Summervale is another of the early towns - back before I had a virtual ton of resources to use and no understanding of how painted tiles style worked. In my mind, Summervale has always been a forest town. Away from prying eyes, it's the perfect example of man trying to tame nature. It's also a fortress town, surrounded by tall walls that would protect from animals and human invaders alike.
One of the things that always bothered me about the early version of Summervale is how perfectly fake it looked. Sure, a small part of that was due to the fact that a large portion of it was mapped in editor and thus kept the square shape. But the bigger part was the fact that it was just too linear and clean. The trees had that artificial quality of "planted for curb appeal" look that wasn't a part of the concept.
So, I've mostly finished redoing Summervale and I'm much more pleased with the results:
It's still a work in progress and there will, undoubtedly, be some more changes. But the town now has a slightly country flair with just enough old European influence to be really charming. Another thing that will be added to the map is more NPCs wandering around as well as some animals (butterflies, for instance!).
- Burgunda Port has been completely finished, both outside and inside. After having redone the outside of the town, some of the inner maps no longer matched.
- I've made the Burgunda Port shops (general store and magic store) more like actual shops. There are now shelves and tables displaying merchandise, and Miki's competitor is actually looking at rope.
- I've slightly enlarged Alistair's home. Don't worry, it's still an illustration of Alistair's bachelor life. But he now has a sink, a study desk and a lovely window with a view of the outside.
- I fiddled with the quests a bit. Since a couple of you mentioned wanting to have a quest record, I've restructured the "completed" section of the quest log. Quests will no longer disappear from the log when they've been completed.
- I've added a couple of new NPCs in Burgunda Port. This is mainly due to the fact that Burgunda Port is supposed to have a church (that I never got around to mapping before). You will be able to see the church now, but you won't access it right away. Once you return to Burgunda Port, Penelope will be able to visit the church and learn an important field skill.