5
Overview
Note: To follow high-quality screenshots, click this Sub-Reddit link.
The Texture Pack is one of the very few modern-style Packs I found that works or is downloadable for my Minecraft: BladeCraft.
The Grid
The first thing I did was grid everything into city blocks. 247 by 81 blocks/metres before actually working on them. The avenues running down are 31 blocks wide. The streets running across are 19 blocks wide. City blocks are simply called 'blocks' in my setting. The sides have roughly half-blocks, and north-south are clipped (10% or so remaining). From the west, there are 2 rows with 20 each; and the final 3 full blocks have 13 (south of Central Park). 79 total. The 40 half blocks makes roughly 20 total, bringing the total to 99. Adding the remaining pieces of 11 blocks brings the total to roughly 100.
I then went in and started sectioning things. Entire collections of blocks and streets were swallowed by the massive plaza areas.
I've not yet mapped everything out, just the basics. Some of the buildings will likely take up anywhere from a quarter of a block to two blocks. It's all roughly 1:1 scale to the World Painter map. (This time, the world is empty. I used Air blocks, since I don't need a map-sized floor; I'll be building my own at level 65. The only thing in the world is the single layer of Bedrock.)
The Hell's Kitchen area is now the central 'slums' area with extreme population density, called 'Hell's Slums'. Now, there are only 39 full blocks for standard usage. There are also 27 half blocks for a total of at least 14 (as one side is actually more than half), giving a total of at least 53. For context, the Great Palace Library building is roughly 500 by 500 blocks, equal to just 10 of these city blocks (5 by 5).
The distances and such are all jumbled up, partly by lack of precision on my part and partly by design. I wanted to make it different and dense, but I also wanted a few landmarks, even if their locations are changed slightly.
The graphic image clearly shows the general layout, and that I've added a few key buildings; we'll see how that goes.
Okay. Fine. There's a library. The New York Public Library. However, I've had a terrible thought that the project is too large to complete the interior. I might have to just do the exterior, and think of it more as a painting. I won't know until I'm further into the project and I see just how many blocks are required. I know that the style and exact arrangement of blocks means it's going to be faster to build than the Great Palace Library project, though.
Administrative Divisions of Urizen (Arcology)
Rehiyon (Filipino for 'region', but this means county): population: 50 million (x20 = 1 billion)
Ward (sub0division of rehiyon)
Fold (parish; sub-division of ward)
Great Avenue (a multi-neighbourhood road of ceremonial importance)
Barrio (Filipino for 'district'; neighbourhood; sub-division of fold): population: ~400,000
Zone (any defined region of barrio(s) area, typically a sub-division of barrio)
Row (a road external to a Close; sub-division of locale)
Lesser Node/Node (a housing hub/street; sub-division of Row): population: ~5,000
Note: the Locale was inspired by Midtown Manhattan. It's the business centre of the world, and the commercial, media, and entertainment centre of America. It has the most iconic buildings in New York City, and, therefore, the world. It's the most populated at roughly 400,000. It's also one of the largest neighbourhoods in Manhattan by land area, being roughly 5.8 million square metres (a giant square measuring roughly 2,400 by 2,400 metres).
(More on the narrative and worldbuilding side of things in the next update.)
The Style
I'm trying to aim for something I call 'gritty hopeful cyberpunk-Deco' ('grithope' or 'gritdeco' for short). This is a fusion of Mead's brighter, more optimistic, Neo-Futuristic drawings and Scott's dark, gritty vision (his own drawings reflect this).
There will be a Tyrell Corporate structure, with a Speer-like 'cathedral of light' box within the light court/light well (square opening at the top). This works well, given that light wells/skywells are most heavily used in Egyptian and Chinese architecture. However, this is inspired by another piece of art by Mead. I'll talk about it in the following update, as it's going to be one of the first things I build near the Spawn Point (once Times Square, now News Square), along with another building idea I had.
Neo-Futurism began with Art Deco, running through Googie movement and high-tech architecture. With Mead/Scott's style, you see a fusion here coupled with grittiness/dilapidation, or the 'lived-in future' look. Mead and co. also have a strong Futurism quality. Notably, Antonio Sant'Elia's works (air and train station drawing circa 1914, for example. This, part of 'The New City' set of drawings). These are often 'modern ziggurats', which is interesting: it seems, to find the future, we must rediscover the dead past.
Seen as the seeds of Fascism, The Manifesto of Futurism (1909) by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was A Clockwork Orange-like affair, glorifying violence and the speed of future things with a pulsing desire for Italian and youth power. You might consider this the bedrock structure of a cyberpunk state, whereas, Ridley Scott/Syd Mead come in after the dust has settled, and the once angry youth are old and destitute. Thinking more 'living ruins' in line with Albert Speer's 'ruin value'. Imagine a grand empire, hollowed-out yet still standing, overgrown not with ivy but people.
Production designer Lawrence Paull describes the executive office at the top of the pyramid as 'Establishment Gothic'. It has black marble floors, 20-foot columns, a black marble desk and a huge picture window overlooking the entire city.
(This reminds me of Hitler's office at the New Reich Chancellery: a large red granite desk, polygonic shapes, and quite minimalist in terms of personal and otherwise items.)
It's at once ordered and web-like. This culture and architecture is known as 'spaghetti code' in the context of RuneScape (2001), an old MMORPG: code so outdated and multi-layered that it's not worth reworking; instead, they merely throw new code over the top and hope it doesn't snap, and patch only what they need to as issues arise. I'll simply term this 'spaghetti architecture'. (Though, from a formal standpoint, it's a mixture of Mayan Revival (a la Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House), Egyptian Revival, Art Deco, and more.)
Scott notes, in the same linked article: 'The film is a tongue-in-cheek idea of what could actually happen if the replicant industry becomes a large conglomerate, a monopoly. If one particular company could become so large that it develops into aerospace, it develops into the space probes looking for mining and military areas. Another side of that company could be genetics and genetic engineering which could easily lead to the development of the first human clone.'
And: 'Eventually, you’ll just have to "retrofit" things on the face of the building rather than having to pull half the side off, re-house the air conditioning or re-wire it. The cost will get so high it’s going to be simpler just to smack things on the outside. So maybe buildings will start to be designed from the inside out. You wear your guts on the outside. That gives us a picture of a textured city.'
Recall what Oscar Wilde said: 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'
I'm also reminded of Alan Moore's WATCHMEN (1986-1987) and the opening scene. Rather, the first three panels, zoomed in on the blood-soaked street with the Comedian's smiley face badge in it. The opening lines are astonishing: 'Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. / The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.'
Inspirations
Personally, I prefer trains, not flying cars -- other than in The Fifth Element (1997) and I, Robot (2005) -- so I'm running with the flying cars idea, and coupling it with Doctor Who's 'Gridlock', 2007, the other depiction of flying cars I like. Here, there is a major traffic system under New New York of New Earth (yes, that's its actual name). Not sure if this is meant to be under Central Park or not, but mine is going to be placed there. I'll likely also incorporate Grand Central Terminal and some kind of train system, however.
I actually dislike the car design for Blade Runner (1982) so I'm creating my own more normative design, which is required, anyway, due to the limitations of building in base Minecraft.
The polygonic pillars of Tyrell's office from the film seem remarkably similar to Alan Lee's for The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). Creating a kind of rigid temple of sorts. This tracks with their general desire for a priestly sort of structure -- notably, Tyrell's bedroom (modelled on the Pope's (which reminds me of the bedroom scene from 2001 (1968))). There is an extreme hardness but also a real religious quality to it. Going to copy that when possible, as well.
My 'Hattanrunner', as it were, is also inspired by Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995)'s Dark Deco style, and general Art Deco and otherwise American architecture (e.g. 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan and St. Patrick's Cathedral). And by Star Wars (general), Judge Dredd (general), The Matrix (1999), Alien (1979), Logan (2017), The Fifth Element (1997), The Terminator (1984), Batman Forever (1995), Hellboy (2004), Dune: Part II (2024), and the Mines of Moria from The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). Some of this will be more evident than others.
In the next update, I'll cover anything I omitted here and the beginning of the project, in-game. :)
-
Block counter: 0/50,000,000
Hours counter: 0/3,000
-
'To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.' - Nietzsche
'Live not by lies.' - Solzyentiyn
'Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.' - Tolkien
Note: To follow high-quality screenshots, click this Sub-Reddit link.
The Texture Pack is one of the very few modern-style Packs I found that works or is downloadable for my Minecraft: BladeCraft.
The Grid
The first thing I did was grid everything into city blocks. 247 by 81 blocks/metres before actually working on them. The avenues running down are 31 blocks wide. The streets running across are 19 blocks wide. City blocks are simply called 'blocks' in my setting. The sides have roughly half-blocks, and north-south are clipped (10% or so remaining). From the west, there are 2 rows with 20 each; and the final 3 full blocks have 13 (south of Central Park). 79 total. The 40 half blocks makes roughly 20 total, bringing the total to 99. Adding the remaining pieces of 11 blocks brings the total to roughly 100.
I then went in and started sectioning things. Entire collections of blocks and streets were swallowed by the massive plaza areas.
I've not yet mapped everything out, just the basics. Some of the buildings will likely take up anywhere from a quarter of a block to two blocks. It's all roughly 1:1 scale to the World Painter map. (This time, the world is empty. I used Air blocks, since I don't need a map-sized floor; I'll be building my own at level 65. The only thing in the world is the single layer of Bedrock.)
The Hell's Kitchen area is now the central 'slums' area with extreme population density, called 'Hell's Slums'. Now, there are only 39 full blocks for standard usage. There are also 27 half blocks for a total of at least 14 (as one side is actually more than half), giving a total of at least 53. For context, the Great Palace Library building is roughly 500 by 500 blocks, equal to just 10 of these city blocks (5 by 5).
The distances and such are all jumbled up, partly by lack of precision on my part and partly by design. I wanted to make it different and dense, but I also wanted a few landmarks, even if their locations are changed slightly.
The graphic image clearly shows the general layout, and that I've added a few key buildings; we'll see how that goes.
Okay. Fine. There's a library. The New York Public Library. However, I've had a terrible thought that the project is too large to complete the interior. I might have to just do the exterior, and think of it more as a painting. I won't know until I'm further into the project and I see just how many blocks are required. I know that the style and exact arrangement of blocks means it's going to be faster to build than the Great Palace Library project, though.
Administrative Divisions of Urizen (Arcology)
Rehiyon (Filipino for 'region', but this means county): population: 50 million (x20 = 1 billion)
Ward (sub0division of rehiyon)
Fold (parish; sub-division of ward)
Great Avenue (a multi-neighbourhood road of ceremonial importance)
Barrio (Filipino for 'district'; neighbourhood; sub-division of fold): population: ~400,000
Zone (any defined region of barrio(s) area, typically a sub-division of barrio)
Row (a road external to a Close; sub-division of locale)
Lesser Node/Node (a housing hub/street; sub-division of Row): population: ~5,000
Note: the Locale was inspired by Midtown Manhattan. It's the business centre of the world, and the commercial, media, and entertainment centre of America. It has the most iconic buildings in New York City, and, therefore, the world. It's the most populated at roughly 400,000. It's also one of the largest neighbourhoods in Manhattan by land area, being roughly 5.8 million square metres (a giant square measuring roughly 2,400 by 2,400 metres).
(More on the narrative and worldbuilding side of things in the next update.)
The Style
I'm trying to aim for something I call 'gritty hopeful cyberpunk-Deco' ('grithope' or 'gritdeco' for short). This is a fusion of Mead's brighter, more optimistic, Neo-Futuristic drawings and Scott's dark, gritty vision (his own drawings reflect this).
There will be a Tyrell Corporate structure, with a Speer-like 'cathedral of light' box within the light court/light well (square opening at the top). This works well, given that light wells/skywells are most heavily used in Egyptian and Chinese architecture. However, this is inspired by another piece of art by Mead. I'll talk about it in the following update, as it's going to be one of the first things I build near the Spawn Point (once Times Square, now News Square), along with another building idea I had.
Neo-Futurism began with Art Deco, running through Googie movement and high-tech architecture. With Mead/Scott's style, you see a fusion here coupled with grittiness/dilapidation, or the 'lived-in future' look. Mead and co. also have a strong Futurism quality. Notably, Antonio Sant'Elia's works (air and train station drawing circa 1914, for example. This, part of 'The New City' set of drawings). These are often 'modern ziggurats', which is interesting: it seems, to find the future, we must rediscover the dead past.
Seen as the seeds of Fascism, The Manifesto of Futurism (1909) by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was A Clockwork Orange-like affair, glorifying violence and the speed of future things with a pulsing desire for Italian and youth power. You might consider this the bedrock structure of a cyberpunk state, whereas, Ridley Scott/Syd Mead come in after the dust has settled, and the once angry youth are old and destitute. Thinking more 'living ruins' in line with Albert Speer's 'ruin value'. Imagine a grand empire, hollowed-out yet still standing, overgrown not with ivy but people.
Production designer Lawrence Paull describes the executive office at the top of the pyramid as 'Establishment Gothic'. It has black marble floors, 20-foot columns, a black marble desk and a huge picture window overlooking the entire city.
(This reminds me of Hitler's office at the New Reich Chancellery: a large red granite desk, polygonic shapes, and quite minimalist in terms of personal and otherwise items.)
It's at once ordered and web-like. This culture and architecture is known as 'spaghetti code' in the context of RuneScape (2001), an old MMORPG: code so outdated and multi-layered that it's not worth reworking; instead, they merely throw new code over the top and hope it doesn't snap, and patch only what they need to as issues arise. I'll simply term this 'spaghetti architecture'. (Though, from a formal standpoint, it's a mixture of Mayan Revival (a la Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House), Egyptian Revival, Art Deco, and more.)
Scott notes, in the same linked article: 'The film is a tongue-in-cheek idea of what could actually happen if the replicant industry becomes a large conglomerate, a monopoly. If one particular company could become so large that it develops into aerospace, it develops into the space probes looking for mining and military areas. Another side of that company could be genetics and genetic engineering which could easily lead to the development of the first human clone.'
And: 'Eventually, you’ll just have to "retrofit" things on the face of the building rather than having to pull half the side off, re-house the air conditioning or re-wire it. The cost will get so high it’s going to be simpler just to smack things on the outside. So maybe buildings will start to be designed from the inside out. You wear your guts on the outside. That gives us a picture of a textured city.'
Recall what Oscar Wilde said: 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'
I'm also reminded of Alan Moore's WATCHMEN (1986-1987) and the opening scene. Rather, the first three panels, zoomed in on the blood-soaked street with the Comedian's smiley face badge in it. The opening lines are astonishing: 'Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. / The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.'
Inspirations
Personally, I prefer trains, not flying cars -- other than in The Fifth Element (1997) and I, Robot (2005) -- so I'm running with the flying cars idea, and coupling it with Doctor Who's 'Gridlock', 2007, the other depiction of flying cars I like. Here, there is a major traffic system under New New York of New Earth (yes, that's its actual name). Not sure if this is meant to be under Central Park or not, but mine is going to be placed there. I'll likely also incorporate Grand Central Terminal and some kind of train system, however.
I actually dislike the car design for Blade Runner (1982) so I'm creating my own more normative design, which is required, anyway, due to the limitations of building in base Minecraft.
The polygonic pillars of Tyrell's office from the film seem remarkably similar to Alan Lee's for The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). Creating a kind of rigid temple of sorts. This tracks with their general desire for a priestly sort of structure -- notably, Tyrell's bedroom (modelled on the Pope's (which reminds me of the bedroom scene from 2001 (1968))). There is an extreme hardness but also a real religious quality to it. Going to copy that when possible, as well.
My 'Hattanrunner', as it were, is also inspired by Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995)'s Dark Deco style, and general Art Deco and otherwise American architecture (e.g. 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Manhattan and St. Patrick's Cathedral). And by Star Wars (general), Judge Dredd (general), The Matrix (1999), Alien (1979), Logan (2017), The Fifth Element (1997), The Terminator (1984), Batman Forever (1995), Hellboy (2004), Dune: Part II (2024), and the Mines of Moria from The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). Some of this will be more evident than others.
In the next update, I'll cover anything I omitted here and the beginning of the project, in-game. :)
-
Block counter: 0/50,000,000
Hours counter: 0/3,000
-
'To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.' - Nietzsche
'Live not by lies.' - Solzyentiyn
'Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.' - Tolkien
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