Testing the waters: What do you want in a 'hood?
tjstreak:
My suggestion would be to do something which has not been done to death before. There are a billion and one Sunset Valley, Riverview and Bridgeport clones out there. If you are going to do another Sunset Valley, at least make it better than the original.
Most world builders are really crappy lot builders. Maybe its because they put all of their time into making a world, that they really cannot be bothered to make good lots. Many people download worlds but want to use their own lots. Make it easy for them. Personally, when confronted with a world with lots of unroutable terrain and twisty roads, I tend to toss it pretty fast. This means flat lots, straight roads and a sparing use of non-routable terrain. Hands off the non-routable terrain unless there is a damn good reason for it.
Some people think they can stick 300 lots in a world and NOT have problems. Most of the EA worlds have under 100 lots. If you want the feel of a larger neighborhood, you need to come up with another solution. Mine is to use deco buildings which I can pump out in an hour or two. If I spend a day or two on it, I can make a deco home which is almost indistinguishable from an in game home.
A number of sub neighborhoods is good. But don't overdo it. Look at real life cities. They have their residential, commercial and industrial zones. But unless a subdivision has strong covenants or built by a single builder, you can find a mix of expensive and inexpensive homes.
And yes, a lot of starter homes is a good idea. And I don't mean one of those faux 100,000 simoleon "starter" homes. I mean a home for under 16,000 simoleons. I have a ticky tacky starter home which gets plastered in all of my cheap subdivisions. There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one, and they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
Zazazu:
Quote from: tjstreak on 2011 May 03, 13:38:40
Mine is to use deco buildings which I can pump out in an hour or two. If I spend a day or two on it, I can make a deco home which is almost indistinguishable from an in game home.
No, your solution is to make a box mesh and photoskin some brick and a sign on it. I suppose that's good for you, but it pretty much looks like crap.
That being said, I commonly don't furnish or cut a portion of the homes in my neighborhood to keep the population down. My current 'hood has 62 lots (counting community, maybe 50 residentials) and no more than 40 residentials will actually get beds.
mageborn:
I really love this idea. I agree with most of what has been said. If I were to ever build a hood (unlikely as I'm not a builder - I just download!) I would take real life examples into account.
For instance, most cities/towns have commercial zoning - so most of the stores/public places/community lots would be grouped near to each other (thus eliminating as some people mentioned, the need to run ALL the way across the hood to skill.) Some community lots, like the school, library, stadium, should be closer to residential, as in real life. A downtown, with a few skyscrapers, clubs, bars, fast food joints, would be welcome in their own little area. Agree with the rural need - I want some space for a few farms /cabins. So there needs to be some woodsy (a maybe hilly with a pond) area (for just a couple cabins for the family camping trips /hermit sims) that is route-able, and some set-aside flat land for farms (deco or sim-tended) - these would be at least a few street-widths distance from the rest of the residential.
Things I'd like in a world:
- A good number of starter homes (I'd be starting fresh!)
- Smaller number of mid-range houses
- Only a few (maybe 3) mansions (and not HUGE ones with so much space that you can't play them)
- One or two 'older' homes - if the neighborhood is 'well-established' meaning maybe the old Victorian on the hill, or the historical governors home
- Straight flat roads, lots etc closer to the roads (who wants to walk across 100 ft of grass to get inside?) (Unless for a reason like the one or two historial houses)
- Fishing, gardening, and cooking help lots (easy access, near to roads and close enough to the residents) with all the plants available (who wants to travel all the way to the other countries JUST to pick up recipes and fruit?)
- Room for expansion for future EP's/neighborhood growth. That said - I personally want at least one of each of the community lot types available. (IE - laundromat, dump, bar, club, firestation, police station, etc- there needs to be room for all of them in one hood - unlike Twinbrook and Sunset Valley)
I'll keep an eye on this, hope to see it progress!
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