SCURK Art for Sydney

Introduction

This is a gallery of the buildings in Sydney I have made with SCURK so far. I have tried to be consistent and use either a south-west or north-east view for each building, so they fit together on a Sim City 2000 map consistently, and don't get mixed up in a jumble by the mirror-image process SC2000 uses to produce rotated views.

The tileset is available for downloading in .mif format for PCs:

Sydney Tower (left)

This is a modified copy of the Sydney Tower tile included in the SimCity 2000 Special Edition. That version was too stumpy, so I lengthened it into a better representation, although I believe the space available is about 50 pixels too short for the correct tower height. I also added the main shadow, and intend adding the appropriate shop entrances around the ground level when I have time. The tower sits atop the Centrepoint shopping centre, on Market Street between Pitt and Castlereagh Streets. This view is from the south-west.

The MLC Centre (right)

This is the second tallest building in Sydney, after the tower. It sits on the corner of King and Castlereagh Streets. The underground carpark entrance comes off King Street. The doors on the left are the entrance to the Theatre Royal, and the doors on the right lead to shops. This view is from the south-west.

Governor Phillip Tower (left)

This is a fairly new building (1994) on Phillip Street just south of Bridge Street. The panels at the top are polished and reflect like mirrors. This view is from the south-west, showing the entrance off Phillip Street.

Sydney Cricket Ground (right)

This was pasted into SCURK from a photo and edited. Naturally, this should replace the stadium tile. The SCG is on Anzac Parade, about 2 kilometres south-east of Hyde Park. The stadium location in the version of Sydney included with Sim City 2000 Special Edition is too far north. The actual location is, unfortunately, off the south end of the map. This view is actually a mirror image - I had to reverse it to get the sun coming in from the right angle. This is also about half as large as it should be considering the scale set by the other buildings. If reflected about a vertical line, this view is from the north-west.

Australia Square (left)

This was the tallest building in Sydney for many years, but is now eclipsed by several others. The restaurant on the 47th floor (The Summit) is one of the best known in Sydney. The stairs down lead to a shopping and food court area. Australia Square (easily recognised because it's round) is on George Street, nestled between Bond Street to the north and Curtin Place to the south. This view is from the south-west.

Anzac Memorial (right)

This is a beautiful sandstone monument which forms the focus of the southern half of Hyde Park. It is a memorial to the ANZACs (members of the Australia/New Zealand Army Corps) who died in World War I. The massive doorway leads to an open chamber within, lit by stained glass windows. This view is from the south-west. I also have a step-by-step SCURK gallery showing how this building was rendered.

Queen Victoria Building (left)

This magnificent sandstone building was built in the 1890s and used for government offices for many years until boarded up and left derelict. It was restored in 1984-6 and now houses specialty shops and cafes. The domes are copper, green with verdigris. The real QVB is over six times as long as it is wide - I rendered it shorter to fit it on to one 4x4 tile, leaving out four of the small domes in the process. The QVB fills the block bounded by George Street to the east, York Street to the west, Market Street to the north, and Druitt Street to the south. This view is from the south-west, showing the bus shelters along York Street.

Tropical Glasshouse (right)

This pyramid-shaped building is a glasshouse in the Royal Botanical Gardens. It contains a selection of tropical plants, kept in a constantly warm and humid environment. Entry is through a shallow tunnel accessed from the stairs shown leading down into the rear right side of the building. This view is from the north-east.

Sydney Opera House (left)

Okay, so this is straight out of Sim City 2000, but it belongs in Sydney so I thought I'd include it on this page. This representation, although good, looks a bit "cartoony". The real Opera House is more elongated and the restaurant is not shown at all. I guess this is what they came up with trying to squeeze it on to a square tile. Ideally this should extend about another 50% to the rear left, showing more of the stone basework, as well as the restaurant. This view is from the north-east.

Sydney Opera House - Version 2 (right)

This is a version of the Opera House I found in a tileset on the web created by Allen Wilterdink. This is a much better representation in my opinion, showing the water around the edges and more details of the base on which the shells sit. However, it still doesn't show the restaurant, or the extension of the base area to the south. (I might actually add these bits on a separate 4x4 tile which can be placed next to this one.) Also, the base colouring is not right here - it should be more like Maxis' version on the left. This view is also from the north-east.

Other buildings planned

I plan to render the following Sydney buildings with SCURK as soon as I get a chance.
Last updated: