03 - Atlas Ward [Mouse]

[Mouse]

Excellent idea : combine the houses to make them more big and complicate ! Well done !

Thanks Jo

It was the only way I could dream up a method that was half-way between pasting hundreds of very similar ready made house symbols into the map, and actually hand drawing everything (which would have taken me a whole year to complete!)

It's looking good, Mouse. I love the compass rose, it has a "roman city" feel to it.

Thanks Ilanthar

There's a dark little secret about the Compass Rose that people don't generally know. Back in the days before the city grew up it was the site of a stone circle and the focus of many a dark ritual. The ghosts are all gone now, along with the stones that the early city builders dragged off to incorporate into the walls of the castle, but it will always lie at the intersection of two major ley lines, and continues to exert an inexplicable magnetic pull on the people around it. That's what makes it such a success as a restaurant/café/bar

[Chashio]

There's a dark little secret about the Compass Rose that people don't generally know. Back in the days before the city grew up it was the site of a stone circle and the focus of many a dark ritual. The ghosts are all gone now, along with the stones that the early city builders dragged off to incorporate into the walls of the castle, but it will always lie at the intersection of two major ley lines, and continues to exert an inexplicable magnetic pull on the people around it. That's what makes it such a success as a restaurant/café/bar

Nice! I like it. In fact, it sounds a bit Fey, no?

[Mouse]

Thanks Chasio

Think druids, black and white magic, ceremonial rituals, dark age attitudes... and you'd be fairly close. But that is all in the forgotten history over a thousand years ago. Old Atlas is one of the original village settlements that was here long before the early city builders ever came along, and it was home to a very pagan tribe!

If you take a quiet stroll around Old Atlas sometime you might drop into the tiny little cottage museum we have, where some of the finds that were made when the city builders moved in are on display.

[Mouse makes mental note to add museum label]

[Tonnichiwa]

LOL...nice storyline Mouse. And great job on the city so far. I'm loving your work!

[Mouse]

Thanks Tonnichiwa

The story is getting made up as I go along. I'm a bit too worn out to do it all at once in advance

If you're wondering what's holding up the progress - this is one sixth of the new symbol set I'm making...



These are all the separate bits of buildings that I will be using like a lego set to make all the houses, and which I may pass to Profantasy for the rest of you to have (if they're good enough). There are three shades of tile, and three shades of slate... well, you'll see in a couple of days time

[Tonnichiwa]

Those look great Mouse! I can see why you are quite busy now...

[Straf]

Ah, like a Lego set, not an actual Lego set. I was going to say, who would be daft enough to try to do a map with virtual Lego?

Great detail on those tiles

[Mouse]

Tonnichiwa - I've been working on this flat out, because the shaded polys proved too much for my system. I'm just hoping they will look the way I want them to, or I may have to just go head and build the houses, then touch them up a bit in GIMP.

Straf - I've no idea who would be that crazy! LOL! The tile texture was one I made in Genetica. It's based on one of their source images, so it may look strikingly similar to many other tile textures there are around. But I made the three slate textures from scratch, so they should be totally unique... as unique as any home-made texture that's been pummelled into something that looks like a slate roof can look anyway

[Mouse]

Well... It works... kind of.

There are all kinds of faults and flaws, and the tile texture is too large on the smaller sets, but I think I can get away with it at the scale they will be seen on the final city map at the resolution that's been given as the largest zoom.

I've got a problem with the ridge tiles on the end section. They aren't set up to react to the global sun the way the rest of the building is, so when they are in shade they look almost luminous. I haven't got the energy to do them all over again right now, since creating a set like this generates an unbelievable number of tiny image files, so I will touch up the ridges in GIMP right at the end on the final image.



Also... LOL... the chimney pots are really crap!

[Tonnichiwa]

Lol, chimney's are my bane when I am making Iso buildings. They are a bit easier on top down. But still, what you are making looks like a pain in the behind. I can't wait to see this all done though.