to mayorm adding a custom airport to this CJ, as it would be a great topic for an update and catch people's interest. Mayorm, keep up the great work!

Adam (Thepokemaniac)

CJ Critic

For more information about the Quad Cities, or if you are interested in viewing it, please click

HERE.

If you would like a CJ review done by me, don't hesitate to send me a PM!

[Mayorm 14]

Thank You so much for reviewing my CJ. I figured that the maxis buildings would get mentioned, I am working on that. I have downloaded custom airport content, and I am practicing that.

Anyway thank you again for reviewing my CJ. I'm glad I could provide a good read for you.

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

VENTISERI - A City Journal Review by BlondeTwiggy 

Ecoba (Ethan), self-proclaimed narcissist, runs an unashamedly vain City Journal, Ventiseri, with some spotty updating. Not gonna lie, amigo mio. There exist a few problems. Such as:

Well, this guy shows off lotting skills that shouldn’t even be allowed on the forums, because they make some of us (erm: me) look like we’ve never seen the Lot Editor before. Perfectly matching cobblestoned walkways between buildings? That is just not even right. European perfection á la Dsrwhat316 (link; don't bother commenting, it's asleep).

Ok, so he also includes a bunch of Atlantica Alba stuff that I never read (sorry!). But I think it shows he loves his region, and he even has two languages for it.

Ecoba is, like me, a European soul trapped in an American body. Wall-to-wall, wide plazas, and left-hand drive dominate the region. TekindusT (of ghetto-CJ fame) comments, “You guys make I love Euro CJ’s.” And yes, we are flagrantly in love with European architecture.

Well, that's the good.  Here's the bad, and the ugly…well, I doubt anyone would say anything is ugly in Ventiseri, which might be one of its problems. Is Ventiseri some sort of European utopia? But dang it, Ecoba, lighten up on the blurring. One mosaic looks like it was the victim of a mugging by an errant Blur Tool. A circular building at one time had some beautiful detailing, but alas, some kind of Gaussian blur obscures our prying eyes. Speaking of BATs, ecoba uses only the best custom content (and pays the price with two gigs’ worth of dependencies, I’ll bet. But I digress). I suppose it’s worth it.

 

Conclusion: I also suppose that’s what’s up with Ventiseri’s sketchy updating schedule. How long does all that downloading and lotting take? Who knows, but we appreciate the result.  Custom lotting, European W2W, and mosaics make this journal pretty, but slightly Euro-run-of-the-mill (if there is such a thing). Ecoba continues to struggle to find a personal CJing "style"; but while he does, enjoy some awesome SC4 eyecandy!

 

 

 

 

[BlondeTwiggy 43]

THE SULTANATE OF BANGORAI’ - A City Journal Review by BlondeTwiggy

When you first open up a CJ, you never know what you’re going to get…which can be frightening and exciting at the same time. The first thing I thought when I saw the first mosaic of Bangorai’ was “Holy moly!”  Not because the pictures are over-saturated-ly gorgeous, but because of the innovative way that Sky Guy has put them together. The mosaic fuses real-life pictures of a nighttime city overlaid with multiple SimCity4 images.  Nothing incredible SimCity-wise, but unusual.

And at first glance, Bangorai’ is not flashy or excessive. But with closer inspection, the journal has a distinct Southeast Asian flavor. Downtown Banku Taou’ is an impressive seaside CBD, full of tropical plants and sleek mass transit. The sea walls are low-key chic. However, a few odd squares of Olympic terrain mod show through; I’d like to see those filled up.

As the CJ progresses, I am more and more impressed. One mosaic shows an overview of a lake, but what catches my eye are the many little pink trees. The city itself is crammed to capacity with buildings, only streets and roundabouts breaking up the buildings. I rather like this look!

I also especially like the way he showcases different things every time: sometimes lakes, downtowns, airports, farms and rural areas. And sometimes all of those things at once.  He handles everything with deftness, though some better than others. His forte seems to be nature, like trees and beaches.  

Even if it is in something as small as a water mod change, Sky Guy always keeps things different.  As I clicked through the pages I noticed the water now tropically bursting with blue.  

One commenter complains that the Maxis detracts from the beauty of the journal, but I disagree. I hardly noticed the Maxis, and when I did, it did not seem ugly.  

Are these islands not gorgeous? Now generally I won’t touch terraforming like this with a ten-foot pole. And yet, despite the challenging terrain, he incorporates waterfalls, boats, seawalls, and beaches with skill.  

The beginning wasn’t incredibly promising, but the more I looked through this journal, the more I loved it!  It is so inspirational. Who would have thought to incorporate a little canal winding next to a railroad junction?  

Also, farm experimenting much?  

 Overall, I can’t find many bad things with this CJ. I’d hate to tell him to maybe add some more photo editing, because I think the light touch is fine. And honestly, I think his style is awesome. Whether it’s strangely-shaped rice fields, cows congregating under the elevated rail line, or sketchy-looking waters next to a packed industrial sector, Bagorai’ will never cease to surprise readers.  

---

TENEMENTS & RUST: GHETTO STORIES by TekindusT - A City Journal Review by BlondeTwiggy

Tekindus's "Tenements & Rust" starts off just right: “Precioustown” is anything but precious, filled with drab apartments, abandoned industry, and air pollution (or are those clouds? We really can’t tell).  Yet up close, the town is bursting with detail.  Colorful trash litters what resembles a sewage canal; cars are parked in “bus” spots; teenage gangs congregate in shady basketball courts; and someone’s laundry is hanging from the eleventh-story balcony of a filthy tenement.  Lovely.  

 But the strange thing is—and this I can never put my finger quite on—the ghetto never looked quite so lovely or artistic. Yes, the apartments and houses are brown, and I definitely wouldn’t want to be walking the alleys at night.  But somewhere inside lies the stories of the residents, small threads weaving through Tenements & Rust.  And sometimes, if you look right, the pictures are gorgeous, like a photograph showing the saddest thing in the most beautiful way.  

 

Tekindus provides us a little insight to the city’s residents.  Kids like to find “toys” floating through the open sewage canals.  Old women teach basic math and reading skills, apparently long forgotten.  Abandoned apartments house, not surprisingly, drug addicts waiting for their next chance to shoot up.  

Acid rain mixed with smog. Nom.

 

Oh what, I’m supposed to say something bad too? That’s difficult, considering this journal goes out of its way to be bad, although not in an “inept-at-SimCity4” way, but in a “you-would-NOT-want-to-live-here” way. There are no Maxis repetitions, no boring areas, no lack of gorgeous custom content or city details.   

I would, however, like to see more traffic (bad traffic makes every city less enjoyable!).  Maybe try some traffic generators (link)?  

Conclusion: Traditional ugliness—tenements and rust, pollution and dirt—never looked so good.  Tekindus proves that ghetto in SimCity does not necessarily equal bad citymaking.    

 

 

[Sky Guy 163]

 awesome! Thank you so much blonde twiggy!

[Follarch 327]

A two-in-one. Great job Twiggy. Good reviews to boot, i never heart of the first CJ you did, but it looks great! Always loved the island regions.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Thank you very much for the review and for your kind words, BlondeTwiggy!

[ecoba 28]

Thanks for my review Twiggles, I know that I've already told you that, but might as well post it here !  

[Shingure 56]

CJ Review by Shingure

The Republic of Onubis, who is written by Evillions is based off the author's previous journal Cities United. As an entity by it'self the Republic of Onubis is part of the AIN or the Alliance of Independent Nations. As a remake, of Cities United, Republic of Onubis first started on May 29th 2010 in the new City Journal section of the site and has recieved fairly positive reviews from viewers and commentors alike.  From it's predecessor, there are many things that have carried over into this CJ. The wide variety and styles in each city displayed has become very intriging and have given this CJ the element of surprise. For instance, at the beginning of the CJ, the city displayed is a fusion of Japanese and American culture and architecture. Later on, there are pictures reminiscent of a Dubai-esque style with a international village. There are also quite a few pictures of a city that looks like a combinaton of American commercial architecture with the Brutalist East European style.  While all of this is going on, there are quite a few things that did detract from CJ in it's entirety.

While the CJ has quite a collection of beautiful pictures, for some reason, quite a few failed to capture my eye. There were several pictures that left a slightly dry feeling and some of the ones that I got drawn into there were certain oddities and flaws that stuck out like a red thumb. One example would be the shots of the Dubai-esque city of Aslaband. In Aslaband, there were trees that were plopped directly on the sandy terrain. For me, this was interesting, but it didn't fly well in the realism department to me. In addition to that, the main thing I found to be the issue in this CJ was texture placement. While there are some beautiful shots, the non-uniformity and abrupt breaks in textures detracted from what was trying to be presented in the picture. In addition to this, one of the things that seemed to have been carried from it's predecessor was the disease of repetition. There were several shots where buildings were in repetition, and it didn't seem to be purposeful in any way. While the matter of repetition has improved over time, it's still something that has to be worked on minutely.

In conclusion, I believe that Republic of Onubis is a pretty good and solid CJ. Even though it needs some cosmetic work, it overall looks great. In addition to that, the variety of the cities from start to finish will capture your eye with some breathtaking shots.

The Good	The Bad
An improvement over the original work and quite a few breath taking shots. Also displays range of styles and fusion of styles very nicely.	Some repetition and lack of realism. But these issues are only cosmetic

[Evillions 552]

Thank you Shingure! Your review is excellent and it's very helpful too! Now you mean by repetition like how I use the same low-density houses too many times? Or like high-rises?

[Follarch 327]

I can't update the first post myself anymore so can someone change my status to "On Hiatus"?

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

So are you guys still doing reviews? Just asking.

[Chptrk 86]

I can edit the first post...Archy, is that good?

@Nathanthemayor, you may want to PM one of the active members from the first post and ask them.

[9988 428]

I would really like to have my CJ rewiewed, but I think that 22 entries is not enough.