Thanks for the seed! I'll have to check it out! And, awesome ideas!
Thank you SongOfSongs, I feel grateful reading your supportive message!
The tree is now sprouting leaves, just like the ones outdoors here where spring has come.
Building the trunk and main branches, I made good use of the Pixel Circle / Oval Generator TheWesson kindly directed me to.
I haven't used the Voxel Sphere Generator provided by Adversity yet, but I plan a build with clay/terracotta where it will be very convenient.
For the foliage I first made horizontal shapes around each branch tip. On these I added smaller and smaller layers from above and below.
I want to add three additional main branches going almost vertically to give the tree a more complete look, but I need a break from chopping wood and shearing leaves! Work on the interior of and the entrances to the trunk will give a tired forester time to rejuvenate! See you soon!
It gets me in the mood for spring time even though from where I am, we are get some unusual weather with snow still! I'm so ready for spring and the flowers and tree blooms!
It gets me in the mood for spring time even though from where I am, we are get some unusual weather with snow still! I'm so ready for spring and the flowers and tree blooms!
At one time I experimented with planting trees on trees to make mega-trees. But that one looks nice and really natural looking.
Thanks for the encouraging comments, I feel confident that I am on the right track! With another layer of branches on top I think it will look amazing!
I remember reading books when I was a kid about animals in the Amazon, if I remember correctly, there are such a thing as trees on trees there, not a bad idea at all!
I have been working on the interior, trying to keep it green and natural as if it almost grew out of the tree.
Here are 7 images to give a walk-through:
As you enter you first encounter the backdoor to the ol' reception building, now partially enclosed in the trunk. Then you can climb the first stairs to get onto the roof where the potions storage is, followed by staircases along the inside of the trunk up to the current main three branches, which will be expanded with three more. I will make a complete post of the entire project once its done =)
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Location:
Upplands Väsby
Join Date:
8/21/2017
Posts:
262
Location:
Upplands Väsby, Sweden
Minecraft:
AvionPhoton
Member Details
The Life Tree
Ok. It might not be perfect at all. But I think at some point, I have to leave this tree be (no pun intended).
During this process, I have fallen so many times it is a wonder the diamond armor is still on.
I had originally planned to only make one horizontal layer of branches, which actually looked pretty good in its simplicity.
Then I went ambitious and went wanting to approximate a hemisphere. This proved to be much harder than expected.
Without a clear plan of how to reach the final result, the tree is somewhat chaotic. Another issue is that a part of the tree crosses into the extreme hills biome, changing its leaf color and also adding snow
As a reconciliation however, I got shaders going for some screenshots, so it still looks quite glorious in some angles.
with shaders
without shaders
snowy branches
I will update this post a bit more later! Currently I am mostly doing small landscaping around the valley. Smaller custom trees... much smaller ...
UPDATE #1:
How I built the tree
I want the trunk to partially enclose the reception building, so I have to clear out the area around it. I don't think the small sandstone hut really fits the theme of the valley, so I remove it.
Then it is time to use the Pixel Circle Generator and to get the lowest part of the trunk lined out
At a height that feels good I create another smaller circle. Then I step down and make slight curved lines between the lower and upper circles. From there, I start filling in the trunk with oak wood logs.
Next I build the roots, three large ones, which branch slightly. At both the southern and the eastern roots I make sure to make enough space so one can walk underneath it.
After the roots, I work on the main upper branches. I start by laying out three new circles onto the upper circle. Secondly I sketch how the branches will grow out with dirt blocks, and finally I fill in the branches, trying to visualize gradually rotating and diminishing circles along the path outlined by the dirt blocks creating tubular shapes.
I leave gaps in the trunk for natural entrances, and also imagine that the stained glass have been inserted into such places.
The extensions of the lower branches is described in this post
Finally, I outline the shape of the upper branches, again using dirt
I fill in these and try my best to branch in various directions. Creating and splitting gradual curves in all three dimension with blocks is quite tricky! I found it helpful to think that the branch closest to the first outline should be the longest one.
Again I use a more or less spherical shape of leaves at the tip of each branch.
UPDATE #2:
I have been coming back to the tree to add a lot more leaves, especially to cover light parts of the oak blocks, both around the trunk and the main branches. I also added water pools between the upper branches, and a water fall streaming down from one of these.
That's beautiful. If the tree were too shapely (for example strictly hemispherical) it would look less organic and more artificial.
Thank you, that put my inner perfectionist at ease! More trees are coming, but smaller, much smaller!
Palm tree and ruin brewin'
After the giant tree, your builder is exhausted and slightly confused as where to start next.
To get back on track, he takes on various short tasks here and there.
A palm tree is added, and the stone slabs in the Wizard's House gets replaced with wood. He feels more relaxed looking at it now.
A tiny canyon on the western side of the valley is opened up to allow access. To what purpose is not determined, but the chicken all seem excited about it. Perhaps they want a little bath and a place to nest in there
The Adventurer's Hub is the last building project before the first world download, and it has already been underway for some time, but in a hap-hazard manner.
Just behind the Hub's entrance, a fountain (where the ocean temple loot is hoarded) gradually turns out in the mind of your builder to be part of an excavated ruin. In fact, remembering the good advice TheWesson gave in this post, the whole Hub will be made so. This ignites the spark of inspiration which before was missed in this project!
Cracked stone bricks are sorely missed however, and our adventurer, now with new-found energy looks for one of the trusty horses to take him to the stronghold. He finds Life, and soon returns with four stacks of each type of stone brick. While at the stronghold, he notes that the end was made accessible many months ago, but has yet not been challenged. Even though he passionately anticipates gliding from the Life Tree with an Elytra, he saves it as something to celebrate the first world download.
More to come from landscaping and works on the Hub!
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Location:
Upplands Väsby
Join Date:
8/21/2017
Posts:
262
Location:
Upplands Väsby, Sweden
Minecraft:
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Member Details
Chicken Sanctuary
I decide to further explore the crevice that the chicken were excited about, and turn in into a place dedicated solely to them.
I even out the little cave, adding a skylight. I arrange the flowers and build some small stairs and grassy rows for the chicken to run or sit on.
I look at vegan sanctuaries on facebook like this one and this one for some inspiration. Even if I don't come across any particular architecture I fancy, I do get a good sense of the love the people running them have for the animals and the idea comes to me of making a chicken-operated dispenser for food.
It must be one of the simplest redstone contraptions I have ever built =) I know, I still have to hand-feed them, but isn't it cute?
I fortify the little pond, place a sea lantern to light it up. I add stone pillars and a small arc around the entrance. Also, leaves so it does not look too barren.
A chicken comes to pose for an inaugoratory photograph.
Next update will be great, I have prepared all except tulips... Tulips, what could that mean?
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Location:
Upplands Väsby
Join Date:
8/21/2017
Posts:
262
Location:
Upplands Väsby, Sweden
Minecraft:
AvionPhoton
Member Details
Trees, lights, a lion and Minecraft botany
Today I want to create a permanent path up to the place where I usually go for panoramic views. It is past the small spruce tree plantation, which leads me to another thing I want to do, custom trees!
I undertake both these tasks. First two pines and three firs grow in the rain.
At the top of the hill I add a trampoline to jump from! It is almost a forty block drop down to the lake inlet.
red sheep considers taking the plunge
I take advantage of the new vantage point. Flower Valley is in dire need for night lights. A screenshot pasted in my image editor helps me pinpoint 12 locations based on path intersections.
At these i put redstone lamps on spruce logs with inverted daylight sensors on top. I also put vines around the base of the night lanterns to make them blend in better.
Cozy! But now I also want an on/off button!
Next to the chicken sanctuary I build a willow tree
And further up the slope a thin birch
A good few stacks of bone-meal is spent to make sure Flower Valley lives up to its name, and it doesn't look like someone went over it with a lawn mower. I am happy to come across the trick to create tall grass; bone-meal on top of a normal grass! The Life Tree gets a cozy green coat of green around its roots. And the main branches gets wrapped in even more leaves. I think my heart is green!
It is now so lush that a lion and a zebra wanders in next to the palm tree...
I now take a break from Minecraft to walk outdoors. I follow the river to a wonderful park with variety of trees, taking some photos with my phone for inspiration.
I also research the various flowers in Minecraft on Wikipedia. I specifically look at their natural habitats, I want to rearrange them in a more natural order.
Back in Flower Valley I take the data I have collected to find a suitable location for each species.
Allium, they are what grows from onions. They like dry, well-drained sunny areas. I place them around the melons and wheat plantations, assuming those drain most the moist
Azure bluet, a coffee plant. They form undergrowth in rain forests. I put these along the vines in the southern valley, shaded by the hills where the air is most humid
Blue Orchid. This one wants it wet. I only have a few, since they grow in the swamps. They grow on or next to tree roots. so I put them around the willow tree.
Dandelion is a common plant often regarded as weed, but actually has a long history of human use both a food plant and medicinal herb. Dandelions grow in sun and open grazed grass. I plant them around the Animalist's Cabin.
Lilacs likes old trees and grows on chalky ground. I plant them around the roots of the Life Tree.
Oxeye Daisies grow on grassland in open canopy and disturbed areas. It seems suitable to place them along the paths.
Peonies have a long tradition as cultivars in Asia. Not just for decoration. In fact, the philosopher Confucius is known to have said "I eat nothing without its spice". As a wild plant, some grow in moist areas close to alpine regions. I chose to place them on the slopes along the melting water from the ice temple.
Poppies grow well in cooler wooded areas, so I let them form circle around the Life tree, and also under the dark oaks.
Rose bushes are very common in gardens, but they also grow wild, where some species like sandy coasts. The closest I can think of are the ponds with cacti in the southwest area of the valley.
Sunflowers. I have two around the Wizard's Hut. Even if the Life Tree gives shadow, I think the sun over the plains is enough.
Tulips were a big surprise for me. They like temperate mountainous steppes! I remove all the tulips from the central areas (about 1½ stack of each color!) and let them be up on the hills and mountain sides
After all this work, I still want to add some more trees, especially a mangrove around the Fisherman's hut, and also more birches, palm trees, willows and a sequoia.
So I am about halfway there. If more people post before I am done, I might manage to squeeze in something for you too =D
The area for FunGameFam got me searching for all the music discs, which led to this thread
Mall is still eluding me! I wore out my diamond shoes and chestplate swimming like a Pufferfish full of arrows to get those discs, but this led to fishing for more enchantments and finally: Frostwalker II. Woohoo!
I also got Sweeping Edge II which upgraded 'Loot Sharp' to 'No Fence'
On a calmer note, we have this mangrove tree:
Also, the rain water collected between the Life Tree's branches created a waterfall
Your tree inspires me to want to build a huge treehouse now Keep up the awesome work on this! Enjoy reading your entries!
Thanks, your support keeps me motivated!! I hope you make a fabulous treehouse!! Mine became more like a house inside a tree, even if I originally had planned to build on top of it, between the branches. Sometimes things unexpectedly branch out in new directions..
Such a nice journal and Such a nice tree you know you should really add like a owl or a bird sitting on or under the tree would be dope ;D
Hey, thank you Zabarion and I like that idea a lot! It feels like ages since I thought about owls. Very cool and mysterious birds, and awake in the night, just like me. Could be a great addition and a fun challenge. One more build in the Hub and then I will give it a shot!
So, I've been following this thread since it started and I have always been excited about the builds!
Honestly, I was a little disappointed that there hadn't been any significant updates in a while, then I realized I had managed to skip 2 huge posts. Lol!
Anyway, I look forward to seeing the ruins that you will be building! Could we get some shots of the flower placements in the valley? Thanks!
So, I've been following this thread since it started and I have always been excited about the builds!
Honestly, I was a little disappointed that there hadn't been any significant updates in a while, then I realized I had managed to skip 2 huge posts. Lol!
Anyway, I look forward to seeing the ruins that you will be building! Could we get some shots of the flower placements in the valley? Thanks!
Hi Crossfirekira, welcome out of the water
I added screenshots of the flower placements to the post, I think it is much improved!
I know updates have been irregular so the coming weeks I will keep them to Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Let's see how it works
Hearing you have followed along all this time is awesome! May I ask what you liked best so far?
I only lurked when SFN truly made his presence known, but I feel like this is the reaction every season. They tell him to **** off but he comes back and pulls the same, childish **** and acts pretentious about his picks only to be proven to be wrong yet again and regret acting like a ****. Rinse and repeat.
Did you perhaps post in the wrong thread? XD
Don't worry about it
I love the addition of the flower pictures! They all look right at home!
I was super excited when you started the tree of life. I had just started work on a massive treehouse for my second base in a roofed forest so I was excited to see how you would make a giant tree. So far that has been my favorite part. I think the waterfall was a nice touch! (Your tree of life looks so much better than my treehouse. Mine is a 3x3 trunk with a few branches and floating platforms. I'll eventually make some more trunks for my platforms to rest on, until then, I don't even have many leaves on the branches.)
I love the addition of the flower pictures! They all look right at home!
I was super excited when you started the tree of life. I had just started work on a massive treehouse for my second base in a roofed forest so I was excited to see how you would make a giant tree. So far that has been my favorite part. I think the waterfall was a nice touch! (Your tree of life looks so much better than my treehouse. Mine is a 3x3 trunk with a few branches and floating platforms. I'll eventually make some more trunks for my platforms to rest on, until then, I don't even have many leaves on the branches.)
Keep up the great work on your builds!
Thank you for the encouragement Crossfireakira, I wish you the best with your building as well and I hope you post them!
I like those simple tree houses, I actually built two of them before, one super-small in my main creative and a slightly larger in my test world.
More trees will be also built in Flower Valley, but first, another topic
You were the last poster I dedicated a build to but it is the first I post. This is because I want to give a walk-through into the ruins, and the parts left to work on were the entrances, paths or corridors on the ground floor. Now it is all finished, and we start at the entrance!
The Adventurer's Hub, Part I : Entrances and ground floor walkway
We enter the Hub in the southwest corner of the valley, just past the nether portal.
It was build a while ago, even before the dog was there =) but I added details since then.
The vines (always a bit tricky to not get EVERYTHING overgrown by them!), mossy cobble, and various cobble slabs, stairs and fences to give a more collapsed impression.
As one enters, there is first a semi-open area with the fountain (first pictured in this post). It has now been updated both with detailing and an interesting feature to be described in the next post. There seems to perhaps have been a roof here but it must have collapsed along time ago. It leads to a second entrance
We enter the mountain. The walkway slowly descends, with alcoves on the sides. In one is a place to sit.
Now that I see that torch, I want to move it!
Looking to the left walking down
After around 30 blocks walk from the entrance, we come to an area where there are four directions to choose between:
A wider staircase down to the left
An exit outdoors further ahead.
A staircase upwards
A narrow staircase to the right.
I like these torches better!
Where do we go next?
Well, I mentioned the fountain, We let the crossroad wait and head back for a closer look! =D
The correlation between TheWesson and this build is ocean monuments. TheWesson built a magnificent cathedral on top of an ocean monument, and the build I post today is where the ocean monument loot in Flower Valley is stored.
Build log
The chest with the ocean loot deserves a better placement, and for this i designed a redstone circuit. I want it to be hidden in the fountain which is already in place.
To access the chest, an item must by sacrificed by being thrown into the pool. And then the same procedure will close it.
To implement this, I load the test world and design the circuit.
It has three main parts
A hopper with a dropper down to a lava block. The dropper is connected to a comparator and by looping back the signal, any item entering the hopper will be dropped into lava, but not before emitting a short pulse signal.
The pulse signal is sent up a redstone torch tower to a dispenser with a water bucket
The pulse signal goes to a T-flip-flop, just like the one I used for the nether portal door. This enables switching of a sticky piston between retracted and extended states, revealing the hidden chest.
The whole circuit
Above the chest I place a stair block, so the chest can be opened.
I make a list of the materials to easier to replicate it in the survival world
1 lava bucket
1 sticky piston
2 hoppers
4 droppers
1 dispenser
4 repeaters
2 comparators
8-10 redstone (depending on the placement of the "sacrificial pit"
5 redstone torches
Building it goes smoothly until the final test. The water doesn't spread wider than three blocks!
I solve it by narrowing the fountain pond. Then I detail the surroundings a bit more. The result is pretty neat and works like a charm!
hidden loot
loot revealed!
UPDATE!
I really wanted to make the water flow wider, so I went back and redesigned this build. Three changes:
I retracted the dispenser one block, and placed it higher up. In this way, it is not visible from the outside, and I think it adds a bit of magic to the place.
I also retracted both the chest and the piston one block, making it flush with the wall. I replaced the lantern as the cover block, and put it behind the chest instead.
I made the hole to throw the item accessible from outside the fountain instead of being inside it. Thanks to TheWesson who pointed out that the water in my initial build didn't spread because of the drain! Thanks to this change, I expand the width of the fountain.
It doesn't look as beautiful in shaders anymore (very dark when closed), but I think it is better since the place to throw the sacrificial item is highlighted. It is also more dramatic when the water stops and the chest is lit up! It is like there is a face on the wall is saying 'I hope you didn't throw your best pick in there.. because my belly is full of lava!
I might add some note blocks playing a flute when the chest is revealed for additional effect.
Where next?
We go back to the crossing, and take the first to the left, a staircase going down...
Nice! Thanks for the dedication. The role-play of 'sacrificing' makes it more fun, huh.
The water didn't spread to the sides because it was heading to the drain - you could stair-step another step where the water comes in
~
~#~
~###~
Or not. That would get in the way of chest access I suppose, unless you had 2 blocks rigged to pistons.
Oh, I see! I have yet to master both how water works and double piston extension! If I can widen it again, I do think it will look better.
I also thought the pool could be even better with the dispenser more hidden, one block back and one block higher, so I might implement that together with a double piston extension to really make the build more mysterious.
Thank you SongOfSongs, I feel grateful reading your supportive message!
The tree is now sprouting leaves, just like the ones outdoors here where spring has come.
Building the trunk and main branches, I made good use of the Pixel Circle / Oval Generator TheWesson kindly directed me to.
I haven't used the Voxel Sphere Generator provided by Adversity yet, but I plan a build with clay/terracotta where it will be very convenient.
For the foliage I first made horizontal shapes around each branch tip. On these I added smaller and smaller layers from above and below.
I want to add three additional main branches going almost vertically to give the tree a more complete look, but I need a break from chopping wood and shearing leaves! Work on the interior of and the entrances to the trunk will give a tired forester time to rejuvenate! See you soon!
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
It gets me in the mood for spring time even though from where I am, we are get some unusual weather with snow still! I'm so ready for spring and the flowers and tree blooms!
Wow, helluva tree.
At one time I experimented with planting trees on trees to make mega-trees. But that one looks nice and really natural looking.
Thanks for the encouraging comments, I feel confident that I am on the right track! With another layer of branches on top I think it will look amazing!
I remember reading books when I was a kid about animals in the Amazon, if I remember correctly, there are such a thing as trees on trees there, not a bad idea at all!
I have been working on the interior, trying to keep it green and natural as if it almost grew out of the tree.
Here are 7 images to give a walk-through:
As you enter you first encounter the backdoor to the ol' reception building, now partially enclosed in the trunk. Then you can climb the first stairs to get onto the roof where the potions storage is, followed by staircases along the inside of the trunk up to the current main three branches, which will be expanded with three more. I will make a complete post of the entire project once its done =)
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
The Life Tree
Ok. It might not be perfect at all. But I think at some point, I have to leave this tree be (no pun intended).
During this process, I have fallen so many times it is a wonder the diamond armor is still on.
I had originally planned to only make one horizontal layer of branches, which actually looked pretty good in its simplicity.
Then I went ambitious and went wanting to approximate a hemisphere. This proved to be much harder than expected.
Without a clear plan of how to reach the final result, the tree is somewhat chaotic. Another issue is that a part of the tree crosses into the extreme hills biome, changing its leaf color and also adding snow
As a reconciliation however, I got shaders going for some screenshots, so it still looks quite glorious in some angles.
with shaders
without shaders
snowy branches
I will update this post a bit more later! Currently I am mostly doing small landscaping around the valley. Smaller custom trees... much smaller ...
UPDATE #1:
How I built the tree
I want the trunk to partially enclose the reception building, so I have to clear out the area around it. I don't think the small sandstone hut really fits the theme of the valley, so I remove it.
Then it is time to use the Pixel Circle Generator and to get the lowest part of the trunk lined out
At a height that feels good I create another smaller circle. Then I step down and make slight curved lines between the lower and upper circles. From there, I start filling in the trunk with oak wood logs.
Next I build the roots, three large ones, which branch slightly. At both the southern and the eastern roots I make sure to make enough space so one can walk underneath it.
After the roots, I work on the main upper branches. I start by laying out three new circles onto the upper circle. Secondly I sketch how the branches will grow out with dirt blocks, and finally I fill in the branches, trying to visualize gradually rotating and diminishing circles along the path outlined by the dirt blocks creating tubular shapes.
I leave gaps in the trunk for natural entrances, and also imagine that the stained glass have been inserted into such places.
The extensions of the lower branches is described in this post
Finally, I outline the shape of the upper branches, again using dirt
I fill in these and try my best to branch in various directions. Creating and splitting gradual curves in all three dimension with blocks is quite tricky! I found it helpful to think that the branch closest to the first outline should be the longest one.
Again I use a more or less spherical shape of leaves at the tip of each branch.
UPDATE #2:
I have been coming back to the tree to add a lot more leaves, especially to cover light parts of the oak blocks, both around the trunk and the main branches. I also added water pools between the upper branches, and a water fall streaming down from one of these.
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
That's beautiful. If the tree were too shapely (for example strictly hemispherical) it would look less organic and more artificial.
Thank you, that put my inner perfectionist at ease! More trees are coming, but smaller, much smaller!
Palm tree and ruin brewin'
After the giant tree, your builder is exhausted and slightly confused as where to start next.
To get back on track, he takes on various short tasks here and there.
A palm tree is added, and the stone slabs in the Wizard's House gets replaced with wood. He feels more relaxed looking at it now.
A tiny canyon on the western side of the valley is opened up to allow access. To what purpose is not determined, but the chicken all seem excited about it. Perhaps they want a little bath and a place to nest in there
The Adventurer's Hub is the last building project before the first world download, and it has already been underway for some time, but in a hap-hazard manner.
Just behind the Hub's entrance, a fountain (where the ocean temple loot is hoarded) gradually turns out in the mind of your builder to be part of an excavated ruin. In fact, remembering the good advice TheWesson gave in this post, the whole Hub will be made so. This ignites the spark of inspiration which before was missed in this project!
Cracked stone bricks are sorely missed however, and our adventurer, now with new-found energy looks for one of the trusty horses to take him to the stronghold. He finds Life, and soon returns with four stacks of each type of stone brick. While at the stronghold, he notes that the end was made accessible many months ago, but has yet not been challenged. Even though he passionately anticipates gliding from the Life Tree with an Elytra, he saves it as something to celebrate the first world download.
More to come from landscaping and works on the Hub!
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Chicken Sanctuary
I decide to further explore the crevice that the chicken were excited about, and turn in into a place dedicated solely to them.
I even out the little cave, adding a skylight. I arrange the flowers and build some small stairs and grassy rows for the chicken to run or sit on.
I look at vegan sanctuaries on facebook like this one and this one for some inspiration. Even if I don't come across any particular architecture I fancy, I do get a good sense of the love the people running them have for the animals and the idea comes to me of making a chicken-operated dispenser for food.
It must be one of the simplest redstone contraptions I have ever built =) I know, I still have to hand-feed them, but isn't it cute?
I fortify the little pond, place a sea lantern to light it up. I add stone pillars and a small arc around the entrance. Also, leaves so it does not look too barren.
A chicken comes to pose for an inaugoratory photograph.
Next update will be great, I have prepared all except tulips... Tulips, what could that mean?
PMC's Pumpkin Carving Solo Contest Entry
Trees, lights, a lion and Minecraft botany
Today I want to create a permanent path up to the place where I usually go for panoramic views. It is past the small spruce tree plantation, which leads me to another thing I want to do, custom trees!
I undertake both these tasks. First two pines and three firs grow in the rain.
At the top of the hill I add a trampoline to jump from! It is almost a forty block drop down to the lake inlet.
red sheep considers taking the plunge
I take advantage of the new vantage point. Flower Valley is in dire need for night lights. A screenshot pasted in my image editor helps me pinpoint 12 locations based on path intersections.
At these i put redstone lamps on spruce logs with inverted daylight sensors on top. I also put vines around the base of the night lanterns to make them blend in better.
Cozy! But now I also want an on/off button!
Next to the chicken sanctuary I build a willow tree
And further up the slope a thin birch
A good few stacks of bone-meal is spent to make sure Flower Valley lives up to its name, and it doesn't look like someone went over it with a lawn mower. I am happy to come across the trick to create tall grass; bone-meal on top of a normal grass! The Life Tree gets a cozy green coat of green around its roots. And the main branches gets wrapped in even more leaves. I think my heart is green!
It is now so lush that a lion and a zebra wanders in next to the palm tree...
I now take a break from Minecraft to walk outdoors. I follow the river to a wonderful park with variety of trees, taking some photos with my phone for inspiration.
I also research the various flowers in Minecraft on Wikipedia. I specifically look at their natural habitats, I want to rearrange them in a more natural order.
Back in Flower Valley I take the data I have collected to find a suitable location for each species.
Allium, they are what grows from onions. They like dry, well-drained sunny areas. I place them around the melons and wheat plantations, assuming those drain most the moist
Azure bluet, a coffee plant. They form undergrowth in rain forests. I put these along the vines in the southern valley, shaded by the hills where the air is most humid
Blue Orchid. This one wants it wet. I only have a few, since they grow in the swamps. They grow on or next to tree roots. so I put them around the willow tree.
Dandelion is a common plant often regarded as weed, but actually has a long history of human use both a food plant and medicinal herb. Dandelions grow in sun and open grazed grass. I plant them around the Animalist's Cabin.
Lilacs likes old trees and grows on chalky ground. I plant them around the roots of the Life Tree.
Oxeye Daisies grow on grassland in open canopy and disturbed areas. It seems suitable to place them along the paths.
Peonies have a long tradition as cultivars in Asia. Not just for decoration. In fact, the philosopher Confucius is known to have said "I eat nothing without its spice". As a wild plant, some grow in moist areas close to alpine regions. I chose to place them on the slopes along the melting water from the ice temple.
Poppies grow well in cooler wooded areas, so I let them form circle around the Life tree, and also under the dark oaks.
Rose bushes are very common in gardens, but they also grow wild, where some species like sandy coasts. The closest I can think of are the ponds with cacti in the southwest area of the valley.
Sunflowers. I have two around the Wizard's Hut. Even if the Life Tree gives shadow, I think the sun over the plains is enough.
Tulips were a big surprise for me. They like temperate mountainous steppes! I remove all the tulips from the central areas (about 1½ stack of each color!) and let them be up on the hills and mountain sides
After all this work, I still want to add some more trees, especially a mangrove around the Fisherman's hut, and also more birches, palm trees, willows and a sequoia.
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Mangrove groove
The general theme of the Hub is an overgrown but partially recovered ruin.
Here is how the palette looked like at the start:
I really love working on this build, I have to hold myself not to post pictures already, but I would rather make the Hub one single post.
For the different areas inside I am integrating ideas associated with each person posting in this thread. At the moment there are ten of them!
The ones completed so far are for
Left to complete are areas for
So I am about halfway there. If more people post before I am done, I might manage to squeeze in something for you too =D
The area for FunGameFam got me searching for all the music discs, which led to this thread
Mall is still eluding me! I wore out my diamond shoes and chestplate swimming like a Pufferfish full of arrows to get those discs, but this led to fishing for more enchantments and finally: Frostwalker II. Woohoo!
I also got Sweeping Edge II which upgraded 'Loot Sharp' to 'No Fence'
On a calmer note, we have this mangrove tree:
Also, the rain water collected between the Life Tree's branches created a waterfall
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Your tree inspires me to want to build a huge treehouse now Keep up the awesome work on this! Enjoy reading your entries!
Thanks, your support keeps me motivated!! I hope you make a fabulous treehouse!! Mine became more like a house inside a tree, even if I originally had planned to build on top of it, between the branches. Sometimes things unexpectedly branch out in new directions..
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Hey, thank you Zabarion and I like that idea a lot! It feels like ages since I thought about owls. Very cool and mysterious birds, and awake in the night, just like me. Could be a great addition and a fun challenge. One more build in the Hub and then I will give it a shot!
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So, I've been following this thread since it started and I have always been excited about the builds!
Honestly, I was a little disappointed that there hadn't been any significant updates in a while, then I realized I had managed to skip 2 huge posts. Lol!
Anyway, I look forward to seeing the ruins that you will be building! Could we get some shots of the flower placements in the valley? Thanks!
Hi Crossfirekira, welcome out of the water
I added screenshots of the flower placements to the post, I think it is much improved!
I know updates have been irregular so the coming weeks I will keep them to Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Let's see how it works
Hearing you have followed along all this time is awesome! May I ask what you liked best so far?
Did you perhaps post in the wrong thread? XD
Don't worry about it
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I love the addition of the flower pictures! They all look right at home!
I was super excited when you started the tree of life. I had just started work on a massive treehouse for my second base in a roofed forest so I was excited to see how you would make a giant tree. So far that has been my favorite part. I think the waterfall was a nice touch! (Your tree of life looks so much better than my treehouse. Mine is a 3x3 trunk with a few branches and floating platforms. I'll eventually make some more trunks for my platforms to rest on, until then, I don't even have many leaves on the branches.)
Keep up the great work on your builds!
Thank you for the encouragement Crossfireakira, I wish you the best with your building as well and I hope you post them!
I like those simple tree houses, I actually built two of them before, one super-small in my main creative and a slightly larger in my test world.
More trees will be also built in Flower Valley, but first, another topic
You were the last poster I dedicated a build to but it is the first I post. This is because I want to give a walk-through into the ruins, and the parts left to work on were the entrances, paths or corridors on the ground floor. Now it is all finished, and we start at the entrance!
The Adventurer's Hub, Part I : Entrances and ground floor walkway
dedicated to Crossfireakira
We enter the Hub in the southwest corner of the valley, just past the nether portal.
It was build a while ago, even before the dog was there =) but I added details since then.
The vines (always a bit tricky to not get EVERYTHING overgrown by them!), mossy cobble, and various cobble slabs, stairs and fences to give a more collapsed impression.
As one enters, there is first a semi-open area with the fountain (first pictured in this post). It has now been updated both with detailing and an interesting feature to be described in the next post. There seems to perhaps have been a roof here but it must have collapsed along time ago. It leads to a second entrance
We enter the mountain. The walkway slowly descends, with alcoves on the sides. In one is a place to sit.
Now that I see that torch, I want to move it!
Looking to the left walking down
After around 30 blocks walk from the entrance, we come to an area where there are four directions to choose between:
I like these torches better!
Where do we go next?
Well, I mentioned the fountain, We let the crossroad wait and head back for a closer look! =D
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The Adventurer's Hub, Part II : Sacrificial fountain
dedicated to TheWesson
The correlation between TheWesson and this build is ocean monuments. TheWesson built a magnificent cathedral on top of an ocean monument, and the build I post today is where the ocean monument loot in Flower Valley is stored.
Build log
The chest with the ocean loot deserves a better placement, and for this i designed a redstone circuit. I want it to be hidden in the fountain which is already in place.
To access the chest, an item must by sacrificed by being thrown into the pool. And then the same procedure will close it.
To implement this, I load the test world and design the circuit.
It has three main parts
The whole circuit
Above the chest I place a stair block, so the chest can be opened.
I make a list of the materials to easier to replicate it in the survival world
Building it goes smoothly until the final test. The water doesn't spread wider than three blocks!
I solve it by narrowing the fountain pond. Then I detail the surroundings a bit more. The result is pretty neat and works like a charm!
hidden loot
loot revealed!
UPDATE!
I really wanted to make the water flow wider, so I went back and redesigned this build. Three changes:
It doesn't look as beautiful in shaders anymore (very dark when closed), but I think it is better since the place to throw the sacrificial item is highlighted. It is also more dramatic when the water stops and the chest is lit up! It is like there is a face on the wall is saying 'I hope you didn't throw your best pick in there.. because my belly is full of lava!
I might add some note blocks playing a flute when the chest is revealed for additional effect.
Where next?
We go back to the crossing, and take the first to the left, a staircase going down...
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Nice! Thanks for the dedication. The role-play of 'sacrificing' makes it more fun, huh.
The water didn't spread to the sides because it was heading to the drain - you could stair-step another step where the water comes in
Or not. That would get in the way of chest access I suppose, unless you had 2 blocks rigged to pistons.
Oh, I see! I have yet to master both how water works and double piston extension! If I can widen it again, I do think it will look better.
I also thought the pool could be even better with the dispenser more hidden, one block back and one block higher, so I might implement that together with a double piston extension to really make the build more mysterious.
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