So over the last couple of weeks I've been playing on my workplace's local SMP server building a replica of Castle Britannia from one of the coolest games I have ever played - Ultima Underworld II. As far as I can tell it hasn't been done by anyone else before, or at least I couldn't find any references to it being done before on the Internerd.
I went with a scale of 1 UUW block = 3x3x3 MC blocks. So far I have completed level 1 and level 2 (the basement rooms) of the castle and I am about to start work on the sewers.
Challenges so far:
The main challenge has been the fact that a block in UUW can have six different faces, since the face of a block is actually a two dimensional shape. This led to some creative interpretation in some places, for example there is one block that has a fireplace on one face and a stairwell on an adjacent face. It also means that I could not have two materials meeting at a true corner.
The stairwells were the main area of creative interpretation. Dropping down seven levels over the space of three blocks was not feasible.
Symmetry, especially with the canvases, shelves and furniture. You can't put a 1x2 canvas in the middle of three blocks for example.
Teleportation is not feasible in Minecraft in the same way as in UUW2. In the library (Nelson's room) there is a teleporter that takes you down to level 2 in a different part of the castle. I settled on using a "magic water pillar" that "teleports" you directly up and down, but this meant that the rooms downstairs would overlap with existing rooms on level 2. I fudged this by rotating the rooms 90 degrees to fit into unused space. Unfortunately this meant that the portcullis for one room was directly underneath the courtyard on level 1, so I couldn't build a redstone machine to open the portcullis there.
A third of a block in UUW2 counts as a step, so it can be walked over. The equivalent in Minecraft is one block, which needs to be jumped up.
The lighting in UUW2 is actually player-centred. A certain area will have an ambient light level, so wherever you are in that area, you can always see the same distance. Lighting in Minecraft works very differently, being centred from the source of light. This makes setting equivalant light levels tricky, and it also opens up the world to having mobs spawning in places (especially those fscking creepers who keep blowing up my bricks and dyed wool).
No locks/keys. I settled for having metal doors for locked doors with buttons to activate them.
I went with a single chest block on top of a block of wood for a barrel. Pretty crap, really, but boats can be pushed around.
For the stained glass window in the throne room, I originally had the coloured wool behind a panel of glass, but this window in UUW2 is actually a 2d panel, and there is a room on the other side.
Half slabs are only available for some materials.
Anticipated challenges:
I won't be able to recreate the moving pillars in the sewers. I'll just have to make something static.
There are several places where if you fall down, you end up in the same place in the next level down. This might be difficult to replicate.
There are a lot more texture types in UUW2 than there are materials in Minecraft. There is one floor texture which is mossy covered stone. It would be ideal to use the green stone blocks that you find in monster spawning rooms in Minecraft but these are very rare.
Most of the water spaces in the sewers in UUW2 are one third of a block lower than the neighbouring dirt blocks, meaning that the player can get out of the water there. In Minecraft, this will be one block up, meaning the player will not be able to get out of the water there. This will require some creative interpretation.
Lighting will be tricky in the areas that are mostly water.
Half slabs can only be placed in the bottom half of a block for now - I will be replacing all the shelves when 1.2 is released.
EDIT: So there was one other person who started this once: http://uw2-adim.blogspot.co.nz/ but I don't think they got very far.
It's really nice to see, that so many people still remember about Ultima. I hope you won't get bored with this and finish it
Ha, well, I did actually get bored of it and stop for several months, then I picked it up and finished it off. Funnily enough, the final details and the ironing out of the little annoying bits and pieces was enough to make me over minecraft for a while, so I didn't even bother telling anyone that I had finished. I might make a video walkthrough or just take some more screenshots or if people are really keen, I can organise a guided tour.
So over the last couple of weeks I've been playing on my workplace's local SMP server building a replica of Castle Britannia from one of the coolest games I have ever played - Ultima Underworld II. As far as I can tell it hasn't been done by anyone else before, or at least I couldn't find any references to it being done before on the Internerd.
I went with a scale of 1 UUW block = 3x3x3 MC blocks. So far I have completed level 1 and level 2 (the basement rooms) of the castle and I am about to start work on the sewers.
Challenges so far:
The main challenge has been the fact that a block in UUW can have six different faces, since the face of a block is actually a two dimensional shape. This led to some creative interpretation in some places, for example there is one block that has a fireplace on one face and a stairwell on an adjacent face. It also means that I could not have two materials meeting at a true corner.
The stairwells were the main area of creative interpretation. Dropping down seven levels over the space of three blocks was not feasible.
Symmetry, especially with the canvases, shelves and furniture. You can't put a 1x2 canvas in the middle of three blocks for example.
Teleportation is not feasible in Minecraft in the same way as in UUW2. In the library (Nelson's room) there is a teleporter that takes you down to level 2 in a different part of the castle. I settled on using a "magic water pillar" that "teleports" you directly up and down, but this meant that the rooms downstairs would overlap with existing rooms on level 2. I fudged this by rotating the rooms 90 degrees to fit into unused space. Unfortunately this meant that the portcullis for one room was directly underneath the courtyard on level 1, so I couldn't build a redstone machine to open the portcullis there.
A third of a block in UUW2 counts as a step, so it can be walked over. The equivalent in Minecraft is one block, which needs to be jumped up.
The lighting in UUW2 is actually player-centred. A certain area will have an ambient light level, so wherever you are in that area, you can always see the same distance. Lighting in Minecraft works very differently, being centred from the source of light. This makes setting equivalant light levels tricky, and it also opens up the world to having mobs spawning in places (especially those fscking creepers who keep blowing up my bricks and dyed wool).
No locks/keys. I settled for having metal doors for locked doors with buttons to activate them.
I went with a single chest block on top of a block of wood for a barrel. Pretty crap, really, but boats can be pushed around.
For the stained glass window in the throne room, I originally had the coloured wool behind a panel of glass, but this window in UUW2 is actually a 2d panel, and there is a room on the other side.
Half slabs are only available for some materials.
Anticipated challenges:
I won't be able to recreate the moving pillars in the sewers. I'll just have to make something static.
There are several places where if you fall down, you end up in the same place in the next level down. This might be difficult to replicate.
There are a lot more texture types in UUW2 than there are materials in Minecraft. There is one floor texture which is mossy covered stone. It would be ideal to use the green stone blocks that you find in monster spawning rooms in Minecraft but these are very rare.
Most of the water spaces in the sewers in UUW2 are one third of a block lower than the neighbouring dirt blocks, meaning that the player can get out of the water there. In Minecraft, this will be one block up, meaning the player will not be able to get out of the water there. This will require some creative interpretation.
Lighting will be tricky in the areas that are mostly water.
Half slabs can only be placed in the bottom half of a block for now - I will be replacing all the shelves when 1.2 is released.
EDIT: So there was one other person who started this once: http://uw2-adim.blogspot.co.nz/ but I don't think they got very far.
That and a replica of the Ultima IX Britannia Castle. hard to say which will come first...
Wow, that is an awesome job Uncle_Gus... seriously. Good effort and great look-a-like!
Seriously rude of me to bend the topic to my development. My apologies!
Where can I apply for a job there?
I would like to see you re-vamp the images into spoilers here rather than a link to other page.
VISIT BRITANNIA
Ha, well, I did actually get bored of it and stop for several months, then I picked it up and finished it off. Funnily enough, the final details and the ironing out of the little annoying bits and pieces was enough to make me over minecraft for a while, so I didn't even bother telling anyone that I had finished. I might make a video walkthrough or just take some more screenshots or if people are really keen, I can organise a guided tour.