Tsue-jo Castle Town, Kaidan

[ravells]

Agreed. You've really made that pen and ink / computer combo your own. Gives it a really nice feel.

[Gamerprinter]

Thanks for the comments.

Computer crashed when I chose a wrong line setting, and I was finished with the Samurai District, now I have to start again. I did save the last update to the castle before I started on the Samurai District. Oh well, I think I'll go it a bit different then what I had anyway. Got more ideas as I went along, in some cases too late for the design - so since I have to start over, I'll follow the new ideas.

@Gandwarf - you think the castle is maze-like, wait until you see the rest of town. (Too bad my PC crashed, I was getting wildly maze like in the samurai district!)

Anyway, in this update, I finished the trees. Placed lawned areas, walkways, ponds, tweaked the outer edge of the rocky bluff island, threw in some blue water just to enhance the current look (I'll do water differently, this is just to test.) Added the complete palace, residence and administrative center for the castle, in the second bailley just below the fortress on the hilltop.

My plans: north of the Samurai distict, I want to place the Hachiwara Kata - fighting school for the samurai of Tsue-jo. To the south I will place a cliffside Holy Shrine park. To the west of the entry into the Samurai district, will be a large Zao Temple, separating the castle and samurai distict from the merchant area of town, probably also separated by a wall and gate.

[Now I've got to restart the samurai district, a different way...]

GP

[Gamerprinter]

Combined samurai and temple district - still need to place samurai homes, trees, and the island beneath of course, but I'll do that last, once most of the town is complete. The streets are slightly maze-like, not overly so, but the town will definitely keep the maze-like quality of Tsue-jo.

By the way, "Tsue" mean cane, as in "walking stick". I was hoping to make the island, "cane shaped" as well as providing a cane-crafting industry in town.

Anyway, next update...

GP

[Gamerprinter]

A different tactic for creating the island. I did imagine that the only slopes of the island bluff from east to west are from 150' down to about 30 or 40' above the river level. So instead of drawing one gigantic island, I can draw in stages as the town drops in elevation. Where the castle sits at the highest point. The samurai district further down from the castle, still sits above the town level below. Note I even placed a hill-like structure within the samurai district to further indicate the slope (and the samurai district looked to flat to me anyhow.)

This is a lower res file, I will upload an appropriately sized final map at some point. Again the blue water here is temporary, just checking...

Now I have to start thinking about the layout for the rest of town. I also want to create some building types, both shops and residences, as well as individual trees, especially for the slopes beyond the walls of the town.

Enjoy!

GP

[pasis]

Great stuff...you sure are master on making this hand draw style.
There is something magical with the hand drawn style in general. Imagination starts to run and it makes me wanna roleplay.