Blackwater (with Islas Gemas)

Shadow Assassin · March 01, 2008, 07:14:42 AM

Everything's very well put together. Good job!

Ennedi · March 01, 2008, 10:20:48 AM

Excellent work!

It is not easy to create a realistic looking downtown streets, plazas and free spaces between buildings, even if somebody uses LE and puts a lot of props everywhere

But your vision is fantastic for me! The rail station surrounding is one of the most realistic I have ever seen

There are a lot of nice details and creative use of some BATs (for example an old but still good Dolphin Landscaping looks perfect on it's place!)

As Shadow Assasin said, everything very well put together. Great job!
(And a big inspiration for me, I'm still before my LE discovery

)

Adam

Yoman · March 01, 2008, 12:38:29 PM

More excellent LE work here emilin! Those w2w buildings match together perfectly and I like how not all the lots are stacked up one upon the other in wall to wall fashion, but spread out a little.

It looks very well put together and everything seems to match flawlessly.

thundercrack83 · March 01, 2008, 01:39:22 PM

These lots look amazing, emilin! Simply amazing! Everything is so meticulously placed, I can only imagine the amount of time you've spent on it!

I will definitely be looking forward to seeing more.

Dustin

Pat · March 01, 2008, 08:47:30 PM

very very good update emilin!!! WOW, loved the train station area...

panthersimcity4 · March 04, 2008, 07:06:39 PM

I love your cities, they're so realistic and have tons of detail.

soulstealer · March 06, 2008, 08:51:33 AM

I don't usually comment on MD but your work is absolutely stunning. every picture reflects how much attention you give to the fine details. I like it when the player doesn't rush things (zone huge and forget) but rather progress slowly giving much thought and work to every single tile and that is truly remarkable

I'm still reading through, going backwards. I'm excited to see what's on the earlier pages.

My favorite part so far are your wetlands pictures on page 41. Excellent landscaping there!

I like this small pond so much! For a moment there I forgot this is simcity.

What are those green rocks and the small shrubs? first time I see them.

Thank you for sharing all of this with us.

kimcar · March 06, 2008, 02:13:04 PM

Beautiful lots that you have done. I saw some new props like statue or sculpture i`m not sure . Is it your creation or what ? Looking forward

Quesh · March 06, 2008, 02:27:44 PM

Very beautiful, more realistic

emilin · March 12, 2008, 08:32:46 AM

Personal replies:

sebes: Nope. Sorry, that's just some underground pipes, actually.

bat: Thank you very much!

Shadow Assassin: Thanks! I am eagerly awaiting your euro RHW modd by the way...

Ennedi: Thank you so much! How nice of you to notice the Dophin Landscaping building, by the way. It represents a sort of architecture that there are very few BAT:s made from. Glenni has made some nice ones, but that is pretty much it. I really like those rundown 1960s-1980s buildings.

Yoman: Thanks! That was very kind of you.

thundercrack83: Thanks! It does take some time, yes, but for me that is the fun part of this game right now. I am in no hurry to finish anything - and that feels really good.

Pat: Thank you so much, Pat!

panthersimcity4: Thanks a lot!

soulstealer: Thank you and welcome to Blackwater, soulstealer! I really appriciate your comment - since I am also a big admirerer of your work. Some of the stuff you used to post over at Simtropolis have had a substantial impact on how I play this game. I see that you have started a "port journal" now, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. The shrubs are part of jeronij's latest flora set - found here on the LEX.

kimcar: Thanks! Even though I have on occation opened the BAT, I have never really gotten any further than that. I can't even BAT a square box, so you can safely assume that all props are someone elses work.

Quesh, Thank you, and welcome to Blackwater!

Blackwater: Downtown shopping

Ok. With this update we continue to develop the downtown area of Blackwater. This is pretty much the dead center of the city. And since Blackwater is over 1.000 years old and located in northern Europe this is not at all a scyscraper forest. You will spot some really old buildings here and there, but a lot of those have been replaced by modern shopping facilities. I think it is a reasonable assumption that Blackwater was bombed during WW2 which would explain why there are so few old buildings left in this particulare area.

metasmurf · March 12, 2008, 08:38:11 AM

Antagligen din bästa update nånsin

Probably your best update ever

bat · March 12, 2008, 08:47:47 AM

Great progress on Blackwater, emilin! Wonderful work on the church-area and around it!

Looking forward to more...

Strechnitz · March 12, 2008, 08:55:32 AM

Hey Emilin,

These last updates on blackwater are stunning!
I have missed a lot since I went absent in Januari.

Strech.

rooker1 · March 12, 2008, 08:57:12 AM

I'm going to have to agree with metasmurf. Best update you have ever done. I see you are relly digging deep into LE. Great work, it looks like you are really getting the hang of it. I can't pick out one thing you should change, it looks perfect.

Robin

thundercrack83 · March 12, 2008, 01:29:25 PM

The city center's really starting to come together, my friend! I love the backstory behind it, too! I'll be looking forward to seeing more!

Dustin

sebes · March 12, 2008, 02:25:44 PM

Quote from: metasmurf on March 12, 2008, 08:38:11 AM
Antagligen din bästa update nånsin

Probably your best update ever

I fully agree!! Stunning this is - absolutely gorgeous - I have fallen in love with the lots you made

Quesh · March 12, 2008, 03:32:48 PM

Thanks for the welcome at Blackwater

This church surrounded by buildings is Very well done

figui · March 12, 2008, 08:39:44 PM

the area is looking really nice

i really like how the church looks surrounded by those small 5-floor buildings.
looking forward to what's next!

mauricio.

krbe · March 12, 2008, 09:15:40 PM

Great to see some proper cities in large scale (i.e. Scandinavian

). I have to go Stockholm and have some hours free tomorrow--any idea for how to go for the Blackwater experience?

emilin · March 14, 2008, 03:19:19 AM

Quote from: krbe on March 12, 2008, 09:15:40 PM
Great to see some proper cities in large scale (i.e. Scandinavian ). I have to go Stockholm and have some hours free tomorrow--any idea for how to go for the Blackwater experience?

I guess I'm a bit late to help you out, but I do have a brief history lesson about Stockholm and the curse of bad city planning.

The latest update was the closest to actually recreating a part of the real Stockholm as I have been so far. If you look closely at this picture you can even see the little café in between the two modern buildings:

The church is a beautiful landmark, but well hidden by ugly modern offices so many people don't even notice it. Its' name is "Klara kyrka" (Klara is basically the Swedish version of the name "Claire", but it doesn't refer to a saint or such, but rather to the old name of this particulare neighbourhood).

Now, you might have noticed that I explained the lack of old buildings in central Blackwater with WW2, which would be reasonable. But, now some of you *cough*americanswatchingseinfeld*cough* basically just know one thing about Sweden: "They're neutral", so why would anyone bomb a neutral country?

Well, nobody did. This is a major difference between Blackwater and the real city.

Stockholm was never bombed during the war it just looks that way...
...due to the miracle of city planner Hjalmar Mehr who decided to "modernize" downtown Stockholm by turning this:

into this:

ending up with this:

So, to get the Blackwater feeling when you go to Stockholm, imagine that there is actually a reasonable explanation for destroying large portions of the historic city centre, rather than a 1950s mayor with that had a bad morning.