The future of Almalexia

Aeven · Post by **Aeven** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 10:00 am

Hey Theo, I like what you thought up!

This kind of area, I think, would work well for busy place, perhaps middle-class. I could see a lot of ways to really make this come alive with detailing. The spaces between buildings feel nice: not too small and not too big.

Theo · Post by **Theo** » Sun Aug 07, 2011 11:03 am

Thank you, Aeven.
I would love to work on this further, but I do not have much time and there are more skilled modders. But I hope this file gave an idea of what a more urbane parts of Almalexia could look like.

Why · Post by **Why** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:43 pm

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t141/WhyAreWeFighting/scannen0001.jpg
Here's me trying to envision the city as one gigantic canton-esque structurething incorporating Nemon's acropolis and ramps et cetera. I don't think it really works out, but it was fun to try and draw something again, even though I have zero skill. The perspective is so off.

I'll try to contribute stuff that isn't useless soon.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:48 pm

I spent some time last night making the city appear less blocky and more organic and low key. My main ambition so far has been to create a sort of majestic feel to the metropolis, that's why the minas tirith-y rising levels has dominated my WIP screens so far. I know that some of you have voiced your concern regarding the towers that seem to dominate the landscape. Trust me, as I am progressing the ratio small vs giant will appear much more acceptable, I needed to do the big stuff to get my ideas evolving...

The next thing is to erase the square weird border, I am doing so by making natural borders instead of the boring walls, drawing the flora into the lower levels of the city itself. So far I am only one third through the initial layout of Almalexia. The most important parts are yet to be done and I will continue working on this stuff now.

Also, to repeat myself. Towers doesn't need to be guard towers. I can perfectly well create a brilliant interior for one of them to demonstrate this, although I'd rather spend my time outside.

Regarding the causeways, I currently have one facing NW and NE. My initial idea was to have two facing SW and SE as well, but I'm considering doing just a S facing one at what eventually will be the main gates of Mournhold. That is to be decided when I get around to this area. As of now I'm "stealing" final house setups from the southern part, placing them in my concept - since placing windows and doors are boring mehness.

Praedator · Post by **Praedator** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 5:56 pm

According the towers;

I made an int, the Alma Rula Palace, with the previously mentioned open hall with balconies and walkways as base for the large towers. So interesting stuff can be made with them, just not too many of them as it will be repetetive.

Concerning Almalexia:

to my idea the city has grown so far outward that it grows upto the slopes of the mountains, and is at nearly maximum size.

Quarters can be defined, but variation with for instance shops in residential ares, and houses between (on/under) shops should be there. Some areas can be city defences, other pious, but do not define it with a canton, wall, border or whatever.

I mean make it a living city, with opportunities everywhere, though I believe a grand market would be in place.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 8:47 pm

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/6447/morrowind20110815223633.jpg
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4748/morrowind20110815223648.jpg
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/4301/morrowind20110815223736.jpg
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9002/morrowind20110815223802.jpg
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/6747/morrowind20110815223833.jpg
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7162/morrowind20110815223856.jpg
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/4238/morrowind20110815224042.jpg

Stuff.

Why · Post by **Why** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:07 pm

Any chance you could upload a file for us to marvel at?

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:20 pm

Phile.

Why · Post by **Why** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:26 pm

I love you.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 9:28 pm

I know.

Terrifying Daedric Foe · Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:43 am

Get a room.

Nice pics. Is that just one part of the city, because that's the impression I get (I haven't looked the file).

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:13 am

That's barely a quarter of what I intend to complete during the next couple of months.

alex25 · Post by **alex25** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:12 pm

Great concept.

Just one thing seems somewhat off: the large ramps that go all the way to the top despite the fact that there is nothing important there. I'm sure something can be makeshifted out of the indoril platforms or the walls so that there are a few buildings there to justify the effort of building the ramps.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:00 pm

It's a WIP, alex. I have barely started. You noticed perhaps that most of MH is floating as well

?

The plan for the tops isn't settled yet, but I'm considering a gate structure of sorts.

Scamp · Post by **Scamp** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:45 pm

NYU Nemon strikes back aka EPIC BATTLE ALMALEXIA VS BAAN MALUR

Also wtf, TR_ex_ind_bridge_pil_01 + TR_ex_ind_pav_tower is epic makeshifting and thus pure win.

Adanorcil · Post by **Adanorcil** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:35 pm

On top of some of the things discussed on IRC, here's a list of things that I feel should be preserved/expanded in the new Almalexia in some form.

- Grand Ascendant's cloister, as a somewhat secluded area
- the Indoril councilhouse on an elevated area overlooking a part of the city
- the general style and feel of the late Sarethan quarter, with academies, grand cultural venues and embassies. Almalexia must have a Broadway and a Whitehall.
- a square that functions as the predominantly foreign quarter of the city (currently Sandil Plaza)
- a relatively large, squalorous, narrow and winding poverty-stricken quarter. Skooma dens, gambling holes and taverns here. Perhaps close the waterside, or even merging into it somewhat. Waterside/floating market area?

Post by **Haplo** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:20 am

How does everyone feel about the amount of towers in the WIP shots Nemon posted? Acceptable? Way too many? Still waiting to see some real towers? etc.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 1:25 pm

*tumbleweed*

I'm not aiming for the same amount of towerage on the south side of Almalexia btw. Ada's useful post Tuesday is something I'm looking into, since it gives specific points for me to work on. Some of the old concepts, static setups and neighborhoods was ok enough to keep.

Adanorcil · Post by **Adanorcil** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:52 pm

Haplo wrote:How does everyone feel about the amount of towers in the WIP shots Nemon posted? Acceptable? Way too many? Still waiting to see some real towers? etc.

Why and myself (others may disagree, but I'm willing to go into long discussion as to prove them wrong) are of the opinion that there are indeed significantly too many. We have relayed these concerns to Nemon via IRC, but I'll post them here for the purpose of discussion. What we're specifically concerned about is the following:

- A lot of towers may look somewhat impressive from afar in pictures, but from a game play point of view, they are rather dreadful. They do not look good at all from the ground level, are annoying to navigate and do not generally make for interesting interiors. In addition, we don't have far enough ideas to actually fill these huge interiors with, which will lead us to the same sort of annoying filler interiors (think 'Ordinator Storehouse') we have been trying to cut.

- They give the city a whole deal of symmetry that gives a very planned look, while the consensus is that Almalexia's ground plan should be very organic.

- The current concept leaves way too much open space unused between the towers. It is basically a forest of big towers, with entire soccer pitches in between.

- The single largest complaint about the old version of Almalexia was that it far too many gratuitous large buildings. Obviously, we do not want to repeat that.

Why and myself think a good standard would be to only keep some of the towers along the side of these ramps, whilst removing all the freestanding ones in the city itself. Even then, we should take care they aren't stupendously huge. We want to be able to do something with them. The areas in between the ramps should be heterogeneous urban areas.

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 8:57 pm

Based purely on the screenshots, I think the amount of towers is OK for an upper class/administrative area. I like the look and feel of them, they say metropolis. I can't really envision an Alma that is a flat, low pancake. The poor areas could/should use far, far fewer, perhaps substituting them with buildings stacked atop one another in the style of slums.

I'm going to repeat what I said earlier about multiple levels of habitation. Towers would be more interesting (and easier to build/navigate) if they aren't just one giant tower, but rather several interiors stacked atop each other and entered through doors on different levels.

Tyrion · Post by **Tyrion** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 9:35 pm

My main issue is that they look terrible. They're big, blank boxes. Not enough on the outside walls to break up the monotony. Almalexia should have a whimsical beauty to it, not look like a brutalist office complex. I would rather see a handful of interesting large large buildings than too many boring ones. These should be the temples/palaces/grand government buildings.

Tyrion · Post by **Tyrion** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 3:32 am

What ever happened to this?

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:46 am

I continued working on it, focusing more on smaller houses, alleys and moving stuff around. No new large structures or towers were added after the first wave of discussion.

Aeven · Post by **Aeven** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:48 pm

Hey Nemon, any chance we could see what you've made since the last file? If anything I'm interested to see what can be done with the set.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:27 pm

Here's the recent process. Untouched since September (!)... When I'm done with 5-2 this becomes top priority.

Aeven · Post by **Aeven** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:49 pm

Nemon, it's looking incredibly awesome! I trust you to make Almalexia the fairy tale fantasy city, in the Dunmeri way.

Post by **Haplo** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:48 pm

I would love to hear what you could come up with for an Indoril theme! I am a big fan of hammered dulcimers so it's unfortunate to me that they don't really make an appearance in Morrowind music yet.

Mwgek · Post by **Mwgek** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 10:19 pm

That would be a difficult instrument to model. But it would be nice to have something more in the indoril theme besides a drum and a gong. I like the sound that thing makes, already feels morrowindish.

Aeven · Post by **Aeven** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:14 pm

Here's a picture of a MH-style banner I designed for use as the city sigil. It's based on the Indoril logo Lutemoth made (we use a different one now)

Mwgek · Post by **Mwgek** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:33 pm

Looks cool, make sure it's big enough to fit those places on the Tr_ind_towers. That would be some grand entrance.

Aeven · Post by **Aeven** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:28 pm

I also have a version that fits in the towers!

I can make lots of MH-style banners as needed. I also have one with Almalexia shrine-style on it: maybe nice for the cathedral?

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 2:55 pm

Any retextures for the animated banners I've used a bit around Almalexia? It's always nice to have some movement.

Aeven · Post by **Aeven** » Mon Apr 16, 2012 3:00 pm

You mean the Vivec city styled ones? I could make animated MH-style banners for those I think.

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:41 pm

Recent update.

Mwgek · Post by **Mwgek** » Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:23 pm

1 word: Awesome!

Nemon · Post by **Nemon** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:57 am

Adding a gate will be the easiest solution.
Anyway, further exterior progress on Almalexia is on hold until Sacred East is out the door - so hopefully within a couple of weeks this thread becomes interesting again?

Andres Indoril · Post by **Andres Indoril** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:27 pm

Hasn't what Leon mentioned been the plan for at least half a decade anyway?

Post by **Haplo** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:59 pm

Andres Indoril wrote:Hasn't what Leon mentioned been the plan for at least half a decade anyway?

Yes