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Thread: [WIP] Newtown

  1. #1
    Guild Apprentice MeFanch's Avatar
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    Wip [WIP] Newtown

    Starting on a city, it's a planned city, completely rebuilt after the original city was destroyed.
    So, hopefully it looks like it's being designed by someone who's not a complete moron. Granted,
    it's just in the very, very rudimentary stages now.

    I've been looking at old maps of Paris, as well as Boston, and it should probably go without
    saying Max as well. I'm really fond of that style, of antique style, with a bit of a modern flare
    as well.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Just the basics, here. Trying to get a good layout on paper before I start working in gimp.
    Hopefully I can "put it all together" or at least a good bit of it, that I've been working on
    from the tutorials.

    Granted tips and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Especially when it comes to buildings,
    parks, etc.

  2. #2
    Guild Apprentice MeFanch's Avatar
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    So taking my learning from the Simpsons..

    Phase 1: Idea
    Phase 2: ???
    Phase 3: Profit

    Except not trying to profit, just make a nice city map, for a relatively minor(ish) city for my rpg group. I'm finding I'm doing a bit more fumbling around in phase 2, try this.. hummm didn't quite work; try that.. betterish? hmm. Yeah. It also seems I'm going a bit backwards from some of the other WIP's I see here, where they get great lines, then go back to fill in color.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Basic plan is to get the basic lay out of the land, city walls, city, and water - which I've done.
    Lay out all the roads, and use those to remove area from the city.
    Eventually pretty everything up - but putting boarders, cross hatches, highlights - etc on selected areas.
    Dance.

    At this rate, it will be a month before I get there!

  3. #3
    Guild Expert Wingshaw's Avatar
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    If you want tips about the layout of this town, it might help if you provide some more information. Some things to consider:
    You say it's a planned city,
    - planned how long ago?
    - by whom?
    - for whom?
    - for what purpose? (eg as a national capital, to give land to retired soldiers, simply as an opportunity to replace a city that is no longer there)
    - what is the technological age of this city? (i.e. medieval, Renaissance, Classical etc.)
    - what is its geographic area (grassland, forest, hills, desert etc.)
    - is there anything in the culture that might inform the town design (eg if a god/prince/mayor really loves triangles and spirals)?
    - how many people do you expect will live here?
    - is there a main industry housed here (ie. how will the inhabitants earn a living)?

    You needn't answer all of these questions (or any of them) but the more detail you give, the easier it will be to make suggestions.

  4. #4

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    Paris is a bit too organic to look at for a planned city.

    Just some random thoughts from my own perspective. Feel free to dismiss of course!

    Not sure what level of planned you are looking for but the outer walls don't look "planned". They look as though they were built around an old intact city that had been there for a while.

    If the city had been destroyed and I had to replan it, I'd probably pick somewhere further upriver with a bend in it. Unless maybe there is a large historic stone bridge there that is still intact. And perhaps a fortress on one of those river isles. At which point I'm drawing a straight line across the river as my first point of reference using that bridge as the centrepoint. And laying out a grid after that. So my city is going to be sort of square or rectangular straddling the river, with stone taken from the ruins of the old city, and the bridge will tbe the focal point of it all.

    Then something organic would grow up around that. City walls would eventually expand around these organic growths but that is later.

    So it depends how much time has passed.

  5. #5
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    - planned how long ago? - About 200 yrs ago. After the original was destroyed. He tried to design it with enough room inside, that it would grow within the walls for a long time.
    - by whom? - By the King at the time. Who was a master of everything. Think Hadrian combined with Sejong.
    - for whom? - The people there. His own amusement, and a bit to show off.
    - for what purpose? Both to replace the city originally there which was razed, but also to be the center piece defense for the eastern side of the island kingdom.
    - what is the technological age of this city? medieval/fantasy
    - what is its geographic area grasslands, riverfront - ocean is fairly close.
    - is there anything in the culture that might inform the town design Not really.
    - how many people do you expect will live here? Quite a few, though I haven't put exact numbers on it.
    - is there a main industry housed here Combination of fishing, farming, and trade (main road runs through town to get to other large cities as well as the river)

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  6. #6
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    Planned in the sense that it was originally destroyed, then rebuilt - so planned streets/layout; but built over the ruins of the original city. I mainly latched on to Paris, as I really liked the older maps of it, when it was walled - and it fit with what I was looking to do with this city almost exactly (which was very convenient, since I was drawing the layout for the city before looking at Paris). Unfortunately, for the person redesigning/building the city, moving it didn't seem as practical because it's near the mouth of the river. So rebuilding there would help defend the internal towns, since the raiders (similar to vikings) wouldn't be able to use the river to get deeper inland.

  7. #7
    Guild Expert Wingshaw's Avatar
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    Your layout is actually quite good. It looks planned, but in a medieval way rather than the post-industrial cities most of us are familiar with. Three things to point out though: first, you only seem to have two gates (I'm assuming the road in the northeast leads out of the city). Ordinarily, you'd expect many more roads, especially along the edges of the river.

    Second, which direction does the river flow? If it flows E-W no problems, but if it is W-E you've got a few difficulties: docks would normally be located downstream, closer to the sea. Even more of an issue, in your city it looks like you're going to be putting bridges between the docks and the coast, which would make it very difficult for ships. None of that matters, of course, if they are only trading upriver, but I would presume a large city in this position would have an extensive maritime trade.

    And third, are you going to add suburbs? Historically, all cities would have had some suburbs. They'll follow the lines of roads and rivers. Farmers bringing their goods to market will generally prefer to sell their produce without paying the fee to enter the town, and so small-scale markets will form at gates.

    Also you might want to take a look at maps of London, because they looked into planning the town after the Great Fire of 1666, and it shares some similarities to what you have described for your city.

    Anyway, looking good so far.

  8. #8
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    The river does flow W -> E. The docks were put in up river to give them more protection from raiders. Most of the "ships" are more along the lines of rowing vessels than tall ships, and thus would be able to fit under them if needed. At this time in the world, cross sea voyages are non-existant. Everyone pretty much stays within site of shore.

    There will be a few more roads, the main road to the SW I already have the base for, there's one main gate on the NW side. Smaller ones that will have roads coming from them on the NE and SE sides.

    There won't be much in the way of Suburbs; as the planning for the city left quite a bit of space to be filled in as the city grew; but there will be some that will dot the roadway from town. However, what you mentioned about the smaller markets outside the gates I hadn't really thought about; so I'll have to take that into account now.

    I'll have to take a look at some of the older maps of London and see what I can learn from them.

  9. #9
    Guild Member Facebook Connected Gumboot's Avatar
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    You could look at Versailles for inspiration; it was a village until the King decided he wanted to move his court there, and the Royal Architect designed the layout of a new city so that it would work aesthetically with the design of the new palace and government buildings being constructed.

  10. #10
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    Still plugging away. Need to add some more trees along some of the roads, names the key structures and roads, a bit more work on the border. Titles and all that.

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