Mainland Renewal
If you've been on in the past two or three weeks, you may have seen the extensive Mainland update/refurb project.
The spawn has continuously been renewed over the years, but now we're expanding this renewal to cover a much wider portion of the Mainland. Considering the history here (dating to 2010), it's a sensitive area and not only needs to be refreshed but also protected. I wanted to open this discussion to get everyone's input and thoughts as we move forward on this. So far, the thought is to revitalize each distinct neighborhood with its own unique palette. Smoot has been developing palettes for each area.
What's Changed so Far?
Shiredale - a former working class neighborhood in the northeast Mainland, was bulldozed and completely gentrified. The wealthy elite reside here now. In actuality, the area was filled with copy/pasted houses from Bloodmist and never really developed beyond filler. It's been completely revamped by Smoot, Spaicol, and a little by me. I tried to keep up but those two are wicked fast.
Shire Heights - directly south of Shiredale. I bulldozed three empty buildings I made - they just sat there collecting dust for like 7 years, looking dated. The rest of the buildings were refreshed (exteriors only!) with a lovely light wood and prismarine theme. Smoot added two or three new buildings as well.
Central District - Castle Wolfen-Neb was completely revitalized, including the interior. Two businesses I made years ago on the plaza were bulldozed and replaced with modern buildings by Smoot, and there are several others marked for demo. The rest of the buildings basically just had a paint job; new brick roofs and new siding.
Spawn - Enderp & Co. is going beast mode on remaking the spawn village and recreating the Promotion Theatre.
What About all the unique historical artifacts?
They're still there! Ctshiner's underground whore house is still there (kudos to anyone who finds it), the Chamber of Souls and the sewer system is more accessible than ever, all the weird creepy tunnels are still there and still connect back to Castle Wolfen-Neb, the quirky building names and street signs are all preserved. Dendrago's tower from early 2011 was relocated half a block north. Shanver722's Chill Tower is still there (I reskinned it). The graffiti in Willam's Tunnel, the "x was here" signs on the way up to Castle Wolfen-Neb's tower, The undermarket, Gavinh9's pot-infused ice cream shop, the homeless encampment, the Occupy Shire camp, the Merk Manor Wailing Wall...... all still there.
What's lost: Cobble. Lots and lots of hand-mined cobble from long before Creative was a thing. Waldo's Party Supply was bulldozed. The Weapon shop on the plaza was bulldozed. The Shire Hospital was bulldozed (it was just a big empty hideous building that I stole from Lamename Village). *hey btw we could use a new medical building in the Mainland sometime...
What's Next?
Central still has a long way to go, including new roads, new exterior upgrades, and a few spots for new buildings. LOTS of buildings in Shiredale, Shire Heights, and Central are in need of INteriors.
After Central, we have options, and I'd love to hear everyone's input. Take a look at the image below. These are all potential areas that could be refreshed at differing scales. Starred are already redeveloped or are in the midst of redevelopment:
1 = Spawn* (Spawn Village? Is there a name for it?)
2 = Central District* | Brick, Stone, Jungle Wood
3 = Shiredale* | Dark Prismarine, Spruce
4 = Shire Heights* | Prismarine Brick
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5 = Shai-Town | East Asian themed. This could be a really fun and challenging area to refresh
6 = Brandywine Village | Working class area. Needs a lot of work
7 = That Area Between Odd Facade, Polaris Mall, and Temple District... | A lot of these buildings were copy/paste placeholder buildings. This could be a great area for a lot of new projects.
8 = Temple District
9 = Bree | Probably won't refresh this one much, it's such a classic... maybe the roads? Thoughts?
10 = Two Bridges/Alpha Pyramid/Schaufensterpuppen | Mostly new already, not a ton to do except interiors and landscaping.
11 = Herman B Wells Library, Mainland Offices
12 = Dukedom area
Please share your thoughts, concerns, ideas about everything. We want to balance nostalgia and progress and don't want to see anything of value lost during the process.
*And a quick sorry to Jimmy, Enderp, Smoot, and whoever else was already refreshing the area before I jumped in - not trying to step on any toes! Just trying to keep it organized.
Comments
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Hello, i saw the circle around spawn area and it gave me an idea: how about creating a sort of wall with cool gates and secret exits around the spawn area, just like an actual kingdom.
something kinda like this:
https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/medieval-walls-towers-and-gatehouse-pack/
Other then that you already know i fully support the idea and cant wait for more people to get involved.
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Extremely informative post and the district marking / imaging is really helpful!
As for keeping nostalgia, I’ll make sure I only give a fresh paint job to buildings that are approved by everyone involved!
it’s been a great time seeing so many people invested in spawn again. But I want to also make sure I’m being as respectful as possible to the history during everything.
If anyone has ideas and suggestions or things they’d Like me to do / not do, just let me know! I know the spawn means a lot to those of you that have been around since the very beginning.
The server means a lot to me, too. And I want to make sure everyone is happy with the changes.
Be safe wear shoes,
smoot
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I reread my post and it almost sounded like I did all this. No no no, credit to Smoot and Spaicol and Jimmy and Enderp and everyone else. I've done some reskins and minor details. They're the true wizards. BUT... I am the de facto Shire Historian so if you're wondering about a building or artifact, I can help answer.
@Spaicol Funny you mention that, we used to have a wall around the whole mainland area. The remnants of it are on the south side. Not sure if we want another wall... It'd be tough topping Athitica and Lands of Gaya's walls. I'll let other peeps chime in.
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All I ask is that no one destroys my ol’ tyro house near lamename. But it could use some serious interior help.
Also, a wall sounds interesting but the logistics of it would be a little iffy. I’m not sure about it either.0 -
How about we tear it all down and smack a 16 lane freeway through the middle of it!4
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Ok let's make that a rule: No destroying things unless it's cleared here on this post. Capisce?
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I hear there will be a full-scale runway going through spawn with this new update, amazing!
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I had Nebs mark buildings for kill with a floating diamond block. So maybe a red stone block above buildings we keep? Just obnoxiously bright colors / blocks that are hard to miss.0
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Okay so... here are a few things I'd like to see replaced with newer better buildings. Please let me know your thoughts!
The plaza watchtower and Neb's Rare Earth Emporium.
Kileen's Nursery and Windows Doors and More.
This awkward bridge.
This Kwikee Mart.
This entire city can go, for sure, 100%.
Oh hey and don't worry about updating Shai-Town, already done.....:
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I know the house. It's beautiful. Not to fear! No deleting things unless approved here.
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nebbers said:
This entire city can go, for sure, 100%.
Yasssss!
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Lmao I just realized that's Riverwood0
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I've been slowly gentrifying the Brandywine area. All of the buildings infront of the winery were food based buildings. It looked like most areas around the castle were updated. Aed mentioned the mainland station today so him and I will get together for that6
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Hey y'all, I just wanna say I'm a little disappointed you've changed the mainland without consulting me, seeing as I made every single building there. Those are all my original works dating back to when I first started this server, so it's a little messed up that you would do this. Also, I banned that @Antheus character because he kept trying to push this whole "Riverwood" thing on the server. Like, c'mon man it's my server, I'm not gonna let you build your own city. Because all of the cities are mine. I made all of them.
And they are mine.
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ahhhhh is this a dig at me? I meant I made those three buildings in the plaza! Not everything. The Mainland is a melting pot. In fact, let's get some Paarsdam and Riverwoodian homes in there! I know a couple good spots.
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it's definitely crack.
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