It looks like I've finished work on the city center - hooray! Today, let's take a look at this district.
I've already shown you the screenshot below, so let's start with this part. The town hall will be located here, and across from it I'll develop a square. In the row of buildings to the right, there will be some kind of expensive bar – the very, very heart of the city. The kind of place tourists visit first, and so on.
This time, in the town hall building, I'll make a combined rabbit hole for politics, police, and the military, similar to the town hall in Bridgeport. I'll also make part of the interiors accessible, just like I did in Bobrokurwice.
As for the square, it will most likely be very simple in terms of furnishings, but I would like to organize something like a Christmas market there.
The row of buildings on the right, by design, should become a kind of central restaurant district, so that Sims can comfortably have lunch while looking at the town hall, the square, and the embankment.
Along the river, I've placed something like a university quarter. The university itself will be this building, where I'll put the science center rabbit hole. It seems silly to dedicate such a large lot to just a rabbit hole, so I'll work on the interiors and try to recreate the atmosphere of an old European university. Perhaps some of you might find it interesting for roleplaying or taking screenshots. I also have a few ideas for activities on this lot, so you'll have a reason to visit this place beyond just work. I'll keep them a secret for now, because I need to test whether they actually work.
Next to the university will be a library with the same old-school vibe, offering opportunities to build certain skills not only through books.
And completing the university quarter will be a small park where you can find some insects, seeds, and herbs, as well as a building that I'm tentatively thinking of using as an old records archive. I might make this lot residential, so it feels like an old professor's house.
Let's move back to the town hall. To the right of the bar lot, I'll place an art gallery, and right next to it... a criminal rabbit hole. Yes, right in the center. I'll disguise it as a currency exchange.
Somewhere in the center of any old European city, there should be a church. This city will have one too. I've placed it right behind the town hall. Just like in Bobrokurwice, the church will contain a mausoleum, and just like before, you'll be able to explore the interiors. Right now, this is the only lot in the center that needs more work, because I plan to use a bit more CC here for added atmosphere.
Also behind the town hall, there will be a residential lot, but it will be intended for one of the characters – something like the ancestral estate of an ancient family that has influenced this city for centuries.
And there are two lots that, shall we say, close off the center. One of them will definitely be residential, because I want to give you the chance to live in the center. On the second lot, I'll make a café. I'll try to put an emphasis on pastries, because you can't imagine Belgium without waffles and chocolate.
There's one last lot, which looks like this. To be honest, I don't have any ideas yet about what to put here, but I'll figure it out along the way. A mystery even to myself, if you will.
At the end, as usual, I'll share my plans for the next stages. Now I plan to work on the interiors of the lots in the already-built districts, and also start working on the landscape. Usually, I try to choose a landscape at the very beginning of working on a town, so that I can plan the layout around it. This time, I decided to start from the center. Since the main part of the city is ready, I can now place the other districts more freely, depending on the landscape. At the same time, I'll try to make my own distant terrain.
