"Pro" Style

[Risu 0]

I look at all these screenshots in CJs and on the forums here. And I can't help but envy everyone's extreme skill. It makes me both happy and jealous at the same time. First, I wanna congratulate you and your hard work. Next, I wanna know just how you do it! How do I become a pro at this game? What custom content packs (aside from the obvious NAM) will it take? Or is it a secret being hoarded from newbs like me?

[heitomat 156]

Hi, Risu.

I'm not a "pro", but I want to say that I've unveiled many of the "pro" secrets. 

The biggest "secret" of them all is to be patient. E.g. landscaping can be an extremely time consuming task until you get a grip on it. And sure: There are a lot of custom content out there that many people don't know about, but the biggest clue I can give you is to be creative with what you've got. Think outside the box and explore for new ways of doing things. Some of the best pictures I've seen are when players take an unexpected use of familiar things.

 However, a significant number of custom BATs and lots add more variation. This makes the result look more "pro", as the result could be very far from what one associates with SC4. A great start would be to add a terrain mod, a water mod and a nice tree controller.

Learn how to really play the game. Experiment, have fun and take your time. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, you know.

[Risu 0]

Terrain mod? Check.

Water mod? Check, but it's barely noticeable.

Tree controller? Umm, do PEG-pines count?

 

I guess the main problem I'm having is, in addition to my cities looking like crap, I can't stick with a single idea for long. To me, concepts hat seem new and exciting at first, tend to get worn out the fastest. That's why I keep scrapping my projects in an eternal cycle until I'm satisfied. And I'm still not.

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Maybe if you show us a picture (one picture says more than a thousand words), we get a idea of your building style. Then we can give you some critics how to make your city look better.

[meeoouch 0]

Hey Risu, I feel your pain. I've been playing this game on and off for about 2 years. I'll start a city, it'll do well for a while, then all growth stops. Eventually I give up, take a 3-6 month break, and start again from scratch. I think this last time though, I've been on this site trying to learn more time than I'm actually playing... And my city still sucks! Keep with it, 'cause the bottom line is: this game is fun!  

[Chptrk 86]

Ayup, the secret to making "pro" cities is a complete secret, and it will never be revealed!

Just kidding.

Along with what's been said, getting NAM, terrain and water mods, and loads of BATs, it just takes time to get cities looking good. Some cities you see on here are made with money cheats and carefully plopped buildings. Plop a few buildings here, add some parks and cool looking roads, then zone the rest. And ta-da! It looks awesome!  But, sometimes, that city isn't making tons of money. Sometimes, they're losing money every game month. Or, maybe they are making tons of cash. Just depends on what you get done.

All cities, big or small, take a lot of time to get to the looking good/developing nicely point. Take your time. If you're just starting a region, make a few farm towns before you try to make skyscraper city. Just practice small, till you get that looking good.

Oh yea, and if you are browsing the forums, and notice something really cool in a CJ, drop a comment. Ask the person where they got whatever building in whatever pic. Many people will be happy to link you to it. And I don't think anyone will mind an extra comment.

Just get stuff you like, play the game, and do your best! 

[Risu 0]

Money isn't the issue. Gameplay isn't the problem. I have cheats and everything to maximize monthly income. All I am worried about is the style I build in looking like crap. Moreso, the idea that I may not deserve to build pro? Here's a recent example:-

img22.imageshack.us/img22/6303/selesnyamay206126625981.png

But I'm thankful for all the advice given me this thread. It seems to point in the same general direction. As far as BATs go, I went and ordered the STEX Collection 3, hoping it'd provide for some bulk CC as an alternative to ingame structures. 

[CaptCity 4,683]

Originally posted by: Risu

I guess the main problem I'm having is, in addition to my cities looking like crap, I can't stick with a single idea for long. To me, concepts hat seem new and exciting at first, tend to get worn out the fastest. That's why I keep scrapping my projects in an eternal cycle until I'm satisfied. And I'm still not.quote>

Sounds like you're "style" is similar to mine. When I first started playing, I too would often become disillusioned and "scrap" everything. Well, it never failed... After scrapping something, I would see a new item or picture that I thought, "Wow, I could've used that in _____ (fill in the blank). So, I learned not to scrap things, but just save them for a "rainy day." I've probably got a half dozen differently "themed" regions going and don't spend a lot of time in any one of them. But when I now see one of those "gee, I could sure use that" items... well, it's off to the races in whatever city I think it'll fit.

I guess what I'm saying is don't just scrap things. Put it aside until the "mood" hits. Take a run through the CJ's and items on the STEX (and any other download sites). But be picky... don't try using or doing everything all at once.

Just some ramblings by a "non-pro"...

[City Planner 121]

I could be wrong but I think I spot the problem...  The city is generic.  I hope that Stex Collection 3 will provide you with a wide diversity of non generic buildings to work with.

The other thing I'd suggest is fool around with landscaping your region before you start your city, give it some individual features that you can build around and which will give your city it's own individualism.  Try to get away from every road running the way you currently have them, get the NAM and make ample use of it's features that will allow you to run roads in different directions.

Built central places in your city that are like central meeting places for the buildings so that there is a special feature that you will want to view in your city, it could be a roundabout, or a lake, or whatever you can come up with I'm sure.

Good luck

[zurrabear 20]

Originally posted by: Risu

Money isn't the issue. Gameplay isn't the problem. I have cheats and everything to maximize monthly income. All I am worried about is the style I build in looking like crap. Moreso, the idea that I may not deserve to build pro? Here's a recent example:-

img22.imageshack.us/img22/6303/selesnyamay206126625981.png

quote>

I'm definitely not an expert, nor on the same level of many of the great city builders here.  But looking at your one image, I have some thoughts.  One is, it doesn't look like crap; I've seen worse.  But it is a tad monotonous, and a monotonous city will get boring quickly for you. It's no fun to just fill up city space with the same thing over and over.  You need variety.

In real life, most great cities, and even small ordinary ones, have focal points that attract people and act as gathering places; development tends to surround these places, whether they're in commercial, residential or industrial areas.  I think one thing to practice is using your available custom content to design areas of interest around which you place development.  For commercial areas, plazas of various types help spur growth and development.  But you don't have to just use a single plaza; you can combine elements to create an entire set-piece.  You might simply start up a practice city and use it for nothing but experimenting with combining game pieces into attractive features.  Pedmalls are good for this and have the side benefit that commercial zones will develop next to them as if they were roads; combine them with plaza pieces, statuary, small and large landmarks, etc., to create new and unique places for the Sims to gather.

*Example: this is sort of what I'm talking about; instead of using one pre-made plaza lot here I combined several different types that makes for a more open space in the middle of what might otherwise be a possibly boring area of dense commercial.  This lets you see *into* the area, and provide visual variety.

For residential areas you can do something analogous with parks, canals, ploppable water and trees, etc.  The various download areas--STEX, LEX, PLEX, especially--have huge numbers of park and recreational lots, fountains galore, pathways, walkways, drive-ways, urban and rural styles, flora, rocks, textures, you name it, it's there.  And again, don't be afraid to plop some unique landmark-y stuff like churches, museums, historic buildings.  

*Example: you can download a hotel and plop it in your city; or you can do that and also create a whole set of custom-made grounds for the hotel--to add realism, to add aesthetics, but most of all, to have some fun building it!  This is just such a hotel (the large building), with multiple different park-type sets combined to form its grounds. 

Even industrial areas can use this model.  You can find lots of beautiful older industrial landmarks like old breweries and class early 20th century factories you can use to anchor your industrial areas.  These areas can benefit from parks and plazas too if you want to encourage High Tech, but there are also plenty of interesting grimy industrial add-ons you can download, like fencing, scrapyards, truck stops, all kinds of stuff. 

You can also create special areas using multipiece sets like the great modular amusement park set; or a modular university; there's even a modular graveyard set I think.

Aside form all of the above, it can help maintain interest to choose certain elements around transit that you will work into the entire fabric of the city.  I'm very partial to ground light rail and canals, so I try to work those elements in imaginative (if not always realistic)  ways.

*Example: this is some purely aesthetic canal placement that is part of a large watercourse project I'm currently doing that will run throughout my current city.  To me, few things add greater visual interest than water features.

I think one of the keys is finding custom content that can be used in multiple ways, like modular sets; and the other key is being familiar with how they work once you have them; if you don't know what tools you have at your disposal, you'll limit your imagination.  It pays to experiment with the NAM too, because there is a ton of stuff in that you may never even see if you don't experiment with it.

Sorry this got so long, but I hope it helps a little.