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Node type identity shown in each node stage (Stage 3 and above) Lay-out?
YouOweMeCooki
Member
Normally I would discus these kind of things during the Office Hours, but I though this subject might be better of here.
After looking at the forum post of Dream Nodes and the upcoming Office Hours which also included Dream Nodes, it put my mind into thinking about node type identity. You see, if you look around the world, there are plenty of ways how cities and villages are build; Some are build with structure and organized like plaes in the Netherlands, whereas other places are build around their starting point (mostly around the coast) like Rio de Janeiro, but there are also places that are build around or based by their environment like mountains (Massuleh) and ocean (Bajau tribes) or build inside their environment itself (Maijishan Grotto’s). Now taking that into consideration, you can see that most places are build based on their environment, their knowledge/tools and what they're designed for. This concept is also something that I would love to see in Ashes of Creations design when it comes down to make their node stages and therefore creates an identity to each location based on location, race (biggest contributor) and Node Type.
So how would I see each Node type effect the lay-out of each node?
- Academic Node: Academic nodes are structured and organized as their design is all build around knowledge. These locations will have a structured lay-outs with their Academic in the center or strategic location (like a mountain top) and other buildings/services are strategically placed and grouped up. These kind of places can also feel very compact because of this design, sometimes leaving plenty of room for expanding or other less important buildings filling the gaps.
- Military Node: Similar to the Academic Node, they're structured but is less organized. Their structural lay-out is designed for defensive purposes, placing their important buildings in the center or strategic locations. Besides of that, their walls/defenses are very structured and many places are build around small corridors in case they have to protect the village/city. Other buildings will have less priority and are usually used to fill in the gaps or part of their defensive structural design. This can leave those buildings be less structured and organized as their main buildings.
- Economic Node: Obviously their market and service buildings are the center of their economy. They're build in the center of the node with roads directly leading to the exits of the town, preferably as part of an important road/trade route. The rest of the buildings are build around this central hub and doesn't always have proper structure or organization This place can also feel quite compact as everything wants to be as close to the center point.
- Divine Nodes: When I think of divine nodes, I'm thinking of locations that uses their environment as part of their blueprint. They'll build in or around their environment with the least amount of impact on. Think of like elven cities build around waterfalls or dwarf cities carved into mountains. In the end, their location is more part of the environment rather than being an entity within their environment
You should also see this effect when they're expanding to a higher Node Stage (Village>Town, Town>City, City>Metropolis) which are an attachment to the already existing location. This would lead to the following points:
- Academic Node: Could only expand towards one or two sides as it makes more sense rather than expanding outwards all around.
- Military node: Could expand all around or only at certain sides based on the location. It can also add new walls, creating an inner and outer wall. Also, some buildings might move to the outskirts of this expansion rather than staying on their current location as they're crucial for defensive purposes.
- Economic node: Would expand all around with markets and service buildings along the roads leading to the center.
- Divine node: Would expand all around and uses the natural environment as part of the blueprint for the added structures.
Based on what we've seen during this months live stream, it didn't felt like an Academic Node to me. Even though it definitely felt both structured and organized, I did feel like it wasn't always compact enough, with too much open spaces to feel like a real Academic Node. Things like parks or open areas to sit/walk to fill the gaps would look more like an academic node thing than leaving plenty of open spaces. Now it could be because this is just a village stage, giving it less of an identity towards their Node type, I still hope to see the node types to be noticeable even at the village stage.
So what do you think? Do you think I'm right or am I missing something? Are there things you like to add or believe I'm wrong about? Please let me know as I would like to hear your point of view of this
After looking at the forum post of Dream Nodes and the upcoming Office Hours which also included Dream Nodes, it put my mind into thinking about node type identity. You see, if you look around the world, there are plenty of ways how cities and villages are build; Some are build with structure and organized like plaes in the Netherlands, whereas other places are build around their starting point (mostly around the coast) like Rio de Janeiro, but there are also places that are build around or based by their environment like mountains (Massuleh) and ocean (Bajau tribes) or build inside their environment itself (Maijishan Grotto’s). Now taking that into consideration, you can see that most places are build based on their environment, their knowledge/tools and what they're designed for. This concept is also something that I would love to see in Ashes of Creations design when it comes down to make their node stages and therefore creates an identity to each location based on location, race (biggest contributor) and Node Type.
So how would I see each Node type effect the lay-out of each node?
- Academic Node: Academic nodes are structured and organized as their design is all build around knowledge. These locations will have a structured lay-outs with their Academic in the center or strategic location (like a mountain top) and other buildings/services are strategically placed and grouped up. These kind of places can also feel very compact because of this design, sometimes leaving plenty of room for expanding or other less important buildings filling the gaps.
- Military Node: Similar to the Academic Node, they're structured but is less organized. Their structural lay-out is designed for defensive purposes, placing their important buildings in the center or strategic locations. Besides of that, their walls/defenses are very structured and many places are build around small corridors in case they have to protect the village/city. Other buildings will have less priority and are usually used to fill in the gaps or part of their defensive structural design. This can leave those buildings be less structured and organized as their main buildings.
- Economic Node: Obviously their market and service buildings are the center of their economy. They're build in the center of the node with roads directly leading to the exits of the town, preferably as part of an important road/trade route. The rest of the buildings are build around this central hub and doesn't always have proper structure or organization This place can also feel quite compact as everything wants to be as close to the center point.
- Divine Nodes: When I think of divine nodes, I'm thinking of locations that uses their environment as part of their blueprint. They'll build in or around their environment with the least amount of impact on. Think of like elven cities build around waterfalls or dwarf cities carved into mountains. In the end, their location is more part of the environment rather than being an entity within their environment
You should also see this effect when they're expanding to a higher Node Stage (Village>Town, Town>City, City>Metropolis) which are an attachment to the already existing location. This would lead to the following points:
- Academic Node: Could only expand towards one or two sides as it makes more sense rather than expanding outwards all around.
- Military node: Could expand all around or only at certain sides based on the location. It can also add new walls, creating an inner and outer wall. Also, some buildings might move to the outskirts of this expansion rather than staying on their current location as they're crucial for defensive purposes.
- Economic node: Would expand all around with markets and service buildings along the roads leading to the center.
- Divine node: Would expand all around and uses the natural environment as part of the blueprint for the added structures.
Based on what we've seen during this months live stream, it didn't felt like an Academic Node to me. Even though it definitely felt both structured and organized, I did feel like it wasn't always compact enough, with too much open spaces to feel like a real Academic Node. Things like parks or open areas to sit/walk to fill the gaps would look more like an academic node thing than leaving plenty of open spaces. Now it could be because this is just a village stage, giving it less of an identity towards their Node type, I still hope to see the node types to be noticeable even at the village stage.
So what do you think? Do you think I'm right or am I missing something? Are there things you like to add or believe I'm wrong about? Please let me know as I would like to hear your point of view of this
People only believe in the beautiful view behind the tunnel, if they walk into the light at the end of the tunnel to see it for themselves.
2
Comments
Scientific Nodes
I guess something like a mage tower or a campus as well as an industrial district would make sense, since these Nodes aren't only for the scientists but also for the artisans
Economic Nodes
I like your vision already though I would love to see these Nodes have something like "luxury districts", with little parks for the wealthiest merchants to reside comfortably within the city. And maybe something like market halls would make sense as well? So big that they can be landmarks. And of course by the sea side a harbor district - that would be awesome!
Military Nodes
I think that this could be strongly expressed by the way the streets are structured. Having well built walls with straight cobbled mainstreets running to checkpoints, creating walled districts of outer and an inner city districts and a keep, while the city quickly becomes unstructured off the main roads. I think it will also play a role that the mayors election process will be an objective based PvP event IN the node, so having this kind of mix between struture and chaos could make for an interesting battleground.
Religious Nodes
I have long thought about why the nodes were fixed in their type but it struck me just recently: Holy Sites. What if every Divine Node will have some sort of place that has seen some sort of divine intervention happening? A pool of water said to be the tears of a god; A hole in the ground leading into an ancient tomb said to seal one of the strongest followers of the Others; The final resting place of an angel - something like that. A backdrop like that would provide a strong basis to spin bigger story arcs from and connect players with the world.
Academic node and Scientific node are the same thing. From what has been told by one of the Community Managers, what used to be called Scientific Node is now going to be called Academic Node as it fits better. During the last livestream, this was confusing as the powerpoint presentation still represented Scientific Node whereas Steven was already calling it Academic Node. They will make sure they change it properly moving forward.
Also, it's not about the buildings looks, as those are based on the highest XP contributed race when the node levels up, but about the lay-out of the node. In fact, the shown node just feels like an ordinary village and could've been any node type if it wasn't for the Academy building. This is why I believe Node type should influence the lay-out of the node to give it the characteristics of the given node type and makes it easier for people to identify what kind of node it is.
All Economic Nodes will not have the same layout. Likely, the list of buildings the Mayor can construct will be the same for each, specific Node Type.
What i was trying to say is that building they said is a placeholding will be for a note type spefic building, libary for academic (science), Church for religion, barracks for military and so on, it looks like that specific building is a church so they used that instead of libary since libary wasnt finished yet and buildings have the same footprint so it was easy substitue
If that's what they decide to do, that's fine. However, I do think that a proper lay-out based on the type of node would make more sense. This doesn't mean every Economic node will look the same as some buildings can be placed elsewhere based on their enviroment, just the theme/characteristic of each node type is noticeable in the bigger picture.
What I'm trying to say has nothing to do with the buildings but the structural lay-out of how the village, town, city or metropolis is looking. It's about the big picture of where all buildings are placed with one another as well as their respective enviroment, not the buildings itself. I know the specific building pointed out by Steven was a placeholder as well as maybe some of the other buildings but that has nothing to do with the structural lay-out.