Sharp Builder Application

Sharp

Storyteller
Guest
16

Brazil

I initially heard of it on the internet some years ago, but I started following it last year, watching the westeroscraft walks on youtube. Then I finally downloaded the launcher and have been exploring the map ever since.

Harry Potter (movies) and Fables ( which I haven’t read yet, but intend to)

Game of Thrones

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

Daenerys. Cause she has some very interesting external and internal conflicts going on. The conflict between the conquerer and the mhysa is really cool and her tragic growth along the story is so great. Also she shows many different cultures on her way, which we would never be able to read/watch if she wasn’t there. And also dragons, of course.

Well, I don’t think I have any UNIQUE skill, but I love to build (particularly historic architecture) and use the Minecraft resource to do things as beautiful/accurate/detailed/atmospheric as possible, but all the other builders do the same I guess.

Cause I love ASOIAF, architecture, history, culture and minecraft, so I’ve been building things for awhile now, and my builds remain locked in my phone where no one can see it or use it. I guess in this server they could be a contribution as much as a source of pleasure for me. This whole project is so great and there seems to be such a nice dynamic in the background between all of its members, so I wish I could be a part of it. I love creating, I may have many ideas and would love to share them if requested (I don’t wanna bother anyone), and would love to learn with this community too.

https://imgur.com/gallery/A6e38Lm

YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW.
 

Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
Hi Sharp,

Thanks for your application build; it’s a nice start! I’ve taken a look and have a few bits of feedback before we can crack on with the challenges.

  • I can see you’ve taken influence from some of our older builds, rather than more recent ones, but no worries at all; firstly, the use of logs as a major supporting structure in stone and daub houses is a little outdated now. A house of this size and type wouldn’t need log supports on the corners… a solid stone base would be fine. I’d also suggest you take a look at houses around King’s Landing docks, Lord Hewett’s Town, and other’s for good examples of a stone palette. Your build uses almost entirely cobble, which makes the stonework look a little bland, whilst also overpowering. Try mixing cobble, larger bricks and then smaller bricks to create illusions of weathering; this will give your house a lot more authenticity.

  • Your daub and wattle patterns aren’t always consistent; consider how this material is produced and how houses would be built. You can find examples of house building at /warp professions. The diagonal lines and crosses should mark stress points on the structure and meet up to support the roof. Make sure that your use of diagonal lines is symmetrical as much as possible, as this gives the impression that the wood supports within the daub are actually serving a structural purpose and not just for show, as in much later Mock-Tudor designs.

  • Your lower stone floor seems a little tall, and doesn’t have distinguishing features…Houses of this size, height, and shape are typical of towns, with the independent wealth of the owner/tenant determined by their profession or trade. It’s not uncommon for the ground floors of houses like this to be used for working – see the houses in Fairmarket for great examples of this! Consider using wooden half-doors and timbering to create a shopfront on the lower floor, or at least a doors and windows on the front and rear façade of the property. Windows and doors on the longer sides is a lot less likely, as neighbouring houses would likely be beside this one supporting it. Most houses of this shape don’t spring up on their own.

  • In your windows, try to hide the top and bottom of the daub bricks using wooden lintels and sills. You can use wood slabs in the top of the windows and wooden carpet blocks at the bottom. This also makes it much easier to attach shutters.

  • On the inside, your ground floor is wood, which is unlikely unless the house has a shallow basement; this also causes a bit of a fire hazard with your furnace blocks being so close to it! Consider a dirt/gravel mix with thatch blocks mixed in; it’s much more typical for medieval houses to have a dirt / stone floor with rushes upon them.

  • The use of glass for your windows downstairs isn’t a problem, if this was a wealthy merchant in a city, but consider the value of glass and the likelihood of your homeowner being able to reasonably afford it. For a house like this I’d consider using non-archery related arrow slit blocks.

  • The layout of your building’s rooms is a little lacking. The lower floor should probably comprise of a kitchen and living area if this house does not serve a profession, or if it does, a business and storage area. The middle floor should have space for a very small landing and at least two rooms, before going up into the attic space. I’d definitely refer you to Fairmarket or Whiteharbour again for inspiration on this. You can use wooden dividers between rooms, and think about who will be occupying it, the furniture they may have or require. Chests are very expensive items and most houses unless pretty wealthy are unlikely to own one; the possession of one would also suggest that the household regularly possess money or objects worth locking away; more likely a tradesperson.

  • The attic space is a little strange in that it has multiple beds but no other signs of life. This space could be used for sleeping, but with access only by a ladder it’s likely to be a servant or a child only. This room should contain some storage items, baskets, bottles, lighter objects relating to the family’s trade, along with hanging clothing perhaps. Consider exactly how many people live in this house and why they’re there.

  • Your slate is visible underneath, which is a little unrealistic. Consider using wooden slabs, stair blocks, and half doors to cover the underside of the slate so it’s not visible. Great examples of this should be Fairmarket and High Garden Town.

  • When building floors/ceilings, you don’t have a lot od space to work with. Don’t use full wooden blocks but rather use alternating upside down wooden stair blocks and slabs to create (from the underside) beams crossing the room with a flat floor above to use as a floor. Make sure your beams are running across the house, spanning whatever the shortest distance is, rather than the entire length of the house. A tip is to use this flooring trick to determine where you’d like the staircase to go so it will take up the smallest amount of space and also look the tidiest. Check out some of the houses at /warp HGtowngate for examples of this.
Altogether this house isn’t a bad start! There’s lots of little tiny details when building houses to consider, mainly economy, location, trade, people, and available resources! All that to consider before you even pick the blocks! If you see me in-game feel free to drop me a message and I’ll give you a bit of a hands-on guide.

In the mean time, for your first challenge, please build me a farmhouse in the style of /warp WoodwrightHamlet1.
Once you’re done, paste the link to an album of screenshots in this thread.

Have fun!
 

Sharp

Storyteller
Guest
It wouldn't hurt :D
These are some:
Some of them are outdated, and most are unfinished. (I use PE by the way)
 
Last edited:
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Reactions: Luk

Sharp

Storyteller
Guest
Hi Sharp,

Thanks for your application build; it’s a nice start! I’ve taken a look and have a few bits of feedback before we can crack on with the challenges.

  • I can see you’ve taken influence from some of our older builds, rather than more recent ones, but no worries at all; firstly, the use of logs as a major supporting structure in stone and daub houses is a little outdated now. A house of this size and type wouldn’t need log supports on the corners… a solid stone base would be fine. I’d also suggest you take a look at houses around King’s Landing docks, Lord Hewett’s Town, and other’s for good examples of a stone palette. Your build uses almost entirely cobble, which makes the stonework look a little bland, whilst also overpowering. Try mixing cobble, larger bricks and then smaller bricks to create illusions of weathering; this will give your house a lot more authenticity.

  • Your daub and wattle patterns aren’t always consistent; consider how this material is produced and how houses would be built. You can find examples of house building at /warp professions. The diagonal lines and crosses should mark stress points on the structure and meet up to support the roof. Make sure that your use of diagonal lines is symmetrical as much as possible, as this gives the impression that the wood supports within the daub are actually serving a structural purpose and not just for show, as in much later Mock-Tudor designs.

  • Your lower stone floor seems a little tall, and doesn’t have distinguishing features…Houses of this size, height, and shape are typical of towns, with the independent wealth of the owner/tenant determined by their profession or trade. It’s not uncommon for the ground floors of houses like this to be used for working – see the houses in Fairmarket for great examples of this! Consider using wooden half-doors and timbering to create a shopfront on the lower floor, or at least a doors and windows on the front and rear façade of the property. Windows and doors on the longer sides is a lot less likely, as neighbouring houses would likely be beside this one supporting it. Most houses of this shape don’t spring up on their own.

  • In your windows, try to hide the top and bottom of the daub bricks using wooden lintels and sills. You can use wood slabs in the top of the windows and wooden carpet blocks at the bottom. This also makes it much easier to attach shutters.

  • On the inside, your ground floor is wood, which is unlikely unless the house has a shallow basement; this also causes a bit of a fire hazard with your furnace blocks being so close to it! Consider a dirt/gravel mix with thatch blocks mixed in; it’s much more typical for medieval houses to have a dirt / stone floor with rushes upon them.

  • The use of glass for your windows downstairs isn’t a problem, if this was a wealthy merchant in a city, but consider the value of glass and the likelihood of your homeowner being able to reasonably afford it. For a house like this I’d consider using non-archery related arrow slit blocks.

  • The layout of your building’s rooms is a little lacking. The lower floor should probably comprise of a kitchen and living area if this house does not serve a profession, or if it does, a business and storage area. The middle floor should have space for a very small landing and at least two rooms, before going up into the attic space. I’d definitely refer you to Fairmarket or Whiteharbour again for inspiration on this. You can use wooden dividers between rooms, and think about who will be occupying it, the furniture they may have or require. Chests are very expensive items and most houses unless pretty wealthy are unlikely to own one; the possession of one would also suggest that the household regularly possess money or objects worth locking away; more likely a tradesperson.

  • The attic space is a little strange in that it has multiple beds but no other signs of life. This space could be used for sleeping, but with access only by a ladder it’s likely to be a servant or a child only. This room should contain some storage items, baskets, bottles, lighter objects relating to the family’s trade, along with hanging clothing perhaps. Consider exactly how many people live in this house and why they’re there.

  • Your slate is visible underneath, which is a little unrealistic. Consider using wooden slabs, stair blocks, and half doors to cover the underside of the slate so it’s not visible. Great examples of this should be Fairmarket and High Garden Town.

  • When building floors/ceilings, you don’t have a lot od space to work with. Don’t use full wooden blocks but rather use alternating upside down wooden stair blocks and slabs to create (from the underside) beams crossing the room with a flat floor above to use as a floor. Make sure your beams are running across the house, spanning whatever the shortest distance is, rather than the entire length of the house. A tip is to use this flooring trick to determine where you’d like the staircase to go so it will take up the smallest amount of space and also look the tidiest. Check out some of the houses at /warp HGtowngate for examples of this.
Altogether this house isn’t a bad start! There’s lots of little tiny details when building houses to consider, mainly economy, location, trade, people, and available resources! All that to consider before you even pick the blocks! If you see me in-game feel free to drop me a message and I’ll give you a bit of a hands-on guide.

In the mean time, for your first challenge, please build me a farmhouse in the style of /warp WoodwrightHamlet1.
Once you’re done, paste the link to an album of screenshots in this thread.

Have fun!
Hi Ark! I see all your points, I really struggled with that class/food per person topic, I will be more cautious. This is the house that I built based on /warp woodwrighthamlet1:
I tried to be as accurate as I could without copying and pasting any house. I was a bit concerned about working with thatch roofs, but it was nice to build with. Waiting for your reply.
 

Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
Hi Sharp,

This is an excellent build! You've really paid close attention to the details! I can't quite tell from your screenshot but make sure that the bench block with the cooking utensils on them, that only one side is visible. You can put an oak half-door on the side next to the fire to cover this up.

Otherwise, this house is great. You've got the palette down, the roof. Nice work!

For your next challenge build I'd like you to build a middle class house in the style of /warp HGtowngate. Take a look at the houses that are two-stories tall around the market hall. Pay close attention to the floor heights, steep roof rafters, and ceiling/upper floor layout.

Good luck!
 

Sharp

Storyteller
Guest
Hi Sharp,

This is an excellent build! You've really paid close attention to the details! I can't quite tell from your screenshot but make sure that the bench block with the cooking utensils on them, that only one side is visible. You can put an oak half-door on the side next to the fire to cover this up.

Otherwise, this house is great. You've got the palette down, the roof. Nice work!

For your next challenge build I'd like you to build a middle class house in the style of /warp HGtowngate. Take a look at the houses that are two-stories tall around the market hall. Pay close attention to the floor heights, steep roof rafters, and ceiling/upper floor layout.

Good luck!
Thanks! I really enjoyed doing that house. I was going to enter the server this morning for the new challenge and I faced this problem:
internal exception: io.netty.handler.codec.decoderexception: java.util.zip.dataformatexception

I have been trying to solve it but I didn’t managed it yet, so maybe I wont be able to complete the challenge for awhile. If you have any idea of how to solve it, would be a great help. I will keep in touch if the situation changes.
 

Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
Thanks! I really enjoyed doing that house. I was going to enter the server this morning for the new challenge and I faced this problem:
internal exception: io.netty.handler.codec.decoderexception: java.util.zip.dataformatexception

I have been trying to solve it but I didn’t managed it yet, so maybe I wont be able to complete the challenge for awhile. If you have any idea of how to solve it, would be a great help. I will keep in touch if the situation changes.

It's best you take a look in the support subforum for a solution to this. Make sure you check for similar issues before posting a new thread, as it's likely a common one, but I'm afraid I haven't really got a clue.
 

Enah

Skinchanger
Chests are very expensive items and most houses unless pretty wealthy are unlikely to own one; the possession of one would also suggest that the household regularly possess money or objects worth locking away; more likely a tradesperson.
chests and stools are the only furniture a house of all rank would have in common, and would be the most valuable and used. Chests are where the lady of the house kept her sewing, her prized possessions, the family clothes and blankets she's made. :p
 

Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
chests and stools are the only furniture a house of all rank would have in common, and would be the most valuable and used. Chests are where the lady of the house kept her sewing, her prized possessions, the family clothes and blankets she's made. :p

A wooden box for storage certainly, but an iron-banded chest with mechanical locks...very unlikely.
 

Sharp

Storyteller
Guest
Hi Sharp,

This is an excellent build! You've really paid close attention to the details! I can't quite tell from your screenshot but make sure that the bench block with the cooking utensils on them, that only one side is visible. You can put an oak half-door on the side next to the fire to cover this up.

Otherwise, this house is great. You've got the palette down, the roof. Nice work!

For your next challenge build I'd like you to build a middle class house in the style of /warp HGtowngate. Take a look at the houses that are two-stories tall around the market hall. Pay close attention to the floor heights, steep roof rafters, and ceiling/upper floor layout.

Good luck!
Hi Ark! Fortunately I was able to solve my problem recently, so I completed the challenge for HGtowngate. I noticed that most houses there had a profession, so I decided incorporate one in my build. I intended to do a baker’s house (and I did), but while trying to find an interesting shape, I accidentally built a bigger house than I should (considering a baker social class, I guess). So I don’t know, maybe it was a high class house sold by a cheap price? Anyway, this is the house:


You may notice my attempt to impoverish the house with the furniture. I also stole a oven design from a bakery in Fairmarket, cause it seemed better than the one in HGtowngate.
Edit: There were plenty of chests there, so I thought I was allowed to use it.
 
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Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
Hey Sharp,

Nicely done with this one. You happen to have chosen one of the largest houses in that square as a reference which is fine, but the reason I chose that area over the town itself was for the distinct style of slightly smaller buildings that are more middle class than high. It's a subtle difference and not one I'd expect everyone to pick up on, so this is fine. I would suggest however that when asked to do a house in a particular style, you don't copy elements directly from an existing house.. the point of these challenges is for you to understand the reason that house is that shape, in that location, comprised of those materials, and the professions and lives of the people that live in it.

The house you used as a reference is a detached 'townhouse' style and would be more befitting of a merchant, an independently wealthy trader, or person of civic responsibility and notoriety, not necessarily a baker, fishmonger, butcher, or such trade, even in an area as wealthy as Highgarden. There are a number of bakers throughout the towns, and most are rather small by comparison as this isn't the most lucrative business to be in, despite being a staple.

Here's the following feedback:

1. The palette seems a little bit random at times. The larger bricks and cobble should be complimentary to each-other and show a progression of weathering; adding light reach small stones in between them alot makes it look a little checkerboardy. You could also try to incorporate more of the lighter stone into the mix. The 'Mander palette' is a mix of pale stone and brickwork, with more light stone in the more rural areas, which is common in the HGTownGate area, transitioning from the town to the rural land to the south.

2. I agree with Luke on the blue slate.. it isn't employed anywhere in HG.. Brown or black slate, or oak/jungle/dark northern wood for the roofs. I'd also suggest any overhangs have a wooden roof colour complimentary to the slate (brown slate & oak wood / black slate & dark northern wood).

3. Make sure not to use the full half door textured block as a table - You have one upstairs in the house with a candle atop it, and you can see that the texture on the top mirrors the sides.. it just looks a bit vanilla-y.

4. For your corridors, it looks like you're using spruce doors set into oak half-doors.. we have oak doors, which would look alot better here.

5. In the attic don't fill it with too many heavy items.. It's difficult to move barrels at the best of times, but pulling them up into the loft for....storage? seems a bit pointless. Grain / baskets / things like that make a little more sense.

6. In your bakers shop, the thatch on the floor is very patchy. Use the full thatch blocks to break it up and to put some under the table. Thatch on the floor should look a bit like a rug with very odd edges, but looks best as one or two large areas.

From an economic perspective it's a little strange.. A house of this size wouldn't be full of poorer furniture and mass thatch beds. There's no reason for a baker to have any more than one or two apprentices (at most for a *very wealthy* baker - again a bit of an unlikely scenario) and they'd likely have small bedding areas in an adjacent barn or loft space. The rest of the rooms would be furnished in a manner complimentary to the building they are in.

My advice would be:
- Consider the profession when building the house, definitely not the other way around.
- Think about the size and materials used to make the house, and who built it, the local lord, the town house "owner", or did the building serve a past purpose and has now been retrofitted for another purpose or dwelling. If you want to use this as a reasoning for a poorer family living in a large house, remember that laws of property in feudal societies were vastly different, and that this house would likely be repossessed by the landholder (the lord) and a leasehold sold to someone wealthy enough to afford it. Also consider the location, as a principal market square in Highgarden.

Otherwise a nice build, but in future don't try and copy an existing house to fit a very different narrative.. you're expected to build a house in the style; what matters here is your demonstration of your technical understanding of how to build a house, more than your physical ability in minecraft. But otherwise good job!

For your next challenge, I'd like you to build a middle class weaver's house in the style of /warp whiteharbour.

Good Luck!
-
 
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Reactions: Luk

Sharp

Storyteller
Guest
Hey Sharp,

Nicely done with this one. You happen to have chosen one of the largest houses in that square as a reference which is fine, but the reason I chose that area over the town itself was for the distinct style of slightly smaller buildings that are more middle class than high. It's a subtle difference and not one I'd expect everyone to pick up on, so this is fine. I would suggest however that when asked to do a house in a particular style, you don't copy elements directly from an existing house.. the point of these challenges is for you to understand the reason that house is that shape, in that location, comprised of those materials, and the professions and lives of the people that live in it.

The house you used as a reference is a detached 'townhouse' style and would be more befitting of a merchant, an independently wealthy trader, or person of civic responsibility and notoriety, not necessarily a baker, fishmonger, butcher, or such trade, even in an area as wealthy as Highgarden. There are a number of bakers throughout the towns, and most are rather small by comparison as this isn't the most lucrative business to be in, despite being a staple.

Here's the following feedback:

1. The palette seems a little bit random at times. The larger bricks and cobble should be complimentary to each-other and show a progression of weathering; adding light reach small stones in between them alot makes it look a little checkerboardy. You could also try to incorporate more of the lighter stone into the mix. The 'Mander palette' is a mix of pale stone and brickwork, with more light stone in the more rural areas, which is common in the HGTownGate area, transitioning from the town to the rural land to the south.

2. I agree with Luke on the blue slate.. it isn't employed anywhere in HG.. Brown or black slate, or oak/jungle/dark northern wood for the roofs. I'd also suggest any overhangs have a wooden roof colour complimentary to the slate (brown slate & oak wood / black slate & dark northern wood).

3. Make sure not to use the full half door textured block as a table - You have one upstairs in the house with a candle atop it, and you can see that the texture on the top mirrors the sides.. it just looks a bit vanilla-y.

4. For your corridors, it looks like you're using spruce doors set into oak half-doors.. we have oak doors, which would look alot better here.

5. In the attic don't fill it with too many heavy items.. It's difficult to move barrels at the best of times, but pulling them up into the loft for....storage? seems a bit pointless. Grain / baskets / things like that make a little more sense.

6. In your bakers shop, the thatch on the floor is very patchy. Use the full thatch blocks to break it up and to put some under the table. Thatch on the floor should look a bit like a rug with very odd edges, but looks best as one or two large areas.

From an economic perspective it's a little strange.. A house of this size wouldn't be full of poorer furniture and mass thatch beds. There's no reason for a baker to have any more than one or two apprentices (at most for a *very wealthy* baker - again a bit of an unlikely scenario) and they'd likely have small bedding areas in an adjacent barn or loft space. The rest of the rooms would be furnished in a manner complimentary to the building they are in.

My advice would be:
- Consider the profession when building the house, definitely not the other way around.
- Think about the size and materials used to make the house, and who built it, the local lord, the town house "owner", or did the building serve a past purpose and has now been retrofitted for another purpose or dwelling. If you want to use this as a reasoning for a poorer family living in a large house, remember that laws of property in feudal societies were vastly different, and that this house would likely be repossessed by the landholder (the lord) and a leasehold sold to someone wealthy enough to afford it. Also consider the location, as a principal market square in Highgarden.

Otherwise a nice build, but in future don't try and copy an existing house to fit a very different narrative.. you're expected to build a house in the style; what matters here is your demonstration of your technical understanding of how to build a house, more than your physical ability in minecraft. But otherwise good job!

For your next challenge, I'd like you to build a middle class weaver's house in the style of /warp whiteharbour.

Good Luck!
-
Hi Ark,
I’m sorry if it seemed that I copied an existing house, I was just trying to reproduce the location style :( I used the blue slates cause I mistook them for the black ones (which was used in one of my references, the one I believe you presumed I copied). And the profession vs house thing, it really started as a baker’s house. Whenever a build get out of control again, I will rebuild it according to what it should be, as now I see I should have done in this challenge. I see your points, and I kept them in mind while performing this new challenge. This is the weaver’s house that I built for /warp whiteharbour:


A builder in game told me that the weaver profession guide was outdated, so he/she helped me giving some references and I tried to follow it in my build. I didn’t put any windows on the sides cause I supposed there would be other houses siding this one, considering it is in White Harbour. I didn't put a backdoor either, maybe it was a mistake.
 

Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
Hi Sharp,

No worries at all, it's simply an observation. Of course, when asked to do something in a very specific style, everyone pulls features from one or two buildings.. my main point being, just be careful where areas have a very fluid or broad style, as you may end up building a house which isn't really suitable for the profession. Either way, you built a really decent house! :)

With the WH build, really awesome work with this one! It looks great! I have absolutely no structural feedback whatsoever, only a couple of small stylistic points:

- Try to avoid using fence blocks in windows: this is an outdated practice which kinda died off at the end of WH being built. There are a lot of builds that still have them, but best to avoid in any newer build.

- On your ground floor, try to mix in some dark thatch on the floor to make it less dirt/gravelly. It's very cold in the North and the floor is likely to be covered to keep some warmth in.

- As with above, in the bedroom, I'd probably move this to the back of the house away from the double windows, so that the room is kept warmer. I'd also suggest you consider the layout of the rooms a little better. Weavers need a lot of room to make bolts of material, and it's likely their lower floor is entirely set up for trade. If you want to put the kitchen on the ground floor that's fine, but I'd make sure it's sectioned off properly with a door/wall and not visible from the workspace. In this instance the workspace is very small, and upstairs is very open and the back of the upper floor seems a little wasted. I'd probably have made a weavers workshop at the front, storage for material at the back, with the kitchen/living area on the upper floor with windows looking onto the street, and a bedroom at the rear.

Other than those little things, this is a great little build!

For your next challenge, I'd like you to build a middle class ale-merchant in the style of /warp fairmarket. This should be in the style of the houses in one of the side streets off from the main square. Remember that this is a merchant, not a brewer! You should include a basement.

Please post your pics with night vision enabled. You should be able to do this with the command /nv.

Good Luck!
 

Arkilstorm

Dowager Countess of Grantham
Staff member
Hey Sharp,

Just making sure all's good and if you're still wanting to continue with this application?
Please let me know by the end of the month or I'll lock this thread for now.

Thanks!