I wanted to get this done an posted before the Halloween madness begins. September was not a very task driven month. I guess the first thing I better do is explain that,
The day before Level 35 was revealed, I reached $1,000,000 once again, and having seen a little sneak peek at what to expect, thanks to SpAnser, I knew that It would be tough to resist at least some of the new buildings at their overinflated triple-price, with a cool million on hand. I did not want to blow my chance to get that escalator again, and so I went ahead and bought it, before I could let the new update tempt me.
I kind of regretted it, wondering if Patty and Selma would have been worth getting first. And then Level 35 hit, and looking at that almost $400,000 price tag for the main building made me instantly not regret my decision. Patty and Selma are way too expensive, and are going to have to wait until at least Level 36. And that is kind of a bummer, but then it seemed like a good time to finally place the wax museum, as the price simultaneously went below $150,000. As I said before, the wax museum goes just a bit west of the Duff Brewery.
Besides the Spinster Apartments there were 3 other buildings introduced in Level 35, that I won't be able to get. 2 of them are premium, and the last one is entirely dependent on me getting the apartments first. So while these extra buildings continue to accumulate, all I can do right now is locate them on the guide.
At first, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fit the Spinster Apartments where they should be. It's supposed to go just north of the school, and south of the Java Server, and if you've been following along with me, you know that whole area is already a bit of a cluster-fail. At first I thought I would have to put it directly across the street, from where it should be. That could potentially be a problem if any future updates included the Stonecutters lodge, the Republican Party HQ, or any of the stores in the Springfield Heights Promenade. Fortunately the apartments weren't as big as I thought. They can fit just perfectly, if I skootch Skinner's house over a bit. He didn't need that much room anyway. So that space is ready for when the apartments drop in price enough.
The DMV is located almost between the Post Office and the Public Library. What is actually supposed to be between those two building is the "Old Library." But since two libraries is a bit overkill, I'm banking on EA not giving us that. So instead I will fit the DMV right between them. I already moved some roads and parking spaces around to make room. I potentially have enough space above city hall now, if they ever get around to giving us the court house. If that happens, I hope they give us the "Court House", and not the "Superior Court," as there is just no way I will ever fit the latter.
Stu's Disco should fit nicely just south of the All Night Gym, and north west of the Duff Brewery. I'll simply need to purchase the land when I get around to it. The same goes for the pet shop, which is just one space east of the High School.
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Here is my escalator in all its useless glory. I positioned it, not only based on the Springfield Guide, but at the end of the episode, where, the escalator, the magnifying glass and the skyscraper appear. From the angle you see in the show, id say it was facing the opposite direction, that we normally see with our town map. I'm hoping that H.Q. Butterfat's Ice Cream Parlour returns, but if it does, it will probably end up hidden behind the giant magnifying glass, with the appearance of facing north. The magnifying glass will fit between the escalator and the police station. Next on the my long-term list though, is the popsicle stick skyscraper. And then of course we already have the knowlegeum and the sunsphere/revolving restaurant across the street. This is already starting to look like the wacky tourist trap part of town.
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After I had the escalator out of the way, and no prospects on advancing in the game for at least a level, I thought it was a good time to buy some low-priority land expansion, before I started saving up for the popsicle stick skyscraper. I particularly wanted to expand on my suburbs, and turn that ugly patch of land in the middle of my town into Veteran's Park.
This is Veteran's park, and as far as I know, it's only appearance in the show was in Season 6, at the beginning of the episode called "Bart's Girlfriend," which was actually Rev. Lovejoy's bad girl daughter. The episode starts out in Veteran's park with the usual kids playing cowboys and indians, until the church bells ring, and they run through tall grass to escape their parents. In the middle of the park was a statue of some guy on a horse. And since I didn't have that, I just used my spare Jedediah statue.
And this is Pressboard Estates, the definitive home of The Simpsons, the Flanders, The Van Houtens, and the Wiggums. (I also have the Muntz home here, because I don't know where else they'd go.) I am really happy with the look of this suburb, and based on the guide, I've filled up as much of this area with residential as I possibly can. All the rest of the houses on my map, can be considered excess. As new buildings get added, those houses will always be subject to moving. But these houses right here are staying, and all that will change is a decoration here and there.
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This last month was the month I finally got my lemon tree, and I am very happy for that. It was the third thing on my elusive item wish list, behind the Cemeteries and Santa's village. And with this tree I finally expanded one space north, to finally reach the most northern part of the map.
To celebrate, I watched the episode where they rescue the tree from Shelbyville, so that I could get the best look for the hill, where the tree stood. The only thing else on that hill was the occasional stump, when Grandpa needed something convenient to sit on, and the sign that showed he Shelbyville city limit. Unfortunately I don't have anything that might resemble a stump or a city limit sign, but no matter. What I particularly liked was that the grass on Shelbyville side was the same darker green that we see in the non usable areas in the game. This episode helps me to imagine that just north of our Springfield, is our darker green Shelbyville rivals.
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Last month I said I might have found a way to get money, to be able to afford donuts. That unfortunately did not turn out, and so my town is still without some essential premium buildings. One can still dream though, and thanks to the180 donuts I have, I can at least visualize where I want some of those buildings to go. This month I did some proper rearranging, in anticipation of being able to afford another boatload.
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That's pretty much it for the month of September. I only managed to get one signature done. I apologize to the people who are still waiting on me. September was kind of a write-off, given the state of the forums through most of it. I wasn't sure if I was even going to bother sticking around. I stayed, mostly because I didn't want to abandon all the work I've done on this thread. Now that the forums are slowly on the mend, I'll be getting to work on those sigs soon. Hopefully we will all have a much better time this Halloween. Thanks for following along!
Nice job! You've motivated me to do some rearranging to fix my placement of some buildings I'd placed kind of randomly from the past 5 level updates, as I'd been dreading rearranging the entire town piece by piece (something I've done once already).
But, with the DMV, Spinster Apts, etc all getting released, and now having all the land, I figured I'd begin the long, slow process. I'm about 20-25% done, having arranged everything in the southeast corner about how I want it. The real effort is coming for the northeast (especially Pressboard Estates with all the houses, fences, trees, shrubs), the midde portion (Town Square and all the surrounding buildings), and everything west of the river. Luckily Squidport can stay as it is, and Krustyland doesn't need any rearranging.
I've decided to space it out over the next month or so during the Halloween event to allow for any new buildings released during that so as to get it all done in one go.
...and after just seeing all the stuff coming in the Halloween update I'm glad I'm redesigning gradually. Tons of new buildings and decorations, as well as characters. Wow. Really hoping they give us new land soon, as once I collect or buy everything I'll be about maxed out, I think.
Nice job! You've motivated me to do some rearranging to fix my placement of some buildings I'd placed kind of randomly from the past 5 level updates, as I'd been dreading rearranging the entire town piece by piece (something I've done once already).
But, with the DMV, Spinster Apts, etc all getting released, and now having all the land, I figured I'd begin the long, slow process. I'm about 20-25% done, having arranged everything in the southeast corner about how I want it. The real effort is coming for the northeast (especially Pressboard Estates with all the houses, fences, trees, shrubs), the midde portion (Town Square and all the surrounding buildings), and everything west of the river. Luckily Squidport can stay as it is, and Krustyland doesn't need any rearranging.
I've decided to space it out over the next month or so during the Halloween event to allow for any new buildings released during that so as to get it all done in one go...
...and after just seeing all the stuff coming in the Halloween update I'm glad I'm redesigning gradually. Tons of new buildings and decorations, as well as characters. Wow. Really hoping they give us new land soon, as once I collect or buy everything I'll be about maxed out, I think.
Oh yeah. The new strip of land changes everything. I've spent enough time already redesigning. It's all I can do, as I wait for this stupid fortune teller to finish, and unlock everything else for Halloween. It's enough work, that I've already finished the first few paragraphs for next months update. It should go without saying that update is going to be ridiculously long.
I'm glad that this thread was able to get you motivated. I've been lurking your town quite a bit... Mostly pining for all the premium and limited time items you have. You certainly have a more balanced guide. Most of the extra items you have, I would have a ridiculous amount of time spent, trying to think where they deserve to go. I like how you've roadblocked the edges of your town. I may have to borrow that idea.
I've seen the zoomed birds eye view from the couch gag that you mentioned a month ago. I have it as piece of reference material as well. I haven't really used it for the zoomed out view of the whole town, as there were too many aspects that were different from the guide. But I have used a still from a few frames earlier, that is just a birds eye view of the block the Simpsons live on. I've tried to emulate that to the best of my ability, but its not easy to cram 5 or more houses in a row.
I wanted to get a nice panoramic of the town with all the Halloween atmosphere, but their is nothing panoramic friendly about this atmosphere. When there was speculation about night mode, I was thinking dark roads and grass, with some spookily illuminated buildings and characters. Instead we see scrolling dark splotches that darken everything, and they are not easy on the eyes. The fact that the dark mist moves so much, make it nearly impossible to clip screen caps of our towns together seamlessly. And then of course their is the darkened rim around the edges of the screen. It just kills any reasonable attempt at a panorama.
On top of that, all the trees that block the doors of houses, to make them look like they face the opposite direction are bare. I've got half my residential neighbourhood with backwards facing houses. So please bare in mind as I go through this awesome month, that this panorama view was doomed from the beginning. Hopefully the Christmas snow will mesh together better, and next year maybe EA will do the night time with panoramic consideration. But with that out of the way...
It was less than 12 hours after my last update was posted, when all of Springfield went nuts with Halloween fever. I had 180 donuts, 56, 000 Krustyland Tickets, and 1.57 million, which was the most cash I've ever had. This is my Halloween Story.
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First of all, right off the bat... New Land! Now I know this is great news for like 99 percent of us. I mean, even if you don't need it... why not have more? But for me it means something extra. It means I get to completely readjust my Springfield Guide map, to match up with the new land graph. Almost Everything in my town becomes newly aligned. I have to stretch my most eastern buildings farther east, and when all is said and done, I have a tiny amount more room.
Within the 24 hours of waiting for the fortune teller to finish, I had transitioned everything, starting with the prison, the Sir putt-a-lot, and the Gulp n' Blow to the east. The only things that weren't affected were the buildings hugging the mountains to the west. I didn't have an updated land value graph, so I squished it just enough to leave the one strip of land just on the outside. I was left with $1.1 million, after all the eastward land expansions. It took roughly $600, 000 to spread out my town by 1 strip.
It was tough to judge where some places in my town correlate with the guide, when there are no unpurchased spaces of land near them, to show me where the dividing lines between square spaces are. What really helped in those instances were the double wide roads going north and south. (It's about time those things came in handy, instead of taking up all my extra space.) Those roads were my constant. As you can see from this mini panorama, the most westerly double wide road stayed in place. The road going from Squidport to the Lemon tree, moved over 1 square unit, and the broken road between the Lugashes Gym and the Colloseum moved over 2 units. Everything else just kind of followed suit
I found a few places in between where I was able to give cramped spaces some breathing room.
The walls surrounding my custom Springfield University are now a bit more square, leaving room for a very nice looking educational building inside. Maybe one day we will actually get the University. Right now though, it's just a giant area for people to play hackey sack, and some dorms.
The house across the street from the Simpsons, that used to be George Bush Sr.'s house now has enough room to be big enough for a former president. There are a few more examples, but those are the only things I really thought worth mentioning.
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But with that out of the way, and the fortune teller built, Halloween was off to a pretty good start, and based on the Goo guide floating around the forum, I could tell that I was going to get all the new prizes, half way through the month. Looking at all the premium stuff, there were only 3 things that I wanted: The 2 Cemeteries and Boobarella. Unfortunately, I only had enough donuts for two. And given that I am mostly playing this game to build the town like the guide, I had no choice but to sacrifice Boobarella. It sucked, but when I thought about it, I only wanted to click on her to hear "Boo-oo-oo-oo-****!" And since she is not voiced, the appeal is not that strong.
Here are my cemeteries, the #1priority on my elusive items wish list, now replaced by Santa's Village. I was left with 37 donuts for that. Having these cemeteries feels like a big hole in my OCD has been filled, much like the glaring empty strip of land that it was placed on. I even have enough room in the back of the pet cemetery for the Ancient burial ground. I wasn't expecting anything like that to fit, but it's a cemetery of sorts, and so that is where it goes.
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Speaking of OCD, it is now time for a fun way to test mine. It's time for creatively repurposing Halloween buildings, so that I can somehow justify having them all year round. Lets start with the easiest, and something I'm particularly proud of.
This is the Springfield fairgrounds, an unspecific place with no particular roads or symbols on the far east side of the guide. It mostly revolves around the Freakshow Tent, a popsicle stick Disco Stu, and a peanut stand. The Freakshow tent is effectively repurposed.
On the left is the Gypsy Fortune Teller Shop, from the Season 13 Treehouse of Horror. It is said to be located in a neighbourhood called Ethnictown, which is non-existant on the guide. On the right you will see The Happy Gypsy, an apartment building in the neighbourhood known as Crackton, near Junkyville and Bumtown, in South Springfield, right above the location of Burns Casino. It is from the early episode, where Lisa has a crush on her substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom. That is where Mr Bergstrom was living.
Both buildings look pretty similar, and both have "Gypsy" in the title. They are from two different era's of the Simpsons, and only the right side is considered canon. They might as well be the same place. The only uncomfortable thing about it would be Ethnictown is what is also know as Crackton in canon. That could be perceived as pretty offensive to people living in ethnic neighbourhoods, but hey, the word "gypsy" can be considered offensive to some too. Blame the Simpsons writers. Not me. I'm just glad to finally expand down to the water in this part of town, because so far the seedy trashy neighbourhood with the adult film shops and general counter culture hasn't been explored at all yet.
The Gingerbread House naturally looks like an extension of Santa's village, and until I get Santa's village, this will occupy the space on the guide.
Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a single way to have my pumpkin house out after Halloween, without looking incredibly tacky. I thought maybe I could add it somehow to the fairgrounds, since fairs like to have pumpkin contests... It didn't work out. In terms of generating money, it doesn't really make much of a difference so after this update, the pumpkin house is going in storage.
The Ulltrahouse looks like some generic high-end house, that belongs in Springfield heights, so I just stuck it up north, that general area.
I already had enough room behind Burns Manor, that I wasn't planning to use for much more than trees. Having his Dracula coffin appear as an extension through the back of Burns Manor was a natural fit. I just spruced it up with some dead trees for spooky effect. When Halloween came, I got a free wailing wall, so I just plopped it in there as well.
The Victorian UFO was difficult to place. But Ultimately I thought it looked best on my Squidport, It looks like some kind of cruddy fair ride, but even more so, it looks like a nautical compass, so I made sure that it faces north. I will eventually put it out to sea more on its own boardwalk sections, where the compass on the guide is located.
Having the Church of Lard Lad makes me wonder if I will ever bother buying the actual Lard Lad Donuts. It certainly is the lowest priority on my to-buy list, once I can afford the premium stuff. Even if I have nothing else left to buy, I might just save my donuts anyways for future updates. I'm glad that it turned out to not just be a skin, but in the long run, I think having a different kind of Lard Lad cheapens the original. But in any case, the Lard Lad Church fills the spot nicely, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Plus, I even managed to fit it perfectly diagonal between the Bowl-a-rama and the Krusty Burger, just like on the Guide. Diagonal roads be damned.
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After 2 weeks, all my personal prizes won, all the extra land expansions, my main quest, and all my side quests completed, I had achieved 2 million in cash for my very first time. After buying the cemeteries, bringing my donut count down to 30, I had made my way back up to 75 donuts by continuing to haunt my neighbours. My main priority became to to find 25 more donuts before Halloween ended, so that I could get Boobarella. At the beginning, it had seemed hopeless, but I was getting 1 or 2 free donuts a day, on top of The spooktacular bonuses. I was getting those bonuses every day and a half. That's an average of 3.5 free donuts every day. It was Inconceivable.
I let my cash grow to 2.1 million so that I would be safe for the next donut bonus, and then I bought my Popsicle Stick Skyscraper. It was another huge milestone, that I was glad to make happen, I knew it would be quite awhile before I would be able to get the 3 million Magnifying glass, but this I was particularly proud of, for I had only reached the Escalator last month, and it had taken forever. Without spending cash on the Level 35 update, I was able reach 2 million in a flash.
And then suddenly... Bam! 30 free donuts in a weekly mystery box! Talk about a jackpot! This brought my total donut count up to 107. I was able to purchase my popsicle skyscraper and Boobarella in the same day. Somebody at EA must really like me, so to everyone at EA, I tip my hat. I had all my must-have premium items, with three weeks of free donuts left. My next goal was a bit superfluous because I've never been able to locate it on the guide... But it looks so cool. For 45 donuts, I had to try for the House of Evil.
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Level 36 dropped and the first thing I did was buy the Spinster Apartments, which dropped in price to $261,000. That was much more affordable. And thank goodness. Seeing Selma's ugly mug in my passbook for a month, reminding me to build it was getting on my nerves. I also bought the DMV, but hey that's all old news, so there you go.
This update gave us two new buildings: The Noiseland Video Arcade, and the Museum of Natural History. Both are located on the guide, in the congested area surrounding City hall, but fortunately I have enough space in both of their respective spots. Since the forum has been anticipating Noiseland for at least 2 months, I have anticipated that I might need to keep some room next to the Krusty Burger. The marked up $274,000 price is relatively affordable, so I don't see the need to wait until level 37 to buy it.
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Let's talk a bit about Squidport
A few days after level 36 dropped, an amazing glitch was discovered by SuperMario643000, that rivals all the other amazing things that we got this month: Extra boardwalk tiles, when neighbours click on your Squidport entrance. It's the greatest sensation that sweeping the forums, and it completely restores my faith in the forums ability to pull together and be helpful. This is a far cry from everything that happened in September.
Now I am collecting tiles 30-40 times faster than I normally would, and I have way more than I will ever need, this is as big as my Squidport is going to get. It's already way bigger than the Squidport on the guide. I don't see the need to space out the few building I have, any further down. But thats not to say I am done placing tiles... Oh no, definitely not.
Further east of the squidport on the guide, is an entire peninsula which includes the Springfield harbour, the lighthouse, The burns Casino, and a bunch of ghetto landmarks that fill up a neighbourhood called Junkyville. On the guide, they all appear to be land, but with the TSTO land overlay on top of it, it has to be on the water. I expect at least most of that stuff to be added to the game eventually, and I will be ready for it. Hopefully the Burns Casino will be another bridge to the shore, similar to the SP entrance.
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On the same day I started hitting the squidport tile jackpot, I had enough free donuts to buy the House of Evil. The only thing left to figure out was where to put it. It isn't on the guide, probably because Halloween episodes aren't considered canon, but In the Treehouse of horror III they have it wedged between an unseen purple building and a generic blue bakery. I did manage to find a generic bakery on the guide just one land expansion north of the All Night Gym. In the episode Homer's car comes in from the right, in a hurry to get bart a birthday present. So the shop could not be north or east from his house. The bakery location on the guide is a B-line south from the Simpson house, so it all seems to add up that this is where the House of Evil should fit.
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And that was my Halloween folks. Quite a lot to go through but man was it great. No signatures made this month. I'm sorry to supermario643000, and Epic Tapper who have been waiting for my help with that, but I just don't have the time that I used to. And this month in particular was swamped with ghost squishing. Here's hoping for a slow Novemeber.
Speaking of busy, I finally have enough money coming in soon, for me to purchase some donuts. If gill comes out with a sale after Halloween, I should in theory be ready for him, so If Christmas isn't in full swing by the end of November, I will at least be able to show off some premium buildings as seen in the trusty Springfield Guide. Thanks for following along!
I've been using that map for some time. However it just has not been possible for me to remain 100% true to it. Our land allotment just isn't big enough and we are missing tons of things that are on the map. I've decided to place the buildings in the closest place possible by breaking my SF into quarters. NW, NE, SW, SE. Also, esthetically speaking, some things do not make sense and look unpleasant if you stay true to that map.
For example, the Springfield Sign is directly North Center but, for me, it doesn't look good there. I placed it in the NW corner with the observatory to the left, this makes the observatory "look" like it's the highest point of the town.
The Volcano Lair isn't even in Springfield but it looks good paired with the big sign and observatory. Other things are also off the map, the tire fire is to the east. Here is my NW corner:
Once I have all the land for krustyland, I may try your tactic and follow the krustyland map
That reminds me, I did wedge the Kang ride very close to the entrance of Krustyland, in the same place a similar looking ride is placed on that map. I had to do a complete land expansion for everything east of it, but I didn't feel the look was different enough for me to do a panorama for it... Its just not a good month to do panoramas. But next time there are significant additions to Krustyland, I will update it. I've saved over 90,000 tickets, and I haven't felt the need to make an emergency cash exchange yet.
I've been using that map for some time. However it just has not been possible for me to remain 100% true to it. Our land allotment just isn't big enough and we are missing tons of things that are on the map. I've decided to place the buildings in the closest place possible by breaking my SF into quarters. NW, NE, SW, SE. Also, esthetically speaking, some things do not make sense and look unpleasant if you stay true to that map.
Yeah, I gave up on aesthetically pleasing a long time ago. There are definitely some empty spots on my town, that are kind of unsightly, but I leave them open, in hopes that EA will give me something to fill them with. And when they do... it feels pretty awesome.
For example, the Springfield Sign is directly North Center but, for me, it doesn't look good there. I placed it in the NW corner with the observatory to the left, this makes the observatory "look" like it's the highest point of the town.
The Volcano Lair isn't even in Springfield but it looks good paired with the big sign and observatory. Other things are also off the map, the tire fire is to the east. Here is my NW corner:
It is kind of a weird place to fit the sign, if you put it where the guide wants you to. I don't have it yet, but I plan to very soon. I'm thinking the look will really depend on how the surrounding area is decorated.
One thing that I would do, if I could afford a crashed spaceship, is tuck it semi-behind the sign. I figured out this month that Troy Mclures house looks very much like that spaceship.
And since Troy McClures house is right beside the sign on the guide, it would serve to make it look like his house finally fell off the side of the cliff, and explain the disappearance of Troy McClure all together. I figured that out this month, while trying to figure out what to do with the Victorian UFO. Hopefully I will get another shot at a crashed spaceship next Halloween.
It is kind of a weird place to fit the sign, if you put it where the guide wants you to. I don't have it yet, but I plan to very soon. I'm thinking the look will really depend on how the surrounding area is decorated.
One thing that I would do, if I could afford a crashed spaceship, is tuck it semi-behind the sign. I figured out this month that Troy Mclures house looks very much like that spaceship.
You better buy the ray gun now if you want crashed UFO's
All good ideas. But if you had as much stuff as I do, there isn't enough land to leave vast expanses of it vacant.
I store considerable amounts of stuff too...
Frankly, we need more land - I know, we just got some and yes, I bought it but... More! Then I'll have to redo my landing area. Again.
Once I have all the land for krustyland, I may try your tactic and follow the krustyland map
That reminds me, I did wedge the Kang ride very close to the entrance of Krustyland, in the same place a similar looking ride is placed on that map. I had to do a complete land expansion for everything east of it, but I didn't feel the look was different enough for me to do a panorama for it... Its just not a good month to do panoramas. But next time there are significant additions to Krustyland, I will update it. I've saved over 90,000 tickets, and I haven't felt the need to make an emergency cash exchange yet.
Yeah that ride is in fact kang n kodos twirl n hurl actually. I was also hoping for some kinda new content for krustyland in the near future, there are lots of rides on the map that we don't have.
Honestly this is Great! I was really going to delete you one day because I thought "this guy never works on his town". :roll: I always wondered why you bought some land or not but after looking at this every time I go to your town I try to look for the new additions. Plus the read helps because it explains why you did what you did It is actually quite swell because I have seen a few people to try it but either never completed, scrapped the idea or it just didn't come out right. But I have too say yours is really shaping up. I was thinking of doing something like that when I first started playing during Valentines but it looked too time consuming and didn't have time and I had another map to work with so I scrapped it as well. But the map you have is excellent plus the way you added the plots of land so you knew where everything was going was brilliant and the closest you'll probably come to the real " Simpsons town". I know it's hard to keep up with everything on the show the way it is because it is forever changing but your SET with what you got.
Great work and keep it up. Looking forward to continue checking in. :thumbup:
Bravewall - read through this thread as I'm trying to build my Springfield true-to-form as well.
Had to say cheers and kudos - your insight is pretty awesome. Added you in-game so I can follow your progress up close ... I myself am a long way away. Just reached L37. Don't even have half the map yet.
Thanks for all the excellent screenshots and updates. Keep up the great work!
Replies
I wanted to get this done an posted before the Halloween madness begins. September was not a very task driven month. I guess the first thing I better do is explain that,
The day before Level 35 was revealed, I reached $1,000,000 once again, and having seen a little sneak peek at what to expect, thanks to SpAnser, I knew that It would be tough to resist at least some of the new buildings at their overinflated triple-price, with a cool million on hand. I did not want to blow my chance to get that escalator again, and so I went ahead and bought it, before I could let the new update tempt me.
I kind of regretted it, wondering if Patty and Selma would have been worth getting first. And then Level 35 hit, and looking at that almost $400,000 price tag for the main building made me instantly not regret my decision. Patty and Selma are way too expensive, and are going to have to wait until at least Level 36. And that is kind of a bummer, but then it seemed like a good time to finally place the wax museum, as the price simultaneously went below $150,000. As I said before, the wax museum goes just a bit west of the Duff Brewery.
Besides the Spinster Apartments there were 3 other buildings introduced in Level 35, that I won't be able to get. 2 of them are premium, and the last one is entirely dependent on me getting the apartments first. So while these extra buildings continue to accumulate, all I can do right now is locate them on the guide.
At first, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to fit the Spinster Apartments where they should be. It's supposed to go just north of the school, and south of the Java Server, and if you've been following along with me, you know that whole area is already a bit of a cluster-fail. At first I thought I would have to put it directly across the street, from where it should be. That could potentially be a problem if any future updates included the Stonecutters lodge, the Republican Party HQ, or any of the stores in the Springfield Heights Promenade. Fortunately the apartments weren't as big as I thought. They can fit just perfectly, if I skootch Skinner's house over a bit. He didn't need that much room anyway. So that space is ready for when the apartments drop in price enough.
The DMV is located almost between the Post Office and the Public Library. What is actually supposed to be between those two building is the "Old Library." But since two libraries is a bit overkill, I'm banking on EA not giving us that. So instead I will fit the DMV right between them. I already moved some roads and parking spaces around to make room. I potentially have enough space above city hall now, if they ever get around to giving us the court house. If that happens, I hope they give us the "Court House", and not the "Superior Court," as there is just no way I will ever fit the latter.
Stu's Disco should fit nicely just south of the All Night Gym, and north west of the Duff Brewery. I'll simply need to purchase the land when I get around to it. The same goes for the pet shop, which is just one space east of the High School.
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Here is my escalator in all its useless glory. I positioned it, not only based on the Springfield Guide, but at the end of the episode, where, the escalator, the magnifying glass and the skyscraper appear. From the angle you see in the show, id say it was facing the opposite direction, that we normally see with our town map. I'm hoping that H.Q. Butterfat's Ice Cream Parlour returns, but if it does, it will probably end up hidden behind the giant magnifying glass, with the appearance of facing north. The magnifying glass will fit between the escalator and the police station. Next on the my long-term list though, is the popsicle stick skyscraper. And then of course we already have the knowlegeum and the sunsphere/revolving restaurant across the street. This is already starting to look like the wacky tourist trap part of town.
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After I had the escalator out of the way, and no prospects on advancing in the game for at least a level, I thought it was a good time to buy some low-priority land expansion, before I started saving up for the popsicle stick skyscraper. I particularly wanted to expand on my suburbs, and turn that ugly patch of land in the middle of my town into Veteran's Park.
This is Veteran's park, and as far as I know, it's only appearance in the show was in Season 6, at the beginning of the episode called "Bart's Girlfriend," which was actually Rev. Lovejoy's bad girl daughter. The episode starts out in Veteran's park with the usual kids playing cowboys and indians, until the church bells ring, and they run through tall grass to escape their parents. In the middle of the park was a statue of some guy on a horse. And since I didn't have that, I just used my spare Jedediah statue.
And this is Pressboard Estates, the definitive home of The Simpsons, the Flanders, The Van Houtens, and the Wiggums. (I also have the Muntz home here, because I don't know where else they'd go.) I am really happy with the look of this suburb, and based on the guide, I've filled up as much of this area with residential as I possibly can. All the rest of the houses on my map, can be considered excess. As new buildings get added, those houses will always be subject to moving. But these houses right here are staying, and all that will change is a decoration here and there.
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This last month was the month I finally got my lemon tree, and I am very happy for that. It was the third thing on my elusive item wish list, behind the Cemeteries and Santa's village. And with this tree I finally expanded one space north, to finally reach the most northern part of the map.
To celebrate, I watched the episode where they rescue the tree from Shelbyville, so that I could get the best look for the hill, where the tree stood. The only thing else on that hill was the occasional stump, when Grandpa needed something convenient to sit on, and the sign that showed he Shelbyville city limit. Unfortunately I don't have anything that might resemble a stump or a city limit sign, but no matter. What I particularly liked was that the grass on Shelbyville side was the same darker green that we see in the non usable areas in the game. This episode helps me to imagine that just north of our Springfield, is our darker green Shelbyville rivals.
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Last month I said I might have found a way to get money, to be able to afford donuts. That unfortunately did not turn out, and so my town is still without some essential premium buildings. One can still dream though, and thanks to the180 donuts I have, I can at least visualize where I want some of those buildings to go. This month I did some proper rearranging, in anticipation of being able to afford another boatload.
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That's pretty much it for the month of September. I only managed to get one signature done. I apologize to the people who are still waiting on me. September was kind of a write-off, given the state of the forums through most of it. I wasn't sure if I was even going to bother sticking around. I stayed, mostly because I didn't want to abandon all the work I've done on this thread. Now that the forums are slowly on the mend, I'll be getting to work on those sigs soon. Hopefully we will all have a much better time this Halloween. Thanks for following along!
But, with the DMV, Spinster Apts, etc all getting released, and now having all the land, I figured I'd begin the long, slow process. I'm about 20-25% done, having arranged everything in the southeast corner about how I want it. The real effort is coming for the northeast (especially Pressboard Estates with all the houses, fences, trees, shrubs), the midde portion (Town Square and all the surrounding buildings), and everything west of the river. Luckily Squidport can stay as it is, and Krustyland doesn't need any rearranging.
I've decided to space it out over the next month or so during the Halloween event to allow for any new buildings released during that so as to get it all done in one go.
I'm glad that this thread was able to get you motivated. I've been lurking your town quite a bit... Mostly pining for all the premium and limited time items you have. You certainly have a more balanced guide. Most of the extra items you have, I would have a ridiculous amount of time spent, trying to think where they deserve to go. I like how you've roadblocked the edges of your town. I may have to borrow that idea.
I've seen the zoomed birds eye view from the couch gag that you mentioned a month ago. I have it as piece of reference material as well. I haven't really used it for the zoomed out view of the whole town, as there were too many aspects that were different from the guide. But I have used a still from a few frames earlier, that is just a birds eye view of the block the Simpsons live on. I've tried to emulate that to the best of my ability, but its not easy to cram 5 or more houses in a row.
I wanted to get a nice panoramic of the town with all the Halloween atmosphere, but their is nothing panoramic friendly about this atmosphere. When there was speculation about night mode, I was thinking dark roads and grass, with some spookily illuminated buildings and characters. Instead we see scrolling dark splotches that darken everything, and they are not easy on the eyes. The fact that the dark mist moves so much, make it nearly impossible to clip screen caps of our towns together seamlessly. And then of course their is the darkened rim around the edges of the screen. It just kills any reasonable attempt at a panorama.
On top of that, all the trees that block the doors of houses, to make them look like they face the opposite direction are bare. I've got half my residential neighbourhood with backwards facing houses. So please bare in mind as I go through this awesome month, that this panorama view was doomed from the beginning. Hopefully the Christmas snow will mesh together better, and next year maybe EA will do the night time with panoramic consideration. But with that out of the way...
It was less than 12 hours after my last update was posted, when all of Springfield went nuts with Halloween fever. I had 180 donuts, 56, 000 Krustyland Tickets, and 1.57 million, which was the most cash I've ever had. This is my Halloween Story.
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First of all, right off the bat... New Land! Now I know this is great news for like 99 percent of us. I mean, even if you don't need it... why not have more? But for me it means something extra. It means I get to completely readjust my Springfield Guide map, to match up with the new land graph. Almost Everything in my town becomes newly aligned. I have to stretch my most eastern buildings farther east, and when all is said and done, I have a tiny amount more room.
Within the 24 hours of waiting for the fortune teller to finish, I had transitioned everything, starting with the prison, the Sir putt-a-lot, and the Gulp n' Blow to the east. The only things that weren't affected were the buildings hugging the mountains to the west. I didn't have an updated land value graph, so I squished it just enough to leave the one strip of land just on the outside. I was left with $1.1 million, after all the eastward land expansions. It took roughly $600, 000 to spread out my town by 1 strip.
It was tough to judge where some places in my town correlate with the guide, when there are no unpurchased spaces of land near them, to show me where the dividing lines between square spaces are. What really helped in those instances were the double wide roads going north and south. (It's about time those things came in handy, instead of taking up all my extra space.) Those roads were my constant. As you can see from this mini panorama, the most westerly double wide road stayed in place. The road going from Squidport to the Lemon tree, moved over 1 square unit, and the broken road between the Lugashes Gym and the Colloseum moved over 2 units. Everything else just kind of followed suit
I found a few places in between where I was able to give cramped spaces some breathing room.
The walls surrounding my custom Springfield University are now a bit more square, leaving room for a very nice looking educational building inside. Maybe one day we will actually get the University. Right now though, it's just a giant area for people to play hackey sack, and some dorms.
The house across the street from the Simpsons, that used to be George Bush Sr.'s house now has enough room to be big enough for a former president. There are a few more examples, but those are the only things I really thought worth mentioning.
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But with that out of the way, and the fortune teller built, Halloween was off to a pretty good start, and based on the Goo guide floating around the forum, I could tell that I was going to get all the new prizes, half way through the month. Looking at all the premium stuff, there were only 3 things that I wanted: The 2 Cemeteries and Boobarella. Unfortunately, I only had enough donuts for two. And given that I am mostly playing this game to build the town like the guide, I had no choice but to sacrifice Boobarella. It sucked, but when I thought about it, I only wanted to click on her to hear "Boo-oo-oo-oo-****!" And since she is not voiced, the appeal is not that strong.
Here are my cemeteries, the #1priority on my elusive items wish list, now replaced by Santa's Village. I was left with 37 donuts for that. Having these cemeteries feels like a big hole in my OCD has been filled, much like the glaring empty strip of land that it was placed on. I even have enough room in the back of the pet cemetery for the Ancient burial ground. I wasn't expecting anything like that to fit, but it's a cemetery of sorts, and so that is where it goes.
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Speaking of OCD, it is now time for a fun way to test mine. It's time for creatively repurposing Halloween buildings, so that I can somehow justify having them all year round. Lets start with the easiest, and something I'm particularly proud of.
This is the Springfield fairgrounds, an unspecific place with no particular roads or symbols on the far east side of the guide. It mostly revolves around the Freakshow Tent, a popsicle stick Disco Stu, and a peanut stand. The Freakshow tent is effectively repurposed.
On the left is the Gypsy Fortune Teller Shop, from the Season 13 Treehouse of Horror. It is said to be located in a neighbourhood called Ethnictown, which is non-existant on the guide. On the right you will see The Happy Gypsy, an apartment building in the neighbourhood known as Crackton, near Junkyville and Bumtown, in South Springfield, right above the location of Burns Casino. It is from the early episode, where Lisa has a crush on her substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom. That is where Mr Bergstrom was living.
Both buildings look pretty similar, and both have "Gypsy" in the title. They are from two different era's of the Simpsons, and only the right side is considered canon. They might as well be the same place. The only uncomfortable thing about it would be Ethnictown is what is also know as Crackton in canon. That could be perceived as pretty offensive to people living in ethnic neighbourhoods, but hey, the word "gypsy" can be considered offensive to some too. Blame the Simpsons writers. Not me. I'm just glad to finally expand down to the water in this part of town, because so far the seedy trashy neighbourhood with the adult film shops and general counter culture hasn't been explored at all yet.
The Gingerbread House naturally looks like an extension of Santa's village, and until I get Santa's village, this will occupy the space on the guide.
Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a single way to have my pumpkin house out after Halloween, without looking incredibly tacky. I thought maybe I could add it somehow to the fairgrounds, since fairs like to have pumpkin contests... It didn't work out. In terms of generating money, it doesn't really make much of a difference so after this update, the pumpkin house is going in storage.
The Ulltrahouse looks like some generic high-end house, that belongs in Springfield heights, so I just stuck it up north, that general area.
I already had enough room behind Burns Manor, that I wasn't planning to use for much more than trees. Having his Dracula coffin appear as an extension through the back of Burns Manor was a natural fit. I just spruced it up with some dead trees for spooky effect. When Halloween came, I got a free wailing wall, so I just plopped it in there as well.
The Victorian UFO was difficult to place. But Ultimately I thought it looked best on my Squidport, It looks like some kind of cruddy fair ride, but even more so, it looks like a nautical compass, so I made sure that it faces north. I will eventually put it out to sea more on its own boardwalk sections, where the compass on the guide is located.
Having the Church of Lard Lad makes me wonder if I will ever bother buying the actual Lard Lad Donuts. It certainly is the lowest priority on my to-buy list, once I can afford the premium stuff. Even if I have nothing else left to buy, I might just save my donuts anyways for future updates. I'm glad that it turned out to not just be a skin, but in the long run, I think having a different kind of Lard Lad cheapens the original. But in any case, the Lard Lad Church fills the spot nicely, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Plus, I even managed to fit it perfectly diagonal between the Bowl-a-rama and the Krusty Burger, just like on the Guide. Diagonal roads be damned.
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After 2 weeks, all my personal prizes won, all the extra land expansions, my main quest, and all my side quests completed, I had achieved 2 million in cash for my very first time. After buying the cemeteries, bringing my donut count down to 30, I had made my way back up to 75 donuts by continuing to haunt my neighbours. My main priority became to to find 25 more donuts before Halloween ended, so that I could get Boobarella. At the beginning, it had seemed hopeless, but I was getting 1 or 2 free donuts a day, on top of The spooktacular bonuses. I was getting those bonuses every day and a half. That's an average of 3.5 free donuts every day. It was Inconceivable.
I let my cash grow to 2.1 million so that I would be safe for the next donut bonus, and then I bought my Popsicle Stick Skyscraper. It was another huge milestone, that I was glad to make happen, I knew it would be quite awhile before I would be able to get the 3 million Magnifying glass, but this I was particularly proud of, for I had only reached the Escalator last month, and it had taken forever. Without spending cash on the Level 35 update, I was able reach 2 million in a flash.
And then suddenly... Bam! 30 free donuts in a weekly mystery box! Talk about a jackpot! This brought my total donut count up to 107. I was able to purchase my popsicle skyscraper and Boobarella in the same day. Somebody at EA must really like me, so to everyone at EA, I tip my hat. I had all my must-have premium items, with three weeks of free donuts left. My next goal was a bit superfluous because I've never been able to locate it on the guide... But it looks so cool. For 45 donuts, I had to try for the House of Evil.
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Level 36 dropped and the first thing I did was buy the Spinster Apartments, which dropped in price to $261,000. That was much more affordable. And thank goodness. Seeing Selma's ugly mug in my passbook for a month, reminding me to build it was getting on my nerves. I also bought the DMV, but hey that's all old news, so there you go.
This update gave us two new buildings: The Noiseland Video Arcade, and the Museum of Natural History. Both are located on the guide, in the congested area surrounding City hall, but fortunately I have enough space in both of their respective spots. Since the forum has been anticipating Noiseland for at least 2 months, I have anticipated that I might need to keep some room next to the Krusty Burger. The marked up $274,000 price is relatively affordable, so I don't see the need to wait until level 37 to buy it.
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Let's talk a bit about Squidport
A few days after level 36 dropped, an amazing glitch was discovered by SuperMario643000, that rivals all the other amazing things that we got this month: Extra boardwalk tiles, when neighbours click on your Squidport entrance. It's the greatest sensation that sweeping the forums, and it completely restores my faith in the forums ability to pull together and be helpful. This is a far cry from everything that happened in September.
Now I am collecting tiles 30-40 times faster than I normally would, and I have way more than I will ever need, this is as big as my Squidport is going to get. It's already way bigger than the Squidport on the guide. I don't see the need to space out the few building I have, any further down. But thats not to say I am done placing tiles... Oh no, definitely not.
Further east of the squidport on the guide, is an entire peninsula which includes the Springfield harbour, the lighthouse, The burns Casino, and a bunch of ghetto landmarks that fill up a neighbourhood called Junkyville. On the guide, they all appear to be land, but with the TSTO land overlay on top of it, it has to be on the water. I expect at least most of that stuff to be added to the game eventually, and I will be ready for it. Hopefully the Burns Casino will be another bridge to the shore, similar to the SP entrance.
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On the same day I started hitting the squidport tile jackpot, I had enough free donuts to buy the House of Evil. The only thing left to figure out was where to put it. It isn't on the guide, probably because Halloween episodes aren't considered canon, but In the Treehouse of horror III they have it wedged between an unseen purple building and a generic blue bakery. I did manage to find a generic bakery on the guide just one land expansion north of the All Night Gym. In the episode Homer's car comes in from the right, in a hurry to get bart a birthday present. So the shop could not be north or east from his house. The bakery location on the guide is a B-line south from the Simpson house, so it all seems to add up that this is where the House of Evil should fit.
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And that was my Halloween folks. Quite a lot to go through but man was it great. No signatures made this month. I'm sorry to supermario643000, and Epic Tapper who have been waiting for my help with that, but I just don't have the time that I used to. And this month in particular was swamped with ghost squishing. Here's hoping for a slow Novemeber.
Speaking of busy, I finally have enough money coming in soon, for me to purchase some donuts. If gill comes out with a sale after Halloween, I should in theory be ready for him, so If Christmas isn't in full swing by the end of November, I will at least be able to show off some premium buildings as seen in the trusty Springfield Guide. Thanks for following along!
I've been using that map for some time. However it just has not been possible for me to remain 100% true to it. Our land allotment just isn't big enough and we are missing tons of things that are on the map. I've decided to place the buildings in the closest place possible by breaking my SF into quarters. NW, NE, SW, SE. Also, esthetically speaking, some things do not make sense and look unpleasant if you stay true to that map.
For example, the Springfield Sign is directly North Center but, for me, it doesn't look good there. I placed it in the NW corner with the observatory to the left, this makes the observatory "look" like it's the highest point of the town.
The Volcano Lair isn't even in Springfield but it looks good paired with the big sign and observatory. Other things are also off the map, the tire fire is to the east. Here is my NW corner:
That reminds me, I did wedge the Kang ride very close to the entrance of Krustyland, in the same place a similar looking ride is placed on that map. I had to do a complete land expansion for everything east of it, but I didn't feel the look was different enough for me to do a panorama for it... Its just not a good month to do panoramas.
Yeah, I gave up on aesthetically pleasing a long time ago. There are definitely some empty spots on my town, that are kind of unsightly, but I leave them open, in hopes that EA will give me something to fill them with. And when they do... it feels pretty awesome.
It is kind of a weird place to fit the sign, if you put it where the guide wants you to. I don't have it yet, but I plan to very soon. I'm thinking the look will really depend on how the surrounding area is decorated.
One thing that I would do, if I could afford a crashed spaceship, is tuck it semi-behind the sign. I figured out this month that Troy Mclures house looks very much like that spaceship.
And since Troy McClures house is right beside the sign on the guide, it would serve to make it look like his house finally fell off the side of the cliff, and explain the disappearance of Troy McClure all together. I figured that out this month, while trying to figure out what to do with the Victorian UFO. Hopefully I will get another shot at a crashed spaceship next Halloween.
You better buy the ray gun now if you want crashed UFO's
All good ideas. But if you had as much stuff as I do, there isn't enough land to leave vast expanses of it vacant.
I store considerable amounts of stuff too...
Frankly, we need more land - I know, we just got some and yes, I bought it but... More! Then I'll have to redo my landing area. Again.
*in awe*
Great work and keep it up. Looking forward to continue checking in. :thumbup:
Had to say cheers and kudos - your insight is pretty awesome. Added you in-game so I can follow your progress up close ... I myself am a long way away. Just reached L37. Don't even have half the map yet.
Thanks for all the excellent screenshots and updates. Keep up the great work!
Best-
'Roy'