Quote from: Retro on Today at 12:26:29 pm
Shadowfury, I agree with what a lot of the people in this thread have to say - if you really want to make it a city, you are going to have to expand and create individual buildings for separate purposes. Your current complex is neat but it's essentially one big building. Expansion is definitely the next step.
Yeah, I know. That was a concern for me when I started building the residential area and noticed it was difficult to tell the difference between it and the center area at a glance. The beauty of redoing it with circular walls is that it forces a connection at only one point, and it nudges me strongly in the direction of making each area more individualized, since circles can't divide cleanly into rectangles, so the rectangles will need more strict defiinition. I will likely continue with the vertical aspect, but I'll make the industrial area have workshops in individual rooms, with nearby stockpiles, as opposed to a continuous floor.
Here I respectfully disagree. Circular walls are fine if you like. However, you can tell different areas apart without physical separation. It does take some creativity though. If you do separate buildings, try to constructively use the space in between the buildings. Statue gardens, swimming pools, outdoor farming, neat decorative parks. Do what you will, but please don't just make blocks (round or square) next to each other with one tile of space between them. I believe you will thank me later.
Color/Stone. If possible, I recommend you try to use the same color stone in the same areas. Further, consider going the modern hospital route: lay down stripes of the same color paint/floor tile/stone to show a path to a given area. Trauma is red line. Mental ward is green. Maternity is Pink. Etc. It constructively uses stone for visual representations of functions and paths to functions. The only downside is that it takes a little longer, but if you wanted the most time efficient route, you certainly haven't chosen it so far.
Ultimately you need to be thinking about balancing two things: function and beauty. You must decide a way to combine the two effectively. Things go wrong if you don't. Example, clearly I love Undergrotto, but it is too in favor of beauty rather than functionality. This is partially why it was killing Retro's PC/FPS. Again, I clearly have the utmost respect for Retro and his creation, but you have to work with what you have.
I'd consider doing what all designers and architects do: blueprints. Draw it out physically and by purpose before you build. "Why" does a certain area exist and how does it relate to others. An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure. Furthermore, it will help you stay focused if you get sidetracked. Law school has been the bane of my existence for some time now and I have awesome forts from years ago that I cannot remember crap about. Learn from my mistake; take notes.
All my suggestions are just that, suggestions. Take them or leave them as you wish.
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Topic: Roughnesschants, the City (Read 9186 times)