I’ve been watching the Witcher and frowning at some of the similarities to the fantasy world I’ve been creating. There is a major uck factor at these similarities, but this is the way of fantasy. It does also mean that I will need to rethink a few things–especially in terms of portrayal and even the necessity of the variety of races in this new world. I realize much of this world comes from my experience playing D&D and I work hard to deflect away from those core ideas and to branch off into my deeper personal thoughts about fantasy and mythology, but whenever mythology rears its head in my world, I find myself crossing paths with the Witcher. That is problematic. I hesitate to see how many other early influences have found their way into my writing as they have into those of that show. I can see where a great deal of what that show is trying to be comes from and it is hard to be so dramatically different from that. Still, I continue to try.
I continue to build in Minecraft.
I am making what amounts to a medieval city in the desert. What I’ve been wondering about and trying to solidify is that dispersal of villagers across the city. Presently they congregate in one space, which leads to them not spreading throughout the space I am trying to forge. Notably I need more beds, but I also need to put those beds slightly further away as I make more in order to encourage spread. I also need to figure out how I intend to design the work spaces. Will there be a district for certain things? I expect to build a forge, so is that where all the blacksmiths congregate? Will I have two forges? What I really want to do is have the city feel real, which means a central road that leads to the castle and secondary roads that twist and bend along the natural curves of the city and thus form the organic lines of the city, making it feel real enough. What makes that a bit difficult is the L shaped markings that were there marking the main road when I first discovered the space. I widened the road, but I also maintained that idea of the L to define roads and spacial separations throughout. What I am thinking now is a main cross street that intersects the city and from there the roads do not have that L but are organic and marked by the fact that they are not sand. This could work. Perhaps today I try that.