GOTHAM

[Mister J 101]

THE HOPE OF GOTHAM

I'm working on a project recreating Gotham City in SC4. I know that several people have made CJ's about Gotham before (shout out to SpecialEddie, wish I could see the photos in your posts), but I plan on trying a different take on an old idea: building the region in 3 stages, starting at Gotham's founding date of 1635.

GOTHAM circa 1635     Population: 0

Map credit to Hamish. I've altered a few things such as the width of Gotham River and added the islands of New Gotham to the East, Amusement Mile in the North Western corner, and the infamous Narrows situated between Downtown and Midtown.

I'm basing the street grid off of this Gotham City map by AspieCrow

Stage 1 will be Gotham from 1635 to 1790, or 155 years in each city, and will focus on the street layout and agriculture. There will be a few condensed areas mainly around the ports of Gotham with low-income residents. In Old Gotham, the wealthy Five Founding Families settled near what will one day become Grant Park. As time goes on, they eventually scatter throughout the 5 boroughs of the city. 

My hope is to build Gotham as a real-world megacity would evolve: from agriculture (Stage 1) to dirty industry (Stage 2) to skyscrapers (Stage 3) over the course of nearly 400 years (from 1635 to the present day).

After Gotham's founding, farms spread on the islands and around the coasts, laying the network of dirt roads that will one day become the mean streets of this crime-ridden city.

GOTHAM in the 1700s. 

 

Stage 1 will be completed at the end of the 18th century. The first factory in America was built in 1790, and that's when I'll introduce dirty industry on a large scale and watch the population skyrocket!

Stage 2 will be from the 1800s to the beginning of the 20th century. A sprawl of only medium-density Victorian architecture and large factories will dominate the landscape.

The inspirations for this are "Gotham By Gaslight" and "Gates of Gotham".

 

This will be where I focus on creating the slums and conditions where widespread crime will fester. 

Stay tuned for the outcome of Stage 2 and then, the final stage, which will consist of art deco architecture and endless skyscrapers!

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[Mister J 101]

THE FIVE FOUNDING FAMILIES

 

The Five Founding Families have ruled over Gotham City since the 18th century. At first, they all lived in a tight-knit community in Old Gotham.

 

 

 

After the American Revolutionary War, the families spread throughout Gotham's boroughs and exerted their influence on its development. 

 

 

None had more influence and power than The Wayne Family.

They started out in Old Gotham like the rest, but sometime in the mid-1700s settled in the upper-class township of Bristol, just across the Gotham River.

The Waynes would go on to own countless properties and businesses in Gotham City, the most well-known being Wayne Tower, at its center.

 

 

The Wayne Family's territory is Uptown & Bristol.

 

Their nearest neighbors were The Elliot Family, ancestors of the deranged and dangerous Thomas Elliot aka Hush.

 

 

The Elliot Family's territory is Midtown & Bristol.

Just south of the Wayne and Elliot estates were The Kane Family, of which several streets and institutions would be named after in Gotham.

The Kane Family's territory is Tricorner Island & South Bristol.

The Arkham Family purchased the entire island nestled between Uptown and Midtown and built their manor there, which would later be donated and turned into the infamous Arkham Asylum. 

Their territory is solely Arkham Island.

And finally, The Cobblepot Family refused to leave Old Gotham and generations continued to live in their decrepit mansion until their eventual downfall. The family fell into ruin, but would one day make a surprising comeback through Gotham's seedy underworld by the descendent, Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin...

The Cobblepot Family's territory is Downtown & Old Gotham.

 

Gotham City circa 1775 during the American Revolutionary War. Pop: 166,637

 

The population has more than doubled since the beginning of the 1700s and will again see another boom during the Industrial Revolution.

The War of Independence sparked a wave of industrial innovation in America. The economy would shift from what was mostly agriculture and artisans to the large, dirty factories of the 19th century. 

The rolling green pastures and creaky windmills would soon be replaced by loud and polluting coal power plants and factories. 

The ports of Gotham would change from old slums of two-story wooden tenements to six-story red brick apartments, packing even more poor souls tightly together and in unsanitary conditions. 

It is in this environment where the first Gothamite career criminals will be born.

 

!!!!!!BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!

We have our first arsonist trying to burn down the city of Gotham!

 

 

Could it be the early work of Firefly? (One of Gotham's lesser-known villains)

 

 

In other news, there's also a serial Flasher on the loose, apparently, so you know... watch out for that guy...

[Mister J 101]

THE MEAN STREETS OF GOTHAM

I've focused on naming all the main streets based on the map in the first post. I've placed Signpost markers for the dirt paths on the city's edges and at intersections, for now.

As time goes on, they will all be upgraded to cobblestone roads ubiquitous in the 19th century, and finally, to the contemporary asphalt one-way roads, streets, and avenues that are rife with crime.

 

 

For some of the streets, I either had to change or create new names because the scale of the region didn't exactly fit the map.

 

So far, I've only expanded Stage 2 of my Gotham project on the small Tricorner Island, but the region's population has already swelled to a little over 300k.

 

 

The next step is to stop all cities during the year 1835, or approximately 200 in-game years, to build an extensive network of Victorian-Era railroads.

(One of the opening shots of "Gotham By Gaslight", a great animated film that blends two things I love: 19th-century architecture and the city of Gotham)

 

Lastly, the three main parts of Gotham (Downtown, Midtown, and Uptown) are still not populated enough to be overrun with crime, but I expect that to change with the train network connecting all parts of the city. So far, the most congested pockets are leveling out at a little over 70 crimes a month. My goal is to raise those numbers to triple digits. 

 

But in the Tricorner area which I'm using as a template for how I want the rest of the city to look for Stage 2, we already have some pretty unhappy agents of chaos!

[Mister J 101]

New Post!

Still expanding Stage 2 to cover Downtown, Midtown, and Uptown with dirty industry, but it's proving to be harder than it sounds!