This is my entry to the map-building phase of the Summer Contest over at ShyGuy's World (SGW). The deadline for entries is about 1 June (plus or minus, no official end in sight) so you've still got time if you want to enter. In this part of the contest, folks are asked to build a custom map that might be chosen for the actual park-building competition. Apart from being relatively small, the map should also have some constraints folks will have to work around.
I flatter myself into thinking this map might might be of interest to a wider audience who want some sort of brutally honest starting point. So here it is.
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Pharqueson Farms
Workshop Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1391547844
Stats:
* 500m x 500m playable area (1/2 the default dimensions, 1/4 the default area)
* deciduous background but custom texture pallet
* spawn in the SE corner
NOTE: This place is intended for realistic parks. Parking lots, backstage areas, etc. So I built the map with attention to realism. That's why there's not a single boulder on the map (see below).
Backstory
Pharqueson Farms is set in an imaginary place that looks just like the loess hills of Mississippi. Loess is a Pleistocene formation of wind-borne dust and sand, caused by the Mother Of All Dustbowls when all the water was locked up in the ice caps during the Last Glacial Maximum. In Mississippi, the loess runs N-S along the west edge of the state. It is 80-100' thick, contains zero rock of any sort, and formed dunes that later stuck together (thanks to the clay in the dust) into permanent hills, upon which forest grew. Loess is very strange stuff. It can stand forever until it gets a crack, then water gouges out canyons with vertical sides up to the full thickness of the layer.
Anyway, the Pharqueson family bought a 61.78-acre place around 1900 and did a mix of beef cattle and various crops for several generations. The WW2 generation, however, learned trades in the service and went to college on the GI Bill, so moved to the city. Eventually Grandpa Pharqueson died and the family rented the farm to others. But eventually it go used up, stomped into concrete by cattle and growing little but weeds. So, the tennant moved out and the Pharquesons sold everything of value left on the place. Then they put the whole place up for sale.
As it happened, the local Podunk County Council, in a fit of folly, decided to buy the place and build a theme park there to increase tourism. And they hired your company to build the park.
The Map:
The yellow box is the playable area. Most of it is fairly flat (being farmland) but there are some hills along the N and W edges. Peeps spawn in the SE corner (in a small barn not shown in this pic). The other marked features involve the various restrictions you have to work around.
The Restrictions:
The various restrictions are of different types. Some items you can modify, some you can move, some you have to leave alone.
NOTE: All restricted items are marked by crow animatronics. I did this for aesthetics, instead of placing signs all over.
1. The Road
This is State Highway 642. It must continue to run across the map following its current route. It can't be rerouted due to right-of-way issues, including that of the water main running along it. You can, however, widen it, resurface it, add turn lanes and intersections, etc. The Pharquesons used to drive their herd of cattle across it from pasture to pasture so it's not like there's a lot of traffic right now.
2. The Power Line
The power line can be rerouted and modified however desired (even buried, I guess). The park will need 3-phase power so you'll have to upgrade the line, at least, and probably build a substation, too. However, as it supplies customers off the map, whatever you build must still tie into the lines where they enter and exit the S and E edges of the map.
3. The Creek:
This is the headwaters of the Little Chunky River, an important watershed for folks downstream. You can dredge it, straighten it, make a lake, whatever, but it must still leave the W map edge in the same place with the same flow as it currently has. Any such work will require a water control structure (a sort of dam) that will allow flow to folks downstream and also can handle the flash floods that happen every time it rains, which fill the whole channel.
4. The Farmhouse:
The house itself has been designated a "Hysterical Structure" by the county government, who wants it on display in the park. You can move the house anywhere in the park. You can rebuild it with freshly painted parts (instead of peeling "Haunted House" parts) provided you keep it the same shape. You can use the house as a queue, a shop, a restroom, whatever. The only thing you can't do is destroy it. This only applies to the farmhouse. The barns and all other buildings and junk lying around can be destroyed.
5. The Pharqueson Family Cemetery:
NOTE: The gate is open so the cows could keep the grass mowed. But they also bent the fence and leaned the headstones.
Anyway, the graves can't be moved or built over by park structures or rides. You can, however, fix the fence, replace the headstones, or even cover the whole plot with 1 large memorial structure. Just show some respect to the Pharqueson family. You can remove the adjacent oak tree if you absolutely have to, although the Pharquesons would prefer you didn't.
6. The Indian Mound:
You can't touch this at all. You can't even trim the weeds or trees on it. It's owned by the state (assume the property line is 4m out from the bottom of the mound) and is protected by a number of federal laws. Removing the trees would cause erosion. This mound has not been excavated but surface samples indicate it was just a house foundation from about 1000 years ago. So relax, it's not a burial mound. Probably. Anyway, put an informational plaque next to it and leave it alone.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for Pharqueson Farms. It wasn't a very interesting place when it was in business so it's up to you to change that.
I flatter myself into thinking this map might might be of interest to a wider audience who want some sort of brutally honest starting point. So here it is.
============================================
Pharqueson Farms
Workshop Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1391547844
Stats:
* 500m x 500m playable area (1/2 the default dimensions, 1/4 the default area)
* deciduous background but custom texture pallet
* spawn in the SE corner
NOTE: This place is intended for realistic parks. Parking lots, backstage areas, etc. So I built the map with attention to realism. That's why there's not a single boulder on the map (see below).
Backstory
Pharqueson Farms is set in an imaginary place that looks just like the loess hills of Mississippi. Loess is a Pleistocene formation of wind-borne dust and sand, caused by the Mother Of All Dustbowls when all the water was locked up in the ice caps during the Last Glacial Maximum. In Mississippi, the loess runs N-S along the west edge of the state. It is 80-100' thick, contains zero rock of any sort, and formed dunes that later stuck together (thanks to the clay in the dust) into permanent hills, upon which forest grew. Loess is very strange stuff. It can stand forever until it gets a crack, then water gouges out canyons with vertical sides up to the full thickness of the layer.
Anyway, the Pharqueson family bought a 61.78-acre place around 1900 and did a mix of beef cattle and various crops for several generations. The WW2 generation, however, learned trades in the service and went to college on the GI Bill, so moved to the city. Eventually Grandpa Pharqueson died and the family rented the farm to others. But eventually it go used up, stomped into concrete by cattle and growing little but weeds. So, the tennant moved out and the Pharquesons sold everything of value left on the place. Then they put the whole place up for sale.
As it happened, the local Podunk County Council, in a fit of folly, decided to buy the place and build a theme park there to increase tourism. And they hired your company to build the park.
The Map:
The yellow box is the playable area. Most of it is fairly flat (being farmland) but there are some hills along the N and W edges. Peeps spawn in the SE corner (in a small barn not shown in this pic). The other marked features involve the various restrictions you have to work around.
The Restrictions:
The various restrictions are of different types. Some items you can modify, some you can move, some you have to leave alone.
NOTE: All restricted items are marked by crow animatronics. I did this for aesthetics, instead of placing signs all over.
1. The Road
This is State Highway 642. It must continue to run across the map following its current route. It can't be rerouted due to right-of-way issues, including that of the water main running along it. You can, however, widen it, resurface it, add turn lanes and intersections, etc. The Pharquesons used to drive their herd of cattle across it from pasture to pasture so it's not like there's a lot of traffic right now.
2. The Power Line
The power line can be rerouted and modified however desired (even buried, I guess). The park will need 3-phase power so you'll have to upgrade the line, at least, and probably build a substation, too. However, as it supplies customers off the map, whatever you build must still tie into the lines where they enter and exit the S and E edges of the map.
3. The Creek:
This is the headwaters of the Little Chunky River, an important watershed for folks downstream. You can dredge it, straighten it, make a lake, whatever, but it must still leave the W map edge in the same place with the same flow as it currently has. Any such work will require a water control structure (a sort of dam) that will allow flow to folks downstream and also can handle the flash floods that happen every time it rains, which fill the whole channel.
4. The Farmhouse:
The house itself has been designated a "Hysterical Structure" by the county government, who wants it on display in the park. You can move the house anywhere in the park. You can rebuild it with freshly painted parts (instead of peeling "Haunted House" parts) provided you keep it the same shape. You can use the house as a queue, a shop, a restroom, whatever. The only thing you can't do is destroy it. This only applies to the farmhouse. The barns and all other buildings and junk lying around can be destroyed.
5. The Pharqueson Family Cemetery:
NOTE: The gate is open so the cows could keep the grass mowed. But they also bent the fence and leaned the headstones.
Anyway, the graves can't be moved or built over by park structures or rides. You can, however, fix the fence, replace the headstones, or even cover the whole plot with 1 large memorial structure. Just show some respect to the Pharqueson family. You can remove the adjacent oak tree if you absolutely have to, although the Pharquesons would prefer you didn't.
6. The Indian Mound:
You can't touch this at all. You can't even trim the weeds or trees on it. It's owned by the state (assume the property line is 4m out from the bottom of the mound) and is protected by a number of federal laws. Removing the trees would cause erosion. This mound has not been excavated but surface samples indicate it was just a house foundation from about 1000 years ago. So relax, it's not a burial mound. Probably. Anyway, put an informational plaque next to it and leave it alone.
Anyway, that's pretty much it for Pharqueson Farms. It wasn't a very interesting place when it was in business so it's up to you to change that.
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