11.10.2022 - Development diary

The docks have been completed.

I redesigned the right side and made it smaller, I thought about doing it to the left but decided to leave it as is.

I initially added the boats for scale but I may end up using one or two of them in the end product.

I played with the idea of raising the upper dock to a higher elevation. It would involve adding stairs to the upper leveland raising the existing ground, but after doing a small test I decided to drop the idea.

The assets have a renassiance architecture appearence so I began looking at images of Venice for the dock area, where the buildings are right up against the water in the canal allowing the residence to get on boats.

I began to change the colour of several buildings by making a variant material and used it to change the colour and other elements of the buildings.

I had to drop the the overhead train due to the archway over dockside bridge getting in the way and the sketchup model had a grid layout, so after seeing it with the new building assets, I decided to break it up to prevent a direct line of sight. This will be important to prevent the player from spotting the bridge spawning.

I widened the canal to allow for wooden jettys to be added. I also blocked off the left side with a cliff face but it didn't look right so i added a wall with a low lying tunnel instead. I may increase the size of the tunnel at a later date.

The other end I left blank but put up a screen to prevent the player from seeing down there but I'll have to put something there as the player will be able to see down there when they cross over the bridge. I thought about a small sewer opening but it didn't look to good, some buildings over a bridge should be good enough or an opening to the ocean.

The line of sign on the mainland needs to be broken up as well. The block out was helpful but there needs to be some twists and turns to the city streets.

I'll start to transition from renassance architecture to a more modern red brick 19th century architecture as the city extends up, but it depends on how it appears in tests.