The SKlion Blog Now Online

[sk.lion]

www.sklion.com

Hello Sketchucation community! I am happy to announce the creation of website and blog called SKlion just for the SimCity 4 & Sketchup! Please read on to find more about SKlion Smiley

SKlion
SKlion is simply about urban design and urban planning in SimCity with Sketchup , along with the experiences of the author along the way. SKlion will feature weekly blog posts, and tutorials related to using Sketchup for SimCity, and how to apply design & planning techniques found in the real world. The main goal is create a place where people can find advice and concepts for design and planning in both Sketchup & SimCity, and above all – ideas for your own projects and creations!

Some Background on SKlion
Today, there is an increasing demand for an easier tool to create custom content for SimCity 4, and finally there is a tool to do just that – Google Sketchup. This program is easy to learn and master, as well it is more visually engaging and pleasing to work with. Also, since Sketchup is more geared towards architects, city planning and design, there is a massive and growing collection of tools, scripts, and 3rd party programs that can be used to enhance the workflow, and model with greater ease and detail.

For about 4 years now, I have been creating content for both Sketchup and SimCity. Ever since then, I have had the desire to setup a website dedicated to urban design and planning with both programs. Though, until now, that has been made difficult as I have not had a lot of time to work with. Today, I finally have more time to invest and more knowledge than I did a few years ago. As well, I have noticed that there are few blogs out there on Sketchup and SimCity, so I have taken the opportunity to create one.

Some of the offerings of SKlion
I wanted to make this website special, with the SimCity & Sketchup community in mind. The main offerings of SKlion will be design & planning ideas, advice and help for both programs, and mainly, ideas and inspiration for your own work. The weekly updated blog, will feature informative posts related to SKP and SC4, and the SKlion “omnibus” will have easy to follow tutorials for both programs as well. For inspiration, I have created a gallery with both real world and custom design & planning examples. Here is an overview of what to expect on SKlion:

-Weekly updated blog
-Tutorials covering both SKP and SC4
-3 Main galleries
-RSS and Monthly newsletter
-Important links to resources
-Script and tool reviews
-News/events/announcements

Author/Contributors
Currently, just me: Darcy “starrdarcy” Cardinal. Though, I would like to find some individuals who want to share their ideas and content as well.

Current status and future plans
The website for the first few months will remain in “beta” as I am saving money to get someone help design/upgrade the WordPress template to the final version. Currently, the preview page is up right now, until the actual opening date. In the meantime, I will post up progress updates in this thread.

My future plans include; expand the website to feature custom content from both communities, and a website dedicated to a City Journal. Those plans are still several months down the line, and for now I am focusing on just getting the essential content up.

Authors note
Overall, I believe there is still a lot of room for creativity and expansion in both Sketchup and SimCity, there is a lot of uncharted territory in respect to planning and design, even after 13 or more years of SimCity. I wanted to create this website to feature content and ideas that have not been covered that much by both communities and at the same time, offer up some unique inspiration and advice for people looking for more in their projects.

I look forward to seeing what the response will be, once the site is opened! The scheduled date for the opening of SKlion is March 15 2008

You can view the preview page from here: www.sklion.com

Thanks.

-starrdarcy

[dantyree]

I have read this post several times, and still don't understand what it is about. Wow!

[sk.lion]

oh boy, my post went up into the job board... tsk tsk, can someone move it to the corner bar, or a more suitable section, this isnt a job!

Thanks

[pilou]

What a teasing!

[Gaieus]

OK then - I'll move it to the Corner Bar for now (ctually I don't know either where it would be the best)

[huyvuvn]

...waiting for March....

[sk.lion]

I probably should have added that this blog is mainly on Sketchup, with SimCity being the extension of my work. of course, i will be using other tools as well, however, there are the two main programs i will be working with.

BTW, i have secured the web hosting, and have a chosen wordpress theme i will be using, and eventually modding to my liking.

[sk.lion]

Good news, SKlion is finally Online on scheduled. I have placed the first blog post already.

You can view SKlion from here.