ST City & CJ school

[TowerDude 2,186]

"Awesome cities - because you're worth it"

Welcome to the ST City & CJ school

I have often seen people in chat ask " I wish I could have a city like those in CJ's" . So in response I decided to create the ST City & CJ school.

Our education is divided in three parts

-City only

-CJ only (you need to have a CJ)

-City & CJ (need to have a CJ)

How does it work ?

people can come in and ask for a type of education, then on of our teachers (only me for now) can follow the member from Zero cities to Hero cities!

FROM THIS!

TO THIS

at the end your cursus you will recieve a diploma, I have yet to finnish, and your name can be on the list here

So for now we are looking for teachers and student

Remember this is all to help you and don't forget "Awesome cities - because you're worth it"

Teachers

-Towerdude (cities&Cj, specilisation in Asian cities)

-Samerton (transit)

-TekindusT (allrounder)

-Evillins (City&CJ)

Current Students

-Lildee321

-Kingtrill07

-eugenlavery

- kj 3400

  Edited March 11, 2011 by TowerDude  

[DomodedSuslik 1]

So... I use modes and cheats to build cities. I was satisfied for a little while i want to learn to build big cities fair. So i want to be you student

  Edited March 4, 2011 by DomodedSuslik  

[kj3400 178]

OMG OMG

It's here!!!

I want to be a student and learn from the best.

Is that one of your old cities? cuz that is *snickers*

[MandelSoft 2,769]

Well, at least i've gone from this:

to this:

So I don't need any basic tutorials. However, I'll watch this topic to see if I can find some tips, and maybe add some of my own experience.

Good luck with teaching!

Best,

Maarten

[TekindusT 3,809]

I'm aware that I'm not the best player out here, but if you need some help, I'll be glad to take part on this!

[Adrianor 628]

Impressive transition, mrtnrln!

I'll be watching this as well...I'll see if I learn any helpful stuff.

[TowerDude 2,186]

Well thanks for all the feedback!

TekindusT , you are more than welcome to help ! Adrianor : ok then

kj, I'm writing a report with some tips that could come in Helpful

anyway here is some stuff that is important concerning updates :

1- a pic is better than a thousand words! many people including can be lazy when it comes to reading text walls in CJ's so pics are very important,

2-I believe replies are good, it makes you and your CJ more sociable

3- Space your pics!

4-Titles!, structure

5- not to much text

this is stuff concerning the update itself, my Cj's are like that, but so as are others

Soon I will talk about the city itself

[LMG2010 2]

i have some big cities but i use mods... il help if you want

[Alejandro24 575]

Great idea, this is a reasonable project, a "school" where you learn how to do a impressive city for your CJ's. But is not better to wait for the Omnibus section to start it officialy?

Also prepare a program, starting with basic concepts and then a specialisation in different ways, in a choice of the student.

Then you can say: "I have a degree in North American/South Amercian/European/Asian/Australian/African cities" . Sounds strange.

[TowerDude 2,186]

Alejandro24, I agree with you , I am giving generalt tips, but it is also aims help for any users like that there CJ can get better

[DomodedSuslik 1]

So. i'm looking forward to start learning. So exited!

[TekindusT 3,809]

Well, here come some tips from my own experience, things that I think that work fine and have been successful in my own CJs... (and I guess that with the stuff below I'm placing my application to be a teacher).

1) Pics, pics, pics: My experience has demonstrated that visitors don't like to read much. And speaking as a visitor of other's CJs, I'm quite lazy to read and usually can discard a CJ that can be excellent just because it has a lot of text. Just look for a good balance between pics and text; 1 paragraph, 1 pic, 1 dialog, 1 pic, for example. The best text-based CJs out there have a good balance.

2) Custom Content: It is usually said that you don't need to have a truckload of custom content to make a successful CJ (natural growth ones, or Benedict's ones, for example) but the truth is that I enjoy much more a CJ with some unique features and never seen before BATs. I love to see how players combine different kinds of custom content to make districts that I could never have imagined. Suming up, I'm not saying you have to block all Maxis buildings, but try to get the most from your downloaded stuff.

3) Theme: This is just a personal opinion, but I think that giving your city a feeling or a theme helps you to root this CJs on the reader's mind and, when they see your CJ's title they think: "Ah, the cool Paris recreation!" or "Hey, the amazing Dubai-like CJ! Let's see what's new!" This can be done by several ways, one of them is with specialized custom content (frogface's if you're making middle eastern cities, SimHoTToDDy and Glenni if you're into Eastern European style, etc.) and the other way is photoedition.

4) Photoedition: It's not absolutely "necessary" but I have felt how the feeling of a pic changes drammatically when it gets photoedited. I don't want to advertise myself, but just take a look to this [link] and check how is the first pic and how is the last one. You don't need to be a PhotoShopMaster to do this, knowing just the basics of a freeware program as GIMP and you'll get eye-popping results!

5) Reply your readers: I just feel more involved when the CJer answers my reply. I mean, I think that answering your readers just takes five minutes and helps you to create some kind of "community" feeling and a way of having a feedback that, in the long term, can help you to improve your CJ. Even if you only have to say "Thanks", say this.

Just my two cents about CJ making, they're not absolute truths, but it's the way I see things as a CJer and as a CJ reader.

  Edited March 6, 2011 by TekindusT  

[TowerDude 2,186]

Kj3400 ,I have read your CJ and honestly it is good! I think that for you some photoshop, look at TekindusT's post is in order

and pics of epic interchanges like this one, could do with some extra stuff, trees, agricuture etc...

Little details are in order for you but you do very well Keep it up, and I'll see your CJ more often

So Domoded Suslik can you post some pics of your cities or a link to your CJ, and then w're off

[Evillions 552]

Hahaha... I found my picture at the top. lol

Anyways, mind if I become a teacher?

[DomodedSuslik 1]

Hmmm i got some...

Screenshot

As you can see. I'm not using BAT's mods and some other. I'm a kind of big Newbie in city building.

Guess, that's because i played "City Life" too much and SC4 barely.

[TowerDude 2,186]

So based on what I see here is what I can say that there is some massive repitition! , repetition is an art, and it's hard to master

- your city isn't very green

- it's a Maxis city, really, so in order to help i need to know

-and the mix between house/villas/appartements is profuse

are you wanting to plan on downloading STEX ?

[DomodedSuslik 1]

So based on what I see here is what I can say that there is some massive repitition! , repetition is an art, and it's hard to master

- your city isn't very green

- it's a Maxis city, really, so in order to help i need to know

-and the mix between house/villas/appartements is profuse

are you wanting to plan on downloading STEX ?

-What you mean by "Very Green"?

-As i said i wont use mods.

-Heh. I told ya i'm newbie

Actualy i dunno what to download from STEX too much files. So hard. I remember some guy on youtube told me to download some building packs which size is more than 1GB (I guess you know about it). Maybe download this pack and add more from STEX.

[kj3400 178]

Kj3400 ,I have read your CJ and honestly it is good! I think that for you some photoshop, look at TekindusT's post is in order

and pics of epic interchanges like this one, could do with some extra stuff, trees, agricuture etc...

Little details are in order for you but you do very well Keep it up, and I'll see your CJ more often

So Domoded Suslik can you post some pics of your cities or a link to your CJ, and then w're off

Glad to hear I'm not too far off . I'll do my best.

[Kingtrill07 0]

yoooo i want to be a student!

[gio10469 24]

Excellent concept! Well I'll observe for now, but I plan on "enrolling" in the future once I have a reliable computer to play SC4 on. Can't wait to see how this thread progresses!

[elavery 1,013]

I am happy to be a student of anything that will help my recreation of Hong Kong.

[lildee321 1]

i want to sign up to be a student... dont have a cj, so just city only... although i can learn from all sections

[TowerDude 2,186]

@Lildee321 : Exellent post pics of your cities, and tell me what you want of them

@Kingtrill07 : do as Lildee321 and you're in for it

@eugenlavery : off course!! my favorite

If that is done then we are good to go!

Oh and Evillions, you are more than welcome to help in here, you are a great guy for this

[asteconn 9]

I'd be more than willing to help on road and transport matters - I'm a supreme road geek and have a good few tutorials on youtube for the RHW - although roads in general are my area of interest.

I shall of course be lurking to see what I can do to improve my cities' aesthetics.

[screenshots of mental RHW use to follow]

[TekindusT 3,809]

LOL, seems that right now there are more "teachers" than "students"!

@Lildee321: Make sure to make yourself an online image hosting account (Imageshack, Photobucket...) to begin uploading your pics here!

[evan_p1994 0]

I'm new here. But this looks awesome! I'd love to learn some new stuff. My cities always look terrible. I need to go on a downloading spree, too. lol! I would LOVE if I could also get a teacher who can suggest some mods and downloads for me. kthxbai.

[elavery 1,013]

One query I have is about city utilities. As I mentioned earlier I am recreating Hong Kong. Where should I place all of the power and water plants and the garbage disposal units? MOst of the city recreations I see I don't ever notice utilities. Are people using cheats or just hiding them well?

[lildee321 1]

What i want to learn is how to create a more diverse n unique transportation network like those seen in cj's... i want to learn how to create better all together. thanks

sn: these are fairly new cities thanks to the crash of my old computer

Bayside

City of Glendale

  Edited May 15, 2011 by lildee321  

[TowerDude 2,186]

So here is what I can say for

This reminds me 9988 cj of the pollipso Islands! And it is very good, I see a potential in your city

- There is a good BAT & Density variety

- The shore is empty

-there is still a lot of maxis content

So what can be done ?

-Seawalls, they can be hard to use, but on a geometric map like yours it will be a piece of cake! → JS Seawalls are exellent and will be fine

-Nature, I don't see a lot of tree's nor nature in your city → Simfox trees for uber quality, but the CPT assorters work too

-the sea, Ewww Maxis water!!! You can keep it if you like, but I wouldn't, → PEG Birgantine mod is a good watermod you often see in CJ's

-What cities has an empty water-zone ?? add ploppable ships, PEG has good ones so as somy on his site → http://members3.jcom.home.ne.j/somy000/

Concerning transport!!!

streets/roads/avenue/highways everything use them all!!

Bus lines, they are the core of the transit system in a city

trains, do not abuse of them, I would link the residential to the industrial with them

Ferry's you have an amazing sea, so use it!! link all your islands

If you have NAM, then the trams are very cool!

you can use the NWM (Network Widening Mod) for more streets etc.. the RAM (Rail addon Mod) (only on LEX) for more railroad variety

oh, and cheat if you want, like power, water, garbage etc...

So I hope this will help you

[Jazzmaster 716]

This is a pretty interesting topic...been lurking from behind in it for a while now. Makes me think of how bad my cities used to be, and how much better they are, now.

TowerDude: just wanted to point out, that your link to Somy's website doesn't seem to work, apparently the page "doesn't exist"..