Character Development Thread--Discussion

Is the sun up or down in Mansion?

Note to self: Pick less edgy username next time.

Down, last I heard.

this place needs me here

Thanks

Note to self: Pick less edgy username next time.

Bringing this back up!

For lack of a better option on the new thread, I went ahead and drafted up a potential OP*

. I went with Character City (or Character Downtown,as I'm mentally calling it) since that idea got a lot of support. I decided to take a page from Dream's OP and described the setting in the first half of the post, and introduced my characters in the second half.

If this gets a decent amount of support, I'll work on a map and suchlike before starting the thread (though I intend on taking a page from Gault's/KC's/Tera's Archipelago idea and leaving some areas undefined for the purposes of exploration and whatnot).

On Mansion: Sorry about the slowness; I'm just unsure about what to post.

edited 6th Apr '13 3:16:17 AM by Yomegami

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Mostly, it actually looks pretty decent.

Bit more description here, perhaps?

It's good, good good. Though I was hoping for a more suburban setting, I can work with a bigger city (or whatever else), it's just not ideal for my intentions is all.

edited 7th Apr '13 2:16:11 AM by Ryuhza

this place needs me here

I'm fine with City.

You still out there, Gault, or just nothing to say?

Nous restons ici.

Will post tomorrow.

City looks alright, but does it have to take place at dusk/night? It's not a big deal, I just think daytime would be preferable.

Not entirely dead.

City looks great. No complaints here.

x6 Probably will add some more description there in the final. In fact, I think the introduction (that is, place description) could use a little more description as well, although I'm not quite sure how to go about that just yet.

Now that you bring it up...I think nighttime/constantly stormy is one of those setting aspects that shows up a lot in the CD Ts. The main reason I went for dusk in this case was admittedly because of a certain Nickelback song, but now that I think about it early morning would probably work just as well.

If no one else has further comments/alternate ideas (I know there were a few people who were drafting up ideas of their own), then I'll get to work on the second version of the OP/the map.

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Well we need to get something going and mansion has definitely slowed down so... you have my support.

edited 7th Apr '13 9:16:10 PM by Aqueos

Bet you didn't see that coming

I think we miss some of the point of being in a city center if most stores et.c have closed for the night. It feels like everyone will end up in a bar.

Daytime actually sounds like a good idea.

Now to think about which characters to bring.

OP draft Mk. II - added some more description to the introduction and the spot where my characters start off, and changed the time of day from evening to morning. It's the same link as before, so that link should also show the updated OP.

Very WIP Map◊

Notes about the map:

• Nothing on the map at the moment is set in stone; I'm open to better suggestions on anything on it.
• I'm thinking about making it look somewhat like a road map, but that's going to be a pain in the tush. Is this something that's necessary, or would a more simple map suffice?
• I'm a bit lost as to what to fill up the currently blank squares on the map with, and if they should get their own maps once what's in them has been decided. I know at least one of them is going to be a shopping area as the current OP suggests.
• The "Skyscraper of Doom" is one of those areas that's going to remain mostly blank until someone decides to go in there in-thread. I mostly threw it in there to facilitate a random plot idea I had, but if someone else has an idea for it/opposes its presence, then something can be worked out.
• The three squares in front of the Skyscraper of Doom are also skyscrapers (though nowhere near as opposing as the SoD is). I didn't intend for them to be part of the same complex as the SoD, but if it makes things more interesting and if the SoD makes it onto the final map, I'll think about it.

edited 8th Apr '13 4:05:34 PM by Yomegami

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How about adding a museum?

How about a restaurant?

I think some sort of educational facility would be good, like a school or an old, national scale library.

Where's the town centre, is it marked on this map? Also, I feel like there should be more tourist-y buildings, maybe put some kind of monument or gallery or something in one of the unfilled spots. And somewhere for people to arrive from, maybe? Like a big transportation depot of some kind that services all tech levels?

Otherwise - good map!

Not entirely dead.

Oh, and it would be good for there to be a way to quick transport around, like a bus deport, taxi station or a monorail. I think having a monorail zooming around would be pretty darn cool.

Or maybe a rather athletic character could jump the roofs. :P

...On a more serious note, I like how this sounds. How about making the Skyscraper of Doom similar to Empire State Porkey (or whatever it's called). Oh, and maybe make a rather seedy district too, maybe?

Also, I'm very sorry for not posting in a while, and the future for me looks very busy. I will try my best to keep on posting, but I need to pound out the details on how I'm going to do stuff from now on. To put a good idea on what I'm doing: I'm going to basically study the equivalent of 4 years of high school in 2 months, then I'm going to study for my GED and SAT tests, before applying for college. And I'm going to have to do this before the end of the year.

So. Yeah. Gonna be really busy.

edited 9th Apr '13 5:32:42 AM by Tehpillowstar

"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond

I probably should have rejoined Mansion by now, but I've been really sick since I came back from my trip. All I seem to do after school is sleep. So... yeah.

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

Had noting to do so I ended up making some kind of map. Thought it would be easier to place stuff in the city with numbered blocks.

To answer Blackfire's question: the entire thing is the town center (except for the parts labeled "outskirts"), since to my knowledge "Downtown" is just another way to say "town center" (or at least, that's what I've gathered from The Other Wiki).

To address some of the suggestions thus far:

• On a museum: This is one of those things that makes you realize just how bloody big cities are, considering a full-sized museum is almost a thread setting in and of itself. For that reason, I'm hesitant to add one since it would probably require yet another mini-map for it as well as an additional bout of world-building.
• On a restaurant: I'm planning on throwing a few restaurants into the shopping district.
• On a transportation system: That's actually an extremely good idea. I'll work one into the next version of the map. In addition to the expected buses, I'm also thinking of throwing in a subway system as well. I think we can pull this off without needing some sort of intradimensional portal thingy ala Resort and Cruise (since Mansion seems to be working just fine without one), but if we truly think we need it then I'll work on in somewhere.
• On an educational system: For the same reason as the musuem (and since technically University counted as one), I'm probably not going to add a school, but something like a public library is doable (if for no other reason than that we completely buggered up the portrayal of the college library in University).
• On a monument/other such historical site: That's what I'm intending on turning the park into.
• On other attractions: The problem here is that, like I mentioned for the museum, if we make them too in-depth we might as well just set the whole thread in one of them. Part of the reason I picked a stadium for one of them is because there's not a lot to say about a stadium other than that it's a bowl-shaped arena that sports events take place in and thus doesn't require an enormous amount of worldbuilding.
• On a Wretched Hive/other such district: Some part of me doubts there'd be a distinct area where something like this would exist downtown, but since I don't have the scale down just yet it's not completely unfeasible.

On the Skyscraper of Doom: I've given some more thought to this structure, and here's what I've come up for it thus far.

• First off, I've given it the less ominous and more realistic-sounding name of "Centerpoint Tower."
• Then I went and threw realism out the window by making the place a half-mile*
  2,640 ft, or ~0.8 km
  high.
• The lower floors of the building are occupied, since making the place completely abandoned despite the sheer size of it is kinda ridiculous. With what, I don't know. Presumably random businesses.
• At the halfway point of the building, there's an observation deck. The parts of the building above this observation deck are unoccupied and therefore remain blank until a character in-thread finds his/her/its way up there.
• With Centerpoint Tower being as ridiculously high as it is, I had the idea of arranging the buildings so that their ceilings "sloped" upwards towards Centerpoint's (in other words, the lowest buildings are sitting at the edges. As one gets closer to the center, the buildings get taller and taller until they hit Centerpoint Tower).

Additional comments and criticism on that (and the other things I've brought up) would be much appreciated. Considering the sheer size of the setting we're working with here (even if we're just limiting it to one part of a city rather than the whole thing), we'll going to have to take pains to ensure that it doesn't wind up becoming University taken Up To Eleven.

That map actually looks really good, though as discussion progresses the layout on that one might not fit as well.

edited 9th Apr '13 12:49:44 PM by Yomegami

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