Map of Newbridge

[Ojingeo]

I was just assuming that the map in the box set was the one you had made. Hm.

[JRSly]

Nah, that would've really blown my mind if that was a possibility. It was funny talking with Tom and how after all these years, no one had made a map of Newbridge and both of these projects were started almost simultaneously. I suppose it makes sense though, with the WFMU run coming to an end and having a "complete" set of info to work from. I really appreciated being able to continue working on and posting about my map freely. The map Scott Teplin is making will be colorful and engaging and fanciful and much more humorous and I think feel much more Newbridgian than my straightforward, clinical approach. Here's a small image from the pre-order page.

[JRSly]

Whew. Long time, no updates, cartophiles. Slight growing feelings of tedium and apathy, other projects cropping up and various incidents from the real world(don't you hate that place?) kept me from working as ferociously on the map in the last few weeks. But even if it was slower, work was still plodding along. And with the recent exciting developments, my enthusiasm has returned in a big way.

So here we are today... http://i.imgur.com/vtTpHE5.jpg

Leeeet's see what to talk about since the last update. Start with the big, added Port Newbridge, always exciting to have these big landmarks figured out and in place. Reworked a lot of the roads over in East Newbridge as I did that and filled out the industrial area with the Consolidated's and Kern Pharm. Got some more residential zones, including South South Newbridge, home to Linus. I think I have most of the roadwork between Muffler Row and the coast of the Sea sorted out and just need to plop down a few more filler commercial buildings. It may not look it, but I think East Newbridge is close to completion, get some more buildings and add some trees and it should be there. Today I've been working on adding the houses and shops up at Newbridge Cliffs. Never mentioned on the show, but I added a lighthouse at the point, seemed like a logical and very New Englandy addition.

Less obvious things-moved/dropped/rethought some of the retail locations. Most small to mid-size towns will only have a couple retail corridors where the chain restaurants and strip malls live, but with Newbridge, many calls mention a store and specify it's location on a unique street that never comes up again. Sure, the "Newbridge is insane" law is always nice to being able to fall back on, but either 1)designating a ton of criss-crossing streets as retail corridors and lining them with a bunch of filler stores or 2)making those mentioned streets be largely residential and plopping their one store in the middle of houses just wouldn't sit right with me. 1) No, I've played too many hours of SimCity and have too much reverence for a somewhat realistic RCI balance, this map is going to be way off in the RCI ratio, but it will at least have the illusion of being heavily weighted towards residential. 2) Just wouldn't be realistic, certain types of businesses will be sprinkled through residential areas, sure, but in most cases, they look better kept with other stores. So I'm trying to squeeze as many of those roads that I know have stores close together and, if I can't have simple continuous retail roads, I'll have "retail zones". And I'm also treating some of the far flung neighborhoods like Upper, Lower Left Hand Corner, and West sort of as if they were suburbs with their own little micro-ecosystem of residential zones and retail roads or quasi-downtown areas.

I added several places and people first appearing in the recent "Newbridge: We're Coming to Get You" video. I've been relistening to calls in the last couple weeks and have stumbled across new places, including one of my all-time favorites that I can't believe I didn't have in before now...Staff Sergeant Randolph Mertz's All You're Required to Eat Buffet. Through relistening, I've also dropped some things-Dettweiller Funeral Home mentioned by Philly Boy Roy is likely the real one in Philadelphia, and not in Newbridge..so it's gone. Short Hills Mall is probably the real mall in Short Hills, and so, deleted.

I've added a handful of the fun little narrative notes. I'm hoping to have at least around 50 when I'm done.

And finally, just for some closure, I found some resolutions to questions brought up in the thread for those who have had suffered from sleepless nights like myself. InSUBOrdinates and What's Sub, Dude? are from the RB/Gathering of the Juggalos call on July 28, 2009. And the "Newbridge Ten", the group who allegedly kidnapped and tortured teens were turned in by author Rick Higgins. Still trying to find the source that mentioned Panty Pagoda, I'll come across it eventually.

[Omar]

GLORIOUS.

[Andrew F]

JRSly, this is fantastic!

[neuroticomic]

WOW!
New wallpaper incoming

This is insane, seriously.

[CW3]

SO GREAT!

[JRSly]

A quick, less funny update today...



Sporadically, I'd attempt to address the natural features like the cliffs and mountains and try to find a way to quickly and effectively draw them up, in a style that felt right with the rest of the map's look. It's been tricky and frustrating and so it's an aspect I've been dreading and always waiting to get to later. But I think I may have found a method that I like. It's more realistic than if I tried sketching or painting by hand, but not hyper-realistic to the point of making the roads and buildings and trees look "wrong". And it's pretty darn quick and easy to do, that makes me really happy. I'm not planning on making a full relief map for the whole town, that'd be arduous and a waste of time I think, but I had to do something with the mountain range and the cliffs. And where there are empty plots of land and being able to read the terrain seems important, I'll add some topography.

[JRSly]

Hey gang.

http://i.imgur.com/ygcMgCW.jpg

Oooookay, since last time, by far the biggest thing is getting the mountains in there. They are comically small, but they work well enough, it just was never gonna happen where there'd be big mountains for miles. Mountains, fields, parking lots, acres of residential area..these are all necessary, realistic but unfunny blobs that get in the way of cramming in the silliness. So where I can trim them down a bit, I always try. Just the base terrain layer is done on the mountains, still needs to be colored and add trees and roads and some buildings, which will make them blend in and just look better, so I'm excited to get to that soon. Oh, and for those curious, sulfur mines are built around volcanic craters so I worked one of those into tail end of the Newbridge Range. I've learned many things doing research for elements like that I was not familiar with. And what better place to find Stink Pits than an area farting out spumes of sulfur? I love when regions tend to build themselves.

Filled in a ton of empty lots sprinkled around from the industrial region to North Newbridge, between route 1276 and Main Street. Added in the region south of the port. I always enjoy when I get to the point where I can zoom in 100% and actually "drive" down some roads and navigate around an area that's completely finished, and now pretty much the triangle between North Newbridge, the airport and Newbridge Cliffs is complete! In terms of drawing, still need to label streets and idenitify the various points of interest.

Another big change was moving the Garden State Parkway. I've never really liked the way it cut through the middle of town, and how close it was to the richy rich neighborhoods. Early on, it got placed where it was because Tom at first mistakenly thought the Banksy of Human Interaction lived under an overpass on Mutton Chops Pike, but he actually lived at Newbridge Downs a short distance away. So the Parkway was going to be that overpass. But, providence shined upon me and I heard a call mention a train station, and I always wanted to add a rail system because with everything else, of course there should be a railroad going through town, and that made me think that maybe it could be the source of the overpass instead. It was a happy surprise that made everything work out all the better. Get to move the highway, add the railroad I always wanted, and it makes the map look better and still not violate any established narrative.

Today, I've been working on Fort Davies. An army camp is another tricky kinda thing, size wise. In a lot of cases a camp would practically be a town itself, but I made it a fairly tiny camp that can only house maybe a hundred soldiers. And I thought it seemed to make sense to make this a little military area, threw in the military academy and the proving grounds nearby. And at the Fort, you can see the finished Lady Foot Locker Blimp, I'm happy with how it came out.

I think that's about it for major changes...hmm. Oh, I tweaked the legend some and added nifty lines so everything doesn't run together so much and it's a bit easier to read.

[Omar]

GLORIOUS.

[gabbo]

this really is incredible. When it's finished and settled, i can't wait to print it up and put it on my wall.

[Pixmintro]

This is absolutely amazing! I've spent an inordinate amount of time staring at this. Can't wait to see more!

[mackro]

You need to contact the Google Maps team. Somehow, they sidetracked inclusion of Newbrdge all these years.

I'm truly in awe.

[Anthony from Ireland]

So great

[JRSly]

You need to contact the Google Maps team. Somehow, they sidetracked inclusion of Newbrdge all these years.

I'm truly in awe.

I've heard Muffler Row was just too darn rough a place to drive the street view cars down.

Sorry for another big delay. I got a new drawing monitor with some Christmas money and have been playing with it a lot and doing more painterly work. Forgive my tiny spammage, but if anyone's interested in seeing any of that, you can see my Instagram posts. I'll be diving back into Newbridge soon.

On to the map, I think there was still enough work since my last update to warrant a new post. Working my way through South Newbridge and fleshing it out. Built up Route 7 and the area around Fort Davies. Fort Davies, by the way, has street names honoring those that historians might consider the worst generals of all time. I try to add in these little jokes that will probably never be caught, for my own amusement. Developed Mount Newbridge, it kinda hurt to spend so much time making the topographic layer for the mountains and cover it up with trees, but that's how it would be and I think the underlying heights can still be read enough to sell it as a mountain. Mount Gornter won't be as covered so hopefully it will look a bit more craggy and taller and mroe appropriate for skiing. Added the proving grounds and the fairgrounds and the polo grounds...all kinds of grounds. Besides those big things, as always, lots of tweaeking. I shrank a ton of houses that I placed early on and now seem too big and out of scale. Relocated some businesses to other routes to try to keep things more consistent and focused filled in those holes with residential areas. Added or adjusted narrative notes.

That's about all in that iteration, like I said, I'll be back to cartographizing soon, I'm really missing the map now after looking over these pics.