How to Contribute to Oldtown

[Iwan]

Friends, Family

EStoop and I proudly present the How To Contribute To Oldtown guide.

The complexity of the Oldtown City Build necessitates a complex model to adequately confuse and appal anyone mad enough to still be interested in the project. At least we have got something to show for these past 2 (3? 4?) years!

Introduction
All jokes aside, Oldtown was planned to be executed a little bit differently from previous city builds. For those of you old enough to remember the last (few) rendition(s) of King’s Landing, house plotting went like this: some poor modly soul showed mercy and filled a stretch of land with plots or employed others that didn’t hide quickly enough to do that for them. Builders came, saw, conquered these plots in no time, mods had to add more plots, etc etc. It was very little fun from the mod perspective, and we often could not keep up with the pace of our builders, while at other times the project did not move for weeks.

The Oldtown city build is designed to allow builder participation in the plotting process. This will ensure that the workload can be distributed more evenly, it gives us the chance to keep a steady supply of new plots, and, most importantly, it gives everyone the opportunity to make an impactful impression on the city by designing, plotting, and leading entire neighbourhoods. We are confident that this will lead to a more creative, inclusive, and beautiful city!

At first sight, the project process is a little bit complex, so if you plan to contribute to Oldtown in any fashion beyond building just a couple houses, I urge you to read this guide carefully now, and again when we are about to start.

The following graphic shows that we separate Oldtown into 4 pillars, each offering a unique pathway to contributing to the project:

• Server Projects
• City Build
• Sprawl & Surrounds
• Teams

Server Projects
Server Projects include

• Battle Isle & The Hightower
• Starry Sept
• The Citadel.

These are server builds in the classical meaning: One or more project leaders (usually mods) prepare a server build by designing tests, guidelines, plots, etc. The server comes together on a certain date to build the project collectively.

During the active build phase, anyone can lead a small group of builders focusing on subsections of the project, e.g., certain buildings, defenses, etc. These leaders can be chosen ahead of time or ad hoc, and they are responsible for the task they are assigned and to include others in completing it. Teams should usually consist of only a few people. There is no number that is perfect, but we recommend something between 3 – 7 builders per team.

There is no time frame for the server builds yet. This however is the sequence we have got in mind, with the respective leaders that we’ve chosen:

• Battle Isle/Hightower (Arkilstorm + WhereRMyDragons)
• Starry Sept (tbd + tbd)
• The Citadel (tbd + tbd)

We encourage everyone to keep testing for these projects. The larger the repository of ideas to draw inspiration from, the better!

City Build
The City Build describes the building of the actual city area, so the houses and everything around them.

Districts & SubDistricts
As you already know if you have read the Oldtown Document, we split Oldtown into Districts, with 20 City Districts (inside the city walls plus the harbors), 5 Sprawl Districts (outside the city walls), and 5 District Projects. You can find descriptions of each district in the Oldtown Document.

Districts in Oldtown are not to be confused with Districts in our most recent King’s Landing update and you can not apply to lead a District in Oldtown.
However, each district will be subdivided into so called SubDistricts – blocks or small neighbourhoods consisting of 10-15 houses. Builders can apply to lead a SubDistrict, and they would operate similarly to Mini projects, meaning that the SubDistrict Leader needs to plan, plot, and oversee the SubDistrict while others may contribute to it by building houses.
The typical life cycle of a SubDistrict looks like this:

1. Plan & Apply
   You first need to plan for it, ideally a model. The plan needs to take the District characteristics, appropriate styles, eras, class distribution, population density and industrial focus into consideration, along with other predefined factors.
   Your plans are discussed with the community, the District Leaders and the Oldtown core team (EStoop and I).
   Your application requires 1 Mod Approval and 1 District Leader/OT Core Approval.
2. Plot
   Once approved, you may plot and label your SubDistrict. Follow the OT PLOTTING AND LABELING GUIDE.
   Your plotting is reviewed by the District Leaders and Oldtown core team. Your SubDistrict requires 1 District Leader or OT Core Approval to proceed.
3. Build
   The plots are open for builders. Once complete, you conduct a thorough review of the buildings, make sure all feedback is addressed.
4. Post Approve
   A dedicated QA Team will eventually review the SubDistrict. It is your responsibility to respond to any issues they raise, even if this step happens a long while after you’ve completed the SubDistrict.
   The QA Post-Approval is needed for a SubDistrict to be considered complete.

Progress Tracking
During and after you run a SubDistrict, it is your responsibility to keep the Oldtown Progress Tracker spreadsheet updated. You need to make sure that all information is entered correctly and match your spreadsheet entries to the plot labels.
Failing to comply with these requirements may lead to a ban from leading SubDistricts in the future!

Special Builds
There are two categories of Special Builds in Oldtown: Pre-Defined Special Builds and Regular Special Builds.

Pre-Defined Special Builds include canon locations (Quill & Tankard, Bank of Oldtown, ..) and other high-profile buildings (City Council, Guildhalls, Septs). Their locations, sometimes their layouts are defined by the District Leaders or OT Core. These are usually not considered part of a SubDistrict, even though they may be located in the middle of one. They require an application and OT Core approval.

Regular Special Builds are common structures with a certain level of uniqueness or specialty, like prominent inns or a large industrial complex. They are not pre-defined or planned. SubDistrict leaders may label up to 2 plots within their SubDistrict as a special build requiring a SubDistrict Leader approval prior to being built. Whether these require tests, an application, or both, will be decided case by case during the approval of the SubDistrict plotting.

Sprawl & Surrounding Area
Sprawl Districts & SubDistricts
Sprawl Districts are the same way a District inside the city is, but their SubDistricts are usually larger. Builders may apply to lead a Sprawl District and help others organise their SubDistricts within that District. In this case, applications for a SubDistrict in a Sprawl District require that builders approval in addition to one approval from OT Core.

Sprawl Projects
The entire Oldtown endeavour is actually very similar to the Mega Project lemonbear started in the Westerlands and includes not only the city of Oldtown itself but almost half of the Southern Reach and several other locations that would justify their own, stand-alone canon projects:

1. Three Towers
2. Graves
3. Blackcrown

Additionally, there are the non-/semi-canon projects:

1. Blackthorns
2. Greenaway

These Sprawl Projects are considered part of the Oldtown project, but still disjunct from it: They will be handled like regular project applications, with the stipulation that applicants need to closely cooperate with the OT Core team in designing them and need to follow or heavily lean on the Oldtown styles. Applications require at least one approval from an OT Core member in addition to the two mod approvals a project usually requires!

 

[Iwan]

Dedicated Teams
Oldtown will require the help of dedicated, focused task forces, we call them Dedicated Teams. A Team consists of one or two Team Leaders and between 3 – 7 Team Members and focuses on completing a certain task. These tasks span over multiple or all parts of Oldtown and require a centralized approach to achieve uniform results. Team efforts currently focus on:

1. Infrastructure
   1. Road Network
   2. Water & Sewage
   3. Underworld (Catacombs, etc)
   4. Canals
   5. Defences
   6. Plazas & Squares
   7. Parks & Gardens
   8. Agriculture
   9. Terraforming
2. Organisation
   1. Quality Assurance (QA)
   2. Support

Each Team has to see their task to completion and integrate it into the respective surroundings. For instance, the Road Networks Team is required to work closely with the Water/Sewers or the Plazas/Squares Team. It also needs to cooperate with individual SubDistrict leaders to ensure a seamless integration of those.
Each Team is run by 1 – 2 Team Leaders.

Team Leaders
We expect that these efforts don’t require a central oversight, but that Teams and others find solutions with one another. We do not wish to micro-manage tasks or tell Team Members what to do. It’s the Team Leaders’ responsibility to organise their Team and to report to the OT Core.

Any builder may apply to become a Team Leader and we will choose based on certain criteria that focus on cooperative, organisational and interpersonal skills previously shown by the applicant. Team Leaders in turn accept Team Member applications – and are strongly advised to do so fairly and give people outside their personal bubbles a chance to contribute. Details in how to apply will follow.

Team Members
Team Members contribute to a Team’s efforts. They work closely with their Team Leader and other Members. Builders may be part of several teams at once, but we strongly advise against taking up too many tasks at once.

In case of conflict, e.g., when there are more Team Member applications than there’s capacity in a Team, we will step in and assign all Team Members randomly.

Building
All common rules apply. Builds need to follow the pre-defined Oldtown styles and use the Oldtown palettes.
Recent tests suggest that there is still a misconception about the colour palette intended for Oldtown. Please refer to the palette at /warp OtPalettes. Generally, a too yellow hue is to be avoided, Oldtown will be a mix of a generic Reach blocks and Oldtown blocks palette.
Wide spread use of Arbor blocks, Dorne blocks or sandstones in buildings is undesired. Buildings in such palettes may be meloned, changed or removed at any time.

ADD.:

• A detailed style guide can be expected soon.
• Builders are required to adhere to the OT Plotting and Labeling Guide, which we will post in the near future.
• Please post any questions regarding this process in the Feedback/Suggestions thread. Please format your questions properly and concisely, so that we don't have to distill your issue from a block of text.