Minecraft Forums

For any newcomers or generally puzzled passers-by, here are my reasons for certain unusual decisions I made about the textures in Glimmar's Steampunk.

My philosophy for a game with limited blocks, but infinite building potential, is to make as many of the blocks as adaptable or multi-tasking as possible for my own steampunk world. However, I have still designed them to retain some purposeful mystery, I certainly don't want them to appear ridiculous. Remember, many of my blocks were designed at a time (way back in 2010) when we had far fewer blocks or mods to play around with. At the same time I'm motivated more by building epic architecture and grungy Victorian sci-fi constructions than your typical medieval fantasy survival style type of gameplay.

So if something in Glimmar's Steampunk looks a little weird and you find yourself asking what on earth was this guy 'on' when he decided on this or that for a texture, try instead to ask yourself what other uses you can put things like pumpkins, beds, musicplayers, clockwork cakes in their 'normal' traditional form, when compared to my more gadgety alternatives. In most other packs a cake can only be a cake, a jukebox can only be a jukebox, etc.

My steampunk bed for example can be: a time machine for jumping forwards in time, a medical contraption, a torture device, a bed for creating a Frankenstein creature with redstone wires radiating out from it and anything else you care to invent with your imagination!

I want to create things for my world that look interesting and are as adaptable as possible. As far as I'm concerned, and this is of course only my opinion (everyone is entitled to theirs), real bed-like beds in Minecraft are a 'one use only' item...if it looks like a bed, you can't combine it with other blocks to make something else it wasn't intended for. My bed allows you to be far more imaginative, bearing in mind the theme.

To reiterate...for me this theme is about making each item, whether block or special (like the bed or cake) do far more than originally intended. And while we're on the subject of making things more useful please don't make the mistake of thinking I like sticking cogs and pipes on everything just for the sake of it...that's not real steampunk...that's just 'decoration'. Real steampunk for me has to look like it has a function... like it's doing something useful... albeit using the technological components from bygone ages. And besides, my adaptable component bed will soon be animated...try finding a valid reason for animating a bed-like bed.

As regards my Steampunk cake... it can be used as a pretend music player, controls on the bridge of a Steampunk vessel, a weird unusual device in a mad scientist's laboratory, etc, etc. and now with the advent of animated functionality, I can make it even more of a useful prop. Yes, there's nothing stopping you animating a standard cake, but unlike a machine, it's going to look pretty strange with rotating cherries on top!! Funny for a while, I grant you, but not something you can seriously use in your plans to create a 'world dominating death machine of destruction'.


Now, the pumpkin, being the only 'helmet' block we can wear with an editable HUD, was just too good an opportunity not to use it for something like a primitive space/diving helmet for building underwater bases, etc. Back then, when the pumpkin first came out in the 'Halloween Update', there was an excellent 'diving' mod by dougbenham that made use of the pumpkin for just this purpose and it worked beautifully in my opinion. Sadly the mod was never supported after further Minecraft updates. Other underwater diving mods just haven't been as well suited to the period nature of a diving helm since.

Further, the pumpkin is another useful source of light in the game, one that can be used underwater and, unlike the glowstones, can actually be moved around...so, perfect for illuminating underwater bases from the outside. I've not tested other glowing blocks in that environment yet!

Making a diving helm texture also second as a lantern texture with pipes around it, that fits my newly animated redstone pipes, made it much more useful in this theme than ever a natural looking pumpkin could have been. They also make excellent Victorian railway lanterns, street lights, directional looking airship spots, underwater beacons, etc., etc!

My lantern/diving helm might look strange in the landscape, unless you consider it from the point of view of this theme...Victorian Industrial Steampunk. Then it's purpose in the landscape can be anything from vents for some underground complex, equipment left behind by some failed expedition, or anything you want to put your imagination to. One thing for sure, you should be able to put them to more use alongside my other weird and multi-functional blocks than ever you could with a simple Halloween pumpkin!

As often repeated, this idea of 'multifunctionality' underpins my approach to all the blocks in Glimmar's Steampunk...even the humble dirt block. I could make it look more like real dirt/soil, but then I'd lose it's use as another 'architectural' building block, in this case something like red sandstone. Stone, cobble, gravel, even dirtgrass are purposefully designed to be useable in as many other ways than their naturally occurring states, so by necessity seem more plain than some other packs.

The 'multifunctionality' of blocks is the reason why glass is the way it is...once the only block that can second as wrought ironwork scaffolding as well as a window... now we have iron bars and I've made those as utilitarian as possible too and don't intend making the glass any the less multi-tasking.

'Individual' blocks like the furnace, craftbench, bed, etc. can have more imaginative detail applied for use as gizmos, especially so now with animated versions. However, for me they must still have as many other uses as possible in a Steampunk world besides their normal Minecraft function. Therefore, furnaces can second as 'vents', etc, and craftbenches can also be 'control stations'.

My 'paintings' in the art folder haven't escaped my peculiar view of Minecraft's possibilities either, hence lots of gadgets, pipes and chains...you can just do a lot more with functional looking things than a nice looking painting that looks a bit strange if you repeat it all over your world, and this is coming from someone who is a landscape painter in real life. However, the paintings do need some major updating to be more useful. The wheels were never as useful as I thought they would be, but with MC Patcher's animation facility they now are. Check out the few paintings I have animated and start using them imaginatively on your constructs.

My other imperative is to try to make the textures work as well as possible when seen from a distance, as would be needed for epic builds. This is what I aspire to with Minecraft, rather than 'spelunking cottage style adventuring' - hence my long term adherence to 32x32, and as far as is humanly possible (with my humble skills)...'good tiling'. I'm intrigued by the extra detail that 64x scale allows for such things as animation, ctm and use that scale frequently for things like guis and mobs and recently have started to introduce it into the terrain in a 64x pack, but I think it has to be used carefully to avoid over-pixelation.

If you are trying my pack for the first time, try not to compare it unfavourably with the normal look of Minecraft, as this is after all a 'steampunk' theme pack, not a medieval or modern day realistic texture pack and I've always tried to remain faithful to my original ideas without getting too silly by sticking cogs and pipes on absolutely everything.

Don't forget, I make it clear in my blurb at the top of my thread, that this theme pack is intended for building epic constructions in an industrialised Steampunk world and not designed as the best 'front-end' for role-playing fantasy adventure.

## Creeper ##
[MODEL_START]
    [NAME]Creeper
    [TRANSPARENT]YES
    [TEXTURE_MODE]PIXEL
    [TEXTURE_SIZE]{64,32}
    [TEXTURE_LIST_START]
        ## Head ##
        {8,0}   #  0: Top Left Top
        {16,0}  #  1: Top Right Top - Top Left Bottom
        {24,0}  #  2: Top Right Bottom
        {0,8}   #  3: Top Left Left
        {8,8}   #  4: Top Right Left - Top Left Front - Bottom Left Top
        {16,8}  #  5: Top Right Front - Top Left Right - Bottom Right Top - Bottom Left Bottom
        {24,8}  #  6: Top Right Right - Top Left Back - Bottom Right Bottom
        {32,8}  #  7: Top Right Back
        {0,16}  #  8: Bottom Left Left
        {8,16}  #  9: Bottom Right Left - Bottom Left Front
        {16,16} # 10: Bottom Right Front - Bottom Left Right
        {24,16} # 11: Bottom Right Right - Bottom Left Back
        {32,16} # 12: Bottom Right Back
        ## Body ##
        {20,16} # 13: Top Left Top
        {28,16} # 14: Top Right Top - Top Left Bottom
        {36,16} # 15: Top Right Bottom
        {16,20} # 16: Top Left Left
        {20,20} # 17: Top Right Left - Top Left Front - Bottom Left Top
        {28,20} # 18: Top Right Front - Top Left Right - Bottom Right Top - Bottom Left Bottom
        {32,20} # 19: Top Right Right - Top Left Back
        {36,20} # 20: Bottom Right Bottom
        {40,20} # 21: Top Right Back
        {16,32} # 22: Bottom Left Left
        {20,32} # 23: Bottom Right Left - Bottom Left Front
        {28,32} # 24: Bottom Right Front - Bottom Left Right
        {32,32} # 25: Bottom Right Right - Bottom Left Back
        {40,32} # 26: Bottom Right Back
        ## Foot ##
        {4,16}  # 27: Top Left Top
        {8,16}  # 28: Top Right Top - Top Left Bottom
        {12,16} # 29: Top Right Bottom
        {0,20}  # 30: Top Left Left
        {4,20}  # 31: Top Right Left - Top Left Front - Bottom Left Top
        {8,20}  # 32: Top Right Front - Top Left Right - Bottom Right Top - Bottom Left Bottom
        {12,20} # 33: Top Right Right - Top Left Back - Bottom Right Bottom
        {16,20} # 34: Top Right Back
        {0,26}  # 35: Bottom Left Left
        {4,26}  # 36: Bottom Right Left - Bottom Left Front
        {8,26}  # 27: Bottom Right Front - Bottom Left Right
        {12,26} # 28: Bottom Right Right - Bottom Left Back
        {16,26} # 29: Bottom Right Back
    [TEXTURE_LIST_END]
    [UNIT_SIZE]<0.125>  # Sets a unit to be one 'pixel' in size
    [FACES_QUAD_START]
        ## Head ##
        #Left#
        {T:3}
        <-4,12,-4>
        {T:8}
        <-4,4,-4>
        {T:9}
        <-4,4,4>
        {T:4}
        <-4,12,4>

        #Front#
        {T:4}
        <-4,12,4>
        {T:9}
        <-4,4,4>
        {T:10}
        <4,4,4>
        {T:5}
        <4,12,4>

        #Right#
        {T:5}
        <4,12,4>
        {T:10}
        <4,4,4>
        {T:11}
        <4,4,-4>
        {T:6}
        <4,12,-4>

        #Back#
        {T:6}
        <4,12,-4>
        {T:11}
        <4,4,-4>
        {T:12}
        <-4,4,-4>
        {T:7}
        <-4,12,-4>

        #Top#
        {T:0}
        <-4,12,-4>
        {T:4}
        <-4,12,4>
        {T:5}
        <4,12,4>
        {T:1}
        <4,12,-4>

        #Bottom# - bottom texture gets flipped along x
        {T:2}
        <-4,4,4>
        {T:6}
        <-4,4,-4>
        {T:5}
        <4,4,-4>
        {T:1}
        <4,4,4>

        ## Body ##
        #Left#
        {T:16}
        <-4,4,-2>
        {T:22}
        <-4,-8,-2>
        {T:23}
        <-4,-8,2>
        {T:17}
        <-4,4,2>

        #Front#
        {T:17}
        <-4,4,2>
        {T:23}
        <-4,-8,2>
        {T:24}
        <4,-8,2>
        {T:18}
        <4,4,2>

        #Right#
        {T:18}
        <4,4,2>
        {T:24}
        <4,-8,2>
        {T:25}
        <4,-8,-2>
        {T:19}
        <4,4,-2>

        #Back#
        {T:19}
        <4,4,-2>
        {T:25}
        <4,-8,-2>
        {T:26}
        <-4,-8,-2>
        {T:21}
        <-4,4,-2>

        #Top# 
        {T:13}
        <-4,4,-2>
        {T:17}
        <-4,4,2>
        {T:18}
        <4,4,2>
        {T:14}
        <4,4,-2>

        #bottom# - bottom texture gets flipped along x
        {T:15}
        <-4,-8,2>
        {T:20}
        <-4,-8,-2>
        {T:18}
        <4,-8,-2>
        {T:14}
        <4,-8,2>

        ## Feet ##
        ## Front Left Foot ##
        #Left#
        {T:30}
        <-4,-8,2>
        {T:35}
        <-4,-14,2>
        {T:36}
        <-4,-14,6>
        {T:31}
        <-4,-8,6>

        #Front#
        {T:31}
        <-4,-8,6>
        {T:36}
        <-4,-14,6>
        {T:37}
        <0,-14,6>
        {T:32}
        <0,-8,6>

        #Right#
        {T:32}
        <0,-8,6>
        {T:37}
        <0,-14,6>
        {T:38}
        <0,-14,2>
        {T:33}
        <0,-8,2>

        #Back#
        {T:33}
        <0,-8,2>
        {T:38}
        <0,-14,2>
        {T:39}
        <-4,-14,2>
        {T:34}
        <-4,-8,2>

        #Top#
        {T:27}
        <-4,-8,2>
        {T:31}
        <-4,-8,6>
        {T:32}
        <0,-8,6>
        {T:28}
        <0,-8,2>

        #Bottom#
        {T:29}
        <-4,-14,6>
        {T:33}
        <-4,-14,2>
        {T:32}
        <0,-14,2>
        {T:28}
        <0,-14,6>

        ## Front Right Foot ## - This is the same as the left foot but shifted right 4 units
        #Left#
        {T:30}
        <0,-8,2>
        {T:35}
        <0,-14,2>
        {T:36}
        <0,-14,6>
        {T:31}
        <0,-8,6>

        #Front#
        {T:31}
        <0,-8,6>
        {T:36}
        <0,-14,6>
        {T:37}
        <4,-14,6>
        {T:32}
        <4,-8,6>

        #Right#
        {T:32}
        <4,-8,6>
        {T:37}
        <4,-14,6>
        {T:38}
        <4,-14,2>
        {T:33}
        <4,-8,2>

        #Back#
        {T:33}
        <4,-8,2>
        {T:38}
        <4,-14,2>
        {T:39}
        <0,-14,2>
        {T:34}
        <0,-8,2>

        #Top#
        {T:27}
        <0,-8,2>
        {T:31}
        <0,-8,6>
        {T:32}
        <4,-8,6>
        {T:28}
        <4,-8,2>

        #Bottom#
        {T:29}
        <0,-14,6>
        {T:33}
        <0,-14,2>
        {T:32}
        <4,-14,2>
        {T:28}
        <4,-14,6>

        ## Back Left Foot ## - Same as Front left but shifted back 8
        #Left#
        {T:30}
        <-4,-8,-6>
        {T:35}
        <-4,-14,-6>
        {T:36}
        <-4,-14,-2>
        {T:31}
        <-4,-8,-2>

        #Front#
        {T:31}
        <-4,-8,-2>
        {T:36}
        <-4,-14,-2>
        {T:37}
        <0,-14,-2>
        {T:32}
        <0,-8,-2>

        #Right#
        {T:32}
        <0,-8,-2>
        {T:37}
        <0,-14,-2>
        {T:38}
        <0,-14,-6>
        {T:33}
        <0,-8,-6>

        #Back#
        {T:33}
        <0,-8,-6>
        {T:38}
        <0,-14,-6>
        {T:39}
        <-4,-14,-6>
        {T:34}
        <-4,-8,-6>

        #Top#
        {T:27}
        <-4,-8,-6>
        {T:31}
        <-4,-8,-2>
        {T:32}
        <0,-8,-2>
        {T:28}
        <0,-8,-6>

        #Bottom#
        {T:29}
        <-4,-14,-2>
        {T:33}
        <-4,-14,-6>
        {T:32}
        <0,-14,-6>
        {T:28}
        <0,-14,-2>

        ## Back Right Foot ## - Same as back left but shifted right 4
        #Left#
        {T:30}
        <0,-8,-6>
        {T:35}
        <0,-14,-6>
        {T:36}
        <0,-14,-2>
        {T:31}
        <0,-8,-2>

        #Front#
        {T:31}
        <0,-8,-2>
        {T:36}
        <0,-14,-2>
        {T:37}
        <4,-14,-2>
        {T:32}
        <4,-8,-2>

        #Right#
        {T:32}
        <4,-8,-2>
        {T:37}
        <4,-14,-2>
        {T:38}
        <4,-14,-6>
        {T:33}
        <4,-8,-6>

        #Back#
        {T:33}
        <4,-8,-6>
        {T:38}
        <4,-14,-6>
        {T:39}
        <0,-14,-6>
        {T:34}
        <0,-8,-6>

        #Top#
        {T:27}
        <0,-8,-6>
        {T:31}
        <0,-8,-2>
        {T:32}
        <4,-8,-2>
        {T:28}
        <4,-8,-6>

        #Bottom#
        {T:29}
        <0,-14,-2>
        {T:33}
        <0,-14,-6>
        {T:32}
        <4,-14,-6>
        {T:28}
        <4,-14,-2>

    [FACES_END]
[MODEL_END]

The actual model file has documentation of what all that means in a comment block in the header. I'm not quite sadistic enough to make people figure it out on their own if they want to extend the list of supported objects for mods and the like.