Forkton - Update #24.1 - Work work, and some inspiration maybe

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

I love the spread of Forkton, you curve that grid so beautifully.

[Dazzyls 576]

That's one hell of an interchange! 

Nice update!

[Hamish 1,370]

Wow, the region is looking great! That interchange is fascinating.

[mb1.0.2 193]

Wow. I love this! The road networks are fantastic. Absolutely adore the bus depot by the train station. That's brilliant. Can you grab a picture of your traffic overlay? I'm curious where, if anywhere, you're getting bottlenecks? Thanks!

[iviaarten 534]

Replies:

 

I love the spread of Forkton, you curve that grid so beautifully.

Thanks. I think I'm done with my 'high' density for now. I feel it's very much time to get back to low density sprawl (I like to keep the number of people in my city realistic compared to how big it is).

 

That's one hell of an interchange! 

Nice update!

It works, I'm just not happy with how it looks yet. Good chance I'll rip it apart again some day soon

 

Wow, the region is looking great! That interchange is fascinating.

Fascinating to look at in action for sure There's a lot going on. I'm just not happy with the entry into the industrial district yet. But I'll find something that looks good and works as well

 

Wow. I love this! The road networks are fantastic. Absolutely adore the bus depot by the train station. That's brilliant. Can you grab a picture of your traffic overlay? I'm curious where, if anywhere, you're getting bottlenecks? Thanks!

Yep, can do. There are some red spots showing heavy use, but there's no jams anywhere.

 

 

I'm thinking about making a road layout map, but it's sort of time consuming.

 

 

Anyways, quick update time:

 

Spoon's Hug was still growing. It gotten so big, it's been split into two districts. The eastern part has been called Portside (for obvious reasons). It's grown right towards the new Y-intersection near the Portside Industrial Park.

 

 

Of course there's a park here, and plenty of trees as usual, to keep out the noise from the trains and the nearby industry.

 

 

Both Spoon's Hug and Portside have gotten connected to the bus network. I'm pleased that we built our transport hub with more capacity than initially needed. I'm not sure if it can handle much more though.

 

 

The new industry increased demand for forestry products over what the guys in Granny's Grove could possibly produce. I've granted them permission to expand a bit.

 

 

We will have to see if the 2 lane highway is able to cope with the increase in traffic.

 

 

Since it's a pretty busy place these days.

 

 

Over in Groveside, a small park was built to commemorate the fallen trees.

 

 

Meanwhile, over in the Finexia Business District, people had been complaining about lack of entertainment during their lunch breaks. We've decided to place a tennis court here. It's a good way to stay fit when you have a desk job.

 

 

People just LOVED tennis. Also, the boys from the Forkton Frenzy wanted to start up a program to get the young kids in the city to start playing football, so that they can scout out some new talents. We had to find a new place to fit all this.

 

OOC: you can find the tennis court here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=411112582

 

Remember the old Industry over at the Stink Strip? The pollution has dropped down to acceptable levels now, so I've decided to construct a new sports park where that used to be. It's called the Stink Strip Sports Park (the Triple-S as far as the residents are concerned).

 

 

It's got good access to public transport, and some shops have popped up to sell their wares to all the people visiting here.

 

OOC: you can find the football pitch here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=409641585

 

 

A lot of people decided it would be a perfect place to go walk their dogs. It didn't take long before it started to rain complaints from the young players (and their mothers who had to wash their clothes) about the dog poo, so it's now officially the first district in Forkton to get a Pet ban in effect.

 

No more dog poo on the fields!

 

 

Yes, Forkton is a busy city these days. So busy in fact, that some people have been moving out into the more quiet parts of town, over in the farming districts.

 

 

They were complaining a bit about the noise from the wind farm though. Since we had more than enough power from our new Solar plant, we've decided to cut the amount of wind power generators in half. It makes the skyline look better as well.

 

 

As a last thing of note; the whole city has started on a recycling program. It was time to let some of the tax money go to the betterment of life in the city. We've already seen a drastic decrease in number of garbage trucks on the roads, and might even be able to get rid of some landfills soon.

 

Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed the update.

[Dazzyls 576]

Nice update with those cozy little towns!

[Mymyjp 1,052]

Very nice entry. I love that tennis court..looks wonderful in the city. Also that "japanese" type park...going to have to search for that one..it is beautiful with the pink trees!

[Toby Ferrian 875]

Also that "japanese" type park...going to have to search for that one..it is beautiful with the pink trees!

That Japanese park is the one you could get by signing a petition before the game's launch. Due to some problems with distributing the keys Colossal Order just decided to give it to everyone instead. Check your park menu.

(source: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?846172-You-get-a-Zen-Garden-and-YOU-get-a-Zen-Garden)

[switchkeys 8]

just love this city, i followed this before i started posting stuff, its one big source of inspiration

[jesper107 113]

Very very beautiful! If you don't mind, can you write a few sentences about your workflow with zoning and pedestrian paths? 

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

That sports area is really good! The forestry areas were impressive to, what with all the dirt fillers strewn with various wooden items.

[charlesnew 262]

Aww man. I'm going on holiday for the week, but I don't know if I'll survive, with all these ideas in my head, inspired from you, for a new city I'm going to start. 

[Hamish 1,370]

Forestry area looks great, and I really like the transport hub!

[TekindusT 3,809]

The transport hub is an awesome idea! I will totally copy it

[Vitoraju 675]

Very beautiful city and nice!

[realdimension 6]

Your city is really beautiful !

[iviaarten 534]

First of all: Over 20.000 views and 100 comments in less than 2 weeks.... I'm amazed. When I started this CJ I never thought it would ever reach that many views. I can only thank all of you for helping to make this CJ one of the best hobbies I've had in a while

I must say, that's what I love the most about this whole community. Sharing what you build, look at what others have built, and get inspiration from each other. Thanks for being awesome!

 

 

Replies:

Ultimate727: you might be pleasantly surprised with this update then as well

 

Mymyjp: The Japanese park was a bonus for signing up for the pre-release newsletter (to save the park). Since Paradox messed up a bit with sending out the keys, they sent it out to everyone. It should be in your park menu already...

 

Jolteon: ... like Jolteon said

 

switchkeys: Glad to be of help. I find a lot of inspiration in the pictures other post as well.

 

jesper107: Sure.

It's not that complicated really. I just lay down a main road in a line that's pleasing to my eyes. After that I make some basic decisions on the traffic flow of the area. Make a couple of intersections, make sure there's enough space between them, and that there's plenty of buffer room for traffic before each main intersection. After that I sort of grid it up in a curvy way. See what flowing lines I find, and delete the rest. After that I make a few connecting roads again, following curves I've already placed, again keeping an eye on intersection spacing.

Next up are the main pedestrian paths. Lines that look like they should continue (for instance between 2 T-intersections that are lined up), I continue with the paths. I make sure pedestrians have some shortcuts that the cars can't take, also making sure that there's plenty of short-cuts to the planned bus stops. Then I start looking at what area's I want to keep clear for a park, where I want back-alleys etc.  Do those with pedestrian paths as well.

After that it's zoning. Slowly, let them build up bit by bit so that I don't have to fiddle with power lines etc. The trees come last (and normally take me quite a while).

Hope this helps

 

Ln X: Thanks. Most of the fillers come from zoning though, didn't plop too much. I noticed that if you occasionally just zone one or 2 tiles here and there, interesting stuff just ends up happening. I try to avoid zoning all 4x4 blocks. The sports area was just something that I had in my mind a while. Every city has one. When I found the tennis court and the new football pitch, I knew it was time, and the Stink Strip seemed like the right place

 

charlesnew: Hey, a holiday is a great way to get new inspiration as well I find that I get ideas just sitting in a traffic jam on my way to work. Looking at what is causing it, and how terrible that interchange is. Just look out of the windows, there's inspiration about citybuilding just about anywhere .

 

Hamish: thanks. I feel like I'm going to have to put some sort of bus station in all my main districts now Think I'll wait with that until I think that my city is realisticly big enough for subways though (which will take a long time).

 

Tekindust: Make sure you post pictures when you're done, I need new ideas for new area's

 

Vitor13: Thanks!

 

realdimension: Thanks as well

 

 

 

Update time:

 

Today is mod day. I've been looking at the pictures Ln X has been posting in his CJ, and just got inspired to try some mods myself. For the pictures in today's update I've used

- ambient occlusion: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410329674

- dynamic resolution: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406629464

- sun shafts: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410805639

- first person camera: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406255342

 

I've also decided to go ahead and unlock all tiles, since I feel that I want Forkton to grow in a realistic way (which means lots of suburban sprawl, limited high density).

 

I also found some nice flowery bushes you can find them here:

- red variant: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=411461107

- purple variant: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=411411085

 

also, TERRAFORMING IN GAME! YES! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=411095553

 

As a last thing of note is a new coal power plant: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=407004390

 

 

For real update time:

 

We gotten some complaints about bad smells from the people over in Portside. Apparently this thing is causing it....

 

 

Can't say I blame them much. I've decided to have the area cleaned up. The bits that we couldn't burn, we've covered up with dirt, and planted some trees on top. We're still looking into maybe using it for bio-fuel some day. It looks (and smells) a lot better now. The last bits of pollution should be gone in a couple of years.

 

 

That isn't much of a big change though.. much bugger things have been happening.. 2 big things, in 2 small packages.

 

Since Forkton has grown so much lately, the provincial government allowed us to annex two little towns south of the river. The two mayors from these towns got into a big fight, and managed to get themselves fired. Rather than employing 2 new mayors, they were given to us. The towns are really small, but they seem to have some interesting resources there.

 

We'll start up with Ham's oil field. This little plot of land used to belong to a guy named Ham. He started a little oil drilling business decades ago. It expanded a bit, and kept his family fed until he died. His 2 sons were terrible with money though, and they gambled away the company. Under our new government, the industry might see some expansion. It's still very much a small operation currently.

 

 

It's old, and smelly....

 

 

But should be very profitable.

 

 

Over the decades, a small town has popped up nearby. It's nothing more than a church, a few shops, and a lot of cheap housing development. The homes used to be owned my old man Ham. He had them built for his drilling crews. They basically worked for him for very little money, but they got to live in the homes for free. The town got named after him.

 

Welcome to the little town of Hamsborough.

 

 

 

It's a rather dull town. It's just used for sleeping after work I feel....

 

 

Everyone knows each other here... it is a bit like Forkton used to be.

 

 

Old man Ham had a friend as well, he was called Sella. Sella had a claim on some ore rich grounds a few kilometers to the west from Hamsborough. Old man Ham started Sella up with some capital, and he soon started his mining company.

 

 

Digging up the earth, filtering out the ore, and dumping back what was left. They've left a small mark on the otherwise flat landscape of the region.

 

 

Old Ham made a good deal as well. Since Sella was finding coal here, a power plant was built right next to the mines, providing power for both industries. It's old now, and not as effective anymore, but it's still running.

 

 

Sella made a good fortune ruining the perfectly flat landscape....

 

 

While digging, Sella found a water well as well, which provided the fresh water for the area. Here's the old water tower.

 

 

Sella needed workers as well. Ham hooked him up with the same contractor that built the homes in Hamsborough, and a similar village was built close to Sella's ore mine.

 

Welcome to Sella's Fields.

 

 

as you can see, the style is not that different.

Just some shops, a petrol station...

 

 

and a place to light the BBQ on a sunny sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Two new little towns added to the greater Forkton area, and two new interesting new industries. It looks like it might be profitable years ahead.

 

Ow yeh, I bought a new digital camera, so I've been taking some pictures in Forkton.  I'll just leave them here.

 

City Hall:

 

Uppington park:

 

 

The view from the balcony of my old appartment over in Old Forkton:

 

Commuters at the bus and train station:

 

The Triple-S from the pedestrian bridge:

 

And the stadium, a few hours before the sunday match:

 

 

Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed this update.

[BLANKBLANK 4,414]

Very, very nice. The quality of these entries keeps improving as does the camera angles.

[switchkeys 8]

nice update as usual, love the city hall photo

[89James89 1,169]

Wow that town with the British row houses looks so very British lol.

 

Very much loving the image with the petrol station and the row houses. I assume that small town took a lot of patience with growing and deleting to get them all to be the row houses?

 

Also grats on the amount of views and comments, every one is well deserved and a testament to the amount of work your putting into this.

 

Cheers

 

James

[perken 1]

Someone got quite inspired with the first person camera! Great photos, inspiring as always! Is the petrol station a mod too? Been looking for one!

[jesper107 113]

God damn I love those 1x1 low res! Are they stock?

 

Great update, great use of sparse zoning for both oil and ore!

[Cobraroll 138]

Wow, this is awesome. From the curves in the roads (and paths!) to the massive interchanges, the small townside feeling of the districts, the train/bus station... all really good and a pleasure to look at.

 

And then I remind myself that the game has still only been out for two weeks, and all of this is still a relatively vanilla version of the game. Who knows what City Journalists such as yourself can do with this game in five years? With the computer power and mod pool steadily growing, we're in for a pretty fantastic future, I think. I can hardly wait.

[Mymyjp 1,052]

What a difference the mods make!!! First person camera really brings a certain realism to this game. Excellent job, love the new development! Btw, what do you think of the flowery bushes? Do you feel they look somewhat realistic? Oh, and thank you so much for posting the links to Steam!!! So appreciated!

[feyss 1,981]

I like the small houses and of course, the way you built your roads.

[Vitoraju 675]

You have good taste to make beautiful cities!

[AgeKay 10]

...and the drooling continues.  :drool:    

 

Fantastic updates again, so much atmosphere in your city. Everything seems and looks very well planned, with great results!

Thanks for the links to the mods, very excited about the in-game terraform tool. That should give some awesome new possibilities, like a railway line on an embankment for example.

[Haljackey 17,394]

Looking fantastic! I really like your road layouts!

[Dazzyls 576]

I love this update!

Hamsborough and Salla's Fields look very English (and cozy and little too). I like it!

And forkton itself continues to be awesome too.

[iviaarten 534]

Replies:

 

 

Ln X: thanks, you've been a big inspiration on the camerawork.

switchkeys: thanks, the city hall does look a little like a postcard doesn't it.

89James89: the British thing sort of happened It actually wasn't too bad to get the row houses. Just zone 1 tile low density residentials, and keep them at lvl 2. I just did some selective bulldozing for the correct colours

perken: I sure did The small petrol station is just a lvl 1 or 2 1 tile low density commercial zone.

jesper107: all stock, 1 tile lvl 2 low density residentials.

Cobraroll: I can't wait either, it looks like it's going to be an amazing time ahead

Mymyjp: The flowery bushes suffer the same problem as the regular small bushes, they're slightly too big for my taste, but I enjoy the diversity in colours. I think I'll make the posting of the steam links a habit. Let's give credit where it's due

feyss: thanks. I don't think I'll ever get tired of curvy roads.

Vitor13: thanks a bunch.

AgeKay: yep, I'm really looking forwards to playing with the terraformer more. I don't want to overdo it though

Haljackey: thanks a lot. and thanks for getting me back into city builders a while ago with your building a city from scratch series!

Ultimate727: I noticed the British thing as well. Purely accidental, but a happy accident at that

 

 

Mods for today:

 

No more purple pollution (tan brown version): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=407810495More colour versions for both grass and water available from the same author.

 

rural train station: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=411521749

 

Sherlock's (starbucks) coffee: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=412540256

 

 

 

Update:

 

 

I've started a big project. 25 tiles unlocked. I can't believe how much room there is to grow in to now.

 

Forkton has finally crossed the river. A couple of very small hamlets not even worthy of a name so far have started growing, connecting up, and now form the district of Otherside.

 

 

It used to be just a few spots of houses, an occasional corner shop and some farms.

 

 

 

But with the influx of new people and new businesses....

 

 

 

..Otherside is transforming. A new industrial park was built as well.

 

With the rail way already nearby, a small station was built for commuters, connecting Otherside to both Old Forkton station, and Sporkton Central station.

 

 

The train line is getting an impressive amount of use.

 

 

Some bus lines were also connected to the station.

 

 

The main town itself, is still relatively quiet though.

 

 

Outside view outside of the village is farming fields as far as the eye can see (as long as you're not looking towards the industrial park).

 

 

A lot of people in town still work in the farming industry.

 

 

A couple of new interchanges were built to connect to the south part of the region as well.

 

Most are relatively small.

 

 

 

 

Some are slightly bigger.

 

 

Here's 2 pictures showing the size of the task we're currently undertaking. Filling this in might take a while

 

Here you see Hamsborough in the bottom right, Sella's Fields on the left, and Otherside and Forkton way in the distance.

 

 

The traffic info to show what we're planning approximately.

 

 

 

Looks like we're getting close to 60.000 people.

 

Hope you've enjoyed this update.