Blackwater (with Islas Gemas)

[thundercrack83]

Well, I thought I'd sneak in and say...

1000 comments!

Congratulations, my friend--you're the first MD to reach this plateau, and it's no surprise why! Your work is absolutely extraordinary!

Hope all is well with you and your family, and we hope to see you around here again and updating soon!

Dustin

[Badsim]

....arrrrrf ! Too late ... Dustin , not anything else to do ? 

Congratulations emilin !

I love this island    ...and I would deplore to see you from less to less in the future .

[bat]

Fantastic new picture of that beautiful small island there! Like it!

And CONGRATS on 1000+ replies and for being the first MD with 1000 and more replies!!

[Simpson]

Congratulation
I see all pages of your MD and it's very good
You are the first who have 1000 comments so congrats 
For all update it's very good and very realistic 

[Une_ame]

BRAVO EMILIN FOR YOUR WORK !!!

1000 comments are not a surprise since your work is stunning. Keep going.

[warconstruct]

Congratulation for your thousand comments, they are well deserved !

The island is splendid I awaits the continuation with interest !

Paul

[penguin007]

  Congrats on 1000 replies this MD although I havn't read it all is truely awesome

Lovely island u have there btw

Will

[Quesh]

Congratulations for 1000 Comments 
They are fully deserved 

[kimcar]

  Congrats emilin . That`s what happpening when an MD is interesting    Very nice island btw

[emilin]

Celebrating #1.000 comments

Thank you so much, everyone! At the bottom of this post are all the missing personal replies from the last few weeks (I hope I didn't miss anyone, if I did I am sorry...).

It feels nice to finally reach the big #1.000. I do have plans for honouring a lot of people for there input, support and general inspirations, but that is still not prepared. It will be coming up a little later.

So I thought this might be the right time for a retrospective...

It all started out over at Simtropolis with the Province of Lazarus. I can't say that it was very advanced, and most of the pictures make me blush a little these days, but I did learn a lot along the way:









Islas Gemas was originally inspired by a holiday trip to the Islas Canarias, which is blatantly obvious to anyone who has been there, but I didn't want to do a remake of the actual place (I find the game a little to limited for that level of realism). It started out with some very simple features:







The first midsize towns started to show up a little later:











The odd islands, like the sandy desert of Topaz, or the luscious green of Ópalo was a nice distraction. I tried hard to make each island unique:















Then came the port tutorials:









The first major city was Santiago, and it took quite a while to finish. This was also my first try at making growable lots. For the suburbs I got to be the first to try out Heblems new latin housing (I was very proud of that, thank you so much!).
























I really tried to build a proper airport, but I can't say I succeeded. It looks ok, no more...







Shantytowns and small villages were always a lot of fun to build:





But, the tourist attractions were always the main part of Islas Gemas. I actually had to stop develop resort towns because I ran out of hotel BAT:s in the end. I know that sounds hard to believe, but I more or less used up all of them. Paloma is one of my favourite places on all of Islas Gemas, with the hotels, timeshares, and the old lighthouse:









Playa del Paraíso was the "Las Vegas" of Islas Gemas. I was really happy with the beach/dunes-area. I do think the city as a whole is a bit unbalanced, but I kind of like it still.









And I tried my best to map some of the islands:





And there where even more small towns:









I didn't only make small villages and hotel resorts. There where two more major towns to come, Bahía Roja on the island Rubí and San David d'Esmeralda:













The last part of Islas Gemas (latest?) to be developed was the northern peninsula of the island Zafíro, known as País Palo – or "bat country" in English:









After that, I sort of quit Islas Gemas. I'm still not sure if I will return to that region for more development, or something else. There are still islands left to build on, but I'm not sure if that will ever happen.

Blackwater was something completely different than Islas Gemas. The region - based on a fictional version of the greater Stockholm area – is much larger with 16x16 large city tiles (as big as 3RR). Almost every lot has been customized, and development is much slower. I don't expect it to ever be finished, but as we all know, that has never been the point of this game...































And just recently I also started developing the farmlands of Blackwater with the help of David's (dedgren) wonderful ploppable farm lots.











And that's where we stand right now. I really have only a vague idea of what comes next... so the rest of you will just have to wait and see.

----------

Personal replies:

Yoman: Thank you for all of your support and an extra thank you for making that #999 comment. How nice of you to stop by our little country too! Sadly the train trip from Copenhagen is a bit long and boring sometimes, but I'm sure you will enjoy it when you arrive, Make sure you are not asleep when you exit that last train tunnel and arrive in central Stockholm - that is one of the best vies of the city that you can get, and you will be able too see all the waters that surround the central parts.

dedgren: Thank you so much, David! You were always one of my major inspirations. The first 3RR over at ST was one of the few CJ:s I followed continuesly from the beginning, and moving it over here was originally why I decided to start a journal on this site too.

kimcar: Thanks! It's still quite a long way until the baby arrives, but I will of course start early with introducing the game. I think the Lot Editor and the Reader will have to wait a few years though.

aliek: Thank you! And congratulations to severly beating the Swedish soccer team in the Euro 2008, by the way. We played like crap, and totally deserved it.

thundercrack83: Kaboom!!!! Thank you for all of your comments during this time. It seems very appropriate that you where the one to hit the #1000.

Pat: Thanks! I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed these days. I guess it was a bit of a chock too... I just couldn't think of anything but the the baby for several weeks. I'm a bit calmer now, so things are more like they used to be around here, hehe...

Quesh: Thank you!

bat: Thanks you for everything!

sebes: Hehe... thank you so much!

Ennedi: Thank you very much! And I will of course stick around this place, no matter how much I play the game. And I will try to keep the journal alive as best I can. It seems too strange to me to just let it fall into the "unactives" after all this time. And, of course, congratulations to your appointment to the SC4D Hall of Fame. You have truly done some amazingly original things with this game, and it's good to see them appropriatly honoured.

rooker1: Thanks. I am really looking forward to it.

freedo50: Hehe... thanks. I am not aiming for perfection in parenting though... to much pressure in that department already.

Badsim: Thank you! And it's soo good to see you back and posting. And of course, a big congratulations on your appointment to the SCD Hall of Fame. Probably the best deserved acknowledgement ever.

panthersimcity4: Thanks! I love trains too.

kwakelaar: Thank you!

Simpson: Thanks!

Une_ame: Thank you!

warconstruct: Thanks! But first out is the retrospective.

penguin007: Thanks!

[Ennedi]

That's a beautiful update Emil!

Your regional shots are my constant favourites. But I like all pictures, and some of them are real jewels - I love beaches in Paloma, and the smallest island 
It's great you use so much buildings from various sites, everything look colourful and charming. I must look closer to these Japanese fields, they look fantastic! I downloaded them long time ago but haven't an occasion to use them yet

Best wishes for you and your family!

Adam

[Une_ame]

  That's so nice (nearly perfect) that, while I was looking your cities, I tried to find the mistakes to help me support the contrast with mine, sadly I didn't find enought . So, I try to imagine the size of your plugin and the time it must take to start the game, but even with that I must accept that you're unmatchable. Periode.

[iamgoingtoeatyou]

Congratulations on 1,000 comments! It was great to look back through this update, it's always nice to look back at what you've done every once in a while. Thank you for putting out such an awesome and grand update, and I will look forward to see what you will show next. Very nice work!

[bat]

Great update of the tour through the last year! These (old (?) ) pictures are looking wonderful!

Again CONGRATS on 1000 more replies at Blackwater (with Islas Gemas)!!! Looking forward to the "honouring-update" and to the next update with pictures...

[Quesh]

We are spoiled with this update is splendid 
What diversity in architecture, there are all styles, it's very well done, bravo 

[penguin007]

What a superb update so many interesting pics and information. The idea of islands each with a different personality was a great idea.
Cant wait to see more from this MD although really I should actaully read through it first though

Will

[sebes]

Thanks for this great backlooking summary of Port Lazarus/Islas Gemas/Santiago especvially!) and Blackwater. Great to see those pictures again, and bringing back the memories of those days. 

[pvarcoe]

What an incredible body of work!!
I think my favorite is the tiny island with the sailboat.
Great stuff as always emilin and congrats.

Phil

[Yoman]

I'll certainly remember to make sure I'm awake when we come into Stockholm Don't think I'll be going this trip (leaving Thursday), that will be Germany + Denmark, probably the one in late July early August will be UK + Scandinavia. Thank you for that tour through your history of MDs, I'll never post one of mine, early images are too embarrassing. While your early images are great still 

[thundercrack83]

Such a wonderful retrospective, my friend!

It's been such a pleasure viewing your work over these 1000+ comments. Every time you have an update, it brightens my day!

Hope to see more of them! And congratulations again!

Dustin