Looks great, Do you have or know any of the storyline yet? Can't wait to see the finished product.
I just realized that I haven't actually posted anything about the story here yet, no time like the present I guess. So far I'm thinking that the player will take the role of a village guard(I'm going to call him Jim from here on out for convenience) who is haunted by nightmarish flashbacks to a war years ago. They have been becoming much more frequent recently, so frequent in fact that Jim decides there must some meaning to them, and as is the go to solution in Jim's society, he decides to visit the shrine of the local goddess. (There might be some kind of a dialogue with the goddess or maybe it'll just be more of a personal journey) The frequency of the dreams decreases but they do not subside, Jim ventures out of his village to track down the cause of his dreams(sounds a little weird but I think I can explain it away with the beliefs of the locals). First he visits the old battlefield and some clue he finds there will lead him into discovering that one of the people he spared in the battle is now trying to retake control of the island and then the world as a whole. Having this connection Jim is the only one who can stop this evil (I'll probably want to come up some stronger reason at some point). That's a pretty basic outline, still a major hole in the middle there, but it's a work in progress still. Hopefully that satisfies you and anyone else who was wondering about the story that I apparently haven't really mentioned yet.
Very nice! The builds look very good! Although I find alot of adventure maps have a kind of medieval/fantasy theme. As long as the story is different and interesting though, it'll turn out great.
Maybe I should do a build log of my map?
Thanks! Medieval and minecraft seem to go together well, I'll refer you above for the story, you can judge it for yourself. This build log seems to be mostly keeping me motivated, I'm sure it's interesting for others to, I'd recommend it.
The story is good so far, I like it. You should also add side plots maybe, books and videogames also have them.
Also, have you made a trade system yet? (example, modding villagers so they have certain items for trade, for something other than emeralds)
Thanks, I probably will add some side plots in later, when I really start thinking about the specifics of the story.
I haven't started any of the systems yet, I'm still working on the build. I will likely use custom villagers for most of the trading; it's the most natural way I've found so far using commands.
So... two years on from my last post now, hopefully I can get back into this build and get closer to finished. Quite a bit of work has been done. Through 2017 I built out the city quite a bit but as the year went on I started to become a bit overwhelmed by the scope of the place I set out to create and near the end of the year I stopped completely. In fact at the beginning of 2018 I started a new project entirely to do something different for a while. I haven't touched this project since then, but I realized I haven't put up an update of everything new since the castle, so here's some stuff I did a year and half ago.
Pictures:
So where to even begin? I'll try to keep this pretty short so people might actually read it. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that the city will be split into three districts, the rich, the poor, and the middle class (I'm well aware middle class wasn't really a thing back then but this is fantasy so I'll explain it away somehow). A majority of the middle class has been built, as well as one of the docks and a cathedral.
This square is right at the foot of the stairs to the castle and marks the transition between the middle class and the rich. Around the edges sit shops selling all variety of things, so far there is a bakery, potions shop, bookstore, clothing shop, and general store. I still need three more shops to fill them out. It's also worth noting here that there are no interior shots as a vast majority of these buildings don't even have floors yet. I really like the way this square turned out so far, I may add some market stalls around later as well.
Let's talk about the cathedral next, I'm not 100% sure I love the way it turned out, and it's not finished yet either. Essentially the two towers function as entrances and they both house a large bell. I love flying buttresses so they make an appearance along the sides. The interior is quite tall, which is good, but this is also where I'm not so sure about it. The interior is rather thin, so despite being so tall it almost feels cramped inside. Also I haven't decided on how their religion will be structured so I'm not sure if I should have pews, which could make sense considering how western the style is, or something else entirely. I think it looks good from the outside and really adds to the skyline but I'm still undecided on how I feel about the inside.
These are mostly houses, though I'm trying to intersperse some businesses like this blacksmith to give a little more variety. Some of these houses are quite roomy inside, others not so much. I don't really know how often medieval houses were built this close together, but I think it looks quite nice overall. These are the middle class houses so I aimed to make them well maintained but not too fancy, you'll have to let me know if I struck a good balance or not though, I'm not quite sure.
Now we come to the docks and another square. There are a few warehouses on the docks, they're quite small so I might make a larger one elsewhere. There's also my best attempt at a medieval crane, they are similar to modern cranes however they often used a large wheel that men would walk around inside of to lift and lower the arm. I made sure to have docks closer to the water and higher up for larger ships that sit far above the water level. There will be some boats around eventually. This square will also have shops around the edges and will mark the transition from middle class to poor houses. I'm thinking this will be a much simpler square with lots of market stalls in it, maybe more lively than the other but also much scummier. I'm not totally sure if it's large enough so we'll see if the shape of it changes.
Finally, this is the beginnings of the city guard headquarters, the castle is just to the right of this screenshot. This is smack dab in the middle of what will be the rich district, which makes sense as it would need the heaviest guard presence. I ended up scrapping the tunnel to the castle as it's only a short walk anyway.
Hopefully updates will be a little more frequent in the future, but I'm sure I've said that before. With that out of the way, I've been going over what I have so far as a story and I hate it, so I'm scrapping it. I'm not sure yet what will replace it but I'm open to ideas. Taking a more critical look at what I had, it feels like it's been done a million times before so I'm going to start over and think about what hasn't been done. Ideally the story will lead the player through the world gradually and culminate in a satisfying finale, though not necessarily an evil overlord to be destroyed.
I'm considering making it more personal and heavily focused on character development. It does go back to what I was saying before, I want this to be as much the player's journey as it is the main character's I just want to find a better vehicle for that than the done to death prophecy.
I've just read the news that these forums will be shutting down, so yeah, there's that. Unfortunately that means that this thread will never be finished, If I ever finish this map you can probably find it on planetminecraft. I might even start a thread there, I'm not sure yet.
So this is goodbye then, it's a shame but I guess it had to happen eventually.
EDIT: Well scratch that, looks like the forum is going to be sticking around. I'll do my best to stick around with it.
Few months between posts again, probably no one cares anymore but oh well :/. This is going to be a fairly short update as well but I'll lay out some of my plans here. Mainly, I've built a canal, arena, finished the market by docks, and reinforced the secondary entrance to the castle. The poor district is mostly going to be houses, I'm planning at least one inn, probably a bar and a few fisheries much like the ones in mosspoint by the water. The canal doesn't really serve any purpose but to add another decorative element, I'm also planning on building another, larger canal on the other side of the city for pretty much the same purpose.
Now, about the castle, looking back on it now it doesn't match the theme and the tone of the rest of the city. Not to mention the layout doesn't make any sense and it doesn't feel very royal on the inside. If anything it feels a bit evil, which isn't what I was going for ultimately. I want more corridors with windows facing the ocean and overall a much less cramped interior. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to take on completely rebuilding the castle into something more imperial and open or just try to reconfigure it and change some of the stylings. I really do like the look of the huge circle sprouting out of the mountain so I may build another one further up and go for a more tiered look. I really don't like the highest tower with the weird roof at this point so if nothing else, it's gone. I also want to reconfigure the entrance, the room itself is far too closed in and I dislike the right angle at the top of the stairs. Anyway, I think I'll build out some more of the city so that I have a real good feeling for the style and theme and then modify (or rebuild, not sure) the castle to fit the city better.
I'm not going to write too much about the individual elements right now but here are some more screenshots of the new stuff.
Update 8: The update that actually came a week after the last one
That doesn't really have much a ring to it, eh.
Anyway, I've done some work on the city entrance mainly, we've got a church for the district, the long building is going to be an inn and the others will likely be small shops. The building in the bottom left is a small bakery. Also of note, I've finally updated to 1.14! I could say that I haven't updated since 1.12 because the rewrite of forge that came with 1.13 really screwed over optifine but really it's just because I'm lazy. Finally the latest optifine pre-release works again so updating was rather painless.
Speaking of 1.14, I like most of the new textures, I was quite attached to the old stone texture though so I'm not sure I'm all for that change. Anyway, without further ado - screenshots.
For this update I also took some glamour shots with shaders (sildurs I think) and conquest on, I must say, the city's looking pretty epic.
There's some more below, just don't want to make this post too long. See if you can tell where all these shots are in the city.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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Looks great man, I hope you finish your map... I know i couldn't finish mine. Maybe i'll recycle it into a game in unity, I don't know. It would just be a shame to see another map with potential bite the dust.
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Monster Control: the adventure map for minecraft java edition. A map that has been in production for 4 and a half years.
Absolutely love your design style. Will be following this thread so I can keep up on your progress!
Thanks, it's been a long time coming but I'm starting to like the style of this place. Hopefully you're in for the long haul, I've been working on this on and off for three years now and I don't see it being finished anytime soon lol.
Looks great man, I hope you finish your map... I know i couldn't finish mine. Maybe i'll recycle it into a game in unity, I don't know. It would just be a shame to see another map with potential bite the dust.
That's a shame, how far along did you get? I always liked the look of that city section. Right now I'm pretty committed to finishing this, that said, last year I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen so we'll see. Not sure if you've read the most recent update on the story, but I'm not happy with what I was thinking before so it's going to change. I felt it was turning out just a little shallow and looking pretty generic, needs a lot more thinking through still. At least story changes are real easy right now since none of it's been implemented yet, lol.
Anyway, I might as well mention I've been working on the castle a bit more again, mostly I'd like to rework the entrance and the throne room to make the castle flow a bit better. And more windows! I really don't like how dark it ended up being inside. That update should be "coming soon"TM. Hopefully not too long.
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I made it maybe 2/3 building everything, but i wasn't even close to finishing all the command block stuff because i originally started the map on xbox 360 (which had no command blocks). Another thing that made this map take even longer to make was that i redid alot of the areas i first worked on because they weren't up to standard compared to the later areas in the map.
Can't wait to see how the castle turns out.
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Monster Control: the adventure map for minecraft java edition. A map that has been in production for 4 and a half years.
Another few months between updates, but this one's pretty significant so buckle up!
I doubt anyone remembers what it looked like before so here's a picture of the old castle:
And then one of the new! Mainly I took the stuff off the top of the tower and built a new entrance so you don't have to turn 90 degrees just to get in. I also pushed the whole castle out the back of the mountain. That addition on the left added more than enough space for the royal quarters and I reworked the area near the dining hall into guest rooms. I also managed to add an extremely grand ballroom, turn the old throne room into a massive treasury, and build a much larger library.
Just so this post isn't a million miles long, I'll put some of the highlights into a spoiler.
Entering through the front door, this is the new entrance hall. Straight ahead is the throne room, to the right is the guest wing and dining hall, and the left connects to the city guard barracks.
This is the new throne room, it sticks out the back of the mountain allowing for big windows behind the throne. I was torn on whether or not I wanted to push this out the back of the mountain because that puts it outside of the city's walls. Defense wise it's quite a blow but aesthetically I like this much better.
This is the old throne room now treasury, the bridges connect the entrance hall to the guest wing and the guest wing to the ballroom. I think it turned out okay but it still feels a little square to me so I might try to add some shape later.
This is the guest hall, through each of those doors is a guest suite.
This new chapel/temple thing is near the guest wing and the dining hall. I like how it turned out, though I might change that shrine thing.
This is the ballroom, the perfect place for entertaining diplomats and the best place for parties in the land. The stairs head up to a wraparound balcony with windows. I mostly like this room, I'm still not sure about the cathedral style ceiling.
The dining hall hasn't changed much, the big difference is the windows and it makes the room much brighter.
Now for some of the rooms over in the royal wing. This is the king's art gallery, showcasing the finest artists from far and wide. Quite an impressive display of wealth to the right people.
Next up, the king's council chamber. The most important decisions would be made here as well as the more mundane matters of running the realm.
This is the new library, there may actually be less bookshelves here than the old tower but I like the feel, it's much grander.
Finally the king's bedroom, just out of shot on the right is a balcony overlooking the whole city. Historically purple was reserved for only the richest and most important as it was very difficult to create in large quantities. I'm not sure I like the purple carpet though, that might change later.
So now I can get back to work on the poor district, which hopefully won't take too long. Mostly just houses to build there now and then I can move to the other side and work on some of the richest citizens houses.
I'm quite happy with this new castle and I think it fits a lot better with the style of the city so it was a worthwhile diversion at least. I don't want to sound too optimistic here but I think I'm a little under halfway done the city now. That puts me on track to finish early 2022 lol.
So now I can get back to work on the poor district, which hopefully won't take too long
Hahahahahahahahahaha, I need to stop saying things like that, anyway this is a big one. I've filled out the poor district, redesigned the arena, moved the cathedral and widened it a bit, dug a new canal in the rich district, built a bridge with houses on it, started work on a new harbour in the rich district, I have some story ideas to share, and finally I've named the city, welcome to Montport. As per usual I've put most of the update into a spoiler, enjoy.
I'll start with the new arena, it might look similar but it is much larger inside, now has areas for the gladiators, and you can actually see the fight from the top floor. It's a big improvement, trust me. This will come up later too when I talk about the story.
This is from the ground behind the arena, as you can see there is a market that wraps around the base of it. Just behind this shot is a warehouse to serve the market. This is probably the main market used by the poor district.
Next up is the rest of the poor district, there isn't really much to talk about here I've mostly just built more houses and a couple relevant shops. There are also small farms scattered about as I'm imagining that would be a much cheaper option for the people living here.
Here you can see I've moved the cathedral up onto the hill, it looks mostly the same though just a couple blocks wider. In the space the cathedral used to be I've built another small square for the rich district, this would be a nice place to have your lunch or to do your shopping. Also shown here is the new bridge, it doesn't really go anywhere right now, currently capped off with a statue that used to be in the throne room. I'll likely swap that out with a naval fortress to protect the harbour somewhat soon. The idea here is that being so close to a military base and the cathedral, this bridge would be a very affluent area, powerful merchants and patricians would likely live here.
Living on the bridge would be quite nice I think, the residents don't have a lot of outdoor space but their homes are fairly spacious and overall the bridge has a very cozy atmosphere. In another city a bridge like this could be very dingy or wrought with crime, but here it's exclusivity, and gatehouses, keep the rabble out leaving the residents to their paradise. There's also an inn straddling the bridge for the affluent traveller.
The last changes to mention are the new harbour and its accompanying canal. This harbour is much larger than the harbour on the other side of the city and you might be able to see that I've cut away the sea floor to allow for larger ships. The area without any water in it is going to be a shipyard, the ship would be built dry and then floodgates would open and the water would lift it out. To the side of that is a raised grass segment, I'm not entirely sure what to do with this yet but I'm thinking it will either be an elegant park or an equally elegant market. Or maybe a mansion?
The canal snakes around from just behind the bridge out to the farthest dock, cutting under the cathedral. Under which will likely be a vast catacomb network, seeing as there's no space for a graveyard around the church. Houses will line each side of the canal, with basements that connect to it and laundry strung across. Hopefully it will look quite nice. I've been considering trying a new style of houses for the rich district, more like row houses from medieval Europe, something like these maybe.
I think I'll put the story ideas out here, I've been thinking about it a lot as I'm sure you can tell from most of my posts on this thread. The latest thought is to do away with all the prophecy and horrible demons and focus more on the power struggles in the city and the island at large. I've written up something of a teaser, so please let me know what you think.
Corruption runs rampant through Montport, the regent is swayed more by money and power than by morality and justice. Unseen powers vie for control while the average citizen is trampled underfoot. Trouble is brewing here, the city is due for a change in management and all that's left is the missing catalyst.
Red Syndicate
Those that strike from the shadows comply with the laws of the syndicate or they soon float in the bay. As long as the syndicate keeps away from those of import, their operation continues. Those that find themselves beset by thieves and assassins need only pay a modest sum for the syndicate's "protection" and their troubles will simply disappear. The syndicate all but runs the city from underneath the fighting pits, perhaps it's time they moved to the castle.
Merchant's Reform
Many landowners and seafarers have taken notice of the syndicate's power and the complete lack of willingness to eliminate them displayed by the Regency. A small but determined movement is forming on the city's high streets and in the shipyards to fight back and free the city from fear. Some of the more fanatic of the group even suggest it's time for the Regency to end, to be replaced by those that they have failed to protect. (I'm not totally sold on this one, not sure it makes sense for anyone in a medieval setting to be advocating for democracy. Let me know what you think)
The Eternal Flame
Flame burns in all things, the smallest spark can begin the brightest wildfire. Those that worship the flame have devoted themselves to harnessing and conjuring it at will, the most devoted may even find new ways to harness the flame and command it. All things are possible through the flame, but even it has little power over the corruption that creeps down the gutters and hangs in the air. Schemes blossom inbetween the bookshelfs at the college and in the crypts beneath the cathedral, more money, more power, and more control are all at their fingertips. For aeons they have protected the city and stayed out of politics but a notion is growing that it's time to remove the middleman and begin the rule of the archmage.
Freemen Mercenaries
Somewhat of a wildcard in the mix, the freemen mercenaries largely have no morals, following the gold of their employers above all else. They've worked for the king in times of war and for the syndicate in times of peace, they'll certainly have a role to play in the upcoming conflict. Whom they will pledge their loyalty to is still up for debate. Perhaps you have a use for them.
The Regency
And of course, the Regency. Those in power often want to maintain that power and King Aymon is no exception. For the most part he turns a blind eye to the rampant corruption in his city so long as his treasury grows, but all the while, he trains an army to hold the city from foreign, and domestic, threats. If any faction begins to overtly threaten his power, they will almost certainly begin a civil war. Without adequate preparation, an insurgency will be swiftly crushed.
So what was your motivation when you sailed to Montport? Perhaps you were fleeing prosecution? Are you vying for them same power as the rest? Do you want to hold the throne or see it burn? No man is without ambition and this unstable system needs but a nudge in the right direction to seal your name into history forever.
Next thing to work on is the rich district, though I may start with the catacombs.
Just a little update here, currently I'm reworking the buildings out in front of the church i don't really like the way they look. I've also built something of a plaza around the church, more to come soon.
Anyway, I've decided Montport was probably too close to Mosspoint so I'll just reverse it and call the city Portmont.
Oh and please do let me know what you think about the story ideas in my last post, looking to flesh it out some more probably.
Progress is still coming along, I should have the next update ready shortly. Figured I would write a little update to let you know what I'm working on.
Here's a sneak peek of the plan for the rest of the city as it stands right now anyway. I'm not sure if I will add such a large park though.
I've really had trouble focusing on any one part of the city for a while now so I've done bits and pieces here and there all over the city. I've built a few houses, a clock tower, started the shipyard, started the catacombs, and am considering redoing the castle again.
The shipyard is functionally complete really, it just needs a boat in it and plenty of decorations. The catacombs still have a ways to go, I've built the main entrance room but I'll want to add a lot more corridors and tombs before it's done.
And as far as the castle, I think the last redesign was a step in the right direction but it still doesn't really feel like a focal point for the city. I think it would be much better if it came out of the mountain more, more like it's perched on the mountain rather than an just an entrance to the underground. I've seen some really nice castle designs on reddit recently and I feel like my castle could look as good with some more tweaks.
I really like this one for example, and I think something similar could work on top of the drum tower I already have.
And this one's got a real nice vibe to it so maybe I could borrow some elements of it too (looking specifically at those multi tier roofs)
Progress is still coming along, I should have the next update ready shortly.
Anywhooo, it's been a while. Things have been progressing, these past 7 months, albeit a little slower than I would like. The biggest thing that's changed since my last post is that I've just finished rebuilding the castle again, well the exterior anyway, still working on inside. Honestly there's so much space inside I'm not even sure what I'm going to fill it with. I may have gone a little bit overboard with the imposing factor but I think it looks great. Mainly I cut the back off, pushed the front out and built on top of that new space. In my last redesign I think I said I didn't care that those windows on the back were a strategic nightmare but if the story's going to be focused on power struggles I think it makes sense that the castle is at least a little bit secure. Overall, I'm super happy with how it turned out, in all likelihood this will be the final major revision.
Here's just another render of just the castle, that's a bit easier to see the detail in. I really like how the tower turned out, I tried out a new roof style on it and personally I think it works great. It's absolutely going to be some sort of laboratory/wizard's tower when I finish the interior. The larger dome will likely be the treasury (because that's just ridiculous) and the smaller dome will be the new private chapel.
I've been exploring chunky recently and I'm honestly impressed how easy it is to get beautiful renders out of it - like the ones in this post. Shaders are great and all, but if you're willing to wait (and have enough memory) you can render your whole world in chunky, the one at the top of the post took 14 hours but I think it was worth it. If you look carefully just behind the castle for example, you can just about see the rooftops of Fairgrove, which even at max render distance aren't loaded from the castle. That alone opens up so many more possibilities and I'm sure I'm only just scratching the surface of what it can do.
In other news, I've also built that market street with a mansion beside it, the shipyard is basically done, and I've added a graveyard wrapping around the base of the cathedral. I'd like to get started on the street that goes to the north gate but I haven't settled on a style for those houses yet. That's the next thing that really needs work and then all that's left to do is the simple and easy, I'm sure it won't take another 5 years, step of doing all the interiors for all the houses. After that the build is essentially complete, and I can get to work on the adventure map part of it, which I'm sure will be quick and easy too. Some screenshots of those changes below.
So this is an overview of basically all the new buildings. I'm not sure I'm sold on the sandstone style I went with for the market street, but I do like that it stands out. The mansion dead center is actually fully furnished, I'm thinking that's the house of the landlord for the shops on down the street, possibly also the harbourmaster. The ship in the shipyard is my best design yet, but I'm still not super happy with how the shape of it turned out, and I still need to do the sails, so it's probably in for some more revisions eventually.
Said market street, still needs more decoration. I'm thinking various storefronts will jut out onto the street. This area has a very different vibe from the rest of the city, and while that's interesting I'm still not sure that it fits so I haven't fully committed to this yet.
This is the square from my last update, I wasn't really happy with it so I redid it and came up with this. I'm really happy with how the clocktower turned out. You can also see the new graveyard in this shot.
This is just a better image of the new graveyard, I wasn't really sure how to put houses in this area so I decided it would be better to leave it sort of open.
I'll close off this update with some street level shots of the new shops by the clocktower. I'm fairly happy with how these turned out, right now I'm thinking with a few more tweaks I could use this style for the market road to the north gate. The facade floating about the water in the overview shot is another option I've been toying with for that area of the city but I think they might be a little too far from the style of the rest of the town.
I can't say that updates will be more consistent from here on out, but I can say that I'm determined to finish this city eventually and I'll keep posting here every now and then.
Actually if anybody has any ideas what to put in the castle please let me know, I've got a library, giant throne room, treasury, ballroom, dining hall, guest bedrooms, royal bedrooms, servants quarters, council chambers, private chapel, alchemy lab, dungeon, guard barracks, and still a metric tonne of empty space.
I just realized that I haven't actually posted anything about the story here yet, no time like the present I guess. So far I'm thinking that the player will take the role of a village guard(I'm going to call him Jim from here on out for convenience) who is haunted by nightmarish flashbacks to a war years ago. They have been becoming much more frequent recently, so frequent in fact that Jim decides there must some meaning to them, and as is the go to solution in Jim's society, he decides to visit the shrine of the local goddess. (There might be some kind of a dialogue with the goddess or maybe it'll just be more of a personal journey) The frequency of the dreams decreases but they do not subside, Jim ventures out of his village to track down the cause of his dreams(sounds a little weird but I think I can explain it away with the beliefs of the locals). First he visits the old battlefield and some clue he finds there will lead him into discovering that one of the people he spared in the battle is now trying to retake control of the island and then the world as a whole. Having this connection Jim is the only one who can stop this evil (I'll probably want to come up some stronger reason at some point). That's a pretty basic outline, still a major hole in the middle there, but it's a work in progress still. Hopefully that satisfies you and anyone else who was wondering about the story that I apparently haven't really mentioned yet.
Thanks! Medieval and minecraft seem to go together well, I'll refer you above for the story, you can judge it for yourself. This build log seems to be mostly keeping me motivated, I'm sure it's interesting for others to, I'd recommend it.
The story is good so far, I like it. You should also add side plots maybe, books and videogames also have them.
Also, have you made a trade system yet? (example, modding villagers so they have certain items for trade, for something other than emeralds)
Monster Control: the adventure map for minecraft java edition. A map that has been in production for 4 and a half years.
New screen shots: https://imgur.com/gallery/U4wlc
old screen shots: https://imgur.com/a/Yl82j
Thanks, I probably will add some side plots in later, when I really start thinking about the specifics of the story.
I haven't started any of the systems yet, I'm still working on the build. I will likely use custom villagers for most of the trading; it's the most natural way I've found so far using commands.
Update 6: Progress on the City + Story
So... two years on from my last post now, hopefully I can get back into this build and get closer to finished. Quite a bit of work has been done. Through 2017 I built out the city quite a bit but as the year went on I started to become a bit overwhelmed by the scope of the place I set out to create and near the end of the year I stopped completely. In fact at the beginning of 2018 I started a new project entirely to do something different for a while. I haven't touched this project since then, but I realized I haven't put up an update of everything new since the castle, so here's some stuff I did a year and half ago.
Pictures:
So where to even begin? I'll try to keep this pretty short so people might actually read it. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that the city will be split into three districts, the rich, the poor, and the middle class (I'm well aware middle class wasn't really a thing back then but this is fantasy so I'll explain it away somehow). A majority of the middle class has been built, as well as one of the docks and a cathedral.
This square is right at the foot of the stairs to the castle and marks the transition between the middle class and the rich. Around the edges sit shops selling all variety of things, so far there is a bakery, potions shop, bookstore, clothing shop, and general store. I still need three more shops to fill them out. It's also worth noting here that there are no interior shots as a vast majority of these buildings don't even have floors yet. I really like the way this square turned out so far, I may add some market stalls around later as well.
Let's talk about the cathedral next, I'm not 100% sure I love the way it turned out, and it's not finished yet either. Essentially the two towers function as entrances and they both house a large bell. I love flying buttresses so they make an appearance along the sides. The interior is quite tall, which is good, but this is also where I'm not so sure about it. The interior is rather thin, so despite being so tall it almost feels cramped inside. Also I haven't decided on how their religion will be structured so I'm not sure if I should have pews, which could make sense considering how western the style is, or something else entirely. I think it looks good from the outside and really adds to the skyline but I'm still undecided on how I feel about the inside.
These are mostly houses, though I'm trying to intersperse some businesses like this blacksmith to give a little more variety. Some of these houses are quite roomy inside, others not so much. I don't really know how often medieval houses were built this close together, but I think it looks quite nice overall. These are the middle class houses so I aimed to make them well maintained but not too fancy, you'll have to let me know if I struck a good balance or not though, I'm not quite sure.
Now we come to the docks and another square. There are a few warehouses on the docks, they're quite small so I might make a larger one elsewhere. There's also my best attempt at a medieval crane, they are similar to modern cranes however they often used a large wheel that men would walk around inside of to lift and lower the arm. I made sure to have docks closer to the water and higher up for larger ships that sit far above the water level. There will be some boats around eventually. This square will also have shops around the edges and will mark the transition from middle class to poor houses. I'm thinking this will be a much simpler square with lots of market stalls in it, maybe more lively than the other but also much scummier. I'm not totally sure if it's large enough so we'll see if the shape of it changes.
Finally, this is the beginnings of the city guard headquarters, the castle is just to the right of this screenshot. This is smack dab in the middle of what will be the rich district, which makes sense as it would need the heaviest guard presence. I ended up scrapping the tunnel to the castle as it's only a short walk anyway.
Hopefully updates will be a little more frequent in the future, but I'm sure I've said that before. With that out of the way, I've been going over what I have so far as a story and I hate it, so I'm scrapping it. I'm not sure yet what will replace it but I'm open to ideas. Taking a more critical look at what I had, it feels like it's been done a million times before so I'm going to start over and think about what hasn't been done. Ideally the story will lead the player through the world gradually and culminate in a satisfying finale, though not necessarily an evil overlord to be destroyed.
I'm considering making it more personal and heavily focused on character development. It does go back to what I was saying before, I want this to be as much the player's journey as it is the main character's I just want to find a better vehicle for that than the done to death prophecy.
I've just read the news that these forums will be shutting down, so yeah, there's that. Unfortunately that means that this thread will never be finished, If I ever finish this map you can probably find it on planetminecraft. I might even start a thread there, I'm not sure yet.
So this is goodbye then, it's a shame but I guess it had to happen eventually.
EDIT: Well scratch that, looks like the forum is going to be sticking around. I'll do my best to stick around with it.
Update 7: Poor District Started
Few months between posts again, probably no one cares anymore but oh well :/. This is going to be a fairly short update as well but I'll lay out some of my plans here. Mainly, I've built a canal, arena, finished the market by docks, and reinforced the secondary entrance to the castle. The poor district is mostly going to be houses, I'm planning at least one inn, probably a bar and a few fisheries much like the ones in mosspoint by the water. The canal doesn't really serve any purpose but to add another decorative element, I'm also planning on building another, larger canal on the other side of the city for pretty much the same purpose.
Now, about the castle, looking back on it now it doesn't match the theme and the tone of the rest of the city. Not to mention the layout doesn't make any sense and it doesn't feel very royal on the inside. If anything it feels a bit evil, which isn't what I was going for ultimately. I want more corridors with windows facing the ocean and overall a much less cramped interior. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to take on completely rebuilding the castle into something more imperial and open or just try to reconfigure it and change some of the stylings. I really do like the look of the huge circle sprouting out of the mountain so I may build another one further up and go for a more tiered look. I really don't like the highest tower with the weird roof at this point so if nothing else, it's gone. I also want to reconfigure the entrance, the room itself is far too closed in and I dislike the right angle at the top of the stairs. Anyway, I think I'll build out some more of the city so that I have a real good feeling for the style and theme and then modify (or rebuild, not sure) the castle to fit the city better.
I'm not going to write too much about the individual elements right now but here are some more screenshots of the new stuff.
That looks epic.
Update 8: The update that actually came a week after the last one
That doesn't really have much a ring to it, eh.
Anyway, I've done some work on the city entrance mainly, we've got a church for the district, the long building is going to be an inn and the others will likely be small shops. The building in the bottom left is a small bakery. Also of note, I've finally updated to 1.14! I could say that I haven't updated since 1.12 because the rewrite of forge that came with 1.13 really screwed over optifine but really it's just because I'm lazy. Finally the latest optifine pre-release works again so updating was rather painless.
Speaking of 1.14, I like most of the new textures, I was quite attached to the old stone texture though so I'm not sure I'm all for that change. Anyway, without further ado - screenshots.
For this update I also took some glamour shots with shaders (sildurs I think) and conquest on, I must say, the city's looking pretty epic.
There's some more below, just don't want to make this post too long. See if you can tell where all these shots are in the city.
Absolutely love your design style. Will be following this thread so I can keep up on your progress!
Looks great man, I hope you finish your map... I know i couldn't finish mine. Maybe i'll recycle it into a game in unity, I don't know. It would just be a shame to see another map with potential bite the dust.
Monster Control: the adventure map for minecraft java edition. A map that has been in production for 4 and a half years.
New screen shots: https://imgur.com/gallery/U4wlc
old screen shots: https://imgur.com/a/Yl82j
Thanks, it's been a long time coming but I'm starting to like the style of this place. Hopefully you're in for the long haul, I've been working on this on and off for three years now and I don't see it being finished anytime soon lol.
That's a shame, how far along did you get? I always liked the look of that city section. Right now I'm pretty committed to finishing this, that said, last year I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen so we'll see. Not sure if you've read the most recent update on the story, but I'm not happy with what I was thinking before so it's going to change. I felt it was turning out just a little shallow and looking pretty generic, needs a lot more thinking through still. At least story changes are real easy right now since none of it's been implemented yet, lol.
Anyway, I might as well mention I've been working on the castle a bit more again, mostly I'd like to rework the entrance and the throne room to make the castle flow a bit better. And more windows! I really don't like how dark it ended up being inside. That update should be "coming soon"TM. Hopefully not too long.
I made it maybe 2/3 building everything, but i wasn't even close to finishing all the command block stuff because i originally started the map on xbox 360 (which had no command blocks). Another thing that made this map take even longer to make was that i redid alot of the areas i first worked on because they weren't up to standard compared to the later areas in the map.
Can't wait to see how the castle turns out.
Monster Control: the adventure map for minecraft java edition. A map that has been in production for 4 and a half years.
New screen shots: https://imgur.com/gallery/U4wlc
old screen shots: https://imgur.com/a/Yl82j
Update 9: Castle Update
Another few months between updates, but this one's pretty significant so buckle up!
I doubt anyone remembers what it looked like before so here's a picture of the old castle:
And then one of the new! Mainly I took the stuff off the top of the tower and built a new entrance so you don't have to turn 90 degrees just to get in. I also pushed the whole castle out the back of the mountain. That addition on the left added more than enough space for the royal quarters and I reworked the area near the dining hall into guest rooms. I also managed to add an extremely grand ballroom, turn the old throne room into a massive treasury, and build a much larger library.
Just so this post isn't a million miles long, I'll put some of the highlights into a spoiler.
Entering through the front door, this is the new entrance hall. Straight ahead is the throne room, to the right is the guest wing and dining hall, and the left connects to the city guard barracks.
This is the new throne room, it sticks out the back of the mountain allowing for big windows behind the throne. I was torn on whether or not I wanted to push this out the back of the mountain because that puts it outside of the city's walls. Defense wise it's quite a blow but aesthetically I like this much better.
This is the old throne room now treasury, the bridges connect the entrance hall to the guest wing and the guest wing to the ballroom. I think it turned out okay but it still feels a little square to me so I might try to add some shape later.
This is the guest hall, through each of those doors is a guest suite.
This new chapel/temple thing is near the guest wing and the dining hall. I like how it turned out, though I might change that shrine thing.
This is the ballroom, the perfect place for entertaining diplomats and the best place for parties in the land. The stairs head up to a wraparound balcony with windows. I mostly like this room, I'm still not sure about the cathedral style ceiling.
The dining hall hasn't changed much, the big difference is the windows and it makes the room much brighter.
Now for some of the rooms over in the royal wing. This is the king's art gallery, showcasing the finest artists from far and wide. Quite an impressive display of wealth to the right people.
Next up, the king's council chamber. The most important decisions would be made here as well as the more mundane matters of running the realm.
This is the new library, there may actually be less bookshelves here than the old tower but I like the feel, it's much grander.
Finally the king's bedroom, just out of shot on the right is a balcony overlooking the whole city. Historically purple was reserved for only the richest and most important as it was very difficult to create in large quantities. I'm not sure I like the purple carpet though, that might change later.
So now I can get back to work on the poor district, which hopefully won't take too long. Mostly just houses to build there now and then I can move to the other side and work on some of the richest citizens houses.
I'm quite happy with this new castle and I think it fits a lot better with the style of the city so it was a worthwhile diversion at least. I don't want to sound too optimistic here but I think I'm a little under halfway done the city now. That puts me on track to finish early 2022 lol.
Update 10: Big News
Hahahahahahahahahaha, I need to stop saying things like that, anyway this is a big one. I've filled out the poor district, redesigned the arena, moved the cathedral and widened it a bit, dug a new canal in the rich district, built a bridge with houses on it, started work on a new harbour in the rich district, I have some story ideas to share, and finally I've named the city, welcome to Montport. As per usual I've put most of the update into a spoiler, enjoy.
I'll start with the new arena, it might look similar but it is much larger inside, now has areas for the gladiators, and you can actually see the fight from the top floor. It's a big improvement, trust me. This will come up later too when I talk about the story.
This is from the ground behind the arena, as you can see there is a market that wraps around the base of it. Just behind this shot is a warehouse to serve the market. This is probably the main market used by the poor district.
Next up is the rest of the poor district, there isn't really much to talk about here I've mostly just built more houses and a couple relevant shops. There are also small farms scattered about as I'm imagining that would be a much cheaper option for the people living here.
Here you can see I've moved the cathedral up onto the hill, it looks mostly the same though just a couple blocks wider. In the space the cathedral used to be I've built another small square for the rich district, this would be a nice place to have your lunch or to do your shopping. Also shown here is the new bridge, it doesn't really go anywhere right now, currently capped off with a statue that used to be in the throne room. I'll likely swap that out with a naval fortress to protect the harbour somewhat soon. The idea here is that being so close to a military base and the cathedral, this bridge would be a very affluent area, powerful merchants and patricians would likely live here.
Living on the bridge would be quite nice I think, the residents don't have a lot of outdoor space but their homes are fairly spacious and overall the bridge has a very cozy atmosphere. In another city a bridge like this could be very dingy or wrought with crime, but here it's exclusivity, and gatehouses, keep the rabble out leaving the residents to their paradise. There's also an inn straddling the bridge for the affluent traveller.
The last changes to mention are the new harbour and its accompanying canal. This harbour is much larger than the harbour on the other side of the city and you might be able to see that I've cut away the sea floor to allow for larger ships. The area without any water in it is going to be a shipyard, the ship would be built dry and then floodgates would open and the water would lift it out. To the side of that is a raised grass segment, I'm not entirely sure what to do with this yet but I'm thinking it will either be an elegant park or an equally elegant market. Or maybe a mansion?
The canal snakes around from just behind the bridge out to the farthest dock, cutting under the cathedral. Under which will likely be a vast catacomb network, seeing as there's no space for a graveyard around the church. Houses will line each side of the canal, with basements that connect to it and laundry strung across. Hopefully it will look quite nice. I've been considering trying a new style of houses for the rich district, more like row houses from medieval Europe, something like these maybe.
I think I'll put the story ideas out here, I've been thinking about it a lot as I'm sure you can tell from most of my posts on this thread. The latest thought is to do away with all the prophecy and horrible demons and focus more on the power struggles in the city and the island at large. I've written up something of a teaser, so please let me know what you think.
Corruption runs rampant through Montport, the regent is swayed more by money and power than by morality and justice. Unseen powers vie for control while the average citizen is trampled underfoot. Trouble is brewing here, the city is due for a change in management and all that's left is the missing catalyst.
Red Syndicate
Those that strike from the shadows comply with the laws of the syndicate or they soon float in the bay. As long as the syndicate keeps away from those of import, their operation continues. Those that find themselves beset by thieves and assassins need only pay a modest sum for the syndicate's "protection" and their troubles will simply disappear. The syndicate all but runs the city from underneath the fighting pits, perhaps it's time they moved to the castle.
Merchant's Reform
Many landowners and seafarers have taken notice of the syndicate's power and the complete lack of willingness to eliminate them displayed by the Regency. A small but determined movement is forming on the city's high streets and in the shipyards to fight back and free the city from fear. Some of the more fanatic of the group even suggest it's time for the Regency to end, to be replaced by those that they have failed to protect. (I'm not totally sold on this one, not sure it makes sense for anyone in a medieval setting to be advocating for democracy. Let me know what you think)
The Eternal Flame
Flame burns in all things, the smallest spark can begin the brightest wildfire. Those that worship the flame have devoted themselves to harnessing and conjuring it at will, the most devoted may even find new ways to harness the flame and command it. All things are possible through the flame, but even it has little power over the corruption that creeps down the gutters and hangs in the air. Schemes blossom inbetween the bookshelfs at the college and in the crypts beneath the cathedral, more money, more power, and more control are all at their fingertips. For aeons they have protected the city and stayed out of politics but a notion is growing that it's time to remove the middleman and begin the rule of the archmage.
Freemen Mercenaries
Somewhat of a wildcard in the mix, the freemen mercenaries largely have no morals, following the gold of their employers above all else. They've worked for the king in times of war and for the syndicate in times of peace, they'll certainly have a role to play in the upcoming conflict. Whom they will pledge their loyalty to is still up for debate. Perhaps you have a use for them.
The Regency
And of course, the Regency. Those in power often want to maintain that power and King Aymon is no exception. For the most part he turns a blind eye to the rampant corruption in his city so long as his treasury grows, but all the while, he trains an army to hold the city from foreign, and domestic, threats. If any faction begins to overtly threaten his power, they will almost certainly begin a civil war. Without adequate preparation, an insurgency will be swiftly crushed.
So what was your motivation when you sailed to Montport? Perhaps you were fleeing prosecution? Are you vying for them same power as the rest? Do you want to hold the throne or see it burn? No man is without ambition and this unstable system needs but a nudge in the right direction to seal your name into history forever.
Next thing to work on is the rich district, though I may start with the catacombs.
Just a little update here, currently I'm reworking the buildings out in front of the church i don't really like the way they look. I've also built something of a plaza around the church, more to come soon.
Anyway, I've decided Montport was probably too close to Mosspoint so I'll just reverse it and call the city Portmont.
Oh and please do let me know what you think about the story ideas in my last post, looking to flesh it out some more probably.
Progress is still coming along, I should have the next update ready shortly. Figured I would write a little update to let you know what I'm working on.
Here's a sneak peek of the plan for the rest of the city as it stands right now anyway. I'm not sure if I will add such a large park though.
I've really had trouble focusing on any one part of the city for a while now so I've done bits and pieces here and there all over the city. I've built a few houses, a clock tower, started the shipyard, started the catacombs, and am considering redoing the castle again.
The shipyard is functionally complete really, it just needs a boat in it and plenty of decorations. The catacombs still have a ways to go, I've built the main entrance room but I'll want to add a lot more corridors and tombs before it's done.
And as far as the castle, I think the last redesign was a step in the right direction but it still doesn't really feel like a focal point for the city. I think it would be much better if it came out of the mountain more, more like it's perched on the mountain rather than an just an entrance to the underground. I've seen some really nice castle designs on reddit recently and I feel like my castle could look as good with some more tweaks.
I really like this one for example, and I think something similar could work on top of the drum tower I already have.
And this one's got a real nice vibe to it so maybe I could borrow some elements of it too (looking specifically at those multi tier roofs)
Anyway, its coming along. More to come soon!
Update 11: Castle Rebuild 2 - Electric Boogaloo
Anywhooo, it's been a while. Things have been progressing, these past 7 months, albeit a little slower than I would like. The biggest thing that's changed since my last post is that I've just finished rebuilding the castle again, well the exterior anyway, still working on inside. Honestly there's so much space inside I'm not even sure what I'm going to fill it with. I may have gone a little bit overboard with the imposing factor but I think it looks great. Mainly I cut the back off, pushed the front out and built on top of that new space. In my last redesign I think I said I didn't care that those windows on the back were a strategic nightmare but if the story's going to be focused on power struggles I think it makes sense that the castle is at least a little bit secure. Overall, I'm super happy with how it turned out, in all likelihood this will be the final major revision.
Here's just another render of just the castle, that's a bit easier to see the detail in. I really like how the tower turned out, I tried out a new roof style on it and personally I think it works great. It's absolutely going to be some sort of laboratory/wizard's tower when I finish the interior. The larger dome will likely be the treasury (because that's just ridiculous) and the smaller dome will be the new private chapel.
I've been exploring chunky recently and I'm honestly impressed how easy it is to get beautiful renders out of it - like the ones in this post. Shaders are great and all, but if you're willing to wait (and have enough memory) you can render your whole world in chunky, the one at the top of the post took 14 hours but I think it was worth it. If you look carefully just behind the castle for example, you can just about see the rooftops of Fairgrove, which even at max render distance aren't loaded from the castle. That alone opens up so many more possibilities and I'm sure I'm only just scratching the surface of what it can do.
In other news, I've also built that market street with a mansion beside it, the shipyard is basically done, and I've added a graveyard wrapping around the base of the cathedral. I'd like to get started on the street that goes to the north gate but I haven't settled on a style for those houses yet. That's the next thing that really needs work and then all that's left to do is the simple and easy, I'm sure it won't take another 5 years, step of doing all the interiors for all the houses. After that the build is essentially complete, and I can get to work on the adventure map part of it, which I'm sure will be quick and easy too. Some screenshots of those changes below.
So this is an overview of basically all the new buildings. I'm not sure I'm sold on the sandstone style I went with for the market street, but I do like that it stands out. The mansion dead center is actually fully furnished, I'm thinking that's the house of the landlord for the shops on down the street, possibly also the harbourmaster. The ship in the shipyard is my best design yet, but I'm still not super happy with how the shape of it turned out, and I still need to do the sails, so it's probably in for some more revisions eventually.
Said market street, still needs more decoration. I'm thinking various storefronts will jut out onto the street. This area has a very different vibe from the rest of the city, and while that's interesting I'm still not sure that it fits so I haven't fully committed to this yet.
This is the square from my last update, I wasn't really happy with it so I redid it and came up with this. I'm really happy with how the clocktower turned out. You can also see the new graveyard in this shot.
This is just a better image of the new graveyard, I wasn't really sure how to put houses in this area so I decided it would be better to leave it sort of open.
I'll close off this update with some street level shots of the new shops by the clocktower. I'm fairly happy with how these turned out, right now I'm thinking with a few more tweaks I could use this style for the market road to the north gate. The facade floating about the water in the overview shot is another option I've been toying with for that area of the city but I think they might be a little too far from the style of the rest of the town.
I can't say that updates will be more consistent from here on out, but I can say that I'm determined to finish this city eventually and I'll keep posting here every now and then.
Actually if anybody has any ideas what to put in the castle please let me know, I've got a library, giant throne room, treasury, ballroom, dining hall, guest bedrooms, royal bedrooms, servants quarters, council chambers, private chapel, alchemy lab, dungeon, guard barracks, and still a metric tonne of empty space.