A Year in Review

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Entry posted by ThomasSimpson · December 23, 2012

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Hazani Pratama, ggamgus, dubaidude303, dabadon5, gugu3: Thank you for your comments.

Mastof: Thanks, I'm slowly getting used to using RHW. It's a challenge but I enjoy it.

raynev1: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. I haven't done much industry before so it's nice to experiment.

Ace of the Thirteen: It's not something I've really seen much of. But it was nice to try, and it's good to know you thought it worked.

NMUSpidey: Taxation is a bum. But it's necessary to pay for the nice roads! That you then can't drive down...

leod22: Thanks! Those trees are MMP's, by girafe on the BSC Exchange I believe, so it's not a tree mod.

hjbk: Thank you. The turning lane arrows are part of the NAM I think. They don't really work with LHD though... At least for me.

Kruness: It really is. Perhaps not in the Netherlands then?

fdjw0808: That's quite a vague question... I edit the photos lightly with a photo editing programme but other than that I'm not sure what you're asking. If you could make it a bit more clear I can help you.

Lessito Update

raynev1: Thanks! I hope they weren't too dark for you.

Hazani Pratama, Jacob Guajardo: Thank you both!

Kruness: Yes I tried a Christmas update but it ended up rather autumnal. Woops.

Hiigarar: Harry Potter will be featuring soon perhaps!

TowerDude: Thank you, and merry christmas to you too!

444: Thank you!

Ace of the Thirteen: Thank you very much, that's very kind of you Ace.

mystic_destiny: Thank you for the kind words. I hope this update doesn't either!

Welcome back to Cattala. Today we're having a special end-of-year review, of all the towns and cities that have made up this year's Cattala Journal, and it's 24 updates.

And of course, we have to do it in style. Introducing, the home for our celebration tonight, the Dionysus Arena in Celeste!

Our trip through 2012's memories begins a long time before this year even began. In January 2011, I made an announcement expressing my fear over the future of the journal, because my region had effectively seized up. No demand = No growth = No journal. Through much of 2011 of muddled through, until in November I decided to restart with a new region and new cities.

Five months later, I had a grown region with a natural growth style in some rural villages and towns, but also a giant port and a giant religious centre, the Holy Church of Calora. You can see the finished product from my update earlier this month below.

Between March and June I had my GCSE exams but also did some minor work in the background on Cattala, most notably moving all of my regions and plugins to my laptop, which is where I now do all my updates. This gave me much greater flexibility to play whenever I wanted, even with the 30 minute loading time! However I still wasn't content with the new region and decided to begin again. Again.

The second incarnation of the capital, Celeste, was the biggest project I've undertaken with this journal. Celeste is one of my favourite cities in Cattala and has made up almost a quarter of all the updates so far. This year it expanded from just an archaic neo-Parisian city into a melting pot of ancient, medieval, colonial, international and modern styles to become my biggest city ever. Here's an overview of Alder Hill, the first part of the new city to be completed.

In the summer we began a journey criss-crossing southern Lessito. Last year, one of the centrepieces of the journal was the summertime tour of Ontano Island, and this year I took us onto the mainland and along the route of the A6, visiting hamlets, villages and towns including Callavre.

In August my work on the biggest area of the new Celeste was finally completed, and the first few updates of Aziens were released in September. It included a view of Alder Court Park, home to Cattala's tennis champions, and also the skyscrapers of the eastern wing of the city. The historic Citadel is now close to completion too.

In October, this journal celebrated its second anniversary with a special edition compiling all the cities so far seen. However much of that months updates were focused on Cressa, an interactive village I was hoping to build with your input. It may return at some point in the future.

With my exams approaching, it's unlikely that next year will achieve more than the 25 updates so far seen this year. I very much enjoy Cattala, making this journal, crafting the cities and seeing what the readers think of it all.

I hope you also found Cattala as enjoyable as I did, and leave you with one of my favourite pictures of Vittoria, the suburb of Celeste. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and thanks for watching.