Continuing the accurate town guide, this installment will focus on the Town Square.
It may be slightly premature as a number of buildings are not yet in game (if they ever will be), but any true-to-show Springfield is going to need its main centre of action.
Town Square Layout
The town centre is probably one of the most difficult to get right. Infamous for buildings appearing, moving and disappearing between episodes you have to be fairly picky and careful about your options. In early episodes even the iconic Town Hall and Courthouse weren’t anywhere to be seen!
Central to the square is the famous statue of Jebediah Springfield – the one that Bart famously decapitated. You’re going to need that.
Strangely it doesn’t appear in the game build menus.
It’s a little secret bonus that you’d have no way of knowing about unless you’ve been told or got lucky while mucking around.
To get the statue follow these steps:
1. Select Homer Simpson.
2. Start him on a task (best do his 45 second myPad task in case you do it wrong)
3. While he is on task tap him again so that the task progress bar appears.
4. Tap on him ten more times while the bar is on screen. It helps to have the sound on so you know that you have hit him.
5. If done correctly, when the task is complete you should be rewarded with the statue and 10 donuts.
Place it directly central to where you want your square. Have it face whichever direction you prefer as again it changes from scene to scene.
Now you’ll need pavement to form a crossing pathway between grassy areas. This area needs to be big enough to comfortably be surrounded by the required buildings.
Different episodes have different arrangements of trees, hedges, bins and benches but I have chosen the most common.
Town Hall
One of the main focal points of the square is the Town Hall. It stands opposite the Courthouse. Unfortunately the Courthouse is not yet in game, so you can give all your attention to this building instead.
Stores
I have used the series’ opening sequence as a good guide for one side of the street, but the other is a bit more tricky.
We get a clear image of where a number of buildings go. To the right of Zesty’s is a bakery (not in-game), then a road which leads to the Elementary. On the other side of the road is The Android’s Dungeon, which is always next to Skip’s Diner. Further down is the ice cream shop and a Krusty Burger.
Beyond that is a a lot of guess work.
You might remember from the previous Aztec Theatre section of the guide, that Zesty’s was visible in the distance, so you can try to line them up along with whatever else you have chosen to place nearby.
Herman’s Military Antiques and Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace
Though not a part of the Town Square it is located Downtown, so therefore nearby.
In some episodes it is clearly next to a barber shop. This may well be Jake’s.
Herman’s of course needs a back lot for the kind of stock that doesn’t fit inside like bomb shelters and large weapons.
Mine
I’ve chosen to have Jebediah facing away from the Town Hall and towards the Courthouse. This is one of the most common positions.
I’ve put the Lil’ Lady Justice Statue in as a placeholder for the Courthouse which we can only hope appears one day. You can see Marge and Edna protesting its being missing.
There are also a few other placeholders, gaps, misplaced objects and buildings that are likely to move away from the square at some point.
It’s difficult to get this one right while so much is not yet in-game.
Besides the Courthouse and bakery, we’re also waiting on Semi Painless Dentistry, Candy Most Dandy and possibly even a Greek Orthodox Church among others.
Other sections of this Guide
Part 1: Intro, Simpson House, Flander’s House, Evergreen Terrace, Muntz House, Fat Tony’s Compound, First Church of Springfield
Part 2: Kwik-E-Mart, Springfield Elementary, Springfield General Hospital
Part 3: Moe’s Tavern, King Toots, Luigi’s, Nuclear Power Plant, Aztec Theatre
Part 4: Burn’s Manor, Bad Dream House, Springfield Retirement Castle
Part 5: Town Square: Town Hall, Jebediah Springfield Statue, Zesty’s, The Android’s Dungeon, Skip’s Diner, Herman’s Military Antiques, Jake’s Unisex Hair Palace, Bomb Shelter
Part 6: Santa’s Village, Springfield Downs, Buddhist Temple
