lavahunter92 Builder Application

lavahunter92

Messenger
17


The Netherlands


I was looking for a GoT themed server online and stumbled on the site. That must've been around 3 years ago so I don't remember the details.


I've spent most of my fantasy years with Tolkien :)



Game of Thrones
Clash of Kings
Storm of Swords




All of the above



It's tied between Olenna Tyrell, Tywin Lannister and Stannis Baratheon. My favorite aspect of ASOIAF is the politics and these three characters are best at talking, cunning, politicking and controlling the entire story. They are my favorite characters.


I like trying out new styles and really love talking to people that share the same passion. I've gotten along really well with the some of the builders on the server (WhereRMyDragons to name one). I like spending time on details of builds like bushes, paths and the overal aesthetic of terrain and builds. I am competing in the contest for 2019, you can see another one of my builds there. My speciality is probably in immersion builds.


I've been exploring the map for about 3 years now and I'm really passionate about starting my own contribution to the world and filling in more empty area. The ASOIAF universe has had a big impact on my life, as has minecraft and being able to help this team build this server would be a great honour. I have also applied 3 years ago but my builds have greatly improved since then, so I hope I can have another shot.





YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW
 
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Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

Thanks for the app! I apologize for the delay in responding, I've been busy IRL and there's a bit of a backlog right now with apps.

Anyways, your house looks really nice, I can tell you already have a number of aspects of our style down pat. In particular, I like how you've incorporated your build with the terrain around it, and all the little details you have around. However, there's still some things which need to be addressed before it's up to server standards. I won't list all of them here, but I'll try to point out some major things before getting you started on a specific challenge style.

- Generally try to avoid noisy/messy detail just for the sake of detail. Some examples of this that stick out are the wood buttons on the facade, the random jungle/spruce mixing (instead, just use mainly one block and then maybe do "blobs" where the wood has become moldy/bleached), and crate spam (where you just have a bunch of crates lying around rather than some form of organization.

- You pretty much want to avoid any full log blocks in houses (both exteriors and interiors), as they just look really clunky (and you also have the cut side of the log showing in the rafters). Sometimes you can use the thin log blocks for interior supports, but you should do the rafters with wood stairs/slab blocks generally.

- The water wheel shed here looks pretty messy, with all the fence blocks. Also, structurally it doesn't make much sense for the support on that side to be in the middle, rather than supporting the roof from the corners.

- The amount of smoke coming out of the chimney is way too much for an ordinary house, that would be appropriate for a blacksmith forge or something. Usually one or two puffs suffices. Actually, while I'm on it, it's not really clear why there's a furnace in the house in the first place, if it's just a water mill with no signs of people living in it.

- The ceiling here is too low & flat. I'm not necessarily opposed to 2-high spaces especially for undercroft areas like that, but maybe try using slabs and stairs rather than full blocks, so that you can get that extra 1/2 space for rafters/supports.

- Never use torches in ordinary houses! These are usually used for castles or town/city streets. Candles are appropriate for houses, as are lanterns (although they'd usually just have one which they carry around with them).

- The grindstone mechanism here is interesting, but I'd try something else since the wheel block doesn't connect with the fence.

Anyways, you're off to a great start! For the first challenge build, please make a medium-size house in the style of /warp woodwright. Please let me know if you have any questions on the feedback, or on the woodwright style. Good luck!

-Emote
 

Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

Thanks for the update, and again for being patient!

Your house is a big improvement, and seems like it'd fit into the Woodwright style pretty well. Here's some of the feedback I got this time around:

- The exteriors are almost there, but you're still using fences too much: the spruce fences holding up the roof in the corners aren't necessary, and also aren't in the Woodwright style (except for one in-construction house there). Also, I'd get rid of the wood thing over the door here, as it seems a bit too bulky and crowds the facade along with the window sill.

- Try to make your house yards practical: rather than just having pretty flowers, they woud use those to grow various vegetables and herbs, as well as to wash and dry clothes, etc.

- Never have dirt showing underneath a stone block, as you do in your garden walls.

- The interiors look pretty good! Although I would strongly caution against "modern" kitchen layouts with the overhead cabinets and stuff. Medieval kitchens would usually have a more open hearth design with racks along a wall and a line for hanging herbs, and a central table (that's not to say, of course, that you shouldn't ever use the cabinet blocks in kitchens). I recommend trying to find real-life sources/images for things like this, whenever possible.

- In general, it may be worth trying to find ways to make a more structured layout for the first floor (including dividing into rooms if necessary/possible), as when you have a large open space with various features lining the walls, it can start to seem like clutter rather than immersive interiors.

Overall you're progressing nicely though, so for the next challenge build, please make a middle-class house in the style of /warp whiteharbor. The middle-class ones can generally be found to the southwest part of the city. Feel free to ask if you have any questions on my feedback or on the WH style. Good luck!
 

lavahunter92

Messenger
Hey,

I've got a lot of time on my hands, so here is the finished product already!


-Lava
 

Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

This house looks pretty solid overall, I don't have a whole lot to say so I'll try to keep it fairly short.

- I can't tell what's going on with the supports for the stall, it doesn't look like they connect with the ground? Why is that?

- The roof on this overhang is suuper bulky. In general, avoid turning your overhang into a "mini-facade" with the same type of gable roof as the main house. Just do a "shed type roof" with slabs, going perpendicular to the main facade.

- Oak + spruce wood, and oak + northern wood, contrast really badly. For instance, you do this in the porch and the overhang, and some of the interiors. Generally, oak and jungle go well together, jungle and spruce go well together, and both spruce and jungle go well with northern wood.

- The first floor ints need a bit of work still. It feels a bit too empty/scattered. If it's supposed to be a warehouse, there should be some form of organization, such as shelves. Secondly, you need to do something with the floor material, rather than just plain vanilla stone blocks.

- Whenever you use workbench/cabinet blocks, you need to cover up all sides except one, since it doesn't make sense for a cabinet to have doors on multiple sides. This should be easy enough to do with half door blocks.

Anyways, you've made a lot of improvements since last time! For the next challenge build, please make a medium-sized house in the style of /warp burnley. As always, feel free to ask if you have any questions. Good luck!
 

lavahunter92

Messenger
Hi,

I finished the Burnley house,


If this isn't the size you meant, or if there are any other problems please tell me :)

-lava
 

Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

Sorry again for the delay, appreciate your patience!

This house looks very well done, I don't really have many major issues with it. I'd refine the side of the house here, the two northern wood blocks sticking out of the northern wood wall blocks seems a little odd. Also, I'd avoid the slightly more ornate "table" versions of the bench blocks in poorer houses like this, and use the "bench drawers" instead.

So for a tentative final challenge build, please make a middle-class house in the style of /warp fairmarket. Do note that the style there is a bit more complex, so make sure to take your time. I'm sure you shouldn't have too much difficulty with it though. Good luck!
 

Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

Thanks for the update!

So, I think you've actually gotten the ints down this time - I don't really have much feedback on those, at least as far as I can see, except I would suggest avoiding using oak and spruce next to each other, since they contrast very harshly. Use jungle instead, and for stuff like the stairs here, just use spruce half doors so it's the same material as the stairs.

However, although the ints are starting to look pretty nice, the exteriors this time fell rather behind, and unfortunately aren't at the level they need to be before I can approve. Here's some of the main issues with them:

- You seem to have used the wrong slate type; Fairmarket uses black slate, whereas you've used blue slate. They can be a little hard to tell apart sometimes, but you can usually notice the blue slate seems "out of place", it's too saturated and "fantasy-like".

- The double overhang in this case feels really top-heavy, especially when looking at it from the side. The transition using stair blocks with gaps is also a bit inelegant. If you want to see how to proportion a double-overhang like that so it doesn't look weird, I would recommend taking a look at these houses over the river at Duskendale. Note also though that most of them aren't super visible from the side, so it doesn't end up looking as top-heavy.

- The daub & wattle just seems unfinished. I'm not sure if this was an oversight since you had daub & wattle patterns in a previous challenge build. But anyways, you need to have some sort of pattern there, I would look around Fairmarket for examples.

- I wouldn't do the upside-down stair blocks over windows, it's a bit unecessary and disrupts the daub & wattle too much.

- The corner window at the bottom of the house just looks really weird, like it makes the whole foundation seem unsupported at that corner. There's too much glass on the bottom floor in general, and I'd probably make the windows 2-tall (and get rid of the corner one).

- The brick foundation of the house doesn't seem to have any sort of block variation, so it seems a bit bare. Most of the Fairmarket houses with orange brick foundations use the "small brick" block.

- In general, I wouldn't recommend mixing the two types of vine blocks, since they have slightly different colors, and the CTM doesn't connect.

I hope you aren't discouraged by the above feedback! Like I said, Fairmarket is a bit of a trickier style than most of them. Given the above issues, I'd like you to take some more time to study Fairmarket, and then to create another house in the same style when you're ready. Feel free to ask for advice if you need it.
 
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lavahunter92

Messenger
Hi,

I won’t be finishing my build because of family holidays. I’ll be back the 13th of August. I hope this doesn’t affect my application negatively!
Thanks,

-lava
 
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lavahunter92

Messenger
Hey Emote,

With the latest advancements in the coronacrisis I'll have more free time and I'd like to try to resume my app. My account was hacked and I've had to buy a new account, with the same username: lavahunter92 . Thats why I've come back so late.
Do you have any build challenges/projects you would like me to make a test build of?

Thanks,
lava
 

Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

Sounds good, and welcome back!

Regarding challenges/projects, I think we can probably just resume from the previous challenge, and then continue depending on where it seems you're at. I had given some feedback on your Fairmarket house previously, and requested that you make another house in the same style. It's been a while, so I would spend some time revisiting the previous feedback and perhaps practicing a bit, checking out newer builds on the server if you haven't seen them yet. You can make the fairmarket house when you feel ready and I'll pick it up from there.

Cheers,
Emote
 

lavahunter92

Messenger
Hey!

Here is the link to the build I am working on right now: . I have finished the outside and I do think it is a significant improvement from my last Fairmarket build :) (hopefully you agree with me). I worked on all the points you gave me in your last assesment and I have practiced a bit. Now I have to tackle the most difficult part for me: Interiors. I will update you once I have finished those!

Thanks for sticking with me for over a year o_O:)

lava
 

ContraBlonde

Bookbinder
Hey!

Here is the link to the build I am working on right now: . I have finished the outside and I do think it is a significant improvement from my last Fairmarket build :) (hopefully you agree with me). I worked on all the points you gave me in your last assesment and I have practiced a bit. Now I have to tackle the most difficult part for me: Interiors. I will update you once I have finished those!

Thanks for sticking with me for over a year o_O:)

lava
Nice work lava! I’d recommend adding screenshots of the interior as well as mods look at everything in challenges.
 

Emoticone11

The Dark Lord Sauron
Staff member
Hey lavahunter,

Great work on the house! I think it would fit in very nicely in Fairmarket :) I do have some quick feedback, which I'll give below:

- Make sure not to forget to cover up the sides of cabinet/workbench blocks with half doors (or some other furniture) - I see this in a few places in the interiors.

- For the roof here, you don't want the stair rafters to pass over the wall like that. You should make the wall go up the full distance (one more block in this case), and then do the rafters separately in each room. Also, I wouldn't use a fence to support the shelf in that picture, I'd use a half door block instead.

- Don't use trapdoor blocks as an awning; guests can easily flip them and mess it up, and also the trapdoor texture is somewhat ugly.

- I feel that painting blocks are used too much in this house, given that it just seems to be a baker, which isn't a super high profession. Paintings were somewhat of a luxury item used to show wealth. Probably there shouldn't be any paintings in this case.

Otherwise, I said that the Fairmarket house was your tentative final challenge build about a year ago, and I'm inclined to stick with that :) Your house seems up to standards, and I think you'll learn more from the probie stage at this point. So consider yourself approved!

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 at /warp rhymerton, /warp brandybottom, /warp starpikehf1, and potentially some interesting KL-related building opportunities soon (stay tuned). You can also build at /warp probieground 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! :D