Just chipped in to the Kickstarter last night and got my first Update email concerning the artistic direction for The Plaza. Seeing the concept art, I have some feedback for the Art Team concerning this piece of the environment.

Atlas Statue was iconic for some fairly simple reasons. It was [b]**HUGE**[/b] so it was impossible to miss and easy to find from a disproportionately large share of the zone ... and it also had a relatively small "footprint" on its pedestal because it was a Human Form. This meant that the "base" of the statue occupied hardly ANY of the the pedestal area that the statue stood upon, creating an almost IDEAL Public Space for conducting the nearly ubiquitous Costume Contests that cropped up underneath the Atlas Statue with such frequency. It was a place where people could gather without a lot of obstructions to Line Of Sight within the area. Furthermore, there were no "NPC services" being rendered within the area of the Atlas Pedestal itself, aside from the Atlas Plaque (which didn't really count as a "service" per se).

So in Atlas Park you had the Atlas Statue, but Ms. Liberty was a short distance away from the Pedestal and there were NPC Vendors [i]around the periphery[/i] of it, but none of them were actually "under" the Statue proper up on the pedestal. Contrast this with the Plaza design in Nova Praetoria, where in the middle of the sunken center of the Plaza you've got Dominique providing the same services as Ms. Liberty, but in a proximity "too close" to the center of the Plaza to make it practical as a gathering place for sponsoring events. Furthermore, there were other NPCs offering services scattered around in the same area, so there wasn't enough "separation" from the NPC services like you had with the Atlas Pedestal situation to make for a Public Space that didn't have people constantly moving through it to get to somewhere else.

The concept designs that I've seen in Update 45 for the Plaza and its statue lead me to think that the current design of these features might have the unfortunate effect of not quite replicating the Public Space VALUE that the Atlas Statue had in City of Heroes. The specific issue that I want to highlight here is that a lot of the designs for the Phoenix Statue shown involve a tremendous amount of "occupation" of the central space of the Raised Plaza area ... whereas the Atlas Statue left nearly all of this area "open" in the center by virtue of being a bipedal "man" standing in a legs braced posture with his feet widely apart on the pedestal. So if you'll forgive my impudence for thinking I might have something worthwhile to contribute (never a "given" in these discussions!) ... here goes:

With respect to the Yellow Highlighted "Plaza" area ... may I suggest a circular rather than square pedestal area. Have two ramps of steps on two sides of the pedestal area (so one on the north side, and one on the south side, for example), rather than just one ramp on one side, although you'd want to orient these so that they aren't the "shortest route" for a pass through of a heavily trafficked route. So like how getting from Ms. Liberty to City Hall was a North-South trip, if you were building steps up onto the Atlas Statue Pedestal you'd want to put the steps on the East-West axis instead of the North-South axis.

So you have a raised, circular pedestal area instead of a sunken plaza area (like Nova Praetoria featured) and over it you put an open mesh of supporting metal beams which forms a structure that is strongly suggestive of the outer jeweled and filligree mesh on a Faberge Egg ... like so:

[img]http://www.onlytrinketboxes.com/productimages/show/1731-7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://static3.depositphotos.com/1007135/256/i/950/depositphotos_2562245-Faberge-egg.jpg[/img]

There's also the Real World architectural example set by the Gherkin Building in London, although you'd want something that's more "egg shaped" than "rocket shaped" like this building is ... and you'd be doing just the outer mesh of beams with no glass nor any "building" structure inside of it to be enclosed ... but this then gives you the idea for the shaping of the structural elements that go around and over the raised Plaza:

[img]http://www.venuesofdistinction.com/system/image/image/132/large/London_Skyline_2_cropped.jpg[/img]

The spacing on these structural support elements should be such that they feel (to the eye) as if they were "light and strong" without creating a sense of "enclosure" akin to being imprisoned within a cage. So large gaps between the structural members, because the idea is to be an "airy" supporting Dome rather than a proper "enclosure" of a space. These structural beams could be made using polished metallic bronze, giving them a "golden" luster, but which aren't "mirror" quality polished.

This structural support would form a dome that fully encloses the circular raised plaza in a way that looks as if most of the "egg" shape of it would be located underground, so you'd have only maybe the top 1/3rd of it or 1/4 of it visible above ground. Perched ATOP this "lacy" dome structure would be The Phoenix Statue ... which could poentially also be rendered in a polished "golden" metal such as a bronze, just like the "egg" it is perched upon [i]AND ARISING FROM[/i]. You'd want to have a pose and posture of a bird taking wing and lifting off into flight, rather than one which has landed and perched upon this public work of the city. You want something that is Uplifting that draws the eye towards the promise of freedom in the skies above, rather than a watchful avatar looking down on (and scrutinizing) the people below it (like a vulture deciding how to eat its prey).

The sort of "Artistic Theme" of the entire installation is that the people who "enter" the Phoenix Egg are the ones who "give birth" to the Phoenix, which then takes wing and carries with it their hopes and dreams ... that it is the people of the city, this City of Titans, that give the Phoenix its form and its shape, as we all "take to the skies" to Fly Free.

All of this can only be brought together and unified in a circular installation, rather than a square (or otherwise polygonal) one due to the "egg shape" of the supporting structure the Phoenix is perched upon and caught in the process of lifting off from. Under the dome of the open air mesh of beams, the Plaza area is open and clear, and large enough to hold the kinds of Atlas Park Costume Contests we all want to see become a tradition in City of Titans, with some 40+ contestants all lined up around the periphery. I'd recommend use of a "marble" stone for use on the Plaza Pedestal portion here, and for the stairs leading up to it. Also don't forget to include wheelchair ramps to go with those stairs (and possibly include skateboarding kids as NPCs playing around on them). The entire installation could be surrounded by water (like the Atlas Statue did) and fountains, which at night could be gloriously illuminated in not only whites, but also shifting colors for a truly impressive display.

Thoughts? Comments?