CDogz Builder Application

[CDogz]

What is your Minecraft username?
C_Dogz

What is your age?
21-24

In what country are you living?
Ireland

Where did you first hear about WesterosCraft?
Youtube

What do you like the most about GoT/ASoIaF?
ASoIaF is one of the best book series I have ever read. I love the depth of the characters, the scope of the history and the immaculate places throughout its world. There are far too many well written and complex characters to limit it just to one favourite. I love the vibrant and rich description of castle's, clothing, landscape and how characters don't always get what you think they deserve.

What is your favorite build on our server?
I can't limit my choice to one build which is probably the greatest compliment I can give to those who have worked on the server through the years. King's Landing is a bit of a cop-out. The Red Keep, Casterly Rock, Castamere, Winterfell, Starfall, the Dragonpit, Dragonstone, the Eyrie and Highgarden are just a few of the amazing builds throughout the server that have more than impressed me.

Why do you want to join our server?
I first came across this server way almost ten years ago through YouTube. I used to hijack by cousins pc to log onto the server and just spend hour exploring the server. Even now I still find new and amazing discoveries and creations that have been concocted by the servers builders. It has inspired me to apply to join and I'm sure it will continue to inspire me to help in whatever manner I can. As I eluded to above, I love the books and this is the closest thing to actually walking through the world George has created. I have journeyed across the server to take note of the different build styles and pallets unique to their locations, I have practiced my building abilities in minecraft and now feel confident to join. In real life I am a studying history at uni so I am a real stickler for historical accuracy and while ASoIaF is set in a fantasy world it most certainly draws upon historical inspirations.



Did you follow the application rules?
You know nothing, Jon Snow

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey CDogz,

Thanks for the application, and glad to see your interest in joining the team! Our projects do draw on a lot of IRL historical knowledge, so having more history students is always fantastic

Nice work with the apphouse overall, though I did notice a couple nitpicky things:
- To create the timber frame pattern in the example house, you should alternate between the "frame" (i.e., horizontal) timber blocks and the "vertical" timber blocks, in a checkerboard pattern (there will be a more straightforward way to accomplish this after the coming westerosblocks update). Both types of patterns are acceptable in practice though.
- You should move the thatch slabs on the eaves of the house down by one half block, so they create a more even slope.

Otherwise everything seems good. I hope the exercise was a helpful introduction to our block pack and building style. For subsequent challenge builds, you'll be expected to build original houses of your own design, in the style of specific locations on our server. I recommend studying the elements of multiple houses in the style (furniture, timber frame patterns, rafter designs, etc.) and trying to synthesize them into an original creation. After each one I'll give some feedback.

For the first challenge, please make a medium-sized house in the style of /warp tortown. Let me know if you've got any questions about anything!

 

[CDogz]

Hey there! I have tried my best to do as you asked. I visited Tor Town and familiarised myself with the layout and furniture of the medium-sized houses there. I took time to read over the initial application for the build and took into consideration the relevant information for my build. While overall I am happy with how it turned out there are a few things that I would like to add. Firstly, while most of the medium-sized houses in the actually build are detached I only built one singular house. Secondly is upstairs, while I am quite pleased with how the ground floor came out I'm afraid I may have made the upstairs too sparse, I have tried to furnish it as best as I can and added the furnace at the chimney to simulate upstairs heating. Also the roof was initially too pointy so I lowered it to be more like the other ones from the actual build. Lastly and most infuriatingly is the small balcony (I have added a photo with a closer look at it). Those god damn chains man! I am not joking when I say that I have spent the last half hour trying to get the chain to be diagonal but to no avail, I even contemplated removing the balcony all together but I elected to keep it in the end and will hope I can learn from this. Better to make the silly mistakes now rather than later down the line. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey CDogz,

Very nice work overall, you got the style down quite quickly, and the house you made seems like it would be a good fit in tortown. I have a little bit of feedback which I'll give below, but it's largely picky stuff:

- Yes, the chains/ropes can be kind of a nuisance to get down, sorry you had to wrangle with them so long! The trick is to place the horizontal chain on top of the balcony, then break the wall block above and behind them, place a chain block there to cause the first chain block to slope upward (note that these are based on the vanilla rail blocks). Then you break the second chain blocks and replace the wall. However, there's also an easier way since the 1.18 update, which is to use the debug stick (or cycler tool on the server). In singleplayer, you can get it by doing `/give @s debug_stick`. Then you left-click the chain to get to the "shape" blockstate, and right-click until you get to the shape you want. Makes life much easier.

- The debug stick is also how you can open the locked fence gate blocks in shelves for instance.

- You should avoid mixing the "lannisport light brick" and "arbor small brick" in the Tor style; the houses there either use one or the other (in your case, the former).

- You want to be careful when doing plaster buildings (and gradients in general) to avoid creating artifacts, which basically means things like obvious lines or shapes that disrupt the smoothness of the gradient. Gradients can be fairly tricky and it's something you'll get better at with practice. For instance, I've circled an example below where you have a single horizontal line of plaster that sticks out unnaturally:



- Also, avoid adding the corner details on the roof that I've circled above, since they're not in the Tor style.

- I think you pulled off the upper floor interiors pretty well, despite your misgivings. One thing that can help with filling the space in larger rooms is to add a central support beam and rafters, like this example (from Caulkburn):



Other than that stuff, you're off to a good start. For the next challenge, please make a medium-size house in the style of /warp Duskendale, with a small yard. Let me know if you have any questions about anything. Good luck!

 

[CDogz]

Hello there Emoticone11!

Sorry for taking so long to get this done. I just got back to college new semester, new assignments. But I should have more time over the next couple of weeks to dedicate to building challenges.

For this one I visited Duskendale and familiarised myself with the layout and building styles. I hope I pulled it off here. Since most of the houses at Duskendale were attached I decided to build a house either side of the central one.

The central house is the only one I have taken time to work on properly with the other two being rushed together and not entirely finished as they are empty inside. Just like me! Lol.

I took your advice with the central support beam on the first floor. Also since Duskendale is a port town I decided to include a fishing proffession with the house, I hope that's okay. I added nets for fishing around the house and used fish to be one of the main food sources for a fisherman or fishmongers house.

I also added a yellow banner in the loft, it was the closest thing to a Darklyn banner I could find, maybe the household were men at arms for the Darklyn's or maybe they are a bastard of the house. It's up to you but I have found stuff like this thoroughout the server and I think it adds something to the builds.

Again sorry for taking so long to get this done, I am more than okay with being called the Late Lord CDogz from now on haha. I hope I did a good job. Your feedback was very helpful last time so if you have any I would be very greatful. Hope you're having a good day!

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey CDogz,

No worries about the wait! Apologies for taking a bit to respond myself. You've made some good progress this time, the interiors are well done and I like how you implemented the suggestion of using a support beam to break up space. I'll focus my feedback on the middle house since the others as you mentioned aren't complete:

- The Duskendale houses don't use blue slate as a roofing material - easy to miss before your eyes are used to the different shades. You should use black slate, bedrock, or one of the wood types instead.

- It's usually advisable to avoid making even-width house plots except on rare occasion, since it makes the roof shapes a lot harder. But if you do, I would recommend using wall blocks to create the roof peak, like in the following example:



- The timber frame pattern looks pretty good overall but can be improved in some spots; particularly, I'd try to break up the long stretches of vertical timber that I've circled below. We'll be getting a huge WesterosBlocks update very soon that will make creating interesting timber frame patterns a lot easier!



- Avoid using bookshelf/paper blocks in the interiors of most houses; most people in Westeros society, but especially blue-collar professions such as fishermen, would not be literate.

For the next challenge, I'd like to see a medium-sized house in the style of /warp OATown. As always, feel free to ping me if you have any questions about the feedback or the style.

Also, since we've recently moved builder applications onto the Discord, I'd like to give you the option to move your application there if you want. If you want to continue here that's perfectly fine and won't impact anything. If you do want to move to Discord, you can submit an app there and just mention on the form that you have an in-progress application on the forums.

 

[CDogz]

Hey Emoticone11,

Late Lord CDogz here again. Sorry for the long wait again! I had this build 90% done when the block update was released, but when updating the blocks my save disappeared so I had to start from scratch, so that is why it has taken so long to get back to you. God damn saves!

With regards to the build, I am actually quite happy with how it came out. I found myself thinking like a proper builder with this one and I hope it comes across in the build. I tried to incorporate the new blocks where I could and I think (hopefully) they fit well.

Just a couple of things to point out with this build:

I visited the warp and noticed that nearly all of the houses there had professions, I decided to go along with a butcher profession for this house.

On the ground floor I did go subterranean for the smoker/firepit. Now while I admit I did not see this at the warp I have seen this at other locations throughout the server. If this is a big no no I am sorry and I will get rid of it. Also I may have gone a bit ham with placing all the meats around the place (pun intended), but in the end I think it make sense for the demands of a town.

On the second floor I have added the kitchen and bedrooms. I put them there as I wanted the ground floor to be dedicated solely to the profession itself. I have put back-to-back furnaces as fireplaces either side of the chimney, I am uncertain if this is another big no no, with structural integrity and all that or if it is allowed?

I think I have finally got the hang of the roof of houses and the upper floors. I decided to add a dormer to the roof of this house. I did see it among other houses at the warp and hope that I pulled it off.

Also worth pointing out that I did not build houses either side of this one, I had originally before I lost the save and I have chosen not to do it for the sake of time. Hence why the house may look a bit thin.

As always your feedback is very welcomed. Hope you have a nice day!

 

[CDogz]

Hey CDogz,

No worries about the wait! Apologies for taking a bit to respond myself. You've made some good progress this time, the interiors are well done and I like how you implemented the suggestion of using a support beam to break up space. I'll focus my feedback on the middle house since the others as you mentioned aren't complete:

- The Duskendale houses don't use blue slate as a roofing material - easy to miss before your eyes are used to the different shades. You should use black slate, bedrock, or one of the wood types instead.

- It's usually advisable to avoid making even-width house plots except on rare occasion, since it makes the roof shapes a lot harder. But if you do, I would recommend using wall blocks to create the roof peak, like in the following example:

View attachment 18691

- The timber frame pattern looks pretty good overall but can be improved in some spots; particularly, I'd try to break up the long stretches of vertical timber that I've circled below. We'll be getting a huge WesterosBlocks update very soon that will make creating interesting timber frame patterns a lot easier!

View attachment 18692

- Avoid using bookshelf/paper blocks in the interiors of most houses; most people in Westeros society, but especially blue-collar professions such as fishermen, would not be literate.

For the next challenge, I'd like to see a medium-sized house in the style of /warp OATown. As always, feel free to ping me if you have any questions about the feedback or the style.

Also, since we've recently moved builder applications onto the Discord, I'd like to give you the option to move your application there if you want. If you want to continue here that's perfectly fine and won't impact anything. If you do want to move to Discord, you can submit an app there and just mention on the form that you have an in-progress application on the forums.

I am only reading the bottom part of this now. I am a member of the Discord. I would like to keep all of this stuff together on here to keep track of progress if anything. But if it suits better to do via discord I can.

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey CDogz,

Sorry to hear you had to start over with this one. I'm not sure why updating the modpack would have erased the world file - sounds like it might be some issue with CurseForge.

Overall I think you did a really nice job, both with integrating the new blocks and the interiors! Here's some of the feedback I have this time around:

- Not sure if you're familiar with this already but one of the new features of the timber frame blocks is that you can use the debug stick (or "cycler tool" on our server) to disconnect two timber frames of the same type. To do it in singleplayer, use the command "/give @s debug_stick", then you can right-click timber frame blocks in order to change their "connectstate" (two blocks with the same value will connect). You should avoid having odd/structurally unsound shapes in the timber frame pattern like I circled in red below; you can use the debug stick to add a beam where I indicated in blue.



Also in this picture, I'd recommend using the debug stick to break up the "bressummer" timber rather than just having one long horizontal stripe.

- Re: your question "I have put back-to-back furnaces as fireplaces either side of the chimney, I am uncertain if this is another big no no, with structural integrity and all that or if it is allowed?" -- I think it's fine structure-wise to have the two furnaces like that, though it does look slightly odd especially with the door right next to it. It might be better to rearrange so the two furnaces are completely separated by a wall and you can't see the side.

- Minor detail but remember to cover the sides of cabinet/workbench blocks with half doors, like the one in the above picture.

For a tentative final challenge build, I'd like you to build a rural house in the style of /warp Fairmarket (i.e., outside the main town), with a larger yard attached. Feel free to experiment with the new orange brick blocks as well Let me know if you've got any questions!

 

[CDogz]

Hey Emoticone11,

Hope you are doing well!

I really enjoyed this build, especially the homely aspect to it. I am happy with how it came out.

With the exterior: I liked the addition of a cute little pig pen for the house as there were a few houses that had it at the warp. I was going to add a tree to the yard but I am aware that the server has its own tree types, so I decided against plopping a vanilla oak tree there. With the crops I used carrots and turnips, as they were by far the most used vegetables at the warp itself. I added a little storage shed to the side of the house for the crops.

With the interior I went with a less is more vibe, since the house' inhabitants are outside of Fairmarket I decided they would be quite poor and small. I hope the house reflects that. I tried my best to implement the crossbeam aspect with oak slabs. Thank you for your suggestion to use the new orange brick blocks, I tried my best to implement them as best I could.


Your feedback has always been very helpful and I hope you have a nice day!

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey CDogz,

This is a very cute little homestead - awesome work this time! Just some quick feedback:

- The yard layout with the fence totally encircling the house tends to be rather uncommon, and is something I usually associate more with modern houses. I usually recommend aligning the house with one of the corners or edges of the yard.

- I'd mix some other growth states into the crop blocks just so it doesn't look as flat (you can right click them with an empty hand to toggle the growth state).

Otherwise, I'm happy with all the progress you've made and I think you'll learn more as a builder at this point, so consider yourself approved!

The next step is to ask a moderator in-game to promote you and set you up with a test plot next time you catch one online.

Make sure to read over the New Builder guide, found here: https://westeroscraft.com/docs/guides/new-builders-guide

You'll also want to open a thread in the #applications channel on the discord server for your apprenticeship - you can just mention that you've already been approved and link to this thread.

You can start building at any open locations on the server - note that the dynmap plot sign feature mentioned in the guide is not yet migrated to 1.18, so the best thing is to check the forums for recently active projects or otherwise ask around to see which builds have open plots. A ranger should claim this thread within a week, and they will give constructive feedback on your houses for the next month, and help be your entrypoint into the server community in general. As sometimes the ranger can be busy IRL, I also highly suggest seeking out feedback from project leaders and other online builders. At the end, you'll be made full builder.

Welcome to the team, I look forward to building with you!

 

[CDogz]

Hey Emoticone11,

Thank you very much. Your advice has been very helpful throughout this application.

I hope to maybe run into you on the server and look forward to build with you too!