[Spoilers] Sketch

[acidia]

Hey, I was hoping to get suggestions on a sketch that I’ve had sitting around. If it is hard to describe what you’d like, use paint and mark it in red or something and post it. I know the inside isn’t filled-in but general locations would be of use.

Oh, one last thing… try not to spoil what it is or the interior layout around the forum. If I can implement it in the next month(s), I’d prefer that most don’t see it coming.

So, leave now if you don’t want to ruin a surprise.

-Exterior windows on some of the shops would be nice but I currently have utility access halls there, if I go with metal grates on the front of most of the shop doors then the utility halls will be critical.
-The entire wall at the food court will be glass while the entrances will also be mostly glass.
-I’m up for suggestions as far as vehicle proofing the perimeter wall goes. I’ll add the little columns at the entrances but I wasn’t sure if I should make the parking lot full/include columns around the perimeter.
-Control Center = Security/offices/systems

Sorry, this is kinda big…

[John_Candlebury]

First off, let me tell you that I am so glad to see you again. Your work is absolutely great.

But other than that, the shopping centre layout is absolutely gorgeous.

Sorry for not being of much use.

[StopSignal]

No suggestions. Just commenting to say OMG THAT’S AMAZING.

But after you have the main layout, i’d add plants and benches, trashcans and stuff.

[vache]

Road connections on the bottom left/right?
The larger “anchor” stores should probably have their own loading bays and entrances. May have to trim out some of the utility walls to fit them in.
Most malls don’t have a lot of exterior windows except in entrances and dining areas. They usually have skylights instead. May necessitate a terrain that changes light/dark based on time of day.

More to come later when I have a chance to look into it some more.

[FunsizeNinja123]

Acidia…? I’ve heard of you before.

Loljknotreally. It’s good to see you around again, and I love the layout. But how many map tiles would it take up?

[KA101]

[quote=“FunsizeNinja123, post:5, topic:5981”]Acidia…? I’ve heard of you before.

Loljknotreally. It’s good to see you around again, and I love the layout. But how many map tiles would it take up?[/quote]

9x9 square? Bit of a coding pain, but would certainly be interesting.

[acidia]

Ya, trying to get rotation and road connections working will be a huge pain. I’m also curious to see how larger buildings are going to be supported by the jsons. I was planning to use the old format but if the new system will be finished in the near future there is no reason to.

-With the format below we are looking at 9 points of entry: loading bay, north entrance, SEARS, food court entrance, east and west entrances, JCPenny’s, the southeast restaurant windows, and the Southern entrance. Too many?
-You lose a utility corridor behind JCPenny’s. I’d prefer a utility system that would allow a pallet of goods to theoretically move from the loading bay to any store without being seen by the general public.
-Can’t really add more loading bays without completely screwing up the traffic flow. I’m pretty sure the south bay would be impossible to park in with an in-game semi if there was one in the bay above it.

Updated with ‘???’ for potential shops.

[vache]

Funny you should mention json support, I’m actually working on a method for defining arbitrary size and shaped specials that should be ready for PR soon™. You’ll have to define the individual 24x24 areas in the json, then tell it which jsons are related and what arrangement they should be in, along with a few other parameters.

Have you given any consideration to randomizing it, both the shape of the building, and the arrangements of the shops? It would be pretty difficult to do, especially with json, but the payoff could be worth it.
What is the rarity you’re imagining?
Right now the layout seems to have mostly food on one side, and then shops on the other. The malls around here usually have the food court in the middle and shops on both sides, with small kiosk-style food places towards the ends too.
Also, definitely have a restroom by the food court.
An alternative to the utility halls and corridors could be to have a basement area with tunnels connecting the shops, and freight elevators at the bigger stores.

[Hibou]

Great googly moogly, this is really something. Definitely would like to see it ingame.

[stone94]

[quote=“acidia, post:7, topic:5981”]-snip-
Updated with ‘???’ for potential shops.

Well near the cigar shop you could place a liquor store, and near the control center a security room, maybe some moniters and chairs for the guys who watch the cameras, a couple break rooms for the staff and music/entertainment shop.

[Flame]

i whould draw a building like that but i don’t know by memory all the symbols.
Can you tell me what’s the symbols for door?

Btw: i dunno how it will be in the game, but you’r building is awesome.

[acidia]

Well, the symbols are whatever you think would be easiest. You have to define them yourself when coding it.

This is my key so far:

[spoiler]. grass
floor
, yellow pavement
_ pavement

bush

| vertical wall

• horizontal wall
  = metal bay door
  6 broken terminal
  “A”: “t_railing_h”,
  “a”: “t_railing_v”,
  B bookcase
  b bench
  C concrete (patio)
  c counter
  d desk
  E elevator
  e glass door fridge
  “F”: “f_arcade_machine”,
  f fridge
  H horizontal glass
  L locker
  “l”: “f_vending_c”,
  n table
  P indoor plant
  r display rack
  S sink
  s sidewalk
  T tree
  t toilet
  V vertical glass
  w shallow water
  “X”: “f_safe_l”
  “x”: “f_pinball_machine”,
  [/spoiler]

After my nice day off from work I managed to make some good progress… although I think I broke my creativity
I’m always looking for suggestions but remember there will be little surprise if you view the later drafts…

[vache]

I think a liquor store doesn’t really fit in a mall. Around here, liquor stores are usually associated with lower class areas, and malls usually don’t want stores like that.
You seem to have a pretty good handle on the types of store, but to get things to the closest approximation of IRL, you probably need a lot more clothing stores. The local malls are probably like 60% clothing stores, including specialty stores like shoe stores/men’s suit stores, then a random smattering of store types: electronics, cell phone, tacky knick knacks, toys, arcade, novelties (spencers), home decor (pottery barn), cooking (williams sonoma), a few salons, candy store, massage place, jewelry, bookstore, hallmark store, build a bear workshop, nutritional supplement store, luggage store, sunglasses, eyewear, knife shop, and random other specialty type stores.
Also, little kiosks in the hallways would be nice. They commonly sell t-shirts, cell phones/accessories, electronic toys (RC helicopters, etc), sunglasses, candy, etc.

[Zireael]

This is brilliant!

[Flame]

Usually there are more than one Coffee, also there are japanise/chinese restaurantes.
What else…uhm… bowling? Pizza? And a plants shop or animal shop. But i’m not sure on how you’re supposed to do an animal shop, they are probably all dead or have fled. XD
…or are zombie. Omg. Zombie hamsters and gold fishes! XDDD

Nice symbols. I’ve looked a little to the json files and i see what you mean by “choose your own symbols”.
I’m not a coder, i’m way more far from a coder, so i’ll “steal” a json and i’ll work on it usign his symbols, but can you tell me if ther’s an easy way to draw buildings bigger than the standard json files i find in the cataclysm folder? Those are large 27 letters and i fear that’s a limit i can’t change.
or…i’m just supposed to draw bigger buildings and the game will run it without questioning?

If i’m off topi, i can create a topic where do this questions so your topic is free from my annoyance. è.è srry

[kevin.granade]

There’s actually no support for buildings this big in the game, vache is working on it, and acidia is making a building so cool that it forces us to add support for it

[acidia]

Hmmm… just finished most of the architecture and furniture. Painting the floor and doing a last one-over before I start breaking it into 24x24 chunks is next, followed by item spawns. I would like to hear thoughts on what state the mall would have been in. Most of the back utility ways have plenty of locked doors to make it a bit easier to get cornered in if you don’t plan ahead. The store fronts are fully open though. Should I put locked chain gates in the storefronts? If the mall was fully shutdown, there wouldn’t be as many zombies… I was thinking of having everything open but having an ocean of zombies. There isn’t anything of a whole lot of value in the mall so it would simply be more of an achievement to secure it than anything else. If it was closed at the time, I guess there would be more incentive to loot it.

Thoughts?

Thanks for the suggestions, if this goes well I’ll expand any stores not included on the first floor to the second.

[StopSignal]

Ohh, i don’t know if you read the thing about benches, trashcans and plants. Just an idea that it would make it more ambiental. Maybe you already read this and i am being annoying, so please forgive me if so!

[acidia]

No worries, I took your advice and added a bunch to the hallways.

[vache]

You could make a couple alternates, make one that had been closed and locked down, one that had been converted into a refugee center when things went wrong, one that is overgrown with fungals or triffids.

Locked down ones could have signs of being looted, smashed doors, busted windows, etc.