Lone Oak Farms is a place special to my heart, and I'm quite humbled that
BulletBill would choose to turn it into a Farming Simulator map.
Some time ago I left a
post in a thread that asked people to share what their 'dream map' would be. Part of the first post starting the thread was this:
marlowc wrote:
If you woke up tomorrow with mystical modding powers, what would be your dream map to make?
So... I described my 'dream' map, and somehow
BulletBill came across my post. Might have been just a stroke of luck, as he'd just finished a major project, the beautiful
West Coast map.
My grandfather purchased this farm back in the day, I think in the 1950's. At the time, I'm not sure if there was a literal farm there or not. I know he did a lot of logging and land clearing, so some of this was likely 'built' by him. My father grew up there, part of a large family. Years later, I was privileged to work there myself, mainly during the summer harvest. It was a means to earn money to save up for college. Honestly, though, it was a 'gift,' because I received far more than a few dollars and cents just to go to school. Those were carefree days, and I loved the work and could hardly get enough of it. I didn't have to worry about the important stuff, like paying the bills, the weather, and all the other things that go into running a farm. I just showed up and worked, and enjoyed being with my uncles and cousins. Some of the best memories of my growing up life!
As
BulletBill mentioned, this is a farm in Oregon of the US. Situated in the Willamette Valley in the northwestern part of the state, Lone Oak is one of many working grass seed farms in a region that seems perfectly suited to it. Dry summers, wet winters, and a fairly moderate climate. I won't bore anyone with how a grass seed farm works, as I'm not sure whether any of that can be incorporated into the map without a lot of extra work, but suffice it to say, it's a bit different from raising wheat, or barley, or the other crops we see in Farming Simulator.
The farm obtained its name (Lone Oak Farms) based on a large oak tree that is situated on a hilltop overlooking the farm. I have no idea why that tree is there, and why it's all alone. But I do know my grandfather was quite fond of that tree, and often took pains to ensure it was never harmed by his farming practices as he worked around it. The area is fairly hilly, in fact downright steep in some places, yet moderate in others. Part of working on the farm was finding enough intestinal fortitude to not lose your cool on a hill if a machine started slipping a bit. How that will come through on the map, I don't know. Some of the fields have square corners, and many do not. I always enjoyed working in their fields, as they seemed to have 'character.'
As
BulletBill shared, it is an 'American' map. Sometimes it's hard to know just what that term means... just as one might ask what a 'European' map is, or a 'British' map. These are all big places, and there is much diversity regardless of country or region. It's no different with an American map. This particular map will be how it is in this particular area of Oregon... but it's certainly not reflective of all areas, neither of Oregon, nor of the US as a whole. If any expect the map to look like the American Midwest, such as Central Illinois, they might be disappointed. But I hope not.
This just happens to be how it is here. There are fields in this area large and small. When I worked on the farm, we had fields over 100 acres in size, and we had them as small as about 15-20 acres, and everywhere in between.
Perhaps a word on 'artistic license' or compromise. It's no secret that
BulletBill makes stellar maps with great attention to realism and detail. But it is no small feat to create a map based on a real life area, and have it be playable and appealing to many different types of players. A Farming Simulator map encompasses only a limited amount of space. I think a standard map is only 2 km square. It would likely be the rare place in real life that would have all the 'places' we play with on a regular basis in-game. And since this would be a rare occurrence, compromises and other artistic license
must be taken in creating the map, even when it's based on a 'real' area.
As one example,
BulletBill explained earlier that he had to scale the area down a bit to fit properly on a map. And that was only the beginning. Other compromises will need to be made along the way to make things fit and work together properly in the map, or to make it playable or appealing to players. For example, some likely noticed that the opening post to this thread indicated the map will contain a BGA. In real life there is no BGA anywhere near this farm, nor are they all that common in the US that I'm aware of. Of course
BulletBill is fully aware of this, but he also recognizes that most players expect this to be in Farming Simulator maps. So he's chosen to put one in. And in reality, I'm not sure it's really all that far-fetched. We might not have a literal 'silage' BGA in the Lone Oak Farms area, like we would use in-game, but Oregon does have other farm-related types of
'biogas' projects, such as with dairies and food processors, so it's definitely a reasonable compromise to make. As another example, I'm not aware of any 'sell points' in real life on the area taken up by this particular map. There would be within a few miles of the farm, but short of making a massive 4x or 16x map (and a standard map is daunting enough to produce!), they didn't fit on the map. Somehow they'll need to be fit in, and I'm sure he'll figure out a way to do it that will look amazing. As one final example -- this is not a traditional grain growing region. Farmers in the area occasionally grow wheat, but most of the time it is something else, typically all kinds of seeds (grass seed, sugar beet seed, radish seed, etc.), fruits, vegetables, or other types of crops (nursery stock, fruit/nut orchards, vineyards). Accordingly, something that isn't commonly seen in this area is large steel grain bins, or grain handling/drying systems, such that might be common in other regions of the US. Nevertheless, because these might be 'expected' in a US map, they might end up being included in the map. Lone Oak Farms does happen to have one steel grain bin, but it is very small, and has been rarely used in recent times.
I can't speak for
BulletBill, but I'm guessing that the best a map maker can do is to carefully choose what remains true to life, and what gets modified slightly (or greatly) so as to have as much possible appeal and enjoyment for the greatest amount of people... without getting themselves pulled in all directions in the process.
A few pictures of Lone Oak Farms follow (click to expand). I would love to be able to show real-life pictures from the same angle that
BulletBill showed them in-game in his first post, but I don't always have one in hand. Hopefully a few others from the farm will suffice for now.
Some from back in the day...
And some taken within the last month up to a few days ago...
Pictures never seem to do justice to the real thing, unfortunately. But hopefully it gives a small flavor. More can be shared later.
Thanks for taking this project on,
BulletBill -- I'm as excited as everyone else to see how it turns out!