Apex Valley - A Dolfan Scrapbook

[Dolfan348488 0]

Soon to be here is what i am calling a scrapbook, and not a journal. 

 

It wont be a gloriously Photoshopped masterpiece; just a journey through the development of my region, along with a few sidestories. 

 

Now, heres a little of what is in store, as i leave this moment with a (almost) city-wide picture of the region's first established city....Enowapi

 

Note - All images hosted off-site at ImageShack

 

[Dolfan348488 0]

BTW - Im an idiot, will a mod please move this

 

Edit - Thanks alot

[ChicAgo333 2]

woah, really nice

[Mdz1001 0]

I really like how spread-out and non-griddy it is. Great job.

[Dolfan348488 0]

Alrighty, first update.  Also, i will be working semi-slow on this, just because i am a perfectionist of a sort. 

 

 This is the central overview of the city, really hasent changed much in recent years.  A few new stores, and upgraded housing is about all.

 

 This is the new avenue built for much quicker access from the northern residents of the city.  Before this addition, residents had to travel out of their way to either the west or east, by means of regular roads.  This project took an estimated 10 minutes off of commute time. 

 

 This is the northwestern industrial park.  As development in the older, eastern park slowed, new development was started with this park.  It has easy access from the local highway, making travel faster.

 

 A photo of the western side of town.  You can see the new residential section to the east of the highway.  This growth also prompted the funding of a new fire station and high school, which made the nearby residing residents very happy.

 

 Heres the northeastern side of the city, which hasent seen any new growth in years.  Most citizens are aged, and now live in luxurious mansions.  A new highway plan has been thrown around the city council to loop around the eastern industrial park.  Plans are yet to be refined. 

 

 Here is the almost entire city overview.  You tell by looking at the unpopulated roads, where development will sprawl to. 

 

Hope you enjoyed the update   Please leave a comment!

[ChicAgo333 2]

those are some nice closeups, great update! whats the population of this city?

[Dolfan348488 0]

The population of this city is just over 42,000.  The neighboring town, which can be seen in the regional view, which i havent posted yet, shows it.  Its extremely underdeveloped at this point.  I will be including information like this in all my updates, it just so happens i was in a major hurry last night to get the update in.

[Nijntje123 1]

quite nice dude =)

[Dolfan348488 0]

This region still lives....and will be resurrected in a while with a massive update.  Watch for it

[colbysohl 0]

Now that's the city i'm talking about.

[Dolfan348488 0]

Well...here is my update.  Ive been busy working on this, and many other things, which is the reason for my lack of updates.  Another is lack of responses.  I need responses to stay motivated, people!  So think of this when you are viewing it.  Now, onto the update.  There are currently two cities in the region, Enowapi and Industry Hill.  A third is in planning. 

 

Here is a nice overview of the city of Enowapi.  It marked the beginning of Apex Valley, and has grown to a happy population of 78,000.  It also provides around 54,000 jobs for the region. 

 

Here we have the 2nd developed city, Industry Hill.  Named for its small hill east of the old downtown area, it is where the first industries choose to develop.  The slope proved too steep though, and developers moved to the west side of town.  A nice metro area is growing along the northeastern river that barely runs through city limits.  It's population is approximately 69,000. 

 

Here is a nice picture of the old downtown area, which has been voted the best in the region for the past 32 years.  Someday the newly developing downtown might take away those rights....

 

Finally, here is the region.  As you can tell, the river looks a little deformed at the moment over in Industry Hill.  That will change when I progress over in that area.  It was much too screwed up to begin with

 

 Please leave some comments

[ChicAgo333 2]

glad to see another update on this journal.  the city is progressing very nicely, and thats a very nice regional

[MrCinatit 30]

huh, this is the first time i've come across this, dolfan, and i have to say i am quite impressed...your suburbian small-town feel is very nicely done. think i will have to use these ideas for my own, if you don't mind

[berkthomas 0]

Well, I to just came across this region.  I must say it is very nice looking.  It looks quite realistic.  I like the interaction between cities with space in between.  It looks quite natural.

 

Keep up the good work.

[kabctv 3]

Dolfan, your city is coming along very nicely. I like all the green, open space and the nice design of the road/avenue/freeway system. Just about any person would want to like in such a peaceful region like Apex Valley. A city just like yours should be the goal of any Simtropolis members who are looking to build a nice place for Sims to live.

[Pixter 0]

Those green open spaces are beautiful, really beautiful. But you use them too much in my opinion, a real city doesn't look like that. However, your city is a city I want to live in:)

[Ron Swanson 1]

Wow, I really like how you mixed the trees in with the city. This looks like Beverly Hills except on a much larger scale. Nice job!

[crazyarchitect 7]

what a very nice region, nice, peaceful, and beautiful

[xiziz 11]

*Xiziz Stubles in for the first time and falls down onto the new white 4.0 floor*
Woahhh, noo way! Dolfan has a CJ... This is so cool.

Looks Very good, Neatly developed, very realistic zoning
The Airport ofcource could be a Custom one, Also I Like the way you space out building, and the different locations with large forests and hills, this to is realistic.

Looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers

[Dolfan348488 0]

The region has almost doubled in size since last update.  Ill have an update within the next few days....its pretty impressive if i must say so myself.  Bet you people didnt think ole' Dolfan had mad SC skillz

[crazyarchitect 7]

I'll be waiting for the next nice update

[J0nnD0ugh 31]

Nice, nice, nice. This is the kind of look I'm hoping for on my project. Isolated small towns. Kind of a county look.

I'm going to mark this as a favorite & refer to it often. Superb job.

[ChicAgo333 2]

yay, another update soon.  Oh and i knew you were good at SC4, after you put those pictures up in the MCFCC summer edition of samples of you city

[Dolfan348488 0]

Hello again everyone   Im back for another of my few, and far between updates on Apex Valley.  This update is focused almost completely on the 3rd established city, Coralville.  From the second it was established, it exploded to a population of about 40,000, consisting of only single family homes.  Now it has a sprawling downtown, and is pushing 175,000 residents. 

 

Heres a nice picture of the downtown area as it looks today.  New subway systems were installed all around the downtown area, and also in the northwestern industrial park to handle all of the traffic.  The city council decided that the current roads system was insufficient; carrying 10,000 people throughout downtown, which caused major backups. 

 

A view looking straight down the Ruccotun River.  On the eastern bank is the new construction, barely 5 years old. 

 

Here we have the western river bank, showing where construction had begun more than 53 years ago.  Behind it, you see Interstate-74.  It currently handles more than 17,000 cars and buses daily.  That number had been over 24,000 before the forced construction of the city's extensive subway system, which was a $77,000,000 investment.  It is paying for itself however, as citizens can now get to work more efficiently. 

 

Here we have the first skyscraper allowed to be built near the Ruccotun River.  Its designer, Rucco, fought for many years to get the city to allow skyscrapers to be built near the river.  A time ago, before much was here, it had been decided by the mayor that no skybuildings as he called them, would be built near the city's pretigious river.  Rucco took it to the courts, where after 9 months, it was overturned. 

 

There are also plans currently in the making on a hydro-electric dam, to rid the city of its current power source. 

 

Finally, we have the sprawling image of the city as it currently stands.  As you can tell, 'Project River Reversal has not completed itself, as there is much ground still left north of the bridge.  Two companies have put in bids on the land, to build condominiums, and another to build highrises. 

 

Please leave a comment!

 

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

Amazing city! but no car traffic? no shadows?   

 

ANYWAYS great work!  i gotta keep track!

[crazyarchitect 7]

nice downtown, I love downtowns on rivers, my city I'm working on right now is kind of like that

[utora 0]

Wow, this is a huge region you got there, very impressive! I love the trees and the highway-layout; it's looking very realistic!

Compliments! you don't even need Photoshop to make it look better

[sc4player 1]

looks posh with all this greenery.

[Dolfan348488 0]

Thanks for the comments everyone   It really makes doing a CJ worthwhile. 

 

Mexicanboy - I would have traffic and shadows turned on, however, i play it on the 1280x960 resolution setting; in addition to all the trees contained in the cities, it makes it hard to play at the speed i play when working on it.  Its not bad, its just i hate having to wait for the lag to clear out.  Im thinking about changing to 1024x768 res and turning on shadows and traffic now that you mentioned it.  We will see though

[uncrazycooper13 0]

It looks really nice! However I hate suburban stuff (look at Adventures in New Urbanism for why) but this really looks good. One criticism is that in that downtown area there are all those tall buildings and then right across the highway are a bunch of mansions it should probably flow better maybe with some rowhouses or something. Anyways keep it up!

-uncrazycooper