Mayflumes Builder Application

[Mayflumes]

18

United States

I saw a video on the Kings Landing Build a year or so ago and decided to check it out during quarantine.

Im quite fond of The Inheritance cycle and Lord of the Rings.

Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, Feast for Crows

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

My favorite Asoiaf character is definitely Tyrion Lannister. He is an incredibly human character who manages to live with dignity despite the deck being stacked against him. He manages to be heroic in spite of his actions and being morally grey only adds to his character. Its difficult to explain why I enjoy Tyrion so much without spoiling things but I always look forward to his chapters.

I have a passion for Westeros, but also a keen eye for detail and I am always willing to learn! I also have spent more time than I would like to admit studying late medieval architecture, city layouts, and land usage for a roleplaying game on reddit so I have a good understanding on the realism aspect of this server.

I think this server is incredible and I think that It would be amazing to contribute to. I am very passionate about the world of ice and fire and to be a part of this massive project to bring that to life would bring me great satisfaction. I am absolutely in awe of the current state of the server and my only thought is to bring it closer to fruition.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OZS3lWr

YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW

 

[Arkilstorm]

Hi Mayflumes

Thanks for your application, I’ve taken a look at your build, and I have to say it’s not a bad start!

I have a few bits of feedback:

- Your house is nice and neat, but I’m not entirely sure where it would fit in our server specifically. The use of Oldtown daub blocks suggests that region, but the house doesn’t have many features typical of a place to live. It seems from the exterior to be more of a granary or storage building, primarily due to the lack of windows on the front facade.

- Palette wise, It’s pretty decent, but make sure the interesting cobble/stone brickwork doesn’t stop at the base of the chimneystack, it should apply to all the stonework.

- Your garden wall, though a nice feature appears intentionally crenelated, which would be a bit overkill for a house’s personal garden…it’s a very Neo-gothic feature which looks a little outdated.

- Your interiors are a good start, but I’d definitely consider the medieval household layout a bit better. Your kitchen area is very typical of a modern household kitchen, with floating cabinets, which wouldn’t be typical of the period. You have a bench block up near the ceiling, which I don’t think makes any sense at all.. and three sides are exposed; consider using half-door blocks to cover the sides so that only one face is visible. (Same with the bedroom drawer block).

- The fireplace is very large and quite grand, making it not suitable for cooking over.. You’d need to add a cooking stove to this room rather than a large stone fireplace.

- The bedrooms though realistically could be cordoned off into separate sections, they’re unlikely to have storage on a slanted ‘ceiling’ unless it was properly accessible by a ladder or stairs. I’d do away with the ceiling area entirely, or add a proper floor above. The closet space could also be better utilised for the homeowner’s craft.

Altogether not a bad first start!

For your first challenge build I’d like you to please build a low class baker’s house in the style of /warp harlenton

When you’re done, please post a gallery of images in this thread.

Good Luck!

 

[Mayflumes]

Hello Arkilstorm,

Thank you for the feedback on my first build, I wasn't aware that the Reach daub and wattle was specifically for Oldtown, but I see your point on the building having a somewhat bland exterior. I understand your point on the garden wall and modern kitchen, I wanted to fill out the empty space with extra cabinets, and I also completely forgot about the blocks being multi-sided. Do you have any recommendations for filling out the area above the kitchen? I did build the fireplace before I furnished the house so it is bigger than the space. I hadn't thought about the slanted ceiling on the storage space but that's a good thought.

For my challenge build I thought it would be fun to build a windmill next to the bakers home. I'm not sure if having it on top of a wood reinforced thatch shed was appropriate but some of the smaller scale windmills I looked up were on stilts so I figured the hut would be okay. I wasn't sure if having a second floor was appropriate for a low class family so I made it more of a loft space. I was also reluctant to add a second stove to the home so I created a cooking space in the backyard to make meals.

Here is a link to the images of the build

Thanks again for the feedback and looking forward to more!
Mayflumes

 

[Arkilstorm]

Hey Mayflumes,

With your last build, think of medieval house kitchens as functioning between an oven or hearth, and a table.. Other units formed pieces of furniture such as cabinets, or wall-mounted units.. not as kitchen units as we know them today. Most were cobbled together by the homeowner, and the wealthy would commission or buy cabinetry from carpenters.

Thanks for completing this build! The house is really nice, and great attempt at the windmill! Most bakers wouldn’t have their own windmills.. they buy the grain at market for their bread, and windmills need a lot of space around them to avoid buildings blocking the breeze.

I have a few bits of feedback:

- With the windmill, there are a couple of similar ones around - the general shape and interior is great; the supports are a little less so. The posts the windmill is standing on are meant to be attached through the thatch to a wall or structure beneath. Your structure is too wide and has no central post for the windmill to sit on, meaning the windmill’s weight would certainly collapse into the building. Usually with buildings below the windmill they are used for storage or for housing more of the mechanism for grinding grain. The shape of the building below is a little odd, and I don’t quid understand what the steep gravel bank is, or how you access the building.. It may be down to the pictures perhaps, but I’d advise looking at the watermills north of /warp fairmarket for an idea on the size and shape of a building that’d be decent enough to support an entire mill.

- With the house, it’s pretty great, but I do have some pointers..firstly, nicely done with the rafters for the upper area, but I’d advise mixing some oak slabs in as well, to space the beams out a little better. You are missing some thatch above your dormer window, showing exposed stone.

- With your windows, squares cut in the wall are a bit clunky looking.. try using stair bricks to make little windows, or the long, larger brick arrow slits.

- With your furnishings, I have no qualms at all with these! Just make sure your table isn’t solid blocks of wood.. Maybe use slabs for the table with wall blocks at the end, to give the impression of a trestle table. You can also use a full block to make it appear a chair has been tucked beneath the table and add wattle to one side, as the back of the chair.

- When you have windows with shutters on, try to use upturned stair bricks above them, rather than whole blocks of stone, it’ll make them seem less deep and more realistic.

- The garden is lovely, but try to avoid using massive hopper bricks for the tops of your clothes line, as they look really massive.. also the line should be a little higher.

For your next build, I’d like you to build a middle class furrier’s house, in the style of /warp whiteharbour. You should take inspiration from the houses on the main road near the East gate.

Best of luck!

 

[Mayflumes]

Thanks for all the feedback, especially on the windmill. I spent some time looking around Whiteharbor and found a couple of furriers. I am curious about what region/city was the real world inspiration for Whiteharbor as I wasn't able to find any planning documents on the forums. Anyways I had fun planning out the multiple stories and furnishing the larger spaces. The sides are a bit bland because I envision that the building shares walls with other houses. For the build itself I used a salt crate to represent lye, a barrel to represent the oiling process, and dark thatch for fur.

Here is the link to the build

Thanks for taking a look,
Mayflumes

 

[Arkilstorm]

Hey!

Really nice job on this build! You've really paid attention to the style, and made a nice job of your house!I only have two tiny stylistic bits of feedback:

- I'd probably make the front facade a little more interesting. Maybe some diagonal chain shutters on the front, or a covered porch - anything to break up the plain white facade. I know the houses are pretty large and white here, but sometimes it's the little things that can add a hell of a lot of character.

- When making fur for wall hangings, rugs, etc.. It's nice to add a tiny bit of pine needle block, as it looks like wear marks in the fur. Just a tip!

- With your ceilings, as mentioned in the last bit of feedback, try using stair and slab blocks, to create better spacing between the beams holding up the ceiling above. Doing it like that also gives you nicer opportunities to hide staircases / other fixtures which intersect the ceiling above.

Great build mate!

For your next challenge. I'd like you to build a high-class ale merchant in the style of /warp fairmarket. This house should have a cellar for storing barrels. Note that this isn't a brewer, but a merchant.. so no need for a whole brewery on site.

Best of luck!

 

[Mayflumes]

Hey, I tried adding some stuff to make the front facade more interesting and I messed around with slabs to make the rafters better as well. I did had some trouble doing the cellar underneath but I think it looks good still, but you let me know. I also messed around with the roof so I could add more room to the loft.

Here is a link to images of the build

Thanks again for all the feedback
Mayflumes

 

[Arkilstorm]

Hey May!

Awesome job on this. You really paid attention to the details and have pulled off a really nice build. Here's my feedback:

- I’d probably try not to mix donnish screen windows and wooden lintel/seal’d windows next to each other on the same upper floor. Pick one style of window for each ‘section’ of the building.

- The lower floor looks great, you’ve chosen one of the more difficult to pull off FM styles, but be careful with your ceiling height. Typically most houses have standing room of 3 blocks, with the floor above set into the 4th. Your ground floor has a standing room of 6, with the ceiling set into the 7th. This is massively tall! The most really in FM is standing room of 3 or 5. You can probably remove an entire block from this floor, and half the size of the glass windows. Your chain overhang could also be halved in width so it doesn’t look so heavy.

- Try to use more diagonal daub blocks in your facades. You use a lot of crosses, which is fine, but in some places they look very busy. Diagonals also make it look like your building was more properly thought out structure-wise. The back facade of your house looks great with the extension, but the amount of crosses on the upper part is a little jarring.

- Gorgeous little garden you’ve added! Really pretty

- Interior wise, this looks great! I’d probably make your ale casks more accessible in the shop, than up on a high shelf.. remember that if these were full, it’d be almost impossible to get it up there! Also, use wooden ladders for things you want to reach regularly. Rope ladders are nice, but they can’t be moved, they must be nailed in, and they swing about; wooden ladders give the appearance that it’s been placed there but can be moved, and is a lot more sturdy.

- Your basement is nice! I like that you’ve tried to create proper vaulting which is a difficult thing to pull off, so nicely done! For houses like this, you’d likely have a long low arch stretching from wall to wall, aligned with the long walls above. This is just about practice really, to get the perfect curve, as it depends on how wide a space you’re working with, and placement of the stairs is always tricky. Give me a shout in-game and I’ll show you some nice examples.



- Your kitchen space, Is nice, and I like that its in the little annex you built on the back of the house. I’d probably make this flooring stone, so the furnace doesn’t look like its about to set the whole floor on fire.

- With your windows in the dining room, and all windows in daub blocks, please place wooden carpet blocks at the bottom, so it hides the top of the block beneath! This also makes it easier to attach shutters to the windows too.

- I can’t really tell demo your picture, but just make sure that the wooden slabs above your chest in the dining room aren’t floating. Place a half-door on the end, and probably use jungle wood carpets instead of full slabs.. You can also put a half-basket above the chest with a carpet block next to it to give the illusion that the chest is under a long table with stuff on it.

- In the bedroom, avoid using fence block windows, as these are pretty outdated now, also make sure you cover up the exposed side of the drawer bench block, nearest the bed.

- Really nice try with the rafters! The rule to remember is that they should always span the shortest distance between two walls, so usually running from the two sides of the house, rather than front to back. You should always try to make the rafters appear to be evenly spaced, carrying an even amount of the load above. I usually begin by placing slab blocks the entire width of the house, leaving a gap of two between each line, and then filling the gaps with stair blocks facing each other. See the picture below. I’d also usually work out where I want the stairs to go first, and then make sure that I start with a slab block there, so that it’s neater.



This has been a really great build, and you’ve come a really long way with all these challenges! Great work.

I'm more than happy to approve your application! Congrats.

Hit up a mod in game and we'll promote you. The next step is for you to set up a probation thread where you'll post your builds for the next month for your probation leader will give you feedback.

Welcome to the team mate!