Released

[aquaMat]

Hi Semi-Native,

you probably won't believe it, but THE FOUR TUBES is the only one of my mansions that I have actually pre-planned (to a certain extent) by sketching the overall layout on a sheet of paper.

All others, including JUMP!, were done more on impulse or in a

stream-of-consciousness-kind of way

than careful planning.

I don't know why, but this method seems to work for me. Only very rarely, when the creative juices are not flowing at all, can this method result in something akin to

writer's block

..... (

builder's block

, probably   ).

That probably doesn't help you much with the problem at hand, I'm afraid.

One other possible method is to think of an overall

theme

first  (e.g. brell's Pirate Ship, or my

Discotheque

) and then start building according to that theme.
However, this method won't be working with Catacombs, necessarily, as it is a

shared mansion

and doesn't really feature a theme.

Bizarrely, my Catacomvs section was the fastest thing I ever built, took me only 2 days or so....but don't ask me why.
I probably was on a roll that day.

If you need any specific designer tips, don't hesitate to email me.