January 17, 2010- Stage 1.1 (Road Layout, Beach and Jungle Started!)

So yesterday + today were very productive in terms of CAW. I'll discuss today's updates as soon as I give you guys some handy links I found yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82j_YJ01Bac&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I30LHh4uOtw
http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/0/159515.page#1912980

And today I stumbled upon this:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/161478.page

Which prompted me to completely scrap Untitled World #1 and start over with a blank flat map due to the simple fact that I didn't want crappy mountains. And it was corrupted anyway, soo.. :P

So, today I worked on my *cough*second*cough* world called (temporarily) "Untitled World". I spent the first 30 minutes testing out terrain and trying to figure out which ones I want to use, and I downloaded some new terrains by Martine as well as HystericalParoxysm (scroll down). Some of them I liked, some of them were "okay", and the others I didn't like (didn't blend well together or with other terrains). So basically, I'm going to have to make my own sometime soon. After I was done experimenting with my terrain paints, I debated on which side I should start on. Should I go from the coastline and work back, or the mountains and work up? I basically flipped a coin and chose "coastline", although the entire time I was thinking "Man, I think I should have started with those mountains..."

So I spent about 2-3hrs working on the coastline, the waterfall, the roads, and where I wanted everything to be. I'm still not completely satisfied, but I'm going to try and work this out before scrapping everything again. I worked too hard on that waterfall. The little island by the coast of the beach was entirely an accident, and will remain inaccessible. In fact, I was going to get rid of it, but, I felt like it had potential. I laid down the roads, and I feel like they're kinda awkward. I still don't know where I want my town to end and begin, so I guess it would have been a good idea to start with the mountains after all, lol! Oh well, just another challenge. :)

And now for pictures (click on them to make them larger) :

View of unfinished neighborhood

View of unfinished roads (I love the seagulls interrupting the shot. :)

Close-up of unfinished beach and roads

Finished (but possibly unfinished) coastline

Close-up of island and cove

Close-up of island

Unfinished tropical jungle (accessible from beach)

Close-up of unfinished tropical jungle

And my favorite picture of them all, a close-up of my finished (yet subjective to change) waterfall. :)

So as you can see, there's still work to be done. Quite a bit, actually. Even after I finish the coastal area and the jungle area, I still have the city, farmland, slummy, and mountainous areas to do. But I must admit, this is going better than I expected, especially with the waterfall (although the hills still need sharpening in order to make them look more like mountains). I still have to get the hang of mixing terrains though...I spent 30 minutes on the mountain's terrain alone, and I pretty much gave up on the beach terrain. Blending two terrains (especially custom terrains) can have some strange effects sometimes...