ContraContradict Builder Application

[ContraBlonde]

18

Estados Unidos

I learned about it when I was searching the Sept of Baelor and I watched the Westeroscraft Walks on it. I also got more interested when I say ibxtoycat's video on the server.

No

(DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5, Season 6, Season 7

Tywin Lannister because he is such a boss and even though he is not liked, you can't deny the fact that he is worthy of respect. Even though he is evil, he does it for pragmatic and a meaningful motive rather than just being cruel for cruel's sake, bringing a complexity that most villains lack. Every scene he is in brings out the best of Game of Thrones and Charles Dance brings the character to life. He also owned Joffrey while he was on the Iron Throne.

Honorable mentions include, Oberyn Martell, Cersei Lannister, Jaime Lannister, Tyrion Lannister, Olenna Tyrell, Petyr Baelish, Varys, Sandor Clegane, Ygritte and Osha.

I thought that I would bring something unique, but that was before I joined the server and saw the talent on the level. The only thing I feel I could contribute to is Dorne and Oldtown.

As a fan of both Minecraft and Game of Thrones, I feel that it was just natural to contribute in any way I can to the server that puts detail, quality and scale together so well. I hope that I can be a part of a project I have great respect for.

House https://imgur.com/a/wRbsLg9 Other Builds https://imgur.com/a/cQ8DpUz

YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey ContraContradict,

Sorry about the delay in response! I'll try to be quicker about responding in the future. I took a look at your house and it definitely seems like a good start. The exteriors are mostly fine, but the interiors need a lot of work to be up to server standards. Here's some of the more specific feedback I have:

- The stone gradient in the foundation feels a bit too plain. I would recommend adding a 3rd block, such as stone (the vanilla stone block), and making a smooth transition to it. Some immersive details on the outside of the house too would also help a lot, such as foliage but also a yard, hanging clothes, any profession-specific details, etc.

- You should avoid making horizontal 1x2 windows; generally you want to stick with vertical 2x1 windows or 1x1 windows. Also, fences in windows are mostly seen as outdated stylistically now; it's fine to just have "open" windows in poorer houses.

- In a nutshell, the issue with the interiors is that they don't really tell a "story". The person is a butcher presumably, but the bottom floor just feels like a bit of a mess with all different sorts of hanging animals, meat, and herbs. What is this person's supply chain like? Do they have animal pens where they raise & slaughter animals themselves, or do they trade with farmers? Either way, how is this represented in the house? You're not required to make a rigorous backstory for every single house you do, but this sort of thinking does help a lot. What is this person's day-to-day work process like? It's kind of hard to get a sense of that right now. A good practice is trying to find online sources about what medieval butchers were like, what steps this job entailed, and using that to get inspired to make the interiors.

- Aesthetically there are some principles you want to keep in mind when doing interiors too. A common beginners mistake is building houses without the big picture in mind: for example, building a bunch of empty rooms and then later "filling" those rooms with stuff around the walls. Instead, you ideally want your process of building the exteriors, planning the interior rooms, and furnishing the interiors to all be integrated. Usually when I build houses I jump back and forth between them. Try to have a workflow that goes from "more abstract" to "more specific" in stages. For instance, I might first plan out the general 3D spatial layout of my house in wool. Then I'll start mapping out the general structure of the interiors, while at the same time adding interior-dependent features to the exterior, like windows. Then, even before I start doing actual furnishing, I try to map out some more-specific-but-still-high-level plans for the interiors, like where I think a table might go. If you've done this right, you should have a house that's already looking fairly interesting and nuanced even before you place "specific" interior blocks. From that point, it's just a matter of making your plans concrete while maintaining a good level of detail (not too simple but also not too busy).

- Another specific example of the above point: when people don't know what to put in a space, it's very common for them to just fill it with a bunch of stacked crates or other generic clutter blocks. We call this "crate spam", and it's something you always want to avoid in interiors. There are proper uses for crates and barrels, but keep in mind that realistic storage is actually pretty organized - there would be dedicated parts of the houses for this, such as shelves, above rafters, under sills/porches, in an attic, etc.

Overall, before continuing, I would recommend you take some more time to study how we do our interiors. There's a resource on our server at /warp furnish you can look at, though I'm not sure it's been updated in a while. Your best bet is just studying the interiors at locations like /warp duskendale in detail. When looking at houses, ask yourself why the builder made particular choices, what story you think the house is trying to tell, etc.

I was a bit wordy in my feedback so please let me know if anything was unclear, or if you have any other questions. Once you've taken some time to study interiors more, for the first challenge build, please make a middle-class house in the style of /warp woodwright. Good luck!

 

[ContraBlonde]

Hey, Emoticone11, thanks for the detailed feedback, I really appreciate it!

I've tried my best to follow your advice and made a scribe's house in Woodwright

Here you go https://imgur.com/a/cQ4N9pk

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Contra,

Awesome work on this house! The interiors are a massive improvement this time, you're definitely starting to get the hang of it. I'll jump right into some more picky feedback this time:

- In the stone foundation of the house, you should use the "light stone" block rather than the plaster block you're using currently. The difference is subtle since they have a similar texture, but the colors are different. Notice how the plaster block contrasts a lot with the other stone and makes it look rather messy.

- While the daub & wattle pattern seems mostly okay, the singular blocks of "plain white daub" on the edges next to the roof look a little bit off. Usually these are blocks that I try to "frame" within other daub & wattle blocks on my pattern. It would probably be better to replace these with one of the diagonal cross-beam daub & wattle blocks, to match the contour of the roof.

- You want to avoid what we call "bubble yards", where the borders of the yard follow an arbitrary blob-like shape. Instead, you should use straight lines for the borders of the yard (these can be diagonal) which align with features of the house, any surrounding houses, or any surrounding roads or fields in a way which is realistic and aesthetic. Keep an eye out for this when exploring modern builds on the server, and see how fields and house yards are laid out. Also, given that Woodwright is a fairly rural town, you can probably allocate a little more space for the yard as well.

- As mentioned, the interior is orders of magnitudes better. However, while what you have now isn't bad by any means, I would still try to work on more nuanced interior arrangements - for instance, in this room you still sort of just have a lot of furniture pressed up in a line against a wall, which feels a little bland. Getting a good sense of this is just something that comes with practice, though, and keeping note of good immersive interiors as you explore different houses.

For the next challenge, please make a middle-class house in the style of /warp duskendale. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about the above feedback, or about the duskendale style. Good luck!

 

[ContraBlonde]

Hey Emot,

I have finished my challenge for Duskendale, hopefully I have improved!

https://imgur.com/a/3r0e8eo

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Contra,

Overall this looks great! Daub & wattle, gradient, etc. all seem fine; I think you have a good handle on those. Here's some of the feedback I have:

- The plot is a bit on the larger side, as a result, the lack of immersive details on the exterior make it seem a little bit bland. For instance, on the street-facing sides you can add foliage, firewood sheds, hanging clothes, etc. Although it's a bit hard to do in single-player, you should always approach making houses as including the job of making your house look nice in context (unless the build leader explicitly says not to do this).

- The wall/frame here feels pretty bulky - perhaps try using half doors to create a barrier instead? Or, alternatively, it might look better if you top off the gap with two upside-down spruce stair blocks.

- Whenever possible, I try to adapt my interiors to cover up exposed stone on the insides - for instance, in this picture, I might recommend using a thatch seat instead of the stool block in order to hide it better. Or rearrange a little bit to move the stool one block closer and cover it with a wood carpet.

- I'd try to cover up the exposed slate here a bit better, if possible.

For the next challenge build, we'll stay in the in the Crownlands style but move to a more rural setting: please make a farmstead in the style of /warp gaunt. By farmstead I mean a more rural house with a more sizeable yard with herbs/vegetables (tip: be sure to avoid bubble yards like I mentioned earlier), animal pens, possibly a barn, etc. There's tons of information on google about medieval farmsteads, so I recommend looking it up for inspiration. Feel free to ask if you have any questions. Good luck!

 

[ContraBlonde]

Hey Contra,

Overall this looks great! Daub & wattle, gradient, etc. all seem fine; I think you have a good handle on those. Here's some of the feedback I have:

- The plot is a bit on the larger side, as a result, the lack of immersive details on the exterior make it seem a little bit bland. For instance, on the street-facing sides you can add foliage, firewood sheds, hanging clothes, etc. Although it's a bit hard to do in single-player, you should always approach making houses as including the job of making your house look nice in context (unless the build leader explicitly says not to do this).

- The wall/frame here feels pretty bulky - perhaps try using half doors to create a barrier instead? Or, alternatively, it might look better if you top off the gap with two upside-down spruce stair blocks.

- Whenever possible, I try to adapt my interiors to cover up exposed stone on the insides - for instance, in this picture, I might recommend using a thatch seat instead of the stool block in order to hide it better. Or rearrange a little bit to move the stool one block closer and cover it with a wood carpet.

- I'd try to cover up the exposed slate here a bit better, if possible.

For the next challenge build, we'll stay in the in the Crownlands style but move to a more rural setting: please make a farmstead in the style of /warp gaunt. By farmstead I mean a more rural house with a more sizeable yard with herbs/vegetables (tip: be sure to avoid bubble yards like I mentioned earlier), animal pens, possibly a barn, etc. There's tons of information on google about medieval farmsteads, so I recommend looking it up for inspiration. Feel free to ask if you have any questions. Good luck!

Hey Emot, Thanks for the Feedback

I’d like to ask what your opinion is on my interior overall as well as the layout and profession? I know that I have not been the best at interiors but I would like to know if I’ve improved.

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Contra,

I actually thought the interiors were pretty well done this time, which is why I didn't leave as much feedback on them. I like the potter workshop; all the main components I can think of off the top of my head seem to be there. The layout seems fine, from the limited angles I can see. Here's some more (extra picky) feedback, in addition to the stuff I mentioned in my previous post:

- The fireplace here would look nice with one or two ash blocks (mycelium) in front of it.

- I'm not a huge fan of the shelf fixture in the corner here. My issue with it is a bit hard to articulate; it's just not my favorite design and it seems a bit messy. It also requires the stone foundation block to be exposed due to the half door, as I talked about earlier. I think it was more common in medieval times to hang herbs/garlic/etc. from the ceiling than to shelve them.

- The two stacked crates is probably not the best representation of the closet (referring to the one you mentioned you didn't know what to do with). Usually I just use a slab or carpet or something on the top half, and a half basket or something on the bottom half.

If there's anything more specific you were wondering about let me know.

A lot of aspects of good interiors are fairly subtle and just take experience to get down. I recommend continuing to look for houses that you (and builders on the server) deem exceptional and trying to break down what you think these houses do differently from others.

 

[ContraBlonde]

Thanks for the feedback and quick reply I appreciate it!

 

[ContraBlonde]

Hey Emot,

I'm back with my challenge for Gaunt. Hopefully I've done a decent job.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

https://imgur.com/a/k8CXmyT

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Contra,

Sorry about the delay again! Work got really busy and it slipped my mind for a moment.

Overall, this looks pretty good. Pretty simple, but that's usually a good thing when it comes to rural buildings. The garden looks nice.

While I won't make you change anything about the current build, one thing I just want to point out is that "farmstead" usually refers to a slightly larger complex than this; people on a farmstead would typically have a fenced-in area for keeping animals, a large yard for growing vegetables, herbs, and/or fruit trees, etc. Basically, a household which is more or less self-sufficient.

I don't have much in terms of technical feedback this time, just the following:

- I usually don't mind the table block windows (I don't particularly like them personally, and usually avoid them, but I don't actively dislike them). However, you should always avoid using them in cases where the corner leg is exposed, like here. It's better to just do an "open" window in that case. The same is usually true of arrow slit blocks as well, you want to avoid using them in corners as best you can, or at least cover the side up with some furniture if so.

- A little bit of tasteful mud and soil (soul sand) blocks usually looks quite nice in yards, either as mud or fertilizer.

- The foliage you use around more rural houses can make a huge difference in terms of it looking less plain, so make sure not to skimp on that. We have a lot of different options, though of course you want to make it consistent with the terraforming of the overall project and not go overboard. Likewise with manmade immersive details.

For a (tentative) final challenge, please make a middle-class house in the style of /warp fairmarket. The style there is a bit more complex than previous ones, so make sure to take your time with learning the style (though I don't anticipate you having trouble with it). Feel free to ask if you have any questions. Good luck!

 

[ContraBlonde]

I'm bacc ✊

Ive made poor decisions and now I'm here...

https://imgur.com/a/TmkBqMy

Here you go

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Contra,

Lovely work! Your house seems to check all the boxes of what a Fairmarket house should look like. No major feedback here, just a couple very minor things I want to point out:

- It's usually good practice to avoid having a lit furnace block adjacent to wood planks, like in here. Try to design your floors so you can put a stone/brick block directly in front of the furnace, if you can. Of course, realistically the furnace would have more of a hearth to it, but in minecraft it just looks odd to have that lit flame animation right next to flammable wood planks.

- A couple of the interior fixtures I find a little bit bulky and unecessary, particularly the big cloth shelf on the wall here. It's not a huge deal, just something I'd think of doing differently, either trying to find a more elegant design or reworking the room overall.

Overall though, you did great on this one! So, consider yourself approved. Thanks for your patience going through the app process.

The next step is to contact a mod in-game to promote you to New Builder. The New Builder guide can be found here: http://westeroscraft.wikia.com/wiki/Newbie_guide
And also make a probation thread in the probation forum.

You can start building at any open locations on the server - you can find these at /warp build, although it sometimes gets outdated as people forget to update it, so I would also recommend just asking people in-game and checking the forums for recent project happenings. Currently, I believe there's plots open in a few Cape Kraken locations, a few in the Westerlands mega-project, and potentially some interesting KL-related building opportunities soon (stay tuned). You can also build at /warp playground in the Test world if you just wanna experiment with stuff.

A probie leader should post on your thread within a week or so, and help give constructive feedback on your houses for the next month, and help be your entrypoint into the server community in general (although as sometimes the probie leaders are busy IRL, I would also encourage you to seek feedback from project leaders and other builders/mods). At the end, you'll be made full builder.

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

 

[ContraBlonde]

Omg thank you so much!!! I really appreciate how thorough you’ve been in my critiques! Thanks for being a great mod!