Do you guys think I can start a movement as big as cutgate or the review bombing of ep7 but instead it's just I think people should tag their posts with #anti tammy thompson ?
Oh, the Golden Hills that aren’t really golden. Okay, so um, this is personal pet peeve and I know there are a lot of players that actually like the Golden Hills being an area of eternal autumn while the rest of the game is eternal summer except for the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. (Where nothing should be growing at all, so now it’s not growing anything except some super hardy magical thistles and lichen and that’s all I’m going to say about that.) And I get why they did it initially because they were using the old assets from the Seasonal games and it was a good way to recycle the Autumn Riders assets.
Completely unnecessary but I get it.
I simply don’t like that our Golden Hills are “red.”
So, I changed it. Instead of having maples, maples, everywhere. I know that birches grow fast and take over areas pretty quickly, so I decided that it didn’t make any sense for the birch forest not to continue into the part of Golden Hills that we see.
Then as you unlock more of the Golden Hills (that are only locked due to actual plot reasons) the trees change into beeches and aspens. And what birches, beeches, and aspens have in common is that they all turn yellow in the fall. I also included Golden Chain Trees. During the spring and summer they have trailing yellow flower clusters.
Apparently the Golden Chain tree turns orange and red a bit during the fall but bits of orange and red are better than all orange and red. Which is what Maple trees do. A lot of it also does have to do with soil composition, rainfall (and thus amount of sap) and light, but for the most part, maples turn red and orange. (If your maple leaves are turning yellow in the fall, there actually might be a problem with your maple tree.) While Apsens, Birches, and Beeches turn yellow.
So, thus, the Golden Hills would actually look Golden.
Then I researched for a bunch of yellow flowers and yellow-green foliage bushes to fill in the gaps during the spring and summer to make the Golden Hills yellow all year long.
The Northern Golden Hills, by the way, didn’t exist in the Star Stable Autumn and Winter games map. When you played Star Stable: Winter Rider, you could go up the mountain behind Meander Stable and look over Silverglade. It was really cool actually. However, when Star Stable Online added in the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur, they created magic space and therefore pushed the Pine Hills area further north and created this area we now know nothing about.
So I made it up.
When I got to the point in the story where we needed to get past Castle Marchenghast, I asked my good friend, Becca, what she wanted to see in the Northern Golden Hills. And she pointed out that if we’re in a county, we don’t actually have anything that could be considered a County Seat. This was actually really helpful for me.
I grew up on the borders of what are two very rural counties with one huge town in them. So, I based the Northern Golden Hills on the one without a university and is slightly more rural.
So, I created a County Seat. The County Seat would have things like the Fair Grounds, a major station for the Jorvik Rangers, and the big courthouse, and even a jail. The Beeches Park is a green forested state park like area with playgrounds and a event pavilion and little pavilions you can rent for families to visit and throw little parties, let their kids play type of thing. There should also be a library, a school, a natural golf course, and so on. I decided that there should be a Baron for the Golden Hills District and the Count of the entire South New Jorvik County would also live in the Golden Hills at Castle Marchenghast.
Given Star Stable Online’s naming conventions it meant the Marchenghast Family was the highest ranking noble family in the area. I created another Baron, Baron Arthur Fairhaven, and he has his own castle, stable, and village. And lastly, I created Aspendell.
Yes, I know, a lot of A names to go with the A names already in the game, but I liked the name Arthur Fairhaven too much to let it go. It’s a fanfic. I can indulge in silliness.
The cool thing about Aspens is that they aren’t a bunch of individual genetically different trees. They aren’t siblings. Aspens send out roots under the soil laterally and from these roots grow more trunks. So, Aspens are actually one giant clone of each other. They are one complex organism communicating with each other via their roots. You know, like in James Cameron’s Avatar.
Due to drought and fires, there are several Aspen forests, one I know of in Britain, that are considered endangered. I thought it’d be neat to have an Aspen forest like that in Star Stable to bring attention or awareness to the area. Even if I wasn’t able to address directly in this “Chapter” of the story.
The other village in the North Golden Hills area is Eventide, a fishing village. Not a port, but a sea side fishing community that doesn’t have their own stable. I also added a privately owned vineyard to be competition or a new ally in the South New Jorvik County wine trail.
BEHOLD A HANDY LIST
Golden Hills Valley Past North Link/Castle Marchenghast
It’s the County Seat - Goldcroft
1. Court House
2. Jail
3. Ranger Station
4. Fire House
5. Count Marchenghast Manor
6. Goldcroft Stables
7. Library
8. Big Recreational Park (The Beeches)
9. Camping Area/Natural Golf Course
10. Event Concert Area/Oval Race Track/Rodeo Event Space near Fair Grounds
11. Golden Hills School
12. Goldcroft Riding Arena
13. County Fair Grounds
14. Large Town including Shopping Street Area (Goldcroft)
15. Town Square Shopping (Goldcroft)
16. Large Regional Post Office
17. Castle Marchenghast Stable
18. A Medium Sized Stable of Golden Hills Baron Fairhaven
21. Aurora Breeze Winery (Privately owned, no stable.)
22. Farm 1 (county seat Goldcroft)
23. Farm 2 (county seat Goldcroft)
24. Farm 3 (village Fairhaven)
25. Farm 4 (village Fairhaven)
26. Farm 5 (village Fairhaven)
27. Village Fairhaven(3 of 5 farms, Medium Stable, home of Golden Hills Baron)
28. Village Aspendell (Small Stable)
29. Fairhaven Riding Arena
30. Eventide Fishing Village
FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.
Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.
