First, it is my duty to inform you—although you may have already noticed it—that this issue is a few hours overdue, and it is currently just shy of 3:00 AM as I post this; I left on my Spring vacation early this past morning, and was on the road for a long time, and—I’m rambling. The point is, it’s here now. I hope you guys weren’t waiting too long.
Secondly, the topic of this editorial this week is on multiplayer servers. I have visited many servers, both SMP (of the survival sort) and CMP (of the less brutish sort); I haven’t stayed long on many, choosing instead to make a large sphere of influence on their builders, and to improve my own building skills while helping all hands; and over this long span of time, I have gathered a list of things I generally look for when I’m choosing a server to apply my creativity to:
Creative Freedom: I can’t stress enough that the one thing that displeases me when I come to a server expecting to build some large aesthetic structure for them; but that when I’ve done and built it, the response is “Well, it’s good, but because I’m the Admin/Owner, I feel that I need to offer some critique to feel like I’m contributing. So I’ll throw in some words such as ‘golden ratio’ and ‘curvature’ even though I hired Craig to build the structure in the first place.”
Specificity: This somewhat contrasts with the previous point, but is important nonetheless: it’s quite bothersome when the Admin sets me in a huge flattened piece of terrain, and asks me to build a city. It would be more beneficial to me (and to you as well) if you specified things such as “the architectural era”, “the block pallet”, or “the general size of the city”. If you don’t give me specific instructions, and state that you want the huge marketplace I’m about to build to actually be functional with the Showcase plugin, and then remove my two hours of work because of that, then you probably shouldn’t expect me to visit again.
Mods and Plugins: I’m happy to work on all types of servers, and try to tailor my style to their needs; but it would be helpful if you allowed and installed certain plugins. The general ones that I like to have are Zombe’s Flymod, some sort of Fire Protection (because no one likes a beautiful house when it’s on fire), and either World Edit or VoxelSniper.
A Fun Community: This seems like it should be obvious to most everyone, but it’s surprisingly not. Often times, I have come on to an abandoned server where the two people that are on don’t talk to anyone; other times, it has been the opposite where I can’t get a word in because the chat box is constantly spammed with immature spouts of “[PLAYER NAME] called me a ****!!!” followed by a quick “No I didn’t! [PLAYER NAME B] is a liar!!!!!”—Note, I had to translate both of these quotes from the infectious “leetspeek” that encrypted both messages.
A Trusting Community: I do understand that some random person offering to build for you for no apparent reason or personal gain can seem a bit sketchy to some of you. Good. That’s a sign that your brains are still functioning properly. But there were a couple of servers that I had been helping for a solid week; their users who implemented World Edit weren’t often on, and I had been promoted just below Admin. I asked for use of World Edit, and so they gave it to me, but then had the courtesy of asking one of their fellow players to “watch over me to make sure he doesn’t grief”. If I hear this come from an owner’s mouth, I will politely finish the current job, say my “Good day” and promptly chart course for a new server.
Overall, I have had many good experiences. The above points were the extremities that I have seen, heard and experienced myself, and are actually quite rare. I hope to keep them that way, because everyone wants to have a good time, and what better way to do so than to have a happy Craig? So let’s get cracking at this week’s issue of The Obsidian Pantagraph.
Oh, and before I forget, I would like to introduce Andrew M., our lead reporter—also our only reporter; even still, applaud him. He's great. He's part of the team.
LegoCraft is about memories.A lot of people played with LEGO's at a young age and,secretly,still want to play with it and that's why,this pack is made.Everyone can play minecraft with a feeling of LEGO's.
One of the things that interested me most when I first played Minecraft was its similarity to one of my favorite childhood pasttimes. In fact, whenever I've tried explaining Minecraft to a friend, I always say something along the lines of "It's like building with Legos on your computer." With this texture pack, that dream has become a reality. I'm speaking, of course, of LegoCraft, a project by member MrBrentX. On first impression, one can see that the pack truly lives up to its name: its 16x resolution is perfect for bringing brick-filled goodness to the game we all know and love. While some of the animal textures, such as the ocelot, still need to be added, the texture pack is overall pretty much up to date, excluding the new wooden planks added in the 1.2.4 update.
I have to say, what I really like most about this texture pack is the nostalgia factor. The pack pretty accurately represents the plastic bricks that we've all come to know and love. The armor is even in the shape of a minifigure's chest and leg pieces! One of the other things that I really like about it is the water. The water's surface looks like a layer of light-blue transparent bricks, making swimming an even more enjoyable activity.
All in all, I'm glad that MrBrentX brought this texture pack to life. I love being able to feel like a little kid again every time I boot up my Minecraft. It almost makes me want to dig my old sets out of my closet. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of MrBrentX's work in the future!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph, Andrew M.
Although I like the grungy industrial side of Steampunk, having grown up in a large English cotton mill city in the NorthWest of England, I don't like using cogs and other steam engine paraphernalia just for decoration. I try my best to make mechanical textures look like they might work in the limited confines of a simple Minecraft block or mob texture, but I'm no speed artist. That's probably why my pack is still very much a work in progress, even though I began work on it back in August of 2010.
I'm very much a 'creative' builder in the 'overworld' part of Minecraft these days and my texturing is mostly directed towards this style of play rather than survival and the art of spelunking. Therefore, I'm mostly interested in creating textures that look good at a distance to satisfy my plans for 'world domination' and the grandiose architectural monstrosities that go along with such ambitions (please don't take me too seriously on the world domination side of things...it's just a hobby!).
One of the great influences on my texture pack is the author China Mieville whose dark vision of steampunk, fires my own imagination for vast cities, dark towers and dank urban sprawl, populated by ingenious steam driven mechanical creations and equally wondrous biological denizens.
Let's face it: what isn't there to love about Steampunk? Robotic creations, flying machines, and an industrial victorian setting converge to create a unique environment for the imagintion to explore. This age of wonderment that never quite existed continues to inspire and amaze people all over the world. What better place to envision new worlds than within the legendary Minecraft itself? Glimmar gives us all a chance to live out our airship-flying steampunk fantasies with his fantastic futuristic texture pack. The pack has a crisp 32x resolution, with enough animated blocks and moving mechanical trinkits to make a fanboy giddy. He began working on it way back in 2010, and updates often, which is great for those of us who are always craving something new.
What really stands out about the pack, though, is Glimmar's attention to detail. Take a look at the picture above, for example: the diamond axe (or rather, chainsaw) that you see has an animated chain, and the enchantment table has a pulsating color wheel on its upper face. Even some of the simpler items, such as rail tracks, have spinning cogs and grindng gears. Over the course of the past two years, he has constantly reshaped and refined his work, ultimately crafting one of the most beautiful texture packs available today. While it isn't really meant for those who spend most of their days exploring, the pack is excellent at breathing life into some of Minecraft's most epic creations.
To put things simply, I can envision myself using this texture pack on an almost daily basis. The overall product is phenomenal to behold, and the various machinations and creatures roaming the landscape add a whole new sense of wonder to the game. Many thanks to Glimmar for creating his glorious Steampunk Texture Pack!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M.
"Serenity" is a large project built solely by Amalah. It is a beautiful Asian-themed town, done with supreme elegance, a great texture pack, and a smooth block pallet worthy of attention and respect.
What inspired Serenity, and how long did it take to build?
The underground part of my creation wasn't really inspired by anything, I've always liked to hide any rooms that are meant to be functional rather than beautiful beneath the ground out of sight. The surface part however was inspired by a screenshot somebody posted on my texture pack thread of a lovely pagoda.
I've been working on it for two or three months now and the part that took the longest was digging out all those underground rooms of my base and sheep farm, but the good news is I'm never short of stone. I'm always tweaking old designs too. When the upside down half blocks came out I had to redo all of my eaves, ceilings and roof.
After exploring your world, and using your texturepack, I have to ask: where did the cat theme come from?
I've always been cat mad.
Originally I was just aiming to make a soft coloured texture pack with no specific theme. When it came to editing the particles I had a lot of trouble with the torch smoke, I tried more realistic shapes but I thought they looked terrible. I tried the cat head particles as just a bit of fun, but then when I saw the portal particles I fell in love with the "kitty glitter". From that moment on cat related symbols were creeping in everywhere.
I love how you embraced the idea of living with villagers; what led you to do so?
I got lonely.
Really I wanted to add a bit of life to my creation, the village seemed like a ghost town before. It adds a bit of fun to my play too, whether it's fending off zombies or trying to push iron golems that have spawned out of my pagoda. I never considered the golem spawning conditions before I built it central.
I'll be adding villagers to every building or village I make from now on. There was one zombie invasion where some of them spawned stuck in bushes, come morning it gave me a chuckle to see villagers crowding around staring at the helpless things. They looked very confused.
Do you have any plans on expanding the world of Serenity in the future?
I have extremely big plans. I like the idea of building giant dragons or forests, the world of Serenity is going to be very fantasy oriented. I'm going to be building pretty hot air balloons drifting around the landscape which you can admire the view from too. But the biggest plan I have in mind is to build a city within the petals of a giant flower. This is a plan for the flower I have created using viewvox.
However before that can happen I need to finish all the necessary rooms in my base. I need a crops room, slime farm, iron golem farm, and a zombie pigman farm if I can work out how to do it. It could be a month or more before I'm ready to work on the flower, and I imagine it will take many months to build it.
What advice do you have for other users who are aspiring to build towns or cities of their own?
Don't give up. It doesn't matter how long a project takes or how big it is, you have it in you to finish it.
I find this thread to be very useful, especially if you're skilled in 3d modeling and can create your own. If you're unsure how a design will look test some of it out in creative mode first before you build it in survival.
And add villagers, seriously they're great.
That's some very true advice. Thank you Amalah; you've been a great help during this interview, and I hope we can see some of your stuff in the future. Keep mining!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M. Creation:Aula Concordia Creator:Circleight
Every once in a while, I stumble upon a creation of such magnificence that I can't help but let my jaw drop. This, dear reader, is one of those masterpieces. Located on a creative server called "Crysis," the gigantic structure pictured above is a cathedral project by the name of Aula Concordia, and was built by a single player, known only as Circleight. Designed to be the main center of worship for the goddess of Circleight's town, Desino, it features three main levels, vaulted ceilings, and a gigantic statue of the goddess herself. The attention to detail is incredible: from the mosaic floors to the dragon-esque statues arrayed inside, words cannot describe the true epicness of this piece.
Circleight is a relatively new member to the Minecraft Forums, having racked up a total of 11 posts. Only having been a member since March 15, however, hasn't stopped Circleight from aweing new and old members alike with this one-of-a-kind creation. I contacted Circleight to find out more about Aula Concordia and what it was like building something on such a grand scale.
What inspired you to build Aula Concordia?
The main influence behind Aula Concordia was first thinking of how the name felt, because within the city it all comes by name first since there is a storyline. To me it felt like it can be something elegant and mystical, something a bit dark but not sinister, and that's what I stuck with.
So knowing that, I was really inspired by the Kingdom Hearts art styles and felt the connection of my style and theirs.
The inside should speak much differently than the outside, so the inside was where I was very Kingdom Hearts inspired, and the outside was kind of like a recap of concepts I've had for a while but wanted to expand on a bit more.
A project of this size is impressive; how long did it take you to build this, and what motivated you to keep going?
How long did it take me is usually the first question I get from someone xD Usually it takes up to 1 full week up to 2 weeks maximum. With this project at first I wasn't trying to think outside the box, mainly because I wanted to save it for my up and coming bigger project. But then I thought to myself 'Why hold back? Why not take your time more?'
So I tried to take my time on it more, focus on the details and character of it, because my primal focus is usually that each building must stand out from one another.
So, for things like this, it all depends how out of the box from my own expectancy I go. If things repeat, it takes less time because I have a set pattern, but if things are more organic and constantly changing, it takes much more time and thought of how I want to execute it. In the end I estimate it took up to 2 weeks to fully finish it.
Why did you choose to build on a multiplayer server?
It's a good question, and I've thought about it every time I take a step into something large of a project. It's something important to ask because servers can be dangerous, concerning your projects. A server can lose it's map, it can become corrupted and just like that everything you've done is gone. But I feel it's the same for singleplayer. Your computer can get a virus, corrupts everything, you have to reboot everything basically.
The scenario for me though, is that I enjoy a community. The reason I share my buildings is because of this. I enjoy seeing what people think, it makes me happy to know people like it, and it makes me happy if I even get constructive criticism of how else I should approach things.
What I enjoy is seeing people interact with my stories in my projects, seeing how psychologically they choose to do something, or how the feel about being forced to actually do something in the story. It's all an experience, however on a server you have many duties besides your own personal ones. You have to attend to the new comers, you have to teach basically the same lesson every day. "Where do I build", one of the most common questions, even if it's posted everywhere in the spawn. It takes responsibility but I feel it's worth it in the end and I'd sacrifice the unlimited time of singleplayer to the growing community of a multiplayer server.
What do you like most about your project? Also, looking back, is there anything that you would change?
This usually becomes the question I think when everything is finished and I just catch up to what it is I actually have done. Because when I'm working on it, Im going and going, even if I analyze what it is I am doing. It's just in the end it comes to a grand realization of what it really is or looks like.
I think the thing I like most about Aula Concordia is that it was a change of gears and mind set for me. I realized, this is an art, it does not need to be about practicality and usefulness, but rather it can all be interpretative.
What exactly it is I mean, is that there are not many bookshelves in this building. There are not many fountains, or things one might utilize. Rather , what replaces those things is the art on the floor, and to me that leaves no empty space. To me that is far more important than to have things like fountains,bookshelves,chairs,and on and on.
I would never change a single thing I do, because I am content with what it is I do in life, even if it can bring a little shame or if it's something negative.
I feel like that's the beauty of growth and knowledge, the fact that information is not static and still, that it evolves in it's time of existence.
I think though, if I were to pick out what it is I am not truly content with about this project, It would be the sides of the building. I feel like it repeats too much, and it felt simple as I was making it, even if it's not. It didn't strike me as a 'whoa, that's a good idea' but rather a 'yes yes I can do that'.
Do you have any ideas on what your next build might be?
My next project is many xD Currently I'm pretty booked for plans and projects I'm working on.
Within the city, I am working on chapter 3 to 4 of it, which involves searching for this special pill in the story. You travel to an ancient ruin of the city which has a phoenix over the entrance of it. It's very red and orange based, very fiery. That's a fun project and shouldn't take too long as it has a lot of flow.
Currently I'm working on some sort of a palace which is very fantasy-themed, it will have a lot of flowers and vines crawling up the building. It's all surrounded by water that's very luminescent at night.
And when I finish those two, it begins the long process of the third and final cathedral in my big 'three cathedrals' project.(Aula concordia is the 2nd cathedral)
It's probably going to take me a month, maybe longer. It's certainly going to be massive, but it's also going to be the full release of creativity and ideas that I had stored up for such a long time. Basically, it will be the truest building I'd make as of the time, as it will have my full attention and focus and no restraints. It's going to be the funnest project, but surely the longest.
I'm glad I got the chance to connect with Circleight, who is a friendly user and fantastic player. The dedication and resolve that s/he showed in crafting this megabuild is simply inspirational. Now, I can't wait to try my hand at creating my own megastructure! In any case, while screenshots of the cathedral are indeed fantastic to look at, I encourage you all to visit Aula Concordia yourself -- the IP is "server.crysisserver.com". Who knows, you may run into me there: you can be sure I'll be visiting often to check out more of Circleight's amazing creations. I am confident that the Minecraft community is going to see even more awe-inspiring pieces from Circleight in the near future!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M.
I liked your builds section, and yes, I can relate to the lego craze. I like how you interveiwed the specific players, instead of simply having screenshots of you going about the building. Keep up the good work!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Punching trees, a life-long task, never to use an axe, the best and most refreshing way. Punching Trees, coming to a Minecraft near you
I liked your builds section, and yes, I can relate to the lego craze. I like how you interveiwed the specific players, instead of simply having screenshots of you going about the building. Keep up the good work!
We've always done the interviews for the Creation Showcase.
I liked your builds section, and yes, I can relate to the lego craze. I like how you interveiwed the specific players, instead of simply having screenshots of you going about the building. Keep up the good work!
Great and interesting read for someone like me. I also like to build for others, but it seams i just manage to mis the mark every time of what i think people wants. Ok, i must admit i only build castles as i like the idea of defence. How do you keep yourself motivated and inspired to keep building.
Would it be forward to ask if you as a pro builder, could just have a look at this and give me your honest comment on it please.
Great newsletter, Craig and Andrew. My favorite part was the Creation Showcase, particularly Circleight's. The interviews were a good way to go with this section; I find it interesting to read about the philosophy and building approach of great creators. And the screenshots were just enough to wow me, while getting me interested in visiting the server to see more.
I'm glad I read the whole newsletter. Though it's long compared to a typical forum post, I don't think it was too long at all. But it could have started stronger. It starts with an editorial--an all-text section where the author sets forth his opinion in detail--and that's what many normal forum OPs do, so it seemed rather pretentious to slap a newsletter name and header on it. But I read it, because I've read enough posts by Rillian to know his walls o' text are worth reading. And this one was, too. But something with screenshots or dialogue, something that's more obviously newsletter content, might have been a better way to start the newsletter, lest you lose people before they even bother to scroll down. They'd be missing out, but they wouldn't know it.
And if you'll indulge me in a spelling/usage nitpick, a set of colors is a palette. A pallet is a portable platform for stacks of wares. Overall, the writing is good. In particular, Andrew does an excellent job of asking questions that spark interesting interviews, so I hope you keep those interviews coming.
I saw both of the showcase creations on the same day and was wowed enough by both to leave a comment. I'm glad they got picked for features!
I also really like both of the TPs. Legos FTW!
Great job again on the interviews - they are probably the funnest part of the newsletter. But, where were the tips and tricks this time? Also, remember that hitting F1 will close the HUD - better for screen shots! Looking forward to next weeks issue.
I'm glad I read the whole newsletter. Though it's long compared to a typical forum post, I don't think it was too long at all. But it could have started stronger. It starts with an editorial--an all-text section where the author sets forth his opinion in detail--and that's what many normal forum OPs do, so it seemed rather pretentious to slap a newsletter name and header on it.
If you wait to see the next newsletter, I've found a reporter that you'll hopefully like.
And if you'll indulge me in a spelling/usage nitpick, a set of colors is a palette. A pallet is a portable platform for stacks of wares. Overall, the writing is good. In particular, Andrew does an excellent job of asking questions that spark interesting interviews, so I hope you keep those interviews coming.
Hm. I had a pinching feeling in the back of my mind about that word, but for some reason my spellchecker didn't like the word "palette", so I strayed from it. As far as Andrew, it's exactly why I chose him. He's great!
Great job again on the interviews - they are probably the funnest part of the newsletter. But, where were the tips and tricks this time? Also, remember that hitting F1 will close the HUD - better for screen shots! Looking forward to next weeks issue.
Sorry about the Tips and Tricks Section being missing from this week; it was written at 2 in the morning, a couple hours after I was supposed to have it posted, and I figured that I hadn't the time for that issue. Just wait for this Friday's issue.
Greetings everyone,
First, it is my duty to inform you—although you may have already noticed it—that this issue is a few hours overdue, and it is currently just shy of 3:00 AM as I post this; I left on my Spring vacation early this past morning, and was on the road for a long time, and—I’m rambling. The point is, it’s here now. I hope you guys weren’t waiting too long.
Secondly, the topic of this editorial this week is on multiplayer servers. I have visited many servers, both SMP (of the survival sort) and CMP (of the less brutish sort); I haven’t stayed long on many, choosing instead to make a large sphere of influence on their builders, and to improve my own building skills while helping all hands; and over this long span of time, I have gathered a list of things I generally look for when I’m choosing a server to apply my creativity to:
- Creative Freedom: I can’t stress enough that the one thing that displeases me when I come to a server expecting to build some large aesthetic structure for them; but that when I’ve done and built it, the response is “Well, it’s good, but because I’m the Admin/Owner, I feel that I need to offer some critique to feel like I’m contributing. So I’ll throw in some words such as ‘golden ratio’ and ‘curvature’ even though I hired Craig to build the structure in the first place.”
- Specificity: This somewhat contrasts with the previous point, but is important nonetheless: it’s quite bothersome when the Admin sets me in a huge flattened piece of terrain, and asks me to build a city. It would be more beneficial to me (and to you as well) if you specified things such as “the architectural era”, “the block pallet”, or “the general size of the city”. If you don’t give me specific instructions, and state that you want the huge marketplace I’m about to build to actually be functional with the Showcase plugin, and then remove my two hours of work because of that, then you probably shouldn’t expect me to visit again.
- Mods and Plugins: I’m happy to work on all types of servers, and try to tailor my style to their needs; but it would be helpful if you allowed and installed certain plugins. The general ones that I like to have are Zombe’s Flymod, some sort of Fire Protection (because no one likes a beautiful house when it’s on fire), and either World Edit or VoxelSniper.
- A Fun Community: This seems like it should be obvious to most everyone, but it’s surprisingly not. Often times, I have come on to an abandoned server where the two people that are on don’t talk to anyone; other times, it has been the opposite where I can’t get a word in because the chat box is constantly spammed with immature spouts of “[PLAYER NAME] called me a ****!!!” followed by a quick “No I didn’t! [PLAYER NAME B] is a liar!!!!!”—Note, I had to translate both of these quotes from the infectious “leetspeek” that encrypted both messages.
- A Trusting Community: I do understand that some random person offering to build for you for no apparent reason or personal gain can seem a bit sketchy to some of you. Good. That’s a sign that your brains are still functioning properly. But there were a couple of servers that I had been helping for a solid week; their users who implemented World Edit weren’t often on, and I had been promoted just below Admin. I asked for use of World Edit, and so they gave it to me, but then had the courtesy of asking one of their fellow players to “watch over me to make sure he doesn’t grief”. If I hear this come from an owner’s mouth, I will politely finish the current job, say my “Good day” and promptly chart course for a new server.
Overall, I have had many good experiences. The above points were the extremities that I have seen, heard and experienced myself, and are actually quite rare. I hope to keep them that way, because everyone wants to have a good time, and what better way to do so than to have a happy Craig? So let’s get cracking at this week’s issue of The Obsidian Pantagraph.Oh, and before I forget, I would like to introduce Andrew M., our lead reporter—also our only reporter; even still, applaud him. He's great. He's part of the team.
Editor of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Craig R. Black
Texture Pack: Legocraft
Creator: MrBrentX
From MrBrentX:
One of the things that interested me most when I first played Minecraft was its similarity to one of my favorite childhood pasttimes. In fact, whenever I've tried explaining Minecraft to a friend, I always say something along the lines of "It's like building with Legos on your computer." With this texture pack, that dream has become a reality. I'm speaking, of course, of LegoCraft, a project by member MrBrentX. On first impression, one can see that the pack truly lives up to its name: its 16x resolution is perfect for bringing brick-filled goodness to the game we all know and love. While some of the animal textures, such as the ocelot, still need to be added, the texture pack is overall pretty much up to date, excluding the new wooden planks added in the 1.2.4 update.
I have to say, what I really like most about this texture pack is the nostalgia factor. The pack pretty accurately represents the plastic bricks that we've all come to know and love. The armor is even in the shape of a minifigure's chest and leg pieces! One of the other things that I really like about it is the water. The water's surface looks like a layer of light-blue transparent bricks, making swimming an even more enjoyable activity.
All in all, I'm glad that MrBrentX brought this texture pack to life. I love being able to feel like a little kid again every time I boot up my Minecraft. It almost makes me want to dig my old sets out of my closet. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of MrBrentX's work in the future!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M.
Creator: Glimmar
From Glimmar himself:
Let's face it: what isn't there to love about Steampunk? Robotic creations, flying machines, and an industrial victorian setting converge to create a unique environment for the imagintion to explore. This age of wonderment that never quite existed continues to inspire and amaze people all over the world. What better place to envision new worlds than within the legendary Minecraft itself? Glimmar gives us all a chance to live out our airship-flying steampunk fantasies with his fantastic futuristic texture pack. The pack has a crisp 32x resolution, with enough animated blocks and moving mechanical trinkits to make a fanboy giddy. He began working on it way back in 2010, and updates often, which is great for those of us who are always craving something new.
What really stands out about the pack, though, is Glimmar's attention to detail. Take a look at the picture above, for example: the diamond axe (or rather, chainsaw) that you see has an animated chain, and the enchantment table has a pulsating color wheel on its upper face. Even some of the simpler items, such as rail tracks, have spinning cogs and grindng gears. Over the course of the past two years, he has constantly reshaped and refined his work, ultimately crafting one of the most beautiful texture packs available today. While it isn't really meant for those who spend most of their days exploring, the pack is excellent at breathing life into some of Minecraft's most epic creations.
To put things simply, I can envision myself using this texture pack on an almost daily basis. The overall product is phenomenal to behold, and the various machinations and creatures roaming the landscape add a whole new sense of wonder to the game. Many thanks to Glimmar for creating his glorious Steampunk Texture Pack!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M.
Creation: Serenity
Creator: Amalah
"Serenity" is a large project built solely by Amalah. It is a beautiful Asian-themed town, done with supreme elegance, a great texture pack, and a smooth block pallet worthy of attention and respect.
What inspired Serenity, and how long did it take to build?
The underground part of my creation wasn't really inspired by anything, I've always liked to hide any rooms that are meant to be functional rather than beautiful beneath the ground out of sight. The surface part however was inspired by a screenshot somebody posted on my texture pack thread of a lovely pagoda.
I've been working on it for two or three months now and the part that took the longest was digging out all those underground rooms of my base and sheep farm, but the good news is I'm never short of stone. I'm always tweaking old designs too. When the upside down half blocks came out I had to redo all of my eaves, ceilings and roof.
After exploring your world, and using your texturepack, I have to ask: where did the cat theme come from?
I've always been cat mad.
Originally I was just aiming to make a soft coloured texture pack with no specific theme. When it came to editing the particles I had a lot of trouble with the torch smoke, I tried more realistic shapes but I thought they looked terrible. I tried the cat head particles as just a bit of fun, but then when I saw the portal particles I fell in love with the "kitty glitter". From that moment on cat related symbols were creeping in everywhere.
I love how you embraced the idea of living with villagers; what led you to do so?
I got lonely.
Really I wanted to add a bit of life to my creation, the village seemed like a ghost town before. It adds a bit of fun to my play too, whether it's fending off zombies or trying to push iron golems that have spawned out of my pagoda. I never considered the golem spawning conditions before I built it central.
I'll be adding villagers to every building or village I make from now on. There was one zombie invasion where some of them spawned stuck in bushes, come morning it gave me a chuckle to see villagers crowding around staring at the helpless things. They looked very confused.
Do you have any plans on expanding the world of Serenity in the future?
I have extremely big plans. I like the idea of building giant dragons or forests, the world of Serenity is going to be very fantasy oriented. I'm going to be building pretty hot air balloons drifting around the landscape which you can admire the view from too. But the biggest plan I have in mind is to build a city within the petals of a giant flower. This is a plan for the flower I have created using viewvox.
However before that can happen I need to finish all the necessary rooms in my base. I need a crops room, slime farm, iron golem farm, and a zombie pigman farm if I can work out how to do it. It could be a month or more before I'm ready to work on the flower, and I imagine it will take many months to build it.
What advice do you have for other users who are aspiring to build towns or cities of their own?
Don't give up. It doesn't matter how long a project takes or how big it is, you have it in you to finish it.
I find this thread to be very useful, especially if you're skilled in 3d modeling and can create your own. If you're unsure how a design will look test some of it out in creative mode first before you build it in survival.
And add villagers, seriously they're great.
That's some very true advice. Thank you Amalah; you've been a great help during this interview, and I hope we can see some of your stuff in the future. Keep mining!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M.
Creation: Aula Concordia
Creator: Circleight
Every once in a while, I stumble upon a creation of such magnificence that I can't help but let my jaw drop. This, dear reader, is one of those masterpieces. Located on a creative server called "Crysis," the gigantic structure pictured above is a cathedral project by the name of Aula Concordia, and was built by a single player, known only as Circleight. Designed to be the main center of worship for the goddess of Circleight's town, Desino, it features three main levels, vaulted ceilings, and a gigantic statue of the goddess herself. The attention to detail is incredible: from the mosaic floors to the dragon-esque statues arrayed inside, words cannot describe the true epicness of this piece.
Circleight is a relatively new member to the Minecraft Forums, having racked up a total of 11 posts. Only having been a member since March 15, however, hasn't stopped Circleight from aweing new and old members alike with this one-of-a-kind creation. I contacted Circleight to find out more about Aula Concordia and what it was like building something on such a grand scale.
What inspired you to build Aula Concordia?
The main influence behind Aula Concordia was first thinking of how the name felt, because within the city it all comes by name first since there is a storyline. To me it felt like it can be something elegant and mystical, something a bit dark but not sinister, and that's what I stuck with.
So knowing that, I was really inspired by the Kingdom Hearts art styles and felt the connection of my style and theirs.
The inside should speak much differently than the outside, so the inside was where I was very Kingdom Hearts inspired, and the outside was kind of like a recap of concepts I've had for a while but wanted to expand on a bit more.
A project of this size is impressive; how long did it take you to build this, and what motivated you to keep going?
How long did it take me is usually the first question I get from someone xD Usually it takes up to 1 full week up to 2 weeks maximum. With this project at first I wasn't trying to think outside the box, mainly because I wanted to save it for my up and coming bigger project. But then I thought to myself 'Why hold back? Why not take your time more?'
So I tried to take my time on it more, focus on the details and character of it, because my primal focus is usually that each building must stand out from one another.
So, for things like this, it all depends how out of the box from my own expectancy I go. If things repeat, it takes less time because I have a set pattern, but if things are more organic and constantly changing, it takes much more time and thought of how I want to execute it. In the end I estimate it took up to 2 weeks to fully finish it.
Why did you choose to build on a multiplayer server?
It's a good question, and I've thought about it every time I take a step into something large of a project. It's something important to ask because servers can be dangerous, concerning your projects. A server can lose it's map, it can become corrupted and just like that everything you've done is gone. But I feel it's the same for singleplayer. Your computer can get a virus, corrupts everything, you have to reboot everything basically.
The scenario for me though, is that I enjoy a community. The reason I share my buildings is because of this. I enjoy seeing what people think, it makes me happy to know people like it, and it makes me happy if I even get constructive criticism of how else I should approach things.
What I enjoy is seeing people interact with my stories in my projects, seeing how psychologically they choose to do something, or how the feel about being forced to actually do something in the story. It's all an experience, however on a server you have many duties besides your own personal ones. You have to attend to the new comers, you have to teach basically the same lesson every day. "Where do I build", one of the most common questions, even if it's posted everywhere in the spawn. It takes responsibility but I feel it's worth it in the end and I'd sacrifice the unlimited time of singleplayer to the growing community of a multiplayer server.
What do you like most about your project? Also, looking back, is there anything that you would change?
This usually becomes the question I think when everything is finished and I just catch up to what it is I actually have done. Because when I'm working on it, Im going and going, even if I analyze what it is I am doing. It's just in the end it comes to a grand realization of what it really is or looks like.
I think the thing I like most about Aula Concordia is that it was a change of gears and mind set for me. I realized, this is an art, it does not need to be about practicality and usefulness, but rather it can all be interpretative.
What exactly it is I mean, is that there are not many bookshelves in this building. There are not many fountains, or things one might utilize. Rather , what replaces those things is the art on the floor, and to me that leaves no empty space. To me that is far more important than to have things like fountains,bookshelves,chairs,and on and on.
I would never change a single thing I do, because I am content with what it is I do in life, even if it can bring a little shame or if it's something negative.
I feel like that's the beauty of growth and knowledge, the fact that information is not static and still, that it evolves in it's time of existence.
I think though, if I were to pick out what it is I am not truly content with about this project, It would be the sides of the building. I feel like it repeats too much, and it felt simple as I was making it, even if it's not. It didn't strike me as a 'whoa, that's a good idea' but rather a 'yes yes I can do that'.
Do you have any ideas on what your next build might be?
My next project is many xD Currently I'm pretty booked for plans and projects I'm working on.
Within the city, I am working on chapter 3 to 4 of it, which involves searching for this special pill in the story. You travel to an ancient ruin of the city which has a phoenix over the entrance of it. It's very red and orange based, very fiery. That's a fun project and shouldn't take too long as it has a lot of flow.
Currently I'm working on some sort of a palace which is very fantasy-themed, it will have a lot of flowers and vines crawling up the building. It's all surrounded by water that's very luminescent at night.
And when I finish those two, it begins the long process of the third and final cathedral in my big 'three cathedrals' project.(Aula concordia is the 2nd cathedral)
It's probably going to take me a month, maybe longer. It's certainly going to be massive, but it's also going to be the full release of creativity and ideas that I had stored up for such a long time. Basically, it will be the truest building I'd make as of the time, as it will have my full attention and focus and no restraints. It's going to be the funnest project, but surely the longest.
I'm glad I got the chance to connect with Circleight, who is a friendly user and fantastic player. The dedication and resolve that s/he showed in crafting this megabuild is simply inspirational. Now, I can't wait to try my hand at creating my own megastructure! In any case, while screenshots of the cathedral are indeed fantastic to look at, I encourage you all to visit Aula Concordia yourself -- the IP is "server.crysisserver.com". Who knows, you may run into me there: you can be sure I'll be visiting often to check out more of Circleight's amazing creations. I am confident that the Minecraft community is going to see even more awe-inspiring pieces from Circleight in the near future!
Lead Reporter of The Obsidian Pantagraph,
Andrew M.
I know! Hopefully we'll get at least a page-worth.
We've always done the interviews for the Creation Showcase.
I'll take that as a compliment!
Thanks! Your comments are most appreciated!
Would it be forward to ask if you as a pro builder, could just have a look at this and give me your honest comment on it please.
http://www.planetminecraft.com/member/silwerbullet/
It's been fixed. Thanks for collaborating!
I'm glad I read the whole newsletter. Though it's long compared to a typical forum post, I don't think it was too long at all. But it could have started stronger. It starts with an editorial--an all-text section where the author sets forth his opinion in detail--and that's what many normal forum OPs do, so it seemed rather pretentious to slap a newsletter name and header on it. But I read it, because I've read enough posts by Rillian to know his walls o' text are worth reading. And this one was, too. But something with screenshots or dialogue, something that's more obviously newsletter content, might have been a better way to start the newsletter, lest you lose people before they even bother to scroll down. They'd be missing out, but they wouldn't know it.
And if you'll indulge me in a spelling/usage nitpick, a set of colors is a palette. A pallet is a portable platform for stacks of wares. Overall, the writing is good. In particular, Andrew does an excellent job of asking questions that spark interesting interviews, so I hope you keep those interviews coming.
I also really like both of the TPs. Legos FTW!
Great job again on the interviews - they are probably the funnest part of the newsletter. But, where were the tips and tricks this time? Also, remember that hitting F1 will close the HUD - better for screen shots! Looking forward to next weeks issue.
If you wait to see the next newsletter, I've found a reporter that you'll hopefully like.
Hm. I had a pinching feeling in the back of my mind about that word, but for some reason my spellchecker didn't like the word "palette", so I strayed from it. As far as Andrew, it's exactly why I chose him. He's great!
Sorry about the Tips and Tricks Section being missing from this week; it was written at 2 in the morning, a couple hours after I was supposed to have it posted, and I figured that I hadn't the time for that issue. Just wait for this Friday's issue.