Alright folks, settle in. Been tinkering with this Harmonyville thing lately, thought I’d dump my messy notes here. Started simple, ended… well, let’s just say it’s been a ride.
The Spark and the Shovel Work
Got this itch, right? Wanted a little peaceful world on my screen. Something calm, orderly. Figured, how hard can it be? Named it Harmonyville immediately – seemed fitting. Fire up the tools, blank canvas staring back at me. First step, always the groundwork. Drew a big rough square for the town boundary, shoved in a river winding through the middle. Felt good. Used the box tool like crazy, plopping down houses in neat little rows. Looked boring as toast. Added a park smack in the center – big green rectangle, threw a pond blob in there too. Basic stuff.
Trees, Paths, and First Annoyances
Realized everything looked flat. Dead flat. Need trees! Got click-happy with the tree brush. Spammed little green circles everywhere – houses, park, riverbanks. Better. Still felt rigid. Needed paths. Drew dirt trails connecting houses to the park, to a new area I slapped down called the “Market Square” (a cobbled-together marketplace thing). Okay, starting to feel a bit alive. But then… colors. Oh man. Picked what I thought was a nice blue for the river. Looked like toxic waste. Tried a calming green. Baby vomit. Spent ages fiddling those color pickers like a mad scientist, just trying to get water that didn’t make your eyes bleed.
- Housing Block: Copied-pasted too many identical square houses. Felt like clones.
- Tree Spam: Went nuts clicking trees everywhere. No real plan.
- River Blues (Literally): Couldn’t find a decent water color without serious effort.
- Pathing Frustration: Made them connect, but they looked stiff. Stick figures.
Trying to “Harmonize” and Finding Chaos
Harmonyville needed harmony, right? Thought about what makes a town feel peaceful. People! Added stick figures walking around. Fine. Then animals. Stick-figure birds, dogs – looked terrible but hey, placeholders. Added flower patches near houses. Small splashes of color helped a bit. Tried adding sound next. Found a chirping birds clip. Perfect! Turned it on… loop was awful. One second of birdsong, dead silence, then chirp chirp again. Jarring. Like a broken bird robot. Tried stretching the sound file, made it sound underwater. Gave up after half an hour of fighting bad audio.
The “Grand” Marketplace and the Wheel Debacle
Focus shifted to the Market Square. Wanted carts, stalls. Drew some uneven rectangles for stalls. Added stick figure vendors. Needed something dynamic. A wheel! Like, a Ferris wheel? Why not. Drew a wonky circle, lines for seats. Looked like a lopsided spider. Tried spinning it slowly. The animation stuttered like crazy, seats clipped through each other. Laughed out loud at how bad it was. Scrapped the wheel. Maybe just stick to static apple carts.
Feeling Stuck and Taking a Break
Stared at my screen. Harmonyville looked… off. Houses were clones, the river was passable but not great, paths were boring, my birds were silent robots, and the marketplace wheel was a catastrophe. Didn’t feel harmonious. Felt forced. Kinda janky. Hit a wall. Shut it down. Made coffee instead. Sometimes you just gotta walk away.
Week later, cracked it open again. Fresh eyes. Yep, still weird. Spent an hour just deleting stuff. Half the trees went. Changed some house shapes, broke the monotony. Thinned out the path network a little. Found a slightly less awful river blue. Ditched the animation wheel entirely, made a simple static fountain for the square. Way better. Accepted the bird sounds were a no-go for now. Focused on the visual “vibe” – calm layout, uneven houses, pops of color from the flowers and market awnings.
So Where’s Harmonyville Now?
Honestly? It’s mostly glued together and looks a hell of a lot better since I hacked away at it. No crazy animations, no fancy soundscapes. Just a peaceful little digital diorama. Sometimes simpler is just… calmer. Learned more about deleting than adding this week. Maybe that’s the real harmony.
