INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION:
Yo -- !!
Welcome to my first venture in the "Art of City Journal". If it seems a bit odd, please be patient and I will do my best not to be too much of a bore.
Having looked at a few of the other journals on this thread, I feel a bit of information about me would be useful at the outset.
CITY JOURNAL: For the time being, this is going to be more of a "Regional Journal" featuring new cities as they are added. More on that later.
GAME: Sc4 Deluxe Edition, 2003, with all patches and upgrades installed.
OPERATING SYSTEM: Win 2000, with 2Gb of RAM, and an adequate processor. (Nothing fancy - lol)
PLUGINS FOLDER: Over-crowded at 5.21Gb and getting bigger every day. My in-game drop-down menus look like a laundry list for the Chinese Army!! (lol)
TOOLS: Maxis Editor, Plugins Mgr, and Reader -- just the bare bones. My system crashes with some of the newer tools.
SKILLS: It depends largely upon whom you ask (lol)! I can, I think, create a pretty fair custom lot of various proportions without too much effort using Editor and the available props. And I can be quite creative in the way I use those props -- but I'm not good at technical details or working with ".dat" files. And making a "Bat" is absolutely out of the question. I honestly don't think I would live long enough to learn something that complicated even if my operating system would support the necessary tools.
EXPERIENCE: I bought the game in 2003 and put it on the shelf for a "rainy day". Eleven years later, one retirement, and several Sid Miers' games later -- I decided to trot it out. The old Sim 2003 had been pretty good -- why not? I started messing about with the game in 2013 and I've hardly been off the computer since. And that -- as Paul Harvey used to say -- "Is another story".
MAP JARGON: For the purposes of this journal, I classify the maps as follows; Small - 64x64 squares; Medium - 128x128; Large - 256x256. That way, when you read "small, medium, or large" -- we will all be on the same sheet of music.
ANOTHER STORY:
To BEGIN with the END would be a great joke line, but as we all know, Sc4 has no end. You merely move from one stage of development into another stage of development. Basically -- I've embarked on a whole new philosophy of Sc4. At least -- it's new to me. I'm sure many of you have "been there, done that". But for me, it was an epiphany!
For about a year, I worked on what someone derisively called "the pure vanilla" version of the game. I didn't even have the night-lighting patch installed! As time went on, I knew there was something missing (I didn't know the half of it, then!). And, in my quest for enlightenment, I stumbled across the Simtropolis site and began to learn just how "vanilla" my game play truly was. At the time, my goal was to see how many people I could jam into a small, medium, or large map.
FIRST REGION:
EARLY CITY:
For the next 6 months or so, the goal stayed the same (lots and lots of people), but I was learning to add downloaded lots from LEX, STEX, and PLEX, and all those massive dependency lists. I also acquired a few game "system Mods" and even installed some "fixes" for bugs in the game and stuff that the designers didn't calculate too well. Earlier this year, MGB very kindly exhausted his patience teaching me how to make custom lots. (I owe him far more thanks than I can mention here!) This was a whole new world for me, and the next 3 months or so I returned to serious game play by creating a new region that would incorporate my new-found skills and acquired technology. (I still can't do "Bats" -- but that's another lifetime (lol).
THIRD REGION:
THIRD REGION CITY:
"GRASSHOPPER's ENLIGHTENMENT":
Having progressed through all of that -- I woke up one morning and suddenly realized I was not satisfied. Something just wasn't right. It's like going to your favorite delicatessen and finding out they got a new guy making your Pastrami on Rye. It's good -- but it's just not "all there". Something is missing.
I was unhappy with that "crowded" mass of humanity trying to exist in a city that was wall-to-wall concrete and asphalt. Industry, commerce, and residential were all crowded together and virtually sitting on top of one another. No city planner in his right mind would do that! There were hardly any trees, and less water would allow room for more people. Sounds like Los Angeles! All concrete and freeways (and dying of thirst)! And, of course, more people meant there had to be huge "pencil-towers" with thousands of inhabitants that blotted out entire city centers. What was the point of putting the Washington Monument downtown -- and making a landscape masterpiece -- if it was surrounded by pencil-towers? And -- just for the sake of including one in a game, some enterprising young feller had custom-lotted an entire oil refinery complex into a 6x6 space!!! And when you viewed the "regional" map -- it was like looking at a colorful checker board. All of those square map "thingies' were jammed full right down to each and every corner. It didn't even resemble a map! But it had over 3 million people living in it -- and that was the goal -- right?
The Age Of Realism & Naturalism had dawned upon me!
(This is where the background music plays the Hallelujah Chorus by Handel!)
More trees -- more water -- less clutter -- AND -- an oil refinery that should LOOK like a real oil refinery!
The story is not even close to having an end because we haven't solved the age old issues of which is more important -- huge population, or a city that is planned for proper habitation and actually resembles a city instead of a gluttony of pencil towers? Should we satisfy the game requirements, or design a city for more realism? Should we use that 6x6 oil refinery and plop it downtown -- or should we design a refinery that looks realistic and takes up 25% of the map space -- and stick it way out on a peninsula into the bargain? Should we use the Maxis freight train station -- or should we design and lay out a proper rail yard to service our ports and factories?
Ah, yes -- many, many questions.
And I hope you will all join in and make this not only a chance for me to showcase my work, but a place where we can have those discussions and see if we can come to a happy balance. I welcome ALL comments -- good or bad. I've got a tough hide and will gladly read your criticism -- as long as none of us make it too personal. Everyone has their own philosophy and is entitled to have their say.
I do encourage you all to comment, though. I need to hear a bit of feedback from time to time just to make me work harder. Not all entertainers do it for the money -- some need to hear the applause once and a while. I want to know what you liked -- what you didn't like; what could have been done better; what may seem redundant; and most of all -- how I can improve my work. Every bit of help and advice will contribute to my skills (and happiness). And some of you may even suggest some downloads for me to go look for (kinda like hoping Santa will leave something under the tree).
In short -- come visit and sit a spell (as they say down home). We'll look at some pictures and talk a bit.
NEXT INSTALLMENT: The Jade Bight
This is where I introduce you to my new region (4th or 5th -- I forget) and hope you will like what you see.
COMING SOON !!
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