Town sizes

[Antioch 33]

Was just wondering how big towns, villages and cities should be in your opinion.
 
My first example is the only Elven town on the mainland of the game (there is an elf-exclusive string of islands)

 

 

http://imgur.com/eES8I75

 

 

My second example is a desert town situated out in quite an empty area, but several miles from a larger city.

 

 

http://imgur.com/PswtSYz

 

 

My third example is a snowy village mainly built to facilitate the large manor, however the snow in the area is unnatural.

 

 

http://imgur.com/PfmKcYm

 

[shadowblack 103]

There is no firm rule how big a village, town or city should be - it depends on the game and the world.

 

The first and third map seem more like villages than towns to me - just 4 buildings each. It depends on how populated the areas are, but most of the time so few buildings would not be called a town.

[lonequeso 1,921]

I have a tendency to make very large towns

(60 × 60 and up) with lots of buildings. I want my towns and cities to really feel alive. I have a lot of NPCs and bookshelves that provide details about the world. I also like to make them feel like fully functioning towns. Aside from the Inn and shops, I'll add things like police and a couple have fire stations. A couple cities have schools and libraries. Some towns have smiths and forgers seperate from the equipment shops. Every town has a pub.

 

As shadowblack said, it depends on how populated your areas are. Four buildings is okay for a small village, but if the area is supposed to be more populated, the town should be larger. Otherwise you run the risk of having your world feel empty.

 

It always helps to have some sort of goverment or culture buildings to make the town feel alive. Blacksmiths, police, libraries, theatres, stadiums, parks, boardwalks. Of course what you add and how you add it depends on the time period, culture, and government.

 

I like gaving a general theme to my cities. For example one area is a city-state that despite being smack in the middle of a huge nation maintains its soverenty. It's a cross between Sparta and a fuedal japan themed city, and the people and buildings reflect that. Another is an Egyptian themed city with a huge palace. I have one that has a bit of a wild west theme complete with a town sheriff. I have sevral fishing towns, and two huge port cities that reflect Boston and New York in the late renaissaince/ early industrial era.

 

The size of my cities and the people and buildings are dependant on the role they serve in the world. Having an solid idea about the culture and history will help you determine the appropriate size and scope.

[2BitsLP 21]

I have to agree with lonequeso. My big city IIRC is on a 50x50 map... and that doesn't even include the castle. ^^; Nonetheless, there's an entire district of street vendors. Not all of the homes are accessible, but the majority are. There are chests and stuff to find.

 

I say, make the town as big as you need it to be, but within reason. For example, I wouldn't want to venture into a huge city with nothing to do / no one to talk to or a bunch of empty space, UNLESS there was some plot relevant reason for it (like, it was destroyed, or something).

 

Hope I helped ^^;

[+ CVincent 234]

The map sizes look fine to me. A town would serve a lot like a checkpoint and only really needs to give the player basic maintenance resources (saving, restoring health, reviving team members, etc). Your Elven town is a great example, there's enough room for all of those things and maybe a quest if you really wanted.

 

I'd suggest working with what you know is important to the player and what they will interact with frequently. Keeping your maps simple makes it quicker complete your project.

Edited June 14, 2016 by CVincent

[Saneterre 8]

Just my personal taste : I hate big cities in games. The bigger the city, the more uninteresting the dialogues, and I really don't care for 10 NPCs who are going to tell me "I love the sea" or "I love walking with my boyfriend", just because you need to fill those huge maps.

In a game, we know that 1 NPC represent hundreds of people. You want to continue with the adventure, get to the next dungeon, but then you arrive at a new town and you know you're going to waste an hour reading things that bear no interest at all, entering houses just to check the closets for a potion.

 

I'll stop there to tell you that your first and third maps seem very good to me. They are the perfect size in my opinion.

Your second one seems too big. The number of houses can be ok but the streets seem too big and you will have to put many NPCs in order for those streets not to feel too empty. Back to what I said before : you probably won't be able to make them all say interesting things so I would make this smaller.

 

However, I agree that the type of game can change a vision on those subjects : if many villagers give quests or can be parts of quests, then it's a different story.