Hello,

Quick Background:

I am an independent developer working on a casual IOS game.  The game is a fantasy themed 2D real time strategy (RTS) game.  The game started as a browser based project that was in development for 1.5 years before being put on the shelf.  Recently, I have revitalized the project and decided to rework the design and concept to better fit the IOS market.  In a very real sense, the game canvas (or background image) is the heart of the user experience; and I am at a point in development that it would be best to know what the final version will look like to develop around.

Needs:

To begin with, I need a background image that will serve as the sort of city canvas.  That is, a background image of a fantasy/medieval city that has open spaces carved out where new buildings can nestle in as they are built by the player.  The image should, ideally contain layers of fringe elements that can be turned on as the city gets more advanced.  The image should be 16:9 aspect ratio and 1280x720 or larger (maybe 1600:900).  The empty spaces should also be 16:9 aspect ratio so that the buildings that overlay the background will scale with it and can be placed interchangeably around the city.

I am also interested in quotes on the actual buildings that will overlay the background, e.g. Town-hall, barracks, workshop, farm, etc.  These images don't need to be drawn in a 16:9 ratio, just scale well to fit into the building spaces.

Style:

I am open to suggestions, however, I have been using the "Game Map Generator" from the-orange-box.com along with their "Medieval Buildings Set" and am happy with the style and textures there.  One problem, the buildings set does not include every building on my list, but does have a lot of isometric elements that can be combined to make new buildings.

Examples:

The Competition: ikariam (The same style of leveling up buildings on a ~ static background)

My first try

(you can see I hadn't yet discovered that empty building spaces should be made on a 16:9 grid)

OK, Soo.. In short, I need a better version of an image like that and maybe some buildings.  Please let me know your quote and a link to your previous work.  You are welcome to use the same Game Map Generator and art assets that I have.  At a minimum, I just need someone with an artistic eye and time to puzzle this town and buildings together.

Thank you so much for your time and I hope to hear from you!