OpenGeofiction
So i am now just 2 days fresh to Open Geo Fiction. But, in that time I’ve begun developing a peice of the Harca peninsula considering it is so sparsely used. Thus i have begun to build the town of Pretoria. I haven’t really thought of a backstory. But, it was founded where it is due to Pretoria Lake, Pretoria Forest, and the Bay of Sand which allows for minor shipping industry to come and go from the Town’s small port. Also, Pretoria Shipbuilding has recently been added which I plan of having be a central part of the town. It’s a rather small Dockyard. But, with 2 reasonably sized Dry Docks it can make some large ships. But, mainly sticks to smaller ones. Also another corner stone of the town’s economy that I added recently is Yeworks Chemicals which produces a number of chemicals in alarming closeness to the Pretoria River, Riverside Park, and Ocean. (Mutated Crabs Anyone?) So I think I’ve done okay so far on the town. But, I’ll take suggestions for changes and additions.
Discussion
Comment from Thunderbird on 22 July 2017 at 03:22
Pretoria is the name of South Africa’s capital city. Please come up with original names as it is against the rules to use well-known names. Be original!
Comment from SamuelGeno on 22 July 2017 at 14:27
Well Thunderbird I actually didn’t know that. Thank you for informing me.
Comment from Myrcia on 22 July 2017 at 15:02
it looks okay, what brought you to OGF? I’m quite curious because I find that most new members cities look very, very similar and I wonder if it’s because you all have experiences of similar games or sims?
Comment from Thunderbird on 22 July 2017 at 16:23
No problem. Welcome, be sure to read the rules!
Happy mapping
-Thunderbird
Comment from SamuelGeno on 22 July 2017 at 17:02
Myrica… I actctually stumbled across it on a youtube channel while browsing YouTube…. but I do plays Gernes of games like Sim City, City Skylines, and Prison Architect to name a few.
Comment from Myrcia on 22 July 2017 at 17:42
which YouTube channel?
Comment from Fluffr_Nuttr on 22 July 2017 at 19:23
Was it this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBUWNNylAM&t=177s
Comment from SamuelGeno on 22 July 2017 at 21:06
Yes it was Fluf
Comment from swissmapping on 23 July 2017 at 09:13
hey there I just started and am still learning but I am forming a small city just north of your’s
Comment from dryerlint on 23 July 2017 at 17:46
@swissmapping
http://opengeofiction.net/#map=14/-25.2931/144.2168
Decent start. You’ve got a variety of way/area types there, with paths and a lake and primary, secondary, etc. roads. And you’ve got addresses on a bunch of buildings.
There’s a long way to go, though.
Your scale is way off, for one thing. This is a common issue. Take a look at the distance indicator in the lower left of the map. You will see that some of those roads are barely 10 feet (3 meters) apart from each other, and you’ve got a pair of houses less than 3 feet in length - that’s some pretty extreme high-density living right there! Even the hospital and police station are barely 10 feet across.
For such a (supposedly) small city, there’s a lot of big primary/trunk roads. And there’s a motorway leading straight into its center. If you’re going to have a big city with trains and hospitals and highways, you’re going to have to spread it out more than just ~100 meters wide.
The shapes could use more curves in general. Right now a lot of your roads are making very sharp and abrupt turns - you should smooth those out a bit. The motorway coming into town makes almost a 90-degree turn, for example. The lake and streams are also very “blocky” and pointy, which is very unrealistic. Most natural features will have nice smooth curves and edges. In contrast, the buildings, like the hospital for example, should have sharp corners! Most buildings will be simple rectangles or squares, with 90-degree corners. Use the “Square the corners of this area” tool to help you with this.
Check out the wiki guides: http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/OGF:Frequently_asked_questions#Getting_started http://wiki.opengeofiction.net/wiki/index.php/Portal:User_Help_and_Resources And maybe look at real-world OpenStreetMap cities, so you can see how to make your own creations look realistic.
The important thing is that you are editing in a blue (free collaboration) territory, so it doesn’t really matter if you make mistakes. Just try not to go overboard :)
I hope my post was helpful. Have fun, and good luck.