LucasMarsto21 Builder Application

[LucasHobbit]

What is your Minecraft username?
LucasHobbit

What is your age?
17-20

In what country are you living?
Australia

Where did you first hear about WesterosCraft?
Youtube

What do you like the most about GoT/ASoIaF?
In GoT I love the costuming and score
In ASOIAF I love the theories the fanbase creates

What is your favorite build on our server?
Im obsessed with Bandallon in the Reach

Why do you want to join our server?
I've been a viewer on the server and active on the discord, the comments ive gotten on my own builds have persuaded me to join the builders



Did you follow the application rules?
Yes I did, you know nothing, Jon Snow

 

[LucasHobbit]

Been a Week so I Bump with this white harbor build I did

 

[LucasHobbit]

second bump?

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey LucasHobbit,

Very sorry about the wait! I've been travelling this week, so I must've missed the first bump. Please feel free to message me from now on if it's been more than a few days.

I like that you've been proactive and got started on a WH style house already; I don't see any issues with the apphouse so I'll focus on the second build. Overall it looks quite nice! I think the houses you made could fit into WH as-is, though I have a bit of picky feedback:

- The stone gradients are a bit too messy, both in the house facades and in the yard mix. Generally you want to avoid randomly mixing different stone blocks, and instead try to have a "smooth" transition or gradient from one color/texture to another. You do employ the gradient technique a bit already, you just need to make the transition smoother and a bit less noisy. Also, if there's two blocks that contrast harshly when next to each other (e.g. small stone brick and northern cobble), always add another block in-between them to help transition whenever possible (e.g. dark cobble in this case). If you haven't seen /warp gradient on the server yet, I'd recommend checking out the tutorial there.

- A few of the rooms in the interior feel slightly sparse (e.g. this one and most of the bottom floor). That's not necessarily a problem, but sometimes I like to play around with elements like vertical support beams (using wood fence or wall blocks) to help occupy the space when I have a room that's wider than it is tall.

For your next challenge build, please make a medium-size house in the style of /warp tortown. Let me know if you have any questions about the feedback or Tor style. Good luck!

 

[LucasHobbit]

Hey there, I've had a crack at the Tor Town build by going after a lower class wine merchant. I wanted to include some proper details from real life wine merchants such as a ramp into the cellar area and a wine window to the front street (I read merchants used them during the plague in Europe).
I also spent a bit more time working on the gradients for the build and focusing on that softer blend however I did struggle a bit trying to transition from stones to mud plaster. By comparing to other builds in area I think I did alright, but as always open to critique.
I also wanted to explore height in this build by having a tall ceiling and high set windows and rafters, as well as having a lower ceiling in the back to have an upstairs residential area.
Thanks

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Lucas,

Very nice work with the Tor house! It feels like you're getting the general WC style down; the interiors are a good balance between simple and detailed. It's great that you did some research into IRL wine merchants as well. I'll jump right into some feedback:

- The gradient looks pretty good to me, though I think there's still some room for improvement. The plaster houses can be tricky. I would suggest just going for a single plastered surface, transitioning to stone at the base where the plaster would get dirty or chipped, rather than having multiple patches of plaster. Also, in the house on the right it looks like you use the yellower plaster. I'm not sure if it was a mistake or not, but it doesn't blend as well with the Lannisport/Arbor stone.

- It's a bit unclear to me if this facade is supposed to be up against another building or not. If so, the windows on that side won't work. If not, it's a bit too bare and needs some sort of additional detailing.

- I recommend adding some sort of gradient to the floors as well, rather than just having pure dirt blocks. You might want to check what the Tor houses do for this, but you have a few options - the simplest would just be adding some splotches of 'reach gravel', you could also use pebble blocks, or you could transition to stone blocks in the corners (as if it's a cobbled floor that got dirt/sand accumulated over time).

- The second rafter here looks like it's hanging. If you can't shift the rafters around, you can also turn the slab at the end into an upside-down stair block, and then connect that with a column of half door blocks adjacent to the stairs. Let me know if this is unclear and I can make a quick example.

For the next challenge build, please make a medium-sized house in the style of /warp hgtown. As before, let me know if you have any follow-up questions about my feedback or the challenge style. Good luck!

 

[LucasHobbit]

Hey Emoticone, thx for the advice.

Would this be what u mean in regards to the rafters?
I also fixed up the windows on the side facade, just overlooked that another building would be on that side.
Also apologies with the use of yellow plaster, I think I saw something similar at the warp location and liked the two different plaster buildings side by side but I can certainly consider a different block palette to fit the build style.

Excited to start working on the Highgarden town build asap

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Emoticone, thx for the advice.

Would this be what u mean in regards to the rafters?
I also fixed up the windows on the side facade, just overlooked that another building would be on that side.
Also apologies with the use of yellow plaster, I think I saw something similar at the warp location and liked the two different plaster buildings side by side but I can certainly consider a different block palette to fit the build style.

Excited to start working on the Highgarden town build asap

Yup, exactly!

You might be thinking of the pale yellow plaster block used in the sept, which is actually a different block from the one you used. I think it's only used for the sept because it's a special building, though.

 

[LucasHobbit]

Certainly had fun building this!

This was my first time working with the hatching and I'm really pleased how it turned out, and I also believe that I've done a better job with the stone gradients as well.
Looking at the warp location some of my favorite builds had the little nook that terraced itself out adjacent to the front facade (this probably has a proper name) and I wanted to include so the side wasn't so flat.

In the Third picture you can see some thatch on the ground with a pan and some coins, I liked the idea of a street beggar using the shelter under the nook I talked about just before, to escape the weather. On this wall face I also wanted to add variation in the types of shutters so I included a top hinged shutter. The lower level holds a fruit merchant selling grapes, the sign out front does indicate a wine merchant but when there is no wine, grapes are the next best thing. In the back, a produce storage area is also situated in the house.

On the residential levels holds a general living area with kitchen and table, as well as a main bedroom on the first, and on the second holds two more sleeping areas and a laundry space beneath the rafters.

The Reach has my favorite build style on the server mostly for its lushness and overall richness in living. On reflection, potentially I could have included some shrubbery or vines up the stones however a didn't want it to take away from the essential build. I think all sides of the house are easy on the eye and well structured, so in all I am very satisfied in the build.

Cheers,

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Lucas,

This is looking great, feels very well-balanced overall and definitely fits the HGTown style! Here's some of the feedback I have this time:

- I'm not really sure about the open fence gates under the roof; it feels a bit over-detailed. You could maybe try staggering them a bit (so e.g. have one every two blocks rather than every block), but it might not be strictly necessary to have anything under the roof overhang.

- It looks like you use normal cobblestone in the stone gradient; make sure to use the "reach cobblestone" variant instead. Otherwise the hues don't match. Also, I'd maybe reduce the amount of light stone and have more of the reach brick instead. I usually use light stone sparsely to represent bits where the brick's been weathered down a bit (or perhaps plaster in other contexts).

- The profession sign looks like it's not attached to anything; easy fix though, just add a horizontal chain block above it.

- While the bottom floor interiors look good (no issues there), the second floor interiors still need a little bit of work. This room feels a bit cluttered visually (due to the amount of textures/colors that are used in such a small place) and I'd recommend avoiding just pushing kitchen furniture up against a wall, but instead maybe have a hearth and then a preparation area in front of it. It's also a bit hard to tell what's going on in this hallway, but I think that's partially because of a render bug in the screenshot. Overall, I'd just work on the layout for that floor a bit.

For the next challenge build, I'd like you to make a small farmstead in the style of /warp Beresford. A farmstead is a complex consisting of one or two rural peasant houses together with a small yard, veggie patches, one or two animal pens, a barn, etc. This build has some tricky diagonal plots; if you go for a diagonal house, make sure to pay close attention to how the thatch rooves are done. As always, let me know if you have any questions about either the challenge build or my feedback. Good luck!

P.S. I'm not 100% certain but it looks like you've changed your FOV from the normal settings? I'd appreciate it if you could set it back just for the screenshots; it's a bit harder to assess things with a FOV I'm not used to.

 

[LucasHobbit]

Hey emoticon, back again with the latest challenge.

This was a location id never been to on the server and at first was quite intimidated with the obscure build style. However after studying the warp site today and figuring it out I think this is the most detailed submission yet. The warp site had some large farmsteads, so taking inspiration from that I shrunk it down to have a quite communal plot.

In this build I pushed myself a little bit by incorporating a slope from a hill and adding more greenery. I think it gives a more natural feel that fits the warp location.

Hope you enjoy these screenshots with the new improved FOV XD

Cheers again, Lucas

 

[LucasHobbit]

PS: Forgot an image showing the inside of the Barn

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Lucas,

Impressive work with this build! I'm glad to hear it was challenging but in a productive way (it was my first time giving this challenge build); you certainly pulled it off well. I only really have a couple nitpicky points to give about plotting:

- When doing diagonal houses, you generally want the sides to follow consistent patterns. By this, I mean for the length-wise sides having 3 blocks, then indent, then 3 blocks, then indent, then 3 blocks (or 2-2-2-2, or 4-4-4, etc.). Sometimes a pattern like 3-4-3 also works because it's symmetrical around the center. However, I noticed one of your houses is 4-3-3, which is a pattern you should avoid as it'll throw the roof structure off.

- The overall complex/yard shape feels a bit too "bubbly" for my tastes. A bubble yard refers to one which has blobby or amorphous borders. It's usually better to have polygonal walls/fences (i.e., composed of more or less straight lines at various angles) that fit to the buildings rather than curved ones. This isn't a huge issue in this case though, since your overall layout of the complex is good.

For a tentative final challenge build, I'd like to see a middle-class house in the style of /warp fairmarket. This is a return to a "typical" town house style, though the style there is still somewhat complex, so make sure to study it closely. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions about my feedback or the challenge build. Good luck!

 

[LucasHobbit]

Hey again, All completed with the Fairmarket Build Challenge. (part 1)

With this build I wanted to do another two house plot so the build fits in more nicely as a completed build (only the white plastered house has an interior apart from a kitchen in the yellow house). I wanted this Middle Class house to be owned by as GRRM puts it, a Cheese monger. I noticed the Brickwork didn't have much of a gradient in this location but more of a sporadic use of large bricks and a more dominant use of the small bricks

The shop front holds a couple cheeses on display as well as others wrapped in cloth for curing, some tables are also nestled alongside the walls. The backroom holds more cheeses maturing, as well as a simmer cauldron for the milk and a butter churner. This room also has a door to the yard. This Yard is shared with the neighbor, holding a shed, chicken coop and a herb patch.

I wanted this kitchen to be different to the others i have shown so i opened up the space with the sideways table and focused more on vertical storage, the brickwork also has some added detail around the furnace.

 

[LucasHobbit]

Fairmarket Challenge (part 2)

The first level also has a master bedroom with some thatch draping over the windows and a vanity table, ive tried to make this bedroom as well, different from the past by also including a wardrobe and another detailed fireplace. Upstairs as well has general storage space and multiple beds with dividing walls.

The last photo is another standard kitchen in the yellow house, which could be seen from the yard and i wanted to fill out the space. I enjoyed this challenge, middle class town houses are always fun to build.

Cheers again

 

[Emoticone11]

Hey Lucas,

Wonderful work on these houses! You did a very good job capturing the Fairmarket style. The only feedback I really have is that the blue slate isn't used anywhere in FM; you probably mistook it with the black slate, which can look blue-ish in certain contexts. Also, when you have overhangs like this one, you should just have a shed-style roof (sloping perpendicular to the main building), rather than a "mini-gable".

Otherwise, you've done a great job, so consider yourself approved!

To get promoted to builder, ask a moderator in-game next time you catch one online. The next step is to read over the New Builder guide, found here: https://westeroscraft.com/wiki/guides/new-builders-guide
And also make yourself 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 (possibly outdated as people forget to update it sometimes), and also by going to our dynmap and toggling "Open Plot" (if a project lead marked their plots with open plot tags), or otherwise just checking the forums and asking around to see which builds are open. Also, you can ask a mod to set you up with a plot in the Test world where you can practice building.

A probie leader should post on your thread within a week or so, give constructive feedback on your houses for the next month, and help be your entrypoint into the server community in general. As sometimes the probie leaders 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!