Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the first in a series of interviews this month. In celebration of the Site's birthday, and of the Mayor's Diaries and Custom Content threads being honored this month, several members have agreed to do interviews to chat a bit about what it is they do, why they do it, and whatever else comes along.
You may view it using the embedded player below or watch it here on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg9tiWst4B0).
Join us for the first of these interviews as we chat with CasperVg:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Eg9tiWst4B0
Cool interview. I went to see the seawall episode and im very interested in the modified diagonal bridge mod CasperVG created. Is there a place i can download it from ?
Wow, very well done guys! I really enjoyed the interview.
Quote from: spot on November 01, 2012, 09:42:39 PM
...interested in the modified diagonal bridge mod CasperVG created. Is there a place i can download it from ?
The mod was created by the NAM Team and is available for download on the LEX (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2690).
Quote from: threestooges on November 01, 2012, 09:53:11 PM
Quote from: spot on November 01, 2012, 09:42:39 PM
...interested in the modified diagonal bridge mod CasperVG created. Is there a place i can download it from ?
The mod was created by the NAM Team and is available for download on the LEX (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2690).
yes yes, im aware of the mod. What i meant was, how did he modified it in a way that it allows you to terraform.
Which values of the exemplar did he change?
Matt and Casper very great interview here wow!!! loved it
Quote from: spot on November 01, 2012, 10:03:56 PM
Quote from: threestooges on November 01, 2012, 09:53:11 PM
Quote from: spot on November 01, 2012, 09:42:39 PM
...interested in the modified diagonal bridge mod CasperVG created. Is there a place i can download it from ?
The mod was created by the NAM Team and is available for download on the LEX (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=2690).
yes yes, im aware of the mod. What i meant was, how did he modified it in a way that it allows you to terraform.
Which values of the exemplar did he change?
Like he said in the interview its one of the thing he made and never released. I'll say more, it will never be released as a mod itself. A tutorial from himself is more likely to happen than a modified mod release.
--
I'm at the middle of the interview and I can already say you did a nice job with it, Matt! And nice interview Casper, it's nice to know a bit more. :thumbsup: &apls
Awesome work on the the first interview Matt and Casper!!
I really enjoyed it.
Robin &apls &apls
Excellent interview, Matt! I really enjoyed listening to it (good questions and equally good answers, really in-depth). It's always nice to know other people's opinions and views about things and play-styles.
Anyway, I'm very curious which people are getting interviewed next ;)
Thanks for all the good thoughts so far everyone. Glad to hear it's being enjoyed. There will be more to come this month, so keep an eye on this thread during the month.
Quote from: MandelSoft on November 02, 2012, 07:01:51 AM
Anyway, I'm very curious which people are getting interviewed next ;)
It's a mystery, oooOOOooohhhh. *wiggles finger spookily*
There will hopefully be one each week (more if I get the time for them) revolving around this month's OSITM and the Site's birthday. However, if there's interest, I'd be interested in continuing this. It's been fun so far getting to know people here more in-depth.
-Matt
Great work on the interview, Matt and Casper. I've enjoyed watching your in-game videos, Casper, so it's an extra-special pleasure to get even more insight into why and how you play our favorite game.
Thanks and congratulations go out to you, Matt, for starting the SC4D Anniversary with such a thoroughly entertaining and thoughtful interview. I hope there will be many more in the days and weeks to come...
-Joan
Great interview! :) I like the idea of interviewing OSITM people. I really enjoyed the interview, thanks for that. It was great seeing some images/video during the interview. Seems like there are more 'young people' than I thought. I am 17 now, nearly eighteen. I look forward to other people being interviewed.
-Matthijs
Awesome interview Matt and Casper &apls It's very interesting to hear about others' playing styles, histories and advice. I look forward to the rest of the month ;)
Quote from: spot on November 01, 2012, 09:42:39 PM
Cool interview. I went to see the seawall episode and im very interested in the modified diagonal bridge mod CasperVG created. Is there a place i can download it from ?
Check out my tutorial on how to change your sea level (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=13185.msg380688#msg380688) :thumbsup:
Quote from: mave94 on November 05, 2012, 06:47:24 AM
Great interview! :) I like the idea of interviewing OSITM people.
Me too, I think it is great idea, because they have done such a hard job here at sc4devotion, and that makes us want to know why they do what they do.
Good to hear the feedback everyone. Glad the first one was well received.
There's a new MD in here now as part of the 4-in-1 November celebration: bringing you as much interest as possible during our anniversary month. That MD is Siilijoki, by noahclem. Join us for the interview.
There will also be another interview in a few days too featuring Rambuckel, who just ended her week in OSITM.
Enjoy the show.
http://www.youtube.com/v/qbL10r0Vn_Q
Ho, wait, I still have to listen to Casper! I'm very glad you're doing these interviews, Matt, and I think you're very good at them. Nice listening to you, and good questions, too. I'd love it if you keep doing this beyond this month.
And great to hear about Noah's ideas and style. And to finally hear how to pronounce Siilijoki right :)
Cheers
Willy
Cheers
Willy
Great work on your interview Noah. Thank you Matt for doing these! As Willy said you're very good at it.. When you speak, the way you ask your question, everything is neat-professional.
Looking forward to the next one!
Nice interview, again, though I would like to mention that you CAN plop ressidentials that don't abandon. It's just quite tricky (you need enough jobs for them), but I managed to keep this sustainable:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.majhost.com%2Fgallery%2Fmrtnrln%2FImaginiaStuff%2FMD%2FUpdate30%2Fim-6.15.jpg&hash=239b703e2596b5967a83d2a883c44919fccd0942)
Best,
Maarten
Wow, i didn't know that before :shocked2:
Quote from: MandelSoft on November 10, 2012, 03:50:00 AM
Nice interview, again, though I would like to mention that you CAN plop ressidentials that don't abandon. It's just quite tricky (you need enough jobs for them), but I managed to keep this sustainable:
Best,
Maarten
Great interview Matt and Noah :thumbsup:
Great work Matt and thanks again &apls And thanks you to those who commented here :thumbsup:
Maarten, I'm aware that residentials can be plopped without abandoning but I meant that they can't commute and don't function as normal residentials. Nice picture, btw!
sunv123 and others: resdidentials can only be plopped using the lotplop/buildingplop cheats and only placed over existing, functioning residential areas "$Deal"$
It was really nice listening to the interview with Noah, Matt. Well done both of you :)
Had lots of fun doing my interview as well, even though I was a little nervous at first. Thanks for doing these, Matt, they're great!
Great interviews so far! It's really interesting to hear which "philosophies" the players have ...
Thanks for your efforts! And I really hope we'll have some more interviews after November.
Another fantastic interview Matt.....oh and you were good too Noah. As I always say, interesting to hear the voice that goes with the name.
Robin
Great job Matt and Noah. It's a wonderful way to get to know the players better and to find out how and why they do what they do.
Good work and excellent ideas...
-Joan
Very nice interviews !
Great work Matt, this is not easy. :)
I like the idea. :)
Replies:
Willy (Swordmaster): Glad to hear you enjoyed this one, and I hope you'll enjoy Casper's just as much. They've been fun to do so far, so if there's interest I may try to keep them up for the coming months as well. Also, yes, it's good to finally learn how to pronounce Siilijoki. That one took me long enough to get right.
Arthur (art128): Glad to hear it's enjoyable Arthur. I've enjoyed doing them. There is a benefit to pre-recording these as I can take out some of the flubs here and there; mainly cutting for time. Hope you enjoy the rest of these.
Maarten (MandelSoft): That's a good point to make. We may have touched on it partly in the video, but it's good to spell it out for those who aren't familiar with it. Nice picture there too, it looks good.
sunv123: If someone learned something new, then this series was successful.
Noah (noahclem): Thanks for joining me for it Noah, it was a fun interview.
Casper (CasperVg): Thanks for sitting down with me for your interview as well Casper. You did fine with yours; actually probably better than me. I'm always highly impressed by people who can be fluently conversant in a second language. Looking forward to the next OSITM update too.
rambuckel: Thanks, and it was interesting getting to know your philosophy on the game too. Thanks for your work on that part.
Robin (rooker1): It is interesting to hear the voice that goes with the name we've seen for so long around here, isn't it? I have a few more interviews yet planned. It's just a matter of getting all the schedules synced up. Until then, enjoy this next one.
Joan (Jmouse): Glad you're enjoying Joan. If these go on after this month, you're on my list of people to interview for sure.
Ol.S / Benoit: Glad you are enjoying them. There are still more to come too.
To everyone else who has posted: Thank you all, it's been great reading the thoughts and comments and getting an idea of how to improve these for future updates.
This week brings something different. Some people don't have the ability to do a Skype interview, but that doesn't mean they should be left out of the fun. I sat down with rambuckel for this week's interview, and here's what came of it. Enjoy!
Q (threestooges): What first drew your attention to the game?
A (rambuckel): I have had the game since it was released in 2003. I had already played SC2000 and SC3000 and I was waiting for SC4 quite impatiently. In 2003 I was about to finish my law studies and playing SC4 was one of the best things to get me some distraction. At that time I played SC4 without any plugins and just for me. After that there was a time in which I hardly played any computer games. Sometimes I played role-playing games or adventures. Very rarely I played SC4 as well but that's not worth mentioning.
I somehow came over SC4 again about 2 years ago and I started collecting plugins and to follow MDs on simforum.de and later, on SC4D as well. I was really amazed about what had been developed and I really liked the fact that everybody in the community was able to contribute to the development of the game. Be it by means of showing creative ways to use things, or be it by means of "producing" Lots and BATs.
When I was about thirteen I started to tinker furniture for a dollhouse which my grandmother gave to me. The dollhouse itself was made for her by her father. So the house itself (the base of what it is today) was about 60 years old at that time. My mother asked a carpenter to build a roof and a third floor which could be attached to the house. So I really had a large dollhouse (3 floors + roof) and I tinkered furniture of all different styles for it. Here's a picture of one of the rooms
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7.pic-upload.de%2F09.11.12%2F67hirbg6dcc.jpg&hash=1102a604c3071f32fac61b271cd718b98bb0f438) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16821665/PICT0033.jpg.html)
But to cut this long story short, I really like modelling :) And when I restarted playing SC4 this game seemed to be perfect to tinker things without needing a workshop and without dust and the smell of colours and glue in my flat.
Q: What got you to get into the SC4 fan community? What brought you to SC4D?
A: My start in the community of simforum.de was about May 2011. I already posted some questions some years ago (2009 as my account is from January 2009) but I didn't really participate. Sometime about May 2011 I was poking through simforum and I read the MD of FrankyFour (Framly here on SC4D). He showed some interesting way of creating the illusion of hay or straw lying on the field. I asked him for the props he used and he was quite annoyed of another person who was just consuming from but not contributing to the community. Well, he was right, that's not the best way to introduce oneself =)
About that time I posted some first pictures in the "Pictures-Thread" of simforum which had some good feedback:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7.pic-upload.de%2F09.11.12%2Fjc4bhz9s9v4o.jpg&hash=64dfb05dd220ef733ff882498ad65b5f80222044) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16821666/Stranraer01-1kl.jpg.html)
_
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F09.11.12%2Fyvurbytjzis.jpg&hash=dbd8bb5aa5e4e5fcfa9f3f114460e2ccfd1f3345) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16821671/Stranraer02-1kl.jpg.html)
_
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F09.11.12%2F63iumf8if632.jpg&hash=cccc6d03a4103bb71e0554a96e13a70d73570b90) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16821674/Stranraer06-1kl.jpg.html)
The lots on the pictures were my first "own" lots showing a scenery which I created after watching a western style riding competition that afternoon.
Q:Those pictures, are those all separate, smaller, lots, or larger ones?
A: These lots are two large lots. I first used modular lots when I arranged my racing court as there were too many props on it for one lot.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F14.11.12%2F7g48kfgkz7a6.jpg&hash=eeacd699b0777a39d976b6978253ab4afd5e8838) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16890486/ayrracecourt03.jpg.html)
Q: How long did it take you to learn the Lot Editor? How about to feel comfortable using it?
A: To learn how to work with Lot Editor didn't take a long time. To know which props are available and how they are named is much more complicated. At least things do not always have the names I expected them to have and not all props have English names. Most of the French props are named French. Things are a lot easier since I use the propviewer (http://community.simtropolis.com/files/file/21354-ilive-propviewer-0-1/). You can easily build your own groups of props so you do not have to look through all available prop packs to find things you are looking for.
I guess the propviewer is one of the most important things to feel comfortable using LE. Putting props on a lot is really not complicated. Finding the props fitting a planned scene is much harder.
Q: How long did the lots in those pictures take you to make?
A: As far as I remember these lots took about an afternoon all together.
Q: How did you come up with your user name here?
A: rambuckel is a combination of two names. I once had two guinea pigs called Rambo and Muckel. I don't know for what exactly, but I needed a nickname for a login and I combined the two names to Ram(boM)uckel because any other names I tried were already in use. And somehow this name was the name I usually use :)
Q: What made you want to start a Mayor's Diary?
A: As I still was in contact with Franky, he convinced me to start my own MD. I hesitated as I knew from the past that my fascination for SC4 always didn't last too long. But one day when I was dozing off I had the idea to create my own "Scotland". And that was the start of "Alba ceann mu dheas".
I demolished most parts of the map I was playing on and I was starting it all new except the parts which I already showed. And I began to focus on lotting my own stuff fitting the story.
And as you can see my fascination for SC4 is still lasting and it's really fun to develop Alba.
Q: So this is your first MD?
A: Yes :)
Q: What does "Alba ceann mu dheas" mean when translated to English?
A: The map I'm playing on it the southern part of Scotland. And I was looking for a name for my MD and so I looked if I could find a translation for "South of Scotland" in Gaelic. And so I was looking through different sites and found the following:
Alba = Scotland
Ceann mu Dheas = Southend
So the correct translation of "Alba Ceann mu Dheas" is "Scotland Southend".
Q: I'd wager it's a safe bet you like horses. Have you always liked them?
Yes, that bet is safe! I grew up with horses and I already had some in my life.
First one was Titus, a huge black Trakehnen breed horse with the temper of a lamb. He actually belonged to my uncle but he was nearly exactly as old as I was and I learned how to ride on his back.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2Fm2s6lb58fvsm.jpg&hash=25c0cc0f5d9af4577404e0f112b7e81b7cfad173) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16883066/titus03.jpg.html)
Then I had Lisa who was a chestnut heavy horse from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). She and her friend Fanny actually came from an agricultural production cooperatives as they were common in the GDR. Shortly after the "German Revolution" in 1989 these cooperatives had lots of machines and animals to sell which weren't needed anymore. So Fanny and Lisa moved to my uncles stable.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2Fkv5ydyqyayck.jpg&hash=b00c24c6af1934e5cac1b2b137eb82d72fa8f29e) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16883073/lisaundfanny01.jpg.html)
We had Lisa covered and so Ria was born. She was sort of the counterpart of her mother and both of them had the temper of lambs as well. Ria is still alive and she still lives close to my parent's house. As she is the best example for the word "patience", she used to "work" as a therapy horse for children who suffer from autism. I'm really looking forward to see her on Christmas. Ria has a son as well who belongs to my uncle in the meantime.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2F39p88lb2zhh6.jpg&hash=3496315c0c3cb5371ab60fb9c167d0bcf0250c54) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16883100/Hannes02.jpg.html)
I put a little monument for them on the premises of Drumlanrig Castle:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F09.02.12%2Fnh1kfw8hsu6a.jpg&hash=8f5be53413482599b4f7ff3a68c1de62a8cdeb20) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-12908412/DrumlanrigPark06.jpg.html)
_
And then there's Erbprinz who lives in a stable close to where I live now. He's quite a small black horse with a quiet temper although he is a little more spirited than the other ones.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F14.11.12%2Fs3yd18p1jjmf.jpg&hash=b314f37645d1938cb0976a4e3d6e3bcc3fca52d2) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16890642/2012-06-06-13.51.29kl.jpg.html)
I've ridden and driven much more horses but these were the ones which really accompanied my life for the time they were there.
Here's a picture taken during summer holidays on a chateau close to Berlin:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww10.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2F4b2j7iw9rghg.jpg&hash=69cd53523285b417f370d8e33c013905d427c749) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16884338/DSCN0300.jpg.html)
And this is me in the stables:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2Fjfmmnnrjqu7i.jpg&hash=45782406e14a2901df3a4c382c7c613672225824) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16883823/DSCN0273.jpg.html)
And as I'm introducing the most important animals in my life I must not forget "Mozart" my despotic gray cat! He would be really insulted if I didn't mention him together with the horse-characters. And he would be right as he has more personality as some human beings have. He dictates when I have to get up. The "morning ceremony" is about this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q
Here's Mozart guarding my laptop:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2Fbrda9v9fx7ck.jpg&hash=c96dee9a925c50b6de261b5d2f6305e4d65affb9) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16883820/DSCI0060.jpg.html)
And this is Mozart pretending to be the loveliest cat in the world:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7.pic-upload.de%2F13.11.12%2Fzwytrp94k9c.jpg&hash=41d9cdc9178fc8a16df8606cb3e1953ffc19de36) (http://www.pic-upload.de/view-16883935/DSCI0009.jpg.html)
Q: I'll never understand the fascination cats have with computers; but back to your MD, how long does an update usually take to prepare, barring interference from Mozart?
A: The time to prepare updates has increased since I started to create my own BATs. The places I show in "Alba" are real places. They are located about the place where I put them on the maps although they are not true to scale as the map of Scotland I use is far too small to build it realistically. So I try to focus on some spots of the places and I BAT buildings from real life to show them in the MD
A: Since this is based around real life, how do you choose and then go about re-creating the areas you focus on?
A: The choice of focuses is mostly quite spontaneous. I usually start with Google Maps to get an overview of the place. Then I search for things which are typical for the town, the village or the region and then I choose which focuses I'll set. The focuses are at least defined by my BATing skills. So I cannot create everything I want, yet ;) Then I search for information about the place to see if there's something to mention. Quite regularly I give a short introduction to the place which is usually based on the real story of that place. I cannot really say how long this kind of preparation lasts because I choose the spots I will show when I start a new part of my region. I use prints from Google Maps showing the "real Scotland" and going over those maps I try to find the most interesting parts of the map. I mark those places on the map in the game and take some notes what to show. Of course I take the freedom to add scenes like Newton Riding Center which are not real. Those scenes are sometimes planned and sometimes spontaneously set.
The time for this preparation depends on how much focuses a place offers, how much focuses I decide to show and how complex the focuses are by means of BATing and lotting. And of course it depends on how familiar I am with all the props that are necessary to show a scene.
To give a more particular time measurement: My update with Drumlanrig Castle (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=13817.msg413513;topicseen#msg413513) took about 2 weeks to prepare including the BAT and everything else. The recent update (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=13817.msg438124#msg438124) showing Newton Riding Center took about one week to prepare but that was due to the fact that I was on vacation and hardly did anything else =). Not included is the time I already spent with the basic horse- and coach-models. Other updates like Newton City center take about 3 days to prepare as most of the setting are growables and the plops that I added were already pre-fabricated. I just had to adjust them a little bit.
Q: Your terrain and flora, is it all a terrain mod, mayor mode flora plops, a combination of the two?
A: I use the Pyrenean(?) Terrain mod by orange_o and the MMP-trees by girafe. I usually start with an empty map with no trees on it. And I never used God-Mode-Trees since I started Alba. I have the Columbus-Tree-Mod installed but I never use it as the trees of girafe are much better (no wonder as they are more recent than the trees used in Columbus-Mod).
Q: How do you decide when something is "ready" or "done" whether it's an area in your city, or an update?
A: That actually depends. A part of a region is ready when all parts of it are built. A part of a map to show in an update is ready when everything I planned to show in the update is done. To reduce time between the "real" updates I sometimes show some little scenes from places which will not be part of an update such as larger forests. But even in these parts of the map there are sometimes scenes which are worth showing because they have some sort of atmosphere.
Q: Where do you derive your inspiration for the game?
A: I love Scotland. I traveled through this beautiful country 3 times and I still love the memories of all those places I have visited. So it's fun to me to show this lovely country. I'm not yet in the highlands with my little Alba so actually I show parts I didn't travel to at the moment. But later on I'll come to places I've actually visited like Loch Lomond, Loch Ness, Glasgow, Edinburgh ... I wonder what it will be like to show these places that I've actually seen. In addition I love horses and riding. So Alba has become an MD showing Scotland as a horse loving country. Actually I'm quite sure there will be some sort of focus on sheep later on when we reach the highlands =)
Q: Do you play the game as intended (following budgets and RCI demand)? Is it a sandbox for you? Do you use cheats? How?
A: As I use lots of growable lots I have to have an eye on RCI demand. But I do not care too much about the budget. I do use cheats to have the budget to do what I want. But I still try to keep some sort of balance and so I try to not have a deficit which is over $2000. Actually the map of Stranraer has a very good balance and even has a surplus of about $ 500. But that's due to the fact that most of the Landmark-Lots I use do not produce any costs ;)
Q: What thoughts do you have for people who are considering starting a Mayor's Diary?
A: Just do it!
I know that some people do not dare showing their MDs because they think they are not good enough compared with the others. Well, there's surely some really outstanding MDs such as AntigOne, Corsica, Rondnoir, Siilijoki, Winding River Project to mention just some.
But why should any other MD not become such an outstanding project? I think all MDs in all categories who are frequently commented by the community have one thing in common: They are unique. No matter if they show rural or urban areas or a mixture of both, they all show the effort that has been made to create the scenes on the pictures.
Q: If you had the chance to start it again, would you change anything? If so, what?
A: I'd start with a nearly empty plugins-folder and I'd just put in what I need for the map I actually play on =) I actually have a system now that allows me to just use the things I need but it was a real effort to tidy up that whole stuff :)
(threestooges): Thank you very much for your time for this interview, and very nice work with your Mayor's Diary, both in OSITM here and overall.
Another awesome interview Matt. Thank you for doing these.
And fantastic work on the answers rambuckel. I really enjoyed reading this.
Robin :thumbsup:
Great interview both of you! It's very interesting to learn more about you and your style Theresa. Mozart reminds me a bit of my cat, though I suspect yours is much younger. Unfortunately no horses here though :'(
And Matt you do just as well in writing as in video &apls
Great interview. Too bad you couldn't do skype, but this is a good alternative. Thanks both of you!
Cheers
Willy
Great interview series, in both formats. Great to hear more background about Rambuckel - Alba is one of my personal favorites.
Matt you are a real phenomenon in journalism and I admire that which you have undertaken. I watched your interview with Caspar in a breath and I was super interesting. I would ask you if you are able to conduct similar interviews with Alex Maarten. This will attract a large audience, and I think will lead to greater interest in the community.
Mozart is a well-traveled and sophisticated cat. Perhaps he would like to become an executive in the Bureau of Feline Affairs. We're always looking for a few good felines! :D
Interesting, actually I am interested in discussing my region. Just listening to these interviews really made me take stock of what I've done, how I've done things, why I've done things. Really cool.
That was a nice interview with Theresa. Thanks for that. I am an oldfashioned man in some respects and so I like the interview to be text and images that I can read in my own time and my own speed.
It's nice to know other community members a bit more than by their avatars.
These interviews really add to the community. &apls
Matt love your interviews man, great job again here!!!
Great interviews!
Robin (rooker1): I've enjoyed it, and I'm pleased to see people have been eager to participate in them too. It's been fun to get to know other folks in the community.
Noah (noahclem): The writing was mostly Theresa. All I had to do was sit back and ask the questions. My thanks to Theresa for providing the thoughtful answers.
Willy (Swordmaster): Audio is fun, but it's more time consuming. Also, some folks aren't as comfortable with it as they are in writing. While I'd like to do more of the audio ones, if writing is needed, then it's a fine alternative.
benedict: Glad to hear you've been enjoying. There will hopefully be many more to come.
ivo_su: Thank you for your kind words. I plan to conduct as many of these interviews as I can. Most of them involving folks in OSITM for the month, but we'll see what the future has in store.
packersfan: Well keep those thoughts in mind. I plan on doing plenty of these. I'm planning to try to keep them current with the month's OSITM, but who knows?
FrankU: Getting to know people by more than their avatars was part of why I wanted to start this series. Also glad to hear your thoughts on text versus audio. I'll likely have a preference of audio here (unless people get tired of hearing my jabber on, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it), but there will certainly be more text interviews in store.
Pat: Glad to hear it Pat. Your podcasts were part of the inspiration for starting these.
So, rather than respond to every comment, particularly those directed at Theresa, or our other interviewees, I've directed my replies to people who actually appeared to be addressing something that needed addressing. To all of you though, thank you for your comments. It's great to read them all.
Now then, my apologies to one member whose interview is still in the works. I had hoped to have it posted by now, but RL and the editing process have been conspiring to slow things down. It's still in the works, so keeps your eyes out. I'll post it here when it's done. However, I was able to get in touch with someone from this month's OSITM to interview as well too. With that, I bring you:
Holt District by sim_link:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1118.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk603%2FsimLinkSC4%2Fdarknessisrising18%2FHD_181_darknessisrising_zps48ceb526.jpg&hash=0f7c03f0bea78a34b161a554a9cebb320a9d0fa0)
Q (threestooges): What first drew your attention to the game?
A: (sim_link): I had been really occupied with The Sims (Classic) when SimCity 4 came out. In fact, I didn't even know it was in development. I still played SimCity 3000 time to time, so when I went to Future Shop (an electronics retailer in Canada) and saw it sitting on the shelf, I picked it up. I looked at the box at the shiny, new graphics compared to SC3K and was very impressed. I picked it up and bought it that day. That was in March 2003, so just after the game's release. When Rush Hour was released I picked that up as well. :)
Q:What got you to get into the SC4 fan community? What brought you to SC4D?
A: That came much later than purchasing the game. Although I bought the game in March '03 I didn't join my first SC4 fan community (which was Simtropolis) in May 2008. I was attracted to the community by some nifty tutorials on YouTube using the RHW. The second I saw it I registered at ST. I began using custom content slowly (beginning with just the NAM, RHW and 2 BATs: A Kmart and a Walmart. :P). As I began increasing my custom content usage, I began noticing the amount of dependencies exclusive to the LEX. I didn't register at first, but one day I found that one must have, which required a LEX dependency. So I registered here in January 2009. I posted a few times (about 10 or so posts) and I had only 30 or so on Simtropolis at the time. Increasingly I wanted to get more active here, and when I launched Holt District I saw the perfect opportunity to begin being an active part of the SC4D community. And here we are!
Q: What was it about SC4D that made you want to get more involved? Why didn't you do so earlier?
A: I think it was the level of content that's shown off here. All communities have great contributors, and I think the level that SC4D members showed was a little daunting, so I didn't get active very quickly. It also felt foreign to me - I don't know how to expand on that other than I felt more "at home" at ST in the beginning since it is where I first joined. Eventually I decided being daunted was silly, and that I may as well take a stab at being active here. I think what made me really want to be more active, however, was just simply expanding my horizons to multiple sites and not being active at only one. You see several members switch seamlessly between SC4D, ST and many smaller sites, so I figured why not me as well. I think it has worked out well, and I'm glad I decided to get active here.
Q: What made you want to start a Mayor's Diary? What made you end your first one and start Holt District?
A: Well, after years of using custom content and refining my building skills, I decided I wanted to show off my cities. I posted only a few pictures in the "Show Us Your..." threads which went un-noticed. Gaining inspiration from the original MDs I followed (Haljackey's Greater Terran Region and Patricius_Maximus' Franklin County, along with Jounrey's Across Canada by ST Admin beebs) I figured, "Hey, why not. Let's see where this goes." I didn't expect to last long, no more than a few weeks. Long story short, it went much longer. Windemere, my first MD, went through several format and name changes, eventually winning a Trixie much to my surprise. But by around March 2012 I was getting lost. I had worked myself into several corners and my building style was again evolving. I felt my MD was losing focus, so I started work on a new region. It took several tries and several maps to land Holt District. As work on Holt District ramped up, and I began defining what it was going to be (fun fact, it's original working name was "Holt Coast" and was to be one of three regions) work on Windemere suffered, so it went into a hiatus in May. Holt District, after a few delays, launched in July 2012. I was super excited to launch it - it was a new beginning and I had a more clear picture of where I wanted to go. Windemere does, however, continue to this day. Just in a much more limited fashion. :)
Q: What do you think contributed to the loss of focus of Windemere? What advice do you have for MDers out there to avoid that?
A: I think the major thing was starting before I was ready and a low expectation of myself. I didn't expect Windemere to lost more than a month, so I figured starting with a blank game-generate flat region with only 2 partially-developed city tiles wouldn't impact me. As success built, I continued to randomly build whatever came to mind, often times the cities being completely separate from one another, despite being in the same region. In an effort to fix this I launched Taschereau as I grew frustrated with Windemere, and the MD became Windemere & Taschereau. Under this concept the MD flourished and it was this incarnation where it won a trixie. But, the problem cropped up again. I showed Taschereau too early and it, too, became a disorganized mess. Eventually I grew increasingly frustrated, made little progress and activity in my updates waned. The waning of activity was also partially because of the development of Holt District.
To those looking to start an MD I suggest not rushing to get out the door. Take your time, develop your region, or develop your storyline. Develop a plan and have an idea of where you want to go, as if it will continue forever. My biggest problem was doubting my MD would last over a month which has in reality been going for 17 months. Plan ahead, and don't rush. Although at first everything moves along, it'll come back to bite you. Take HD as an example - compare it to Windemere (especially in March/April 2012, it's IMO low point) - it is miles ahead because of months of development.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1118.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk603%2FsimLinkSC4%2FHD_Update10%2FHD_102OldPort.jpg&hash=c278a020cb83e5f2c1abf61d61c1c7b9e3276089)
Q: What prompted you to use Twitter, external websites and keep the various statistics and data you keep?
A: I wanted to be different. A lot of the time MDs get lost in the pile. There are a lot of quality MDs in the entire community, so I wanted to differentiate in any way possible. I figured twitter would be the way to go. It'd do something no/few other MDs have done, and also allows me to provide quick snippets of information on the MD. Since Holt District is published in 5 spots across 4 sites the twitter feed makes it a lot easier to post something like "CTD, Update XY delayed for a day." It also allows me to post statement which may seem innocent enough, though most almost always have a deeper meaning.
It also allowed me to tease what Holt District was. The twitter feed launched ahead of the MD itself, so I could tease readers of my Windemere MD about the upcoming project. That was a lot of fun - I'm a big fan of teasers. $%Grinno$%
Q: Which sites does Holt District appear on?
A: Holt District is published on 4 sites. On Simtropolis in the CJ Forum and CJ section, here on SC4D (obviously :P) as well as a smaller site known as Simmania. I also publish it on my own forum, Simopsis. Simmania and Simopsis are both on the smaller scale, but are definitely fun. Though I may be biased since Simopsis is my site and I'm part of Simmania's site staff. :P
{editors note: links to sites provided:
Holt District on Simopsis:
http://www.simopsis.smfnew.com/index.php?topic=8.0
On Simmania:
http://simmania.darkbb.com/t426-holt-district
Simtropolis CJ Forum:
http://community.simtropolis.com/topic/50485-holt-district-a-sinister-evil/
ST CJ Section:
http://community.simtropolis.com/journal/3783-holt-district/
These links will take you outside SC4D. We have no control of what's out there, and may operate under different rules. You are responsible for your use of these links. Enjoy at your option.}
Q: What is the toughest thing about running a MD across multiple sites?
A: Well, the time it takes, obviously. I never want to leave one site in the dark, which sometimes leads to a long process for me. But probably more so trying to do something special for each version. I don't want each and every publication to be the exact same all the time, but for the most part things are constant. Each version gets a special extra when it hits a milestone (such as winning an award, hitting a replies market, etc.) or a special achievement, like the OSITM exclusives I've published. This is somewhat to encourage everyone to visit each version - each site Holt District is published on is unique. That and small things like BBCode - believe it or not there are differences between different forum software. Those can be a big pain to fix.
I've also been known to accidentally post the wrong replies to the wrong site. But when there are 5 versions to manage, these things happen. :P
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1118.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk603%2FsimLinkSC4%2FHD_Sherkston_126.jpg&hash=880d66fe9e694d56b7244a6636613b2def78c9e4)
Q: How long does an update usually take to prepare?
A: From taking photos being taken in the game to doing photo editing, writing the story lines, answering replies and posting it on all 5 publications, probably a good 2-3 hours. It's why compared to my first MD there are more mini-updates and teasers than large updated. RL has decided to give me less free time, so I do what I can. I'd rather fewer updates of better quality than several less-than-stellar updates.
Q: How in-depth do you plan your updates or gameplay? Is it preplanned, or do you make it up as you go?
A: Gameplay, as you may have noticed from the BoldNewHD plan I developed, is very much planned. While not every single building is placed in my mind, from the outset I had this idea of what Holt District would become. I knew from the onset it'd be a fast-growing region, that there would come a period where development is so rampant a plan would need to be developed, and that there would be new highways. The order these come up in isn't set it stone, though. Basically, I have a general idea of where I want to take Holt District, and what order stuff comes up depends on what I want to do in game. Sometimes I bend my gameplay to my storylines, but generally my storylines bend to my playing. I still like to play, so sometimes something that's already come up in an update gets pushed aside for a while as I do other things in the game.
Some storylines are spur-of-the moment, though that's generally just the random fun-facts that go with the pictures. The overall story-arch is planned in advance. I like to plan things, what can I say? :P
Q: What takes the most time to prepare?
A: Making the area I want to show off look like how I want. I can be very picky, and sometimes I'll demolish an area several times before it is done right. Although Holt District does follow a real flow in the sense that once a development occurs, it's there whether I like it down the line or now, but before you see it things change a lot. Fun fact about this: the current Sherkston city tile is the 6th incarnation. There were 5 versions of Sherkston before you ever saw it.
Answering replies also take a lot of time. I try to say something more than "Thanks!" Sometimes that is inevitable, but generally I make the effort to make a unique response. You took the time to read and respond, so the least I can do is a good reply. I will admit that replies sometimes do get delayed... but I do try to get to them!
Q: How do you decide when something is "ready" or "done" whether it's an area in your city, or an update?
A: If I'd want to look at it in an update, then it's done. If I wouldn't look at it, it isn't ready. Generally, my rule of thumb is "what's going to be developed in this area soon, should there be construction lots for it yet?" An area must also be fully developed - I'm not a huge fan (at least in HD) of showing empty zoning. If you see an empty zone in HD then I failed in the quality control department (which I'm known to do... I am human!)
Specifically for cities it is "Can I live with this for the rest of the MD's lifespan?" - once I show it (save for a tornado or natural disaster) that development is there to stay. If I saw "yes, I can live with that being there forever" then it's done. If it fails, it gets demolished and I start again. I'm not afraid to do that (just look at my answer to #7, 6th time is the charm, afterall. :D) As for updates, they generally get published when the area they will showcase is ready. Sometimes 20 photos will be taken and only 8 will make it into the update. It depends how the storyline falls and the images themselves. Those that pass get the text editing and sometimes the colour editing treatments and make there way into updates!
Q: To what degree does photo editing play into your presentation? What is the goal of it for you?
A: I'd say the content of the pictures themselves are more important to me, but photo editing helps me to enhance the photo. If, for example, it is a fall day in the update I like to play up the warm lighting, make it feel more like a fall day, give the sense of the colours of the leaves bouncing back at you. In my most recent "Darkness" series I edit the pictures to play down the colours and up-play darker colours to enhance the feeling of the story, which is really what my goal is. It is to enhance the photos slightly, while keeping the focus on content. Occasionally you may see me go overboard, but usually that is on purpose. Usually.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1118.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk603%2FsimLinkSC4%2FUpdate%25201%2520Holt%2520District%2FHDmanatee14.jpg&hash=7b008f0bb680df5e1a4e379b2a00eb29e9ddbad2)
Q: Where do you derive your inspiration for the game?
A: My inspiration for my cities comes from a number of places. Principally my newer developments are inspired by the Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario (Canada) in general, as well as areas of Montreal, Quebec and Calgary, Alberta. Vancouver, BC also comes to mind. Some developments, particularly planned communities that are/will appear, are inspired by the Tampa area of Florida. Sometimes if I'm in a rut I go to one of the above places and look at the sprawl areas and mid-town areas to get ideas to use in HD. Particularly suburban sprawl areas, given that is what the major developments are going on right now. The BoldNewHD plan will be a mix of these cities, some other MDs and just random ideas I've gotten in my head. I play around with these ideas, and if they stick then you'll get to see some of them! The majority of my inspiration is from RL, though. (But a special shout out to Haljackey and Patricius_Maximus, who have definitely provided inspiration along the way, and to many other MDers as well!)
Q: Do you play the game as intended (following budgets and RCI demand)? Is it a sandbox for you? Do you use cheats? How?
A: I'll admit to no, I don't play the game as intended. I throw the budger and RCI out the window to allow me to play as I want to. So, in essence, it does become a sandbox to me. I will admit to enjoying more so having the ideas I have for cities in my head coming to fruition than making sure my budget is balanced. As for cheats, I do use the Radical Ordinance Mod, possibly the industry quadrupler (I'm honestly not sure... not trying to hide anything, honest!) and a few other mods that are hidden in the dark depths of my dis-organized plug-ins folder. But SC4 is definitely more a sandbox than a game to me. I manipulate it to achieve what I want to get done.
Q: What do you do in Real Life?
A: Not going to go into too much detail here, but I'm currently a university student. That keeps me pretty busy - weekly work, midterms, finals, projects. But I'm studying something I enjoy which makes it a little easier to swallow. I also in spare time follow the NHL (let's just say I was going to boycott this season because of the lockout... but that didn't happen... GO HABS!) I also like to keep tabs on business news and have recently found web design to be an interesting little side-hobby.
Q: Do your storylines you have ever change after reading comments or is the story set in stone?
A: You bet! If something falls flat you can count on me on avoiding it in the future. This is cumulative across all 5 versions. So just because 1 site doesn't have any replies to an update doesn't mean it won't appear. But if I get comments saying "Well, gee, this wasn't so hot." I'll probably fine tune things. The people reading Holt District do indeed have an impact, so if you think you don't, you're wrong. If I ingnore them I'm pretty sure I would soon find myself talking to myself. :D
One thing that has been commented on is my skyscrapers in the middle of nowhere. Those have started to happen less frequently because people weren't huge fans. The ones under way stay, but new ones stay. The exception to this is if I know the skyscrapers will make sense in the longer run - then my stubbornness shows up. Sometimes the vision I have for an area doesn't quite get communicated. :P
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1118.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fk603%2FsimLinkSC4%2FHDupdate15%2FHD_MIDPORT158_zps35623468.jpg&hash=045f78ffc3e7047704d088b9c874bc279933b157)
Q: What thoughts do you have for people who are considering starting a Mayor's Diary?
A: Take the plunge! The community is very supportive. You may sometimes get that troll who doesn't like anything, but a lot of us are here to help, and interested in what you're seeing. I was one of those people who was skeptical - I thought I'd be MDing for a month, max. Now I've been MDing for over a year, almost a year and a half. If you're not sure it's a lot of fun or not, trust me, it is. I'm having a blast! And who knows? Maybe you'll be the next person doing an OSITM interview. ;)
Q: If you had the chance to start it again, would you change anything? If so, what?
A: Trees. I really should have treed the undeveloped portions of the region. I will admit, it looks funny out in undeveloped areas of Holt District. But I got antsy and said it wasn't needed. That's a major regret. Perhaps also doing a bit more of rural development. The transition from suburbs to rural areas is less than smooth, and seeing all the great rural scenery in MDs make me regret not doing it. Plus, who doesn't love watching nature get steamrolled for a new mega-stadium? :P Overall, though, especially compared to my first CJ I'm quite happy. I haven't given up yet, and I still have a lot of ideas.
Overall, though, I took my time. Holt District was developed from March to July 2012 - so it wasn't a super speedy skip-all-the-details sort of job.
Q: Will Holt District ever be done?
A: That's hard to say. Even once the entire region is developed I have a number of ideas. Urban renewal, redeveloping on a small scale, growing up, etc. are all plausible. I suppose the biggest threat to Holt District is RL and time. Without free time, it won't be possible to publish. But as for there being a specific "end" in planning, not that I can think of. I'm planning in the long term as if it won't end, even if there is the possibility it will. HD will just keep plugging away, growing and changing.
Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for everyone here sim_link, and congratulations on a successful month in OSITM.
A great interview on one of my favourite MDs yet! ;D Well done Matt! &apls
Another excellent interview, thanks to both Matt and sim_link!
Robin
Great interview guys! These are always so nice to read/view as you can learn more about "what makes a player tick" in this format than from dozens of updates. sim_link I really have to admire you for the energy to keep HD active in so many iterations simultaneously--and it's really cool that you make subtle differences between the different versions, particularly your OSITM stuff. My foray into multi-site MDing lasted all of one update (mainly because I, like you, didn't want to just do a copy-paste of the same thing in two places) and just getting the pictures, text, and replies for an update in one place is a chore that seems to drag on for hours for me :D
In addition to the insight on your work I think you've also given some nice advice to would-be MDers. I wish the best of luck to you and HD and thanks so much for putting these together Matt &apls
That was an interesting read. :)
Nice to know more about Sim_link and Holt District.
Another great interview on a great MD! Keep it up guys :)
Wow great city!!! :D
Matt, I can't wait to hear you interview yourself. :D
You never know Joan, I might just do it. I mean, I'm sure there are people out there who are having a hard time sleeping.
In all seriousness though, I do have a few on my burner that I've yet to post (my apologies to those of you, you know who you are) that I hope to finish up for this month.
-Matt
First I would like to apologize to those of you who still have interviews pending. They are coming, I assure you. Haven't forgotten about them, and here's one now.
I had the opportunity the other day to sit down with a collection of folks from the NORO Collective (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=15529.0). For those of you who haven't seen it yet, NORO is rapidly developing in the Collaborative Region Projects board here at SC4D. It's also spent the last month in OSITM, so if you haven't seen it yet, where've you been?
Joining me for this interview were: Robin (rooker1), Noah (noahclem), Willy (Swordmaster), Vester, and Maarten. For ease of reading, changes in topic are noted by a bolded name.
threestooges: and the lack of coffee has been remedied, so I'm ready when you all are.
Robin: Ask away Matt
threestooges: Well first let me say I'm pleased I've been able to get so many of you together in one place. NORO has become a remarkably international project.
Robin: Thank you Matt.
threestooges: I'll start off directing this question to you, Robin, but everyone feel free to chime in on any question as you'd like. What initially got you started thinking about the concept of NORO?
Maarten: I have to go in a few minutes, so some of my answers may be sent later ;)
Noahclem: timezones are a *****. **** that spinning globe :D
threestooges: By all means Maarten. Pleasure having you here.
Maarten: Good thing that Skype can sent these things later ;)
Swordmaster: shhhhhh! don't distract Robin. It's hard enough how it is for him.
threestooges: I would imagine he'd be used to this by now, what with the team he has so far.
Robin Rooker [laughing]: I'm trying to concentrate.
threestooges: We wish you the best of luck on that.
Vester: [laughing]
threestooges: So yeah, Robin, what initially inspired NORO in your mind?
Robin: No one has really fully accomplished this in the past before and I thought if I could get the right people together at the start the idea just might fly.
Noahclem: there's something deep down in all of us serious players that wants to share and cooperate. It's just not easy.
threestooges: And NORO, for those who haven't been to the threads yet, is what exactly?
Robin: An MD that is a cooperative playing style with a few rules. Lots of planning goes on in the background so we all know what is going on and which way we are going.
threestooges: It started out with just you and Noah (noahclem), but it seems to have expanded its membership rapidly. Was that intentional, or a happy accident?
Robin: For me, it was a happy accident. I had no idea that by this time we would have this many members already. Everyone that has joined so far, has for a specific speciality that they have.
threestooges: Such as?
Swordmaster: I'm reading back my conversation with Noah and apparently I suggested to add potential rail lines to his highway map. that's how I got involved.
Vester: Think I suggested some automata (what else?) for Noro.
Noahclem: Guglielmo (gugu3) is a wild card. not on any team or other serious endeavor. I suggested him because i thought i saw some real potential.
Robin: Metarvo for his expertise in Power grids. Joan as a prize for the contest she won.
Noahclem: I have to say I'm very happy with our team. Everyone there has an enormous amount of respect from me.
Maarten: Well, I just asked Noah and Robin to join by PM. I was up for another challenge to do something I never did before. And considering my previous works, Noah and Robin were happy to give me permission to join. I think Noah and Robin are the leaders of the project. They do have something in mind, a larger plan, but we may always contribute some of our ideas and suggestions. For me, I'm mostly the motorway infrastructure manager and I'm good at finishing those up with details. But I might do some other things in the future. I'd love to build parts of the cityscape.
Noahclem: It would be hard for me to categorize what I bring because I'm used to working on my own and doing everything, but when it comes down to it building highway and detail scenes are what I think I bring to the team, and maybe planning.
Swordmaster: yup. I bring everything else.:D No, really. I'm trying to push people to add more rails and make stuff bigger.
Noahclem: Willy pushes hard to keep things as realistic as possible, especially the things he's familiar with.
Swordmaster: I think we all do that actually. Dock size and railyard size are a pet peeve of mine, though.
Robin: In this case, it was more important to me that the members of the team bring their expertise but also try to do things they have never done before. As you may have already seen, I have tried to broaden my horizons. I have done very little in this MD so far having anything to do with dirty industrial. I have done a lot of scenic scenes and I think I'm doing fairly well now. I have also tried my hand at an exchange (interchange) as you can see in my last update.
threestooges: So has the overall plan for NORO, or Noroway as I've seen it called before, changed with all the new members? Have there been any growing pains changing it from a 2-man project into what it's becoming now?
Robin: There have been a few growing pains, but we have worked through them and will continue to do so as they come up. Learning how Google Drive works was a big one, and keeping track of all our plans is always fun.
Noahclem: Yes, the plan has definitely changed as we've added members. It's an organic process that can be both exciting and frightening.
Swordmaster: Calling Google Drive a growing pain is a gross understatement.
Robin: Well, I think we have it under control now.
Swordmaster: Insofar that is even possible.:D So far the planning has mostly entailed the highway network, and Noah has a pretty good idea about how he wants to layout things. We've all tried to change his mind but he's just plain inflexible... I mean, really smart.
Noahclem: Google Drive is abominable software. Not that I'm bitter.:D
threestooges: How have you been using Google Drive?
Noahclem: we share everything there, from ideas to quads.
Swordmaster: there's a Plugins folder that Robin built up and that we all sync to our machines, then a Regions folder with the quads in, and an additional Documentation folder with all sort of funny pictures in it.
threestooges: So the planning is collaborative, but primarily driven by a couple of folks?
Swordmaster: Mostly collaborative, but as always one person will have an idea about stuff, and then the others chime in. We do 95% of that over skype. We also recognize people's areas of expertise. I don't have a driver's license so what do I know about highways anyway? I've learnt a lot the past couple months.
Noahclem: Part of this project for me has been getting myself to loosen my grip of control of things--and RHW in particular is difficult.
Maarten: It's a challenge when you have not full control over your region. It does look a lot like my university projects, where people above you set the limitations. Again, this is something I never did before, but so far, the results I've seen are very pleasing. Especially the interchange at tile Fq, we posted a few days ago, has become gorgeous! So good management does achieve something good.
threestooges: The RHW was mentioned earlier, and I know I've seen some impressive interchange pictures floating around. Anyone who has seen Noah's MD (or watched his OSITM interview) has already seen his ability to create transit webs. Anyone who has seen Maarten's work with the NAM knows what he's capable of. How has it been working together?
Noahclem: Maarten's addition has made big waves. I think he's a more talented RHW worker than I am and the process of him displacing me as the region's highway expert has had beautiful and frightening results on my end of things.
Maarten: Pretty OK. Even better: NORO give me some inspiration to complete a few more RHW pieces which I think we might need later on in the project. A happy side-effect that all of these pieces will also be public when the new NAM gets released. For instance, the Smooth Curves for the RHW-6S, 8S and 10S were missing in all our opinions, because we like to have realistic smooth curves. So I decided to make them
Indeed, I may be very eager to start up actual development. Part of it is my over-enthusiastic character trait, but also I like to see results from what I plan. I did go wrong with that twice, so I hope in the future this won't happen again. So instead I'm making plans of what we could be doing so we can actually start realization soon on things we all agreed on.
Swordmaster: Maarten is most of all the kind of guy who's pushing us to do things rather than talk about them. Part of that is very good, but it's also had its challenges.
threestooges: Such as?
Swordmaster: Building an interchange in the wrong quad, for instance. I blame it on bad communication on our part and a bit of over-enthusiasm on his part. But that enthusiasm is also why we wanted him on the team, so it's a matter of finding the right balance and getting all noses pointing the same direction. After all, adding people who just sit and listen doesn't really do much in terms of improving the Noro project. We're all learning from each other, I think is the overarching theme here. It has also taught us how important planning is and communicating about it. If we want the region to be really top notch we can't forgo that.
[/b]threestooges[/b]: It certainly seems like the initiative of everyone involved has helped spur the project onward. One of the perks I have, being a global mod, is the ability to sneak in to areas of the board, such a planning boards for NORO. I've noticed that quite a bit of work has been done to make sure multiple people are indeed able to play the region simultaneously. How difficult has that been to get organized, what with ensuring adjacent quads aren't played at the same time, and all the nit-picky details that must go with it?
Swordmaster: We sort of got a double system for that. One is the NORO tool which Wouanagaine put together for us. It has a little map where you indicate the quad you work in, and you see which the other people are in. The other is a sign out thread where we notify folks about this checking in and out, or out and in, or whatever it is nowadays. After someone gives the quad back, he uploads it on the google drive and the others have it synced automatically. As for the nit-picky part, I think we have yet to see if we got that right or all messed up.
threestooges: So to what degree is the planning for a particular quad pinned down, and how much of it will be left to the individual player's tastes?
Swordmaster: Ultimately, I think everything is left to the player's tastes, since he can always suggest alterations to the plan. It's just that they need to be sensible, realistic, and fit into the Overall Grand Scheme of Awesomeness. For instance we try to keep certain standards in the highway design, like merging ramps, slopes, curve radius etc. The key is discussion, however. You can't just put the highway a mile further east for the heck of it.
Robin: Nothing is really pinned down. Changes can be made at anytime. I guess the only thing that is really planned is the transit networks. But everything is following a set of minor guidelines set up from the start.
threestooges: Willy mentioned putting a highway a mile further east "for the heck of it." How much of NORO is based in realism, and to what degree does "for the heck of it" come in to play, if at all?
Robin: We are not basing anything on real places but we are trying to make what we do as realistic as possible.
Maarten: Very much of it is based in realism. I started off with pretty unrealistic city layouts in Imaginia six years ago. But as the time went by, realism started to grow on me and it gave me an extra challenge. With Schellingen-Stadt, I planned out a region more realistically (with still a few quirks left). With NORO, I'm trying to get to the next level with realism. I actually never really worked with things like wide radius curves and FARHW on quite sloped terrain before NORO.
threestooges: How do you define "realistic" for purposes of NORO?
Swordmaster: I think finding the right balance between realism and creativity is one of the challenges of the game. Not letting one win out over the other. If it could exist in the real world, it's realistic; although that has its caveats of course. Most of the awesome things in RL are so crazy you can't think them up. One thing I mentioned was the scale of interchanges. Another was the scale of the docks in the port. When I build something of the kind I tend to look up similar places in the world and see how I can make the game look a bit less like a cartoon and more like that world, but that's just me.
Robin: That's all of us.
Swordmaster: Robin, didn't you just say "We are not basing anything on real places"?:P
Robin: Not place for place. But style and ideas off of real places.
Swordmaster: as you might have guessed I've personally been in favor of being more detailed on the historical side of things, how stuff developed.
threestooges: Touching on the urban planning side of things briefly, many cities have developed over time. Fewer have had the chance to start with a blank slate and build-to-suit. How has that affected the planning for NORO? Will NORO have the appearance of having been built over time?
Robin: Yes
threestooges: How are you achieving that while laying out a full transit network in advance?
Robin: The network is being laid out in advance to be sure we have exactly what we want so the city can be exactly how we want it as well. Problem with growing a city and expanding networks afterwards, is that you end up needing to destroy half the city. We are trying things a little backwards here maybe.....
Swordmaster: I've never really agreed with that policy. There you have it right away: tension and friction in the Noro team. How will it be solved? Who will win? And, especially, how many squirrels will perish in the conflict?
threestooges: So what's your thought on it Willy? *gently fans the flames*
Robin: [laughter]
Swordmaster: My thoughts are that urban renewal is a key part of the game, and I've never been afraid to tear down stuff to accommodate infrastructure works. I'm just not convinced by the reasons Robin gave not to give more thought to the historical part of development. Even so, I understand both Noah and Robin have a building style where they pretty much have an idea of how the end result should look. I have no problem with that in particular, although I have a rather different approach.
Robin: I like to build and move forwards.
Swordmaster: It's certainly one part where I'm on the receiving end of some education and instruction.
When it comes to roads, I'm a bit more like Tarkus: build a road, let stuff develop, and expand the road when traffic requires it. Noah approaches this by anticipating traffic, sometimes a bit wishfully, and build the infrastructure accordingly.
threestooges: Care to elaborate on the "wishfully?"
Robin: We have a basic plan where parts of the city is suppose to be crowded, needing high volume transit networks......now we just have to convince the game of our plan.
Swordmaster: Convincing the game of our plan: that's exactly what I meant. I mean that actually this approach can't go wrong, since we are omnipotent creators that can adjust traffic flows. If we want to build a big interchange, and it happens to be in the middle of nowhere, we can scrap the nowhere and make it a CBD or something; although this is obviously an exaggeration to make my point.
threestooges: How will you attempt to create that sense of "developed over time" and do you think there will be periods of renovation and expansion?
Swordmaster: I think if anything we'll get the sense that things were developed by different people, rather than over time. Aside from that, we're doing our best to create a transit map that doesn't look like it was put together by a bunch of geeks on their PCs. even if it was. I also think the details added to individual scenes may help a lot in this regard. you can make things look old just by adding and old rail spur with some rusty cars or something like that
threestooges: Knowing Robin's approach in Mind Scape, I may already know the answer to this, but it still bears asking. Will the region be an idealized concept of perfection, or will it have its flaws?
Swordmaster: Adding flaws may be the only reason I'm here. :D
Robin: A pretty city is not realistic.....at least not in my mind.
Maarten: It will have flaws. Part of realism is building things that are dirty, sub-standard, ugly (in a realism sense) and un-successful. It's part of life and it makes the cityscape interesting. If you've seen the CJ "Rust & Tenements" by TekindusT over at SimTroplis, you will see why ugliness can have its charms.
Swordmaster: For instance, Noah likes to have the ideal RHW interchange everywhere. I guess that's just his nature. I would prefer to have one or two highways where ramps just aren't up to standard, too many exits, sharp curves or whatever flaws you can think of.
threestooges: That was the answer I had expected, Robin.
Swordmaster: and sometimes I get the idea a very modern mass transit system is also on his mind. I'd love to have it a bit more dirty and clunky.
threestooges: On the topic of mass transit, my compliments to Arne for the automata he's created.
Vester: Thank you.
Swordmaster: Yeah, probably the awesomest part of NORO so far.
Robin: Agreed!
threestooges: How did you get involved in automata initially, Arne?
Vester: Think it was in the GLR thread where I asked if someone could place a Japanese skin onto a short train, developed for the GLR. No one stepped up, but they did point me to some posts by BigRedFish. Talking about doing a full circle: starting with requesting a Japanese skin and now doing them. I had a lot of helps from Jan / Swamper77.
threestooges: What was the biggest challenge in learning to work with automata? Is it something anyone can jump right in to?
Vester: Parts of it some can be something people do. It has been a slow and long learning process. Still learning things.
Swordmaster: I think making new skins is doable since it all boils down to photoshopping a texture. Not that making good ones is easy, but making new models certainly requires 3D modeling skills.
Vester: I use lot of routine from the engineering world
threestooges: What is the biggest hurdle to overcome?
Vester: On the textures is to open one's eyes, to see the world around you, how light and shadows plays on surfaces. One of my key point is how to place as much details into the textures instead of the model.
threestooges: So I know automata has been specifically designed for NORO. As a question for everyone, how much of what we will see there will be custom made specifically for NORO, and how much of it is straight out-of-the-box custom content from other people?
Robin: Not too sure how much of anything in NORO will be out of the box in the end.
Vester: I will always add logos etc. on stuff, so straight out of box it will not be.
Maarten: I might be making a specialized NORO signage set in the future, but for now, we use the LRM v5.1 USA Set and the Ontario Signage set, both of which are available on the STEX.
Swordmaster: We'll edit every single texture and add little NORO logos on them. Ha!
Vester: :D A big Noro logo done by trees. :P
threestooges: Now *that* I'd like to see. So what's the story with the recent influx of squirrels?
Vester: Maybe you noticed it is in the logo for one the railway companies?
Swordmaster: There's no mascot more fitting for NORO, and it's a Skype emoticon as well.
Robin: Sometimes things have a mind of their own and just come to life whether you like it or not. This just happens to be a very funny one.
Swordmaster: It's basically how we've all started to look the past couple months.
threestooges: A bit squirrely?
Vester: Yep.
Swordmaster: and we all love nuts. I only think Maarten's not a member [of the NUTs].
threestooges: I'll talk to Joan [Jmouse]. Maybe we can change that.
Swordmaster: I'm not sure. I think it'll be hard to get Maarten out of the Brony box.
Threestooges: So when did the squirrel first appear, and will we see it integrated into the cities of NORO?
Vester: (on the side note on automata modding you could link to this tutorial: http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=22.msg102#msg102 (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=22.msg102#msg102)
Swordmaster: Noah made it into a logo for Arne's automata. That was the first instance, I think, ever since it's been in our subconscious. I even think there's a squirrel shape in my port layout.
Vester: [laughter]
Swordmaster: Though I don't think anyone noticed yet.
Robin: (facepalm)
threestooges: So you've had your month in OSITM. What's coming next in the near future?
Robin: Once the transit layout is closer to complete, I think you will see us all in game building cities more.
threestooges: How much work is left on the transit network?
Robin: Another year or so. Kidding, it seems to be going faster and faster now a days. But if you ask Noah, it's not a race.
threestooges: What's the best way for someone who hasn't jumped in to reading up on NORO to get started/involved?
Robin: Start on page one and see if it's something that interests you. The MD we are trying to put out is supposed to be as interactive with our readers as we can possibly make it. We the members are basically taking turns doing updates as often as possible and taking the readers input into account for upcoming updates. As for becoming involved, that is a little more in depth. But sending us a PM with the reasons why you are interested and what you think you have to offer would be a great start.
We want NORO to be a realsitic as possible and the readers input is how we'll get there. Everyone's input is important and taken into account everytime.
Swordmaster: Not because we care about them, but we want to harvest their ideas and make our own game better. They can have a cookie later on; or was that not for publication Robin?
Robin: [laughter]
threestooges: Closing thoughts?
Swordmaster: Noro kicks ass.
Vester: Free all squirrels!!!
threestooges: Well said! On that note, thank you all for your time in this. It was fun getting to know the project better, as well as the people behind it.
Robin: Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to do this Matt. It's much appreciated!
threestooges: Thank you all, it was a pleasure to sit down with you all.
Great to know a bit more about the background of NORO.
Good work guys, and thank you Matt for doing these interviews.
Great work Matt &apls Thanks so much for taking care of this. Transforming our rambling, squirrel-ridden conversation into a lovely interview must have been a daunting task :D
Wow, that's how the conversation went? Just kidding......great work Matt!
I really appreciate all the hard work you do putting these interviews together.
Robin &apls
Great interview! It's always interesting to see the personality come out from the usernames. Good lord, the squirrels. I had to try my best not to break into a hysterical laugh at various points during this interview. :D You guys have something awesome going here, and it's apparent while you have your disagreements you also seem to have a hoot.
Thanks for publishing this threestooges! And for "fanning the flames" a bit in there, as you mentioned. :D
Thanks Matt! So, if I write this novel, can I send it your way to have it edited? $%Grinno$%
And if people think we had a funny conversation, you should see the usual. (Where's that squirrel smiley now?)
Cheers
Willy
Quote from: Swordmaster on June 02, 2013, 06:20:34 AM
And if people think we had a funny conversation, you should see the usual. (Where's that squirrel smiley now?)
Will this one do? (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allemoticons.com%2FAnimals%2Fsquirrel.gif&hash=b50c49ec15a27dfa86860d91b8efc31db6ae3709)
$%Grinno$%
What a great interview! I always love uncovering the real person behind the name they masquerade themselves as, it's always very intriguing. Once again, great job on the journalism. I look forward to reading more of these. :)