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  1. #1

    Default Cape City, a neverending cyberpunk project

    Right, this is the beast that never ends. Well for me that is.

    This project started about 10 years ago, obviously in an on and off manner it has been worked on since then, although I'll freely admit more time has passed without work than with work.

    The map depicts Cape City, a corporate free state on the southern coast of the US. And it is the main setting for my Cyberpunk RP games.
    Now I'd like to know what I could do to make the map better, as it does suffer for being made with MS paint for the most parts (It was back in 2000, I did not know better). I've started changing it into a 3D representation of the city with the use of Google Sketch-up but that is as a time consuming project as the original drawing of the map. So any ideas, my lofty goal is to recreate the R.Talsorian Night City map, or preferably get as close as possible to that. So great masters of the maps, lend me your brains for a few moments.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
    Community Leader mearrin69's Avatar
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    Holy smokes. That's a hella complex map...especially if it's MS Paint. Looks pretty good to me.

    My only issue with it might be the straight wall along the top of the city. The internal streets of the city look very organic but then it all just ends with a nice straightedge at the top of the map. Since this is cyberpunk, what if outside the walls are the hangers-on that don't get to benefit from the wonders of the corporate city...but the outer city's a good place to go if you need to sell a kifed data disc or get some Splonk! (a designer drug I just came up with). I'm sure you've got history here, so this may not work.

    I think if I was designing such a thing I'd either go with: 1) a super-planned city, where the corp bought some land, razed the existing stuff, and built their little paradise (and even then, stuff might spring up outside the walls); or 2) a bankrupt city that got bought out by a corp, which was only interested in the high-value downtown area and has built a wall around it and let the rest of the place become a no-man's-land (except for vital transport arteries into the main city).

    Hope any of that helps! Looking forward to seeing it progress. Oh, and, have some rep!
    M

  3. #3
    Community Leader Jaxilon's Avatar
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    Dangit, makes me want to set up a Cyberpunk game now myself. Got the rule book but never got around to playing that setting.

    Certainly looks like a headache coming on I don't have any advice as I have done very little city mapping.
    “When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden

    * Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt

  4. #4
    Community Leader mearrin69's Avatar
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    I know. Got the old ICE Cyberspace rules and have always wanted to play. Have only ever made up some characters...never played.
    M

  5. #5

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    Thanks for the rep.

    And yes there is a reason for the "ruler straight border". In the city fluff, the place is built in the bayou, on land that due to a clerical error back in the day did not get handed over with the Louisiana land deal, creating a tiny little free state, but not worth anything since it was without natural resources and/or wealth. Later though it came to during the Civil War as a neutral port (originally owned by a french family, thus having a somewhat protected status). So the birth of the city was very organic, chaotic structure etc. Later when land was reclaimed more structure and layout was enforced. Over the years the US fenced off the land in order to keep illegal immigration down, (majority of the population are Caribbean Islanders) The result was that the city expanded all the way up to the then concrete fence, forcing US authorities to construct a second fence with no mans-land between.

    Now obviously not all of the fluff, but the gist of it. I was looking at places like Macau, Monaco and Kowloon Walled City when creating this. Hope that explains something. But yes its a beast of a file in BMP format
    Btw rough calculations give the entire city the dimensions of approx 10miles by 5 miles, so its not a very big place.

    Now only if I'd known then what I know now about digital graphic programs.
    Last edited by tves; 08-08-2010 at 02:54 AM.

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