Probation: Desmera Redwyne

Hi Desmera, I will be your probation leader. As you probably know, you will need to build atleast 5 houses in 5 seperate styles. After I check and review them with you, you will be promoted to full builder at the end of the month. Ideally I will be able to review them with you online, but if we don't see each other for a couple days, I will just review them and post the feedback here. You will need to go back and fix the houses if that's the case. Looking forward to building with you!
-duck
 

Desmera

Poet
Hey Duck, i enjoy to work with u. I don't know how we do it with time if u can write what's your prefering time and in what state do u live and i try to do it somehow. Btw. 6., 7., 8., 9., 10., 11., 12. houses are in /warp redlake (its all the village before castle).
Thank u!
 
Hey des, sorry I havent had a chance to look at your houses yet but I will try over the coming days, and certainly will this weekend. I've had a super busy week. My timezone is Mountain Time and I usually play evenings during the week, or mornings/evenings on the weekend. If you can't make it on during those times, don't worry! I am looking forward to reviewing those houses, thank you for your patience!
-duck
 
House #1 (woodwright grave diggers')
-The gradient is pretty good, however in a couple places you have reach cobblestone above reach pink bricks. Please make sure the reach cobble is always covered with pink bricks above it. Also, try and keep it near the bottom of the house.
-Interiors are really good! Well organized and simple. The only thing I have to say is that the benches for the table could be a bit better. You can keep one bench wood, but try making another one leather or dark thatch, or a mix of the two.
-The underside of the loft should have supports. Try using upside down stairs to act like supports on the edges. i left a melon with an example.
-The backyard is nice, good job working with the slope of the hill. The only thing I would reccomend is making the cabbage patch less messy. One thing you can do is just move the cabbage patch and some of the yard down 1 block, making a flat area. You can just make it more cliffy on the one side. If I catch you ingame, I will show you how.

-There is some grass in areas where it shouldn't be, most notably under the clothesline. Grass wouldn't grow where people are walking alot, so please change that to dirt,gravel.

Great job otherwise! Hopefully I can see you ingame to go over a couple things in more detail.

House #2 (wolfsgate)
-Really nice job on this house again! A few things...
-On the wood gradient, some areas are too spotty. Try to keep the wood used in more uniform shapes, spread evenly across the house. It shouldn't ever look random.
-Really nice job laying out the interiors. My only concern is the storage area up top. It was smart of you to include this, but some of the crops need to be covered, i think. This is because animals/the climate would ruin food if it wasn't atleast covered somewhat. Try replacing one turnip crate with a barrel, and putting a horizontal net over the other to keep it preserved.
-For the upstairs bedroom, i left some melons where I think a clothesline would fit well. This will add some more detail and interest to the room.
-The yard is fine, the messy crop style works well for WH and this house, but be careful with using it in other areas.

Nice work! I will try and get to the others as soon as I can. Please make the changes I have noted above.
 

Desmera

Poet
Thank u for the feedback, btw do u have time at saturday's morning? 13. house /warp stoneysept (-1483, 50, 10965) cobbler's house.
 
Hey des, sorry I didn't catch you this weekend. Before I go into the feedback, I'd like to mention that you must fix feedback I have left on houses before building new ones. It's not a problem, just remember that for the future.

Dedham houses:
Wood house:
-the wood gradient is again too spotty. Please fix this so that the wood is more clumped together and less random. Also, the north and south sides of the house are very bare and boring. You can add vines to either, and a window on the south side would be nice.

-The interiors are well done with respect to the wealth of the family living there. However, you need to add more beds. Medieval families were quite large, and the size of the house does not justify only 2 people sleeping there. You can add a loft, or other beds around the house.

-You can use a mix of leather and dark thatch for benches in the kitchen. It will contrast well with the house.


Daub and wattle house:
-Nice interiors here, only thing I have to say is remove the flower please. It's not the reach and it doesn't really fit the feel of a muddy and damp riverlands hamlet.

-Exteriors are good as well, just add some vines to the end of the house perhaps.

-Nice job remembering to use jungle wood on the roof to simulate wetness. Try to keep the jungle wood together in patches though, as water would collect in certain places. Most notably this would occur around the chimney.

Backyard:
-Your vegtable patches are quite interesting and look nice aesthetically. However, they can look messy sometimes. To keep things consistent with style, I will ask you to please do veggie patches normally. This means that they are fully grown without weeds, and surrounded by wattle fences in square/rectangular shapes. Your ones are quite nice and realistic but they are not really in keeping with the style.

-For cabbage patches, use a mix of cabbages and jungle tall ferns on top of a mix of bog, dirt, and mud blocks.
-Try to add more dirt/mud around the yard. The riverlands are a wet place and the peasants would spend alot of time walking about in the yard.

Red lake house #1:
-Please try and keep the daub and wattle pattern the same for the north and south sides of the house. This is because it would be unsafe structurally if different sides were supported in different ways.

-Nice job remembering the oak wood on the roof. Please change the jungle wood into oak though, it contrasts too heavily with the surroundings.

-The interiors are cute, but there are a number of problems with realism.
1) Please remove the gold pieces and the glass vase. Both of these are things that a peasant would not have. Glass was very hard to make, and a peasant would not really have any gold laying around like that.
2) The food stored in the back of the house should be covered. Also there is too much, that would be stored in barns, eaten, or sold quite quickly after harvest. A little bit of food is fine, but it's a house, not a warehouse.
3) The Ceiling needs to be covered completely. Alot of the slate would just fall down. Use upside down stairs for this and redo the upstairs accordingly.
4) On the subject of the upstairs, I think you should remove the staircase and just do a traditional loft with a ladder. The house is too small to have an entire second floor I think. You also could add more beds, perhaps where the food storage is now.


-The yard has some of the same issues your previous yards have had. It looks rather messy right now, please clean it up like is common around the area. I think also you could include a storage shed for firewood and a clotheswashing area.

This may seem like alot, but really it's just a few errors with realism that you can fix easily. Also, remember how houses need to be structurally sound, and how daub and wattle patterns, roof supports, and loft supports play into that. Please fix these feedbacks, and also change anything on houses I have not yet reviewed so that I won't have to go over them again! Thanks and good luck!
-duck

 

Desmera

Poet
Hey duck,
i waited for you with repair it but we didn't meet so i can fix it when i will have time, thank u for understanding
 
Redlake homes:
Herbalist:
-Only issue with the house itself is no glass flagons in low class houses. Glass was expensive and fragile. Even a herbalist would use baskets, mugs, or pewter things. Feel free to replace with any of those.
-There is grass growing in areas that would be walked on. Please fix this.
-The herb and vegtable patches still are not done like they should: please surround them in wattle fences, and keep them neat. The way you are doing it looks pretty sometimes, but it should be changed because animals can get into the food/herbs really easily, and it can look messy. However, because you have done all yards like this, you can keep them if ZoSo says it's okay. For future reference, please do them as I have said.

Farmer (shares yard with herbalist):
-Nice interiors, only a couple concerns:
-I would remove the drawers at the back of the house (with the chicken) and replace them with either a bed, or a window. You really only need one set of drawers, as they were not super widespread for peasants.
-Remove the gold pieces and glass please, they are too wealthy for low class.

Nice work!

Farmer: Next to the previous 2 houses
-Please switch the northern wood on the little covering to jungle. Northern wood is not really used in the reach except for wealthy houses.
-The basket chairs are interesting, but don't work. It wouldn't make sense to have a basket for a chair because the things inside would be crushed. Please replace them with leather or dark thatch.
-There are too many crates in the one corner. They are heavy and big, and they take up too much space. Please replace them with a bed, medieval families were large and would need lots of room to sleep.
-I fixed the rafters for you on the north side of the house. Please do the same to the other side. They currently do not support the thatch well enough.
-I don't understand the pile of gravel in the back. What's it for? Perhaps you could replace it with a washing area.

Butcher:
-You've got too much meat laying around, in the shed and inside. Please decrease it by alot. The butcher in such a small village would not have massive demand, so he would only kill and butcher an animal when he needed to. Maybe keep 1-2 pieces inside, and 1-2 in the shed outside.
-Perhaps remove the butcher's area next to the fireplace. You could replace it with shelves, or a bed. This would help solve the issue of there being too much meat. You also already have a butchering area outside.
-The rafters need better support for the thatch as well. Perhaps you can add a line of stairs in the middle of the roof to help support it better.

All around, nice job on these houses! I will review the others this weekend, probably!
Thanks,
Duck
 
Hey des, there are some errors in some of the redlake houses that would be easier for me to correct with you ingame. Hopefully over the next few days I can meet you ingame and we can go over them. I will be able to play mornings as I am on break, so I should be able to see you on at some point. I will go over the ambrose house now though, as it doesn't have many issues:

Ambrose house:
-Rafters inside can use some work. The very top part of the roof should be a solid block, as it is where all the rafters would join together and would need to support them. Also, try to keep the rafters symettrical or else the roof would collapse in certain areas.
I have pasted a fixed version of the roof above the house for reference.
-Doors and windows should have an upside down stair above them. I have fixed one window and one door on the south side of the house, please do the other ones like it. Also, make sure the door is placed in the front of the house, going in. This is because it looks strange with the roof. Only do this on houses where the roof is immediately above the door. I have fixed the front door, please fix the back door like it.

Nice job! The backyard is very nice. I will review the red lake houses with you sometime this week!
 

Desmera

Poet
Hei, im ill so i have a lot of time now, i will check a map and when i see u there i try connect, 16. house /warp highgarden (-4732, 18401) saddler's house, 17. house /warp stoneysept (-1520, 10968) baker's house, 18. house next to 17. house (-1518, 10952) and 19. house (-1482, 10958), thanks
 

Desmera

Poet
Hey Duck, im sorry but my notebook was bogged and i had to restart it, 20. 21. and 22. houses /warp bandavassal2 (-9187, 20456) u find them, there are in little village, 23. house /warp stoneysept (-1522, 10985) tax collector's house, 24. house is opposite tailors house in same street of my cobbler's house and 25. house (-1501, 11016) multi-tenant, thanks
 

Desmera

Poet
Hey, its not house but market /warp uffering (-6644, 17769), 26. and 27. /warp whiteharbor (1941, -2588) spice merchant's house and opposite is warehouse, thanks
 
#16 we went over ingame

Stoneysept houses:
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#23: Tax collector
-The exteriors of this house are lacking a little bit. The front side is quite bland, but the north side is too busy. On the front side, there were no vertical planks in the middle of the house. I have added them, please look at the house and note the difference. The reason I added them was because they are structural supports... before, they were just on the corners of the house but because the facade is split (one side is pushed outward), you will need supports on each part of the facade. Please look at how I fixed this for reference. On the north side, there is the opposite problem. You have 4 different sections of wood (planks, corner supports, piston tops, weatherboarding at the very top). This is too much. Really, all you need is the vertical planks and regular wood. So in summary... please simplify the north/south sides, and fix the back side like I fixed the front.

-The right side of the facade could use a 2 block wide window, centered in the middle of the panel. This would be more symmetrical and nicer looking.

-On the stone bottom of the house, you can use grey stone windows or arrow slits. They are not necessary, but would look really nice and clean with the stone. Try them out and see if it improves the aesthetics of the build.


-You like having all your window shutters off to the side of the window (like they are open). You have done this on pretty much every house you have build so far. It's not bad by any means, but sometimes closed windows are nice, especially in a place like stoneysept where it would smell and be cold/rainy alot.

-You've got far too much fish/food in the closet. Please add more closed containers and food that wouldn't spoil. You can use crates, closed baskets, grain sacks, pots, etc. 1 or 2 open baskets are okay.

-In the tax collectors office, I would have more evidence of actual tax collecting. Add a gold coins block to his desk perhaps. Also, one version of a painting is hanging papers. This could look nice on his wall.

All around, no major issues with this one. However, if howy has any issues regarding style or interiors, please adress them.
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#17: baker
-The vertical jungle planks look a bit weird on the corners of the house. I would recommend doing only daub and wattle for that part. You can still keep the jungle planks on the top. Look at fairmarket for some good houses similar to this one.

-Same deal with stone windows for the bottom part and sides. Try them out and see if they look good. Also, I think a 2 wide window on the bottom front part of the house would be nice. This would allow the baker to let his breads cool in the air, while also allowing the smells to enter the streets and attract customers. I left a possible design next to the house.

-The interiors are nice, but the main bedroom on the second floor is a bit messy. Particularly the storage shelves on the north wall. I would stick with something 2 blocks wide, centered on the wall, like a chest of drawers. There are lots of good designs in /warp ikea. I would also change the yellow wool slab to something less fancy, like brown or white wool.

-The attic needs better supports for the slate. Right now, alot of it would fall down and the roof would cave in. Same issue with the highgarden house we went over.
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#18: SS Pasteler
-I'm not sure about the stone stairs at the top of the house. That sort of roof style is usually used on rocky, poor areas such as the vale, or sharp point in the crownlands. I would recommend just doing a normal thatch roof that overhangs the house. I have left a melon next to an example. However, please see what howy thinks about it, as unique styles are an important part of stoneysept.

-The pasteler's work area could use a bit more work. I think you could add 1-2 fruit baskets perhaps, to signify some other ingredients he uses. Maybe change the carrot crate into apples or berries, something sweeter.

-The ceiling needs better support. Right now it's inconsistent and messy. The best option would probably just be to use upside down stairs along the entire roof, and cover the thatch completely.

-Yards are fine, no issues there really.
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#19: SS Cobbler
-Really nice exteriors! Great job there.

-The kitchen has too much food laying about (fish, etc.) Remember that food left in the open would frequently spoil, so unless it's a very high volume kitchen like in a castle or inn, don't use too much food. Stuff that wouldn't spoil as easily (like grain, bread, beer, cheese) are good. Fish especially would spoil easy, so it's best not to use too much.

-Not sure why there's a tully banner. Cloth (especially embroidered stuff like the banner) was expensive and they wouldn't need it really.

-The attic has too much heavy stuff (crates). That would be impossible to carry up a small ladder.

-Same problems on this house with the roof being supported. Even if it's not slate, it still needs adequate support from the inside. Remember what we did with the highgarden house to fix this.
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Good work on these ones! Stoneysept is a hard style that demands a high quality build, so sorry if my feedback seems too picky. If I see you online this weekend, I'd like to review a couple minor things ingame with you, as well as the rest of the houses. If I don't see you, I will try to get the rest of the houses done this weekend.
Thanks!
-duck