In the past months I have filled in many building’s interiors, but some are just too massive to serve a purpose which would need w/e to even make floors. 2 of my 3 helpers have left and I don’t feel as happy as I did building the last Aastivan. The reason I don’t put cars in is not because I’m bad at it, it is because I think it makes the city look more dead, the lights and abandoned buildings give it the aesthetic I want. The lack of housing is because originally workers were supposed to come from LA (which is just north) on the railways. I don’t feel confident in building a city anymore, it was where I put my ideas down in game. The main reason is because I’ve stayed just a donator for more than 3 1/2 years and everyone else is getting to be higher ranks this is just too pressuring.
Finlay,
If i’m honest, I am unsure of why you have posted this on the forums when I feel most points would be better discussed in a private conversation - nevertheless let me address some of your concerns.
The review of your city (Aastivan) by all three staff members was a fair and accurate summation of the city in conjunction with the warp guidelines (Found here: Creative Warp Rules & Guidelines) - specifically guidelines 4 and 5. To be clear, the recommendations that staff make aren’t demands, they are improvements for your city that we require you to act upon should you desire warp status, something that isn’t compulsory for every PCB city but something that you choose to request.
I made quite clear in my review that I don’t require you to fill every building with interiors, just a lobby or something to block the windows suffices, giving the area a more completed look. Furthermore, staff members are more than happy to help you with world edit should you request it of us in order to help you achieve that warp threshold.
If it is your opinion that cars on the streets make your city look more dead then we are happy to accommodate that, but it isn’t an excuse to leave the streets empty and void of detail. If roads haven’t been be used on in ages they fall into disrepair, cracks form, the land is reclaimed by nature and the streets become filled with litter. Fixtures such as street lights, traffic lights and signs still remain in place though also in disrepair.
In regards to your rank, no one is, and ever will be, entitled to anything at PCB - whether that be a warp or promotion. Furthermore there is no pressure from anyone to progress up the ranks, the priority here is ensuring everyone has a good time. The rank of trusted is irrespective of how long you have been on the server, and is issued by staff when they feel you have a long standing record of being helpful and trustworthy on PCB - to not sugarcoat it, having been banned every year since you have joined will not help your case.
I understand your frustration, you are a loyal and dedicated player, you’ve put a colossal amount of work into Aastivan and the server in general. In my opinion the city is close to getting a warp, once you get over these final few hurdles.
Hope this helps shed some light on the situation.
~ Josh
Finlay, I like your city alot.
I think it definitely has a unique vibe and is charming. As someone who has done quite a bit of urban exploring in different parts of the US, I can see that you try to replicate what you do IRL and bring it into the game. Like I can tell you pay quite a bit of attention to detail on your industrial buildings and replicate things from real life that you see or maybe have taken pictures of.
I’d easily give your city a warp if you worked on a few minor things, because its there as far as detail, vibe, consistency, etc goes. The buildings don’t suddenly go from 3 blocks height to 10 blocks height like some other cities. The roads don’t suddenly snap to a fucking 45 degree angle most of the time like other cities. And your buildings use more than one material unlike other cities.
HERE IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO WORK ON/IMPROVE
The roads are very lacking, you need to add detail such as beating them up by using different material(s) here and there, having your roads one uniform block throughout doesn’t convince me that I’m in a grimy industrial area that used to be bustling.
Your roads don’t have street lighting, signs, traffic lights, etc. For instance, the lights don’t have to all be turned on, that’s highly unrealistic and something you probably said to yourself that kept you from doing them. If you were to come up with even just one street light design, its an easy 10 min or less job for a member of the staff team to help you out and paste them uniformly throughout the city randomly or however you want them. Just ask.
There are some terrain gaps, but nothing compared to other cities on the server. That could be something you improve on by simply sloping down from road edges to the natural terrain, but definitely not what I’m complaining about the most and its only a bonus thing you can improve on in my eyes because for the most part your city looks uniform as far as the landscaping.
I definitely plan on approving you for a warp if you fix/improve some of these issues, because other than those two issues your city is great in my eyes.
As far as you still being donator status after 3.5 years, Josh basically brought up everything I could say about that. Don’t post in incorrect channels in Discord, don’t be fucking weird all the time in public chat/Discord, don’t get banned every year. Sometimes what you think is funny comes off as downright annoying/weird to others. I’m not telling you not to be yourself because I think you’re funny as hell most of the time, but sometimes you can go too far.
-F