OK, so I've been working on my desert city on and off for over a month now. It's intended for an RPG map, so it needs to be a functional Minecraft "city," not just for appearances. Right now though, I have plenty of space for functional interiors and directional signs, so I just want to make it prettier now -- I am open to any suggestion that doesn't detract from the desert theme.
Desert city at noon. The temple/shrine towers are too big, I think; and/or I really need to put fountains/gardens in them. I guess I got really focused on hitting the sky limit for some reason, even though the city is dug in pretty deep. I was thinking of shrinking the towers and putting in big trees, with their branches spilling out the sides?
Streetview during the day. I should have taken pictures with a different texture pack; this city was made with Aza's Arid in mind, but it still looks good with stuff like Doku's.
There's multiple layers -- I wanted it to be Morocco/Anasazi . . . the fence ornamentation on the doors is more Asian, but it looks OK to me (and check out that awesome interior ).
Also, while the lamps are cool looking IMO, they're bulky -- they're 3x3 around. I'm looking for attractive alternatives.
Nightview. The whole city is pretty well lit, although right now it's too reliant on random torches sticking out of the ground. I'm trying to get away from that . . .
Another nightview. This one is more for the height perspective -- it's very vertical. The lowest point you see here is not the lowest level of the city.
I'd love to hear anything constructive! I'm running out of ideas -- there's not much I can think of to do without breaking the desert sand/sandstone theme.
This is beautiful. Really. I've been wanting to do a North African style thing for a while, and while this isn't exactly it, it has its own style that is absolutely great. The fact that you've made it functional and interesting (or, at least, have the capability to be functional once you detail it :tongue.gif:) is a great cherry on the top of this thing.
As for suggestions, I would advise against the trees you were thinking about. I wouldn't think they'd fit the theme. Go with a garden, yes, but don't put trees in. Flowers, grass, and water. And maybe play with levels. Also, I don't think the towers are too tall; I like the proportions.
Great Stuff!
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This is AMAZING, dude. This is how minecraft should be, cities like this among the everlasting reaches of nature, strongholds against monsters and community based. x10000000000000
I'm surprised people like the towers so much; right now I still think they look too big/simple.
I'll be sticking more fountains around where I can find room (there isn't very much) and since I line the bottom of the fountains with glowstone, that'll make things brighter. (And it'll be a bit like adding blue wool since water's blue? )
I'm still waffling on trees and whether or not they'd fit? Adding them would change the feel of the city, that's for certain. I think it'd break the theme I'm going for, but it'd be the least jarring change that adds the most to the decor. I like Aztec's suggestion -- I'd love to see screenies of it! -- but I think that'd fit better for a rainforest temple, like you said.
Dreadmaker, I really really wish I could play with the levels, but the only way I can make sandstone stairs is with half-steps. These stairs take up a lot of room, and right now I think I have the most space-effective arrangement. I could experiment with wooden stairs? I'd have to figure out how to make that look good.
It looks gorgeous if you ask me! A touch more color at the ground level could make it look more lively. Awnings for shops and such. But that should only be at street level (4 - 6 blocks above ground).
Also, roads leading from the four gates off into the distance would look cool to give it a feeling of being somewhere instead of the middle of nowhere.
The overall build is fantastic and very pleasing to the eye.
Edit: Oh and no trees. I think they'd detract from the character of the city. The dry and stark look of the city is too perfect.
Enjoy the magical school of witchcraft and wizardry in your minecraft
This is amazing work, but, this is the 3rd thread I've seen it on and it does not relate to any of the threads I've looked in.
This is spam, though it is awesome, it is still spam.
As for the ACTUAL POST, your city looks incredible. It is very creatively made and designed.
Here is a not-so-original idea, you should make a sphynx with a creeper face. If it's for an RPG-based server, you could make a maze underneath it for a quest or something of that nature. It was just a quick idea. :tongue.gif:
That said, I absolutely love the style in which you made this, but I think you've restricted yourself by making it too small. I would love to see these kind of builds on a larger scale, maybe on a multiplayer server?
It's already 110x110, I thought that was pretty big! I suppose I was wrong, though. None of the servers I've played on have cities, and it's hard to find good city examples, are cities normally even bigger? Expanding at this point would be difficult (and might end up dwarfing my desert biome; I've already had to artificially expand it) but I'll keep it in mind for my next project. What size do you think it should be?
It is big! My main reason for saying you might have made it too small was that those lampposts cover up half of your streets at some areas :tongue.gif:. Now that I looked a little more at those screenshots, I'd like to take that back though.
But from the style in which you built it with the tall towers, the somewhat large lampposts and the vertical space (and through that, the horizontal space. GIVE SANDSTONE STAIRS ALREADY :Notch:), i'd say this is a district.
-snip-
If you want to get an idea for the size of cities, you should check out the Voxel Box. They have massive and beautiful cities. For a RPG map... I have no idea what size it should be. That depends completely on what you want to do with it.
Yeah, I need to find a better lamp post. I need to find some way around just doing a glowstone on a stick.
This would be a thousand times easier with sandstone stairs! I'm only able to do this city because he added the sandstone half step, which I'm most grateful for.
I think the main/central tower is far too big, because it makes the rest of the city seem so tiny when it's not, and when you're in the city, you don't even notice it. I think shrinking it is my best option, or maybe replacing it with one of the shrine towers (it'll still be taller because of the platform height).
I took a look at the Voxel Box's stuff, and they do have VERY nice cities, but only one of them is similar to this style and doesn't help me very much. My city matches some of theirs for size, though, so that's good to know!
Dreadmaker, I really really wish I could play with the levels, but the only way I can make sandstone stairs is with half-steps. These stairs take up a lot of room, and right now I think I have the most space-effective arrangement. I could experiment with wooden stairs? I'd have to figure out how to make that look good.
I didn't mean in the city in general; I think you've done a fantastic job with levels within the city. I'm talking about the garden areas in the towers. I think trees are a bit much in there; doesn't really fit the theme. However, if you had some mini-waterfall type things happening, and flowers and stuff on an area that wasn't completely flat (within the tower garden space) then it'd be a good substitute for trees, IMO.
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My Youtube Channel: >Click<
Wow, that is lovely! I'd be thrilled to get in and take a look around if the map is put up for download. I love the way you put it on multiple layers like that.
Can't say I have a ton of suggestions (I am forever fighting to find a lamppost style I like), but I do agree with the others who have said that more color would be great. Market stalls in the streets or colored decorations around the door would help break up the mass of sandstone.
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I lurk. I'm probably lurking right now, watching you. Please don't take off your clothes.
Wow, definitely bookmarked, really psyched to see what you come up with :smile.gif: If you end up expanding, maybe do more smaller "circle" districts branched off from the main?
I'm REALLY loving the suggestion people keep bring up for a colorful bazaar, with , but I don't have anywhere to put it! The only space open enough to place it would be in the center temple, where I'm planning on putting a massive fountain. Bleeeh. I guess I'll have to make my next city ultra-colorful to make up for this one being so drab.
PROGRESS:
I finished landscaping the desert around the city -- I MCEdited it into an empty map before I took those screenshots, since my previous desert biome was too small. I had to do a lot of landscaping after that since it left an ugly outline. I hid the unfinished part with my towers, before, haha.
I've put more fountains up, and planted a bunch of flowers in the grassy areas. There's a lot of livestock wandering around now; makes the place look less empty. =P
I've changed the lanterns to glowstone-on-a-stick ( ) because the old ones really WERE too bulky, but on the bright side this has let me put more of them down, thus avoiding random torches on the ground everywhere. I don't mind torches stuck to walls in this case though, since I think they add to the city.
I've also lined the insides of the windows with glowstone. Even though it's a stupidly bright yellow on my texture pack, it makes the windows give off a nice glow at night, like there's people inside. =3 It also helps light the outside.
Started on the interiors, but there's a lot of work to be done there. I haven't decided what buildings I want to be what, and I want to be able to upload my completed map to the intarwebz for other people to use on in their RPGs, so I'll probably leave them empty until all my cities are done. That said, they still need floors/walls.
TO DO:
Interiors (this will take the longest), the central fountain/stuff inside the towers, gates.
I'm dreading the final light testing, where I turn my game off of Peaceful mode and see if it's bright enough. I fear for my city.
Desert city at noon. The temple/shrine towers are too big, I think; and/or I really need to put fountains/gardens in them. I guess I got really focused on hitting the sky limit for some reason, even though the city is dug in pretty deep. I was thinking of shrinking the towers and putting in big trees, with their branches spilling out the sides?
Streetview during the day. I should have taken pictures with a different texture pack; this city was made with Aza's Arid in mind, but it still looks good with stuff like Doku's.
There's multiple layers -- I wanted it to be Morocco/Anasazi . . . the fence ornamentation on the doors is more Asian, but it looks OK to me (and check out that awesome interior ).
Also, while the lamps are cool looking IMO, they're bulky -- they're 3x3 around. I'm looking for attractive alternatives.
Nightview. The whole city is pretty well lit, although right now it's too reliant on random torches sticking out of the ground. I'm trying to get away from that . . .
Another nightview. This one is more for the height perspective -- it's very vertical. The lowest point you see here is not the lowest level of the city.
I'd love to hear anything constructive! I'm running out of ideas -- there's not much I can think of to do without breaking the desert sand/sandstone theme.
As for suggestions, I would advise against the trees you were thinking about. I wouldn't think they'd fit the theme. Go with a garden, yes, but don't put trees in. Flowers, grass, and water. And maybe play with levels. Also, I don't think the towers are too tall; I like the proportions.
Great Stuff!
My Youtube Channel: >Click<
holy cow.......... are you an architect? ;O
MANY FOR YOU
I'm surprised people like the towers so much; right now I still think they look too big/simple.
I'll be sticking more fountains around where I can find room (there isn't very much) and since I line the bottom of the fountains with glowstone, that'll make things brighter. (And it'll be a bit like adding blue wool since water's blue? )
I'm still waffling on trees and whether or not they'd fit? Adding them would change the feel of the city, that's for certain. I think it'd break the theme I'm going for, but it'd be the least jarring change that adds the most to the decor. I like Aztec's suggestion -- I'd love to see screenies of it! -- but I think that'd fit better for a rainforest temple, like you said.
Dreadmaker, I really really wish I could play with the levels, but the only way I can make sandstone stairs is with half-steps. These stairs take up a lot of room, and right now I think I have the most space-effective arrangement. I could experiment with wooden stairs? I'd have to figure out how to make that look good.
Awesome ideas, guys!
Also, roads leading from the four gates off into the distance would look cool to give it a feeling of being somewhere instead of the middle of nowhere.
The overall build is fantastic and very pleasing to the eye.
Edit: Oh and no trees. I think they'd detract from the character of the city. The dry and stark look of the city is too perfect.
This is amazing work, but, this is the 3rd thread I've seen it on and it does not relate to any of the threads I've looked in.
This is spam, though it is awesome, it is still spam.
As for the ACTUAL POST, your city looks incredible. It is very creatively made and designed.
Here is a not-so-original idea, you should make a sphynx with a creeper face. If it's for an RPG-based server, you could make a maze underneath it for a quest or something of that nature. It was just a quick idea. :tongue.gif:
Again, great work though!
That is all.
The Sun rises in the North!Now these points of data make a beautiful line...
It's already 110x110, I thought that was pretty big! I suppose I was wrong, though. None of the servers I've played on have cities, and it's hard to find good city examples, are cities normally even bigger? Expanding at this point would be difficult (and might end up dwarfing my desert biome; I've already had to artificially expand it) but I'll keep it in mind for my next project. What size do you think it should be?
Yeah, I need to find a better lamp post. I need to find some way around just doing a glowstone on a stick.
This would be a thousand times easier with sandstone stairs! I'm only able to do this city because he added the sandstone half step, which I'm most grateful for.
I think the main/central tower is far too big, because it makes the rest of the city seem so tiny when it's not, and when you're in the city, you don't even notice it. I think shrinking it is my best option, or maybe replacing it with one of the shrine towers (it'll still be taller because of the platform height).
I took a look at the Voxel Box's stuff, and they do have VERY nice cities, but only one of them is similar to this style and doesn't help me very much. My city matches some of theirs for size, though, so that's good to know!
I didn't mean in the city in general; I think you've done a fantastic job with levels within the city. I'm talking about the garden areas in the towers. I think trees are a bit much in there; doesn't really fit the theme. However, if you had some mini-waterfall type things happening, and flowers and stuff on an area that wasn't completely flat (within the tower garden space) then it'd be a good substitute for trees, IMO.
My Youtube Channel: >Click<
Can't say I have a ton of suggestions (I am forever fighting to find a lamppost style I like), but I do agree with the others who have said that more color would be great. Market stalls in the streets or colored decorations around the door would help break up the mass of sandstone.
it's like the Jessica Alba of cities....
Anyways, since you're looking for suggestions, I'd put more water fountains, since it's in the middle of the desert. Like an oasis!
PROGRESS:
I finished landscaping the desert around the city -- I MCEdited it into an empty map before I took those screenshots, since my previous desert biome was too small. I had to do a lot of landscaping after that since it left an ugly outline. I hid the unfinished part with my towers, before, haha.
I've put more fountains up, and planted a bunch of flowers in the grassy areas. There's a lot of livestock wandering around now; makes the place look less empty. =P
I've changed the lanterns to glowstone-on-a-stick ( ) because the old ones really WERE too bulky, but on the bright side this has let me put more of them down, thus avoiding random torches on the ground everywhere. I don't mind torches stuck to walls in this case though, since I think they add to the city.
I've also lined the insides of the windows with glowstone. Even though it's a stupidly bright yellow on my texture pack, it makes the windows give off a nice glow at night, like there's people inside. =3 It also helps light the outside.
Started on the interiors, but there's a lot of work to be done there. I haven't decided what buildings I want to be what, and I want to be able to upload my completed map to the intarwebz for other people to use on in their RPGs, so I'll probably leave them empty until all my cities are done. That said, they still need floors/walls.
TO DO:
Interiors (this will take the longest), the central fountain/stuff inside the towers, gates.
I'm dreading the final light testing, where I turn my game off of Peaceful mode and see if it's bright enough. I fear for my city.