Completed Application Thread: House Varner Redo by Jakethesnake

Luk

Gullible
Staff member
Pronouns
he/him
alright, the forests are done, the other terra is coming along nicely. ive moved a row of houses into the sky to give more space by the castle.

aino you could give a status update on your hamlet?
I thought you abandoned your project? or what was that "on hold" comment?
 

Jakethesnake8_8

Firemage
Pronouns
he/him
Sounds good, I'll try and get to it by the end of the week.

One note to the mods, on the Varner-Newbarrel border, it's been pointed out to me that some of the border settlements have been affected by some worldedit from the beginning of the project (just some logs missing in trees, and a couple of house gradients are green wool, nothing too drastic). I'll talk to Kulmen about it just to check, but in the past he has told me he'd be open to letting me update the affected areas a little, just so they aren't messed up.
 

Jakethesnake8_8

Firemage
Pronouns
he/him
Mods, I'd just like to follow up my previous post about fixing some of the border areas, mainly the orchard, and a small hamlet at /warp lewes. I've included a screenshot, showing a border of where the updating would stop just for reference. As a side note, there are a few warps from old Varner that need removing. They are; meadowfield, vhamlet1, greenburrow, greyalms, vholdfast1, varnerquarry

Screen Shot 2021-05-07 at 21.12.08.png
 
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Jakethesnake8_8

Firemage
Pronouns
he/him
Varner Update Phase I: Terraforming
So, for some time now, Varner has been more and more of a problem for me. I've been torn between the desire to finish the project and wanting to make the project actually good. I think there are a lot of problems in the planning that cannot be fixed by some tinkering here and there and Emot and I have agreed on updating the current project in order to ensure quality work is produced and more importantly, I am satisfied with it. I will be updating the project in phases, and to ensure I don't end up in the same predicament, I will be implementing a strategy where I will complete a phase and then wait for a week or so to hash out any problems and fix any flaws. During this time frame, I can hopefully pick out any problems and produce work that I will be happy with. For each phase, I will provide detailed planning and ample inspiration to keep me on task and to give me a strong sense of direction for what I will work towards. So, without further ado, here's the Terra stuff.

Varner's Terraforming
Varner will have 4 distinct terrain features, rivers, meadows, forests and hills. I have compiled inspiration for the following 4 terrain types and have a brief explanation of my plans for each area below. I have also composed a map for the project's new terrain. The darkest green are the patches of forest, the pastel green is the meadows, the midtone green will be the more hilly areas, with triangular hills being more steep than the rounded foothills.
VARNER PLANS copy.jpg

Rivers
The rivers will stay relatively the same to the current rivers in the south-west area of the project in terms of in-game style. However, I will make the rivers much more windy, as all the water from Varner's hills will be flowing down into the valley and then onto the Mander. Below are some inspirations:



Meadows
Varner's meadows are similarly going to be stylistically like the south west portion of the project, with a wide range of flowers across the valley. This could potentially play a part in some sort of dye industry facility down the line. Below are some inspirations:


Forests
Varner's forests are probably the least solid part of the project currently, and as such will be the most heavily updated. I want to have many pockets of forest to portray the idea that the forest is being maintained and held back from populating the entire valley but not entirely wiped out. This will be for the benefit of the lord and his people so they can use the forest as hunting grounds and sources for timber. Below are some inspirations:


Hills
Varner's hill style will be mostly grassy hills with occasional rocky patches on steeper terrain. In the south, the hills will be a bit more of a wall of rock, indicative an old quarry that hasn't been used in a long time. The main inspiration for Varner's hills will be the South downs and Derbyshire Dales in England. The lower hills will be more rounded, and the higher ones will have more defined ridge lines. Below are some inspirations:


Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, feedback etc please let me know below
 
Love the inspiration you gathered Jake!! I think it really fits the area. I'll leave here some resources and images in regards to forest growth, iirc I saw a forest of yours that was very sudden, I think it was a birch forest. Forest growth is a lot like mold growing, it slowly creeps in in blobs or branches and starts small and as it grows it thickens and gets bigger.

You may find this disturbing idk if there's a phobia for this type of imagery, seems fine to me but just in case:
6e8e4d4584c38f83c13a61521a7a17e3.gif

This article explains well growth of forests and which plants would grow first and which come after https://nature-mentor.com/how-forests-form/

This image shows that progress:
image-asset.jpg

And this image I quickly did on photoshop I think translates well the differences between a forest near a settlement and a forest that has meadow space between itself and the human influence areas:
sdhgvbjwoeIJN CVM.png

And some more images for reference, the one I did on photoshop is very simplified, forest borders tend to be very organic and random except when there's human influence. But be careful cuz most plantations and farming areas nowadays are very geometric and cut forest very suddenly, medieval times you wouldn't have such a perfect precision hence a certain distance from the forest and the crops as a buffer zone.
sjahv wmC.png
g hjnmk,.jpg
This image here show's the buffer zone pretty well in the top right corner ^^^^^
dgszfxgchgvjhbjnk.png

But even though forest borders are supposed to be very random, the borders you see in satellite are macro examples, in game and irl near these borders you wouldn't notice as much as you do in those images, so always keep in mind the scale of things. You have already some examples of gradual forest in-game such as Whitegrove, although I think in some areas the growth and height progression is a bit too regular, it's still a good example of this forest growth phenomenon.

Call me when the nuking begins, I want to make it go boom :)

-Seri
 

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Jakethesnake8_8

Firemage
Pronouns
he/him
Hey guys! I'm bad at following my own rules and have plotted and put a lot of thought and planning into Varner's village. I have been working on a house style for the area, which you can check out in-game. There are a few opportunities to test for, including a sept (and the accompanying lichyard & tithe barn), a watermill, and an Elderberry winery (ooooOOOOOoohhh). The winery will be considered a mini and involves making the main house, the yard and the actual winery. Feedback is welcome, so long as it is clear and polite.