[Region 1][Map 27][Town 01]Argria

[mearrin69]

Little more mucking about. More buildings, refined labels and textures, added buildings. If anybody has any suggestions for place names to fill my blanks feel free to shoot 'em out.

My basic idea is that the city started as a collection of shops around the main gate and then hovels and small buildings where the merchants lived. Maybe some development also took place along the main road, which caravans took on the way out of Anuroch across the wastelands. The other areas grew up in a bit more organized fashion, but still around the various established tracks around the fortress. On the west end there will be a nomad tent city, permanent earthen hovels, horse pens, markets, etc. I think most chapels will be along the main road and wealthier housing and a few estates will be along the southern edge.

Working on some designs for significant buildings and will drop those in soon.
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[mearrin69]

I decided to divide this into districts to go with my labels, which is why buildings are now colored in groups. Won't be like that in the final map, of course, this is just to help me keep somewhat organized. I realize now I should have made this a small town!

I've got some trees and details and things ready for when I finish buildings and take it back into PS. Anybody know of any really nice vector trees? I did some searching last night but didn't find much of anything.
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[Ascension]

Can't help on anything vector but your city looks pretty nice so far.

[mearrin69]

This is going much more slowly than I had hoped...and, unfortunately, I'm going to be at CES most of next week so no more progress on this one (or anything else) for a while.
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[mearrin69]

Back now and settled in enough to pick up on my many projects. I wanted to make a little progress on this. Finished a couple of the districts and, on the side, been testing some building layer styles in PS. These are going to go into PS as black shapes and then get turned into textured, shaded buildings there...and I want to reflect a good variety of architectural styles, ranging from tents and sod huts to wood and shingles to stone.
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[industrygothica]

Looking fabulous. Glad you've returned to it!


-IG

[mearrin69]

Thanks to work and gaming I haven't had a whole bunch of time to work on this BUT I did make a start on the nomad tent city to the west of town. Because these are in illustrator they're a little regular right now but the shapes represent tents and "mud huts" built by the mostly transient population from the steppes. Some of them are settled permanently, some just roll in to sell horses and native crafts at the markets and pick up the things they need. It's always a party over there though and I plan to show it. T

he building cluster at the far west is the customs and registration area - all visitors must register...though many don't. The larger pens are for horses, and some other livestock, and the larger tents near them are auction "houses". Larger tents along the main road are covered markets with many vendors. Tent groupings tend to be extended families, clans, that have scored, by whatever means, the best real-estate they can for their encampments. Larger tents residential tents are the wealthier families and down from there.

Next to your horses and personal gear (weapons and armor) I'm thinking a family's tent is the most extravagant display of social status...with wealthier families being able to afford larger tents. All tents, however, are decorated lavishly with both a riot of dyed color, painted murals of the family's exploits, and (for those that can afford it or have the skill) fairly impressive embroidery.

Yeah. I'm just making it up as I go along, of course. :
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[Jaxilon]

Loving your explanations of what you envision. Having just completed my first challenge and it being a market area I have a greater appreciation for what you are taking on here.

I wanted to create the mass chaos and bustle of the market but it took a lot of energy and details to pull off. It's a lot of hard work. One thing I gained from my exercise was a growing hatred of trying to draw with a mouse. LOL

I hope you can keep going on this, it's a pleasure to watch your progress.

[su_liam]

This is a problem a lot of 3d 1ps games have. They love squalor, but it's amazing how regimented things look when every trash pile, every bit of graffiti and every puddle of urine in every back alley looks exactly the same. Chaos, anarchy, disorder and squalor take a lot of effort and storage space.

[mearrin69]

Was reading back through the thread to sort of keep my self aware of the story I've already built and realized I'd never vocalized how much I've appreciated all of your encouragement and feedback. So, thanks!

I'm working on this very part-time so progress is pretty slow. I hope to spend a few hours on it tomorrow to see if I can't get all of the building outlines finished so I can start really playing with it in Photoshop. I've got it planned out...it's just a matter of dragging rectangles around and clicking the pathfinder tool a few hundred more times. I've attached a shot of what it looks like at present. When I've got all of the buildings in I'll go back through and selectively edit to make some parks, market squares, common areas, wells, statues, etc. so it looks a little more like a liveable city and less like the Bronx.
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