Is Ardoris 99.99% Row lots? Why?

Speaking of that, I often find Asian games and anime which try to emulate European culture very strange. They often just feel very off. But that's another topic, I guess.

Anyway, Ardoris does look very wealthy.. and if I'm not wrong, the devs got the idea for row houses from player requests for cities in the game to look as crowded as real medieval cities. In other words, for this exact purpose.

Whether the price of plots should vary by city is an interesting question, although I expect they'll be taken very quickly by players precisely because of their location, and then, only resold at high prices. So even if the initial prices won't be high, the resell value would be high.

 

Based on the concept art, and the Lore including the Shogun etc, Ardoris was at one stage described as Rustic-Asian.

The design would have included a mixture of Lot sizes that would have been considered ideal at that time.

Then along came the 'invention' of Row Lots. The original design was then discarded.

At some stage Portalarium must have realised, that in round figures, Row Lots generate double the income of Village Lots.

One solution would be to place a couple of those created islands, we see off the Kingsport coast, to the south of the main island, connected by more bridges.

Shift a bunch of the Row Lots off the main island, onto the created islands, and include some open parkland too. In the spaces created on the main island, scatter various sized lots. Also add more Water Lots around the new southern islands.

 

It was something that many backers (in the Dev+ forums) were requesting and pushing for because they wanted a crowded, Medieval city feel. I don't think its fair to pass this off as a fundraising decision.

I'm not sure why the high-density lots wouldn't be closer to the middle of the city, like it is in real cities. Sounds like you want to shift the off to a ghetto island. If anything, the further you get away from the city center, the larger the estates should be.

 

Lum, for what it's worth, when touring the city to write up the entry for SotATravelGuide.com without knowing your inspiration, I pretty much described it as you intended (old, diverse, economically powerful, influenced by trade, etc...).

Unseen

 

You misunderstood my comment. My perception of Americans in general is rather high and I am not suggesting anyone to be a Nazi.

 

I do agree with a few of the other players who have posted on this topic. While i feel that the tremendous emphasis on player housing will have an overall negative effect on the town experience itself (an opinion/prediction only) having towns with preset types of housing isn't a bad idea. It can help to give some sense of architectural purpose to the towns and maintain the feel of each region. Towns in the game still need to reflect their geographic location (if the town is on a beach it should look that way when you enter the scene etc) and housing should be part of that reflection.

 

The thing is about Row Housing being inexpensive is that really the only place you would find such places realistically would be in a larger city. It's not like you come across some 20 person hamlet in the woods somewhere that was made of a cluster of row houses.

I think that making so many of the homes there row housing helps in two ways: First it gives the city a unified appearance like Venice as mentioned previously, also being inexpensive means more players will have homes there, which means it will be more populated by active players running around doing things. Both good for immersion, and good fro a trade hub in general.

Inexpensive =/= Squalor

 

And some people may not be looking for a castle or rural living. Row housing may give someone just enough room he/she needs.

 

I think row-houses fit excellently in cities.
Lots of people crammed into a limited area with dense housing.

Where village-lots and above are allowed one can imagine that the "feel" of parts of a given city risks becoming a bit whimsical, as player taste can be quite diverse.

I wonder if we will see height-limits or other limits in some places, places where the devs feel only buildings of a certain height or type will fit their vision.

 

In general, if the scene has an asian like setting or another culture style. Why not limiting the house types to the certain cultural setting? This would preserve immersion of the scene setting.

 

It if was a bustling trade City were are all the Docklands wharfs filled with Warehouse's, Cargo a hive of activity with NPC's. It looks a very empty desolate place not buzzing with NPC's.
The most you will ever see is about 64 players if your lucky, I have never seen a screenshot with more than around 20.
The Row houses are there to stop it getting overrun with player items in large properties, they only have 350 item limits and 5 exterior so more about server load than style.

 

I stumbled on this thread and am disappointed to read some of the politically correct nonsense comments, i like to escape from all that when i play games. I'm from Canada but have been living in Japan close to 20 years. There are great differences in the architecture and building sizes and densities between the Tokyo area and Ontario. There are many reasons for this that have nothing to do with race. Prevalence of earthquakes and typhoons here with lack of snow have resulted in many light, barely insulated flat roofed buildings whereas A-shaped roofs in Canada may be more prone to wind damage but snow can slide off before weighing enough to crush it. Local limestone was heavily used a century ago near my home but earthquakes here would make that impractical, the oldest building still standing are wooden. Canada also has a very low population density allowing for wide streets, big homes and large lots, etc.. The opposite is true of Japan. What little space they do have here the use well and living in such close proximity seems to make people live harmoniously (from social pressures rather than Communist Party policy - wink). It is very common to see groups of people, especially older folks, cleaning the entire neighborhood. The area is remarkably clean for the number of people here. While i don't like the closeness and small size of living quarters here, it is just the opposite for my Japanese friends, co-workers and ex-wife; many of them feel uncomfortable when things are too spread out, for example, furniture is not arranged here to maximize empty space. These are just a few of many things i could type that i hope offer some alternatives to "race" when it comes to they different look and feel to towns and cities spread across the globe.
As for "race", Japanese animations and comics have a distinctive feel and often find inspiration for subject material outside of Japan. I prefer a more photo-realistic style myself, but i don't get too worked up when they attempt to emulate "Western" culture or even poke fun at it. Just the opposite, it is interesting to see different perceptions reflected in their art. We as people often find inspiration for creative out put in different cultures and then put our own spin on it. There is nothing wrong with it. If Jedi and Romulan robes and Darth Vader's helmet remind you of Japanese traditional clothing and apparel don't take offence, just smile that you are in on the joke.
I'm not getting how someone would consider in game spiders racist, different species make me think of different climates not the people that live there; i do not associate spiders with people from Asia and i highly doubt the developers do either.
I thought the city was well done, i especially liked the aqueducts (if i have the right city). Everything you need is close together, presumably. It will be a nice place to visit in game, thanks for your hard work.

 

Regarding wealth - lots of the big backers are looking at having both a country place where they can have their Town or City size lot, like player towns. But they also pledge so they have a rent free row deed to place in one of the major cities.
And they are looking for the right neighbourhoods.
So there is indeed going to be posh row sections in Ardoris. What they are waiting for is those posh row houses in the add-on store.

This of course imitates real life - the wealthy want to have a downtown flat and a place in the Hamptons.
And just like the big apple there will be posh districts and slum districts.

 

I am very impressed by the layout and look of Ardoris. I am hoping to live there when the game goes live. The city just needs plenty of NPCs to give it a busy trading city feel. NPCs will obviously be added later on as the city is clearly not finished. Sound, I'm guessing, will also be worked on. Some of the people making demands on this thread need to take a step back and just relax - no offence meant

 

Ok look some people like living with lots of others close by in a big city and they ought to be able to! There are lots of little villages and towns around - and islands for those who don't want to live in the big city, i got no beef with that at all. And Ardoris was certainly impressive in many many ways (wow! congrats on that). However I felt there was one thing that was missing big time and that was parks.

Even peeps who live in a big city need some greenery and some outdoors to be in occasionally. (Central Park in NY for example.) And although I am not familiar with all the big cities in the world, they must share this common element, somewhere in there is some parkland area(s). Even if its just the dang cemeteries! So by all means go for a big, densely packed metropolis... but geez guys please add in some green!!

okay addendum: someone mentioned in a post that there is a green area in Ardoris, well i wandered all around and didn't ever find it, so if you could put a bit more in would be great. But if the city design is set in stone, well that's what it is then, maybe some more trees around?

 

First of all thank you for creating Ardoris.
And I am happy we get a crowded city.

I think some of us need to respect some game design decisions might not be about "you get your lot of choice everywhere".




I think the real reason behind this topic is high backers who have to deal with a sudden fact that if they are town lot level or village level or higher they can basically forget a location in Ardoris and keep the lot size they are in. As there are almost not available.
That is a decision some might not like or want to be confronted with.

I am ok with it. I wanted to be Ardoris. But for the sake of the visual differences of towns this game needs i go with my town lot somewhere else.


Only 1 Town Lot i have seen on water if i remember.

This only town lot in Ardoris will be Super hot spot in the Oklahoma rush for founder owners
Not sure if a village lot is in Ardoris.


I will suggest further to find a solution for the corner row houses and naked walls they show. It will be a visual problem on the long run. Also for lots of playertown designers.
I see many spots in this game with plain naked walls.

 

I would've been haply with having specific prechosen architectural designs for housing by the developers in all of the towns. It would keep the identity of the towns viable and avoid the unnecessary 5 lighthouse per town scenario or multitudes of keeps and castles in supposedly small quiet hamlets. Player owned towns is one thing, but developer developed towns need to be more than just rows and rows of player housing. Every town on the map seems this way so far.