quaintbuilds

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Hogwarts 15 - The Quidditch Pitch

The Quidditch pitch is finally here, and it took several months and attempts. As far as I know, it is built at the proper dimensions, however, what is considered the proper dimensions is not really something solid, I could only find one source, also Minecraft scale is not very good. The main reference materials I used came from the first two movies which is why there are black and white towers. I don't know what they are for, maybe parents?

I also built some vegetable gardens and wildflower meadows with apiaries. I'm pretty sure that Hogwarts had vegetable patches in the book, which makes sense that they would grow some of their own food, so I also added some beehives because why would a magic castle not have their own bees and honey. The surrounding landscape was also reworked and expanded to accommodate the pitch, and also because I just really enjoy making terrain with World Edit.

The construction of the Quidditch pitch now leaves me in a strange place with this build. The castle and grounds is now technically done, and the interior is something I never really planned to work on. With the demands of my job and well... all that, *gestures to everything* this may be it for the Hogwarts Project. But we'll see, I like this game too much to ever really abandon my projects.

I tried something new this post and tried to record some footage of my build. This is something I've never done before (mostly because I didn't know it was a feature built in with my graphics card) and may do some more of in the future.

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Hogwarts in the rain

Some rainy pics I took while working on my Hogwarts Castle project.

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Hogwarts 14 - A new look and the library

After a holiday rewatch of all the Harry Potter movies, I wanted to come back to Hogwarts. One of the biggest changes here is I have stopped using the Mizunos texture pack due to it no longer being updated and decided to just use the default Minecraft textures. (I really struggled with finding a new texture pack and almost got a virus because computers confuse me) This caused a problem as I built Hogwarts out of granite, which would now be a pinkish color. So, using world edit, I changed the entire castle into a mixture of sandstone and smooth sandstone. (which produces some very nice visuals that can barely be seen) I did leave a lot of the detailing blocks as granite, at first out of laziness, but later I thought it actually produced a really nice effect. The roofs were also all replaced with a dark grey block to more accurately match the "real" Hogwarts. I wish Minecraft had a block that was the sort of wet brown color Hogwarts is but at the end of the day, I like how it looks with the sandstone. I did actually almost use mud bricks but they were too brown. You just can't really recreate the miserable, wet, Scottish grayness that Hogwarts has in Minecraft.

When world editing got boring I worked on the library. This is actually the only interior part of the castle I have made so far. I do plan on doing more though, probably the four common rooms and major classrooms, but the thing with plans in Minecraft is they do not survive repeated 40+ hour work weeks. (I am... so tired... all the time) I have also made, destroyed, and planned out another Quidditch pitch so that will be coming eventually.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-9 | The Defense of the Realm

The armed forces of the Kingdom has been a long running and ever changing part of this build. A coastal fort was one of the first things I built in the city but it was very blah and I tore it down and put a scientific academy in it's place. But ever since then, I wanted some sort of structure that would act as the center of the Kingdom's defenses. Originally, this would have been a large fort guarding the harbor, but that area has been rezoned as part of the city. And then I realized I had never really expanded the Kingdom to the south and went looking around for some building inspiration, and I found the fort I had been looking for.

Fort Maillard

Built on an island guarding the southern entrance into the city, Fort Maillard is the home of the Kingdom's armed forces. Here, soldiers are armed and trained to defend the realm from the hordes of zombies and skeletons that plague the land. The fort also is the home of the Officer's School, where strategy and command is taught through extensive wargaming (this was an actual thing in history, not just something nerds do. There is also a Royal Surveyors team that has a bitter one-sided rivalry with the Explorer's Guild, who have replaced them as the realm's foremost cartographers. But the most important inhabitants of the fort, are the River Watch. These soldiers are responsible for guarding the Kingdom's many rivers, and have earned themselves a legendary reputation as the shields of the realm.

The River Watch

Responsible for the defense of the Kingdom's waterways, the River Watch have outposts and watch towers all over the Kingdom. Combined with their signature narrow boats, this network of watchers and boats allows the River Watch to quickly respond to threats all over the realm.

Their boats have collapsible masts to allow passage under low bridges, and a shallow draft, to avoid grounding out in shallow waters. The boats are equipped with sleeping areas, and a small kitchen, allowing the crews to stay on the river for extended periods of time. The inspiration for these boats are the narrow boats common to the canals of England. I reeeally wanted a cool name for the boats and the group, similar to how the Night's Watch in Game of Thrones are called Crows, but I really couldn't think of a river themed version. The Toads? The Swans? They all seem kinda lame.

The River Gates

The last thing I built was the river gates that guard the northern entrance into the realm's rivers. These gates are built into a cavern under the city and work together with the drawbridge to make unwanted passage into the Kingdom nearly impossible by river.

I know this was a long one, but larger builds to flesh out the project was my goal with the whole "Season 2" thing. I also have a job that mentally drains me, and my willingness and availability to sit and play Minecraft is not what it used to be. But I still like playing it. I recently joined a modded survival server with some people for the first time, but they all gave up by the end of the first week, which really sucked, so I came back to my kingdom. I have actually been debating calling a hiatus (or just an end entirely) on this and starting a new project. I feel like a new build style would be nice to explore, but at the end of the day, I am just one tired guy who has to accept he can't play as much Minecraft as he wants to.

*Fun fact, Fort Maillard gets it's name from the Maillard reaction, which is a chemical reaction that causes pretzels to develop that brown pretzely goodness when they are baked*

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-8 | The Crystal Caverns

To address the problem of available building space in the city, I knew I had to get vertical. Mountains may look cool, but they are hard to build a city on, so I had the idea to go down into the ground. This part of the build has undergone several redesigns which meant it has never been in a state I was happy showing off, but I finally got there. So without further ado, the Crystal Caverns.

The crystal caverns get their name from the giant luminescent crystals that provide light for the plants and animals that live there. The crystals are even bright enough that some citizens of the city choose to call these caverns home. The caverns are not technically the slum district of the city, because that goes against the cottagecore/diet steampunk/fantasy aesthetic I am going for, but they are the cheapest housing available in the city. I see it like a specialized housing option for those of us who don't like crowds and bright lights but still would like a window or two to look out of and really like moss and mushrooms.

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Sunrise in the Kingdom of Mossland

I started this project because I really like Minecraft, and no one wanted to play it with me, so I fired up a new creative world, found a spot I liked, and got to work. Shortly after starting my project, I decided to make a tumblr blog to catalogue my progress and I recently realized it is now two years since I made that decision, and so, I turned on the shaders, set the time to sunrise, and took some glamor shots of some of my favorite parts of the project.

A lot has happened in the last two years, and some of it wasn't awful, but I really didn't expect this to actually become "something". I never really had people to share my builds with, and did not expect anyone to find this, but they did, and as of typing this, I have made 102 posts, have 223 followers, and have received hundreds of likes on my posts. Sometimes people even ask me building questions and it genuinely makes my day.

I don't mean to get too sappy, but thank you all for finding my little blog. I don't really know what I'm doing, or how this all works (my profile picture is still off center), but I look forward to continuing my blog and watching it grow.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-7 | The Royal Theater

It's been a looong time coming, but the Kingdom finally has a theater. Built in the caverns below the city, the Royal Theater is the preeminent source of entertainment in the Kingdom. Originally this area was just a cavernous, open air amphitheater but a recent sponsorship from the royal family, and a contract with the Engineers Guild, has produced one of the most impressive buildings in the land, culminating in a magnificent display of royal wealth and power, mixed with every architectural innovation the Engineers Guild could draft up.

The theater is famous throughout the land for having a unique lighting system that focuses sunlight from an opening at the surface, and directs that light with a series of mirrors into a crystal that is carved to shine the natural light onto the stage. Manipulation of different lenses results in the diffraction of light, allowing for different colors. (this is honestly one of my best ideas ever)

On the topic of lighting, for this build I had to add in Light to make it actually visible. For those of you who don't know, Light, is an actual placeable thing in Minecraft using the command

/give @s minecraft:light

This allows you to brighten up a build without having to light it with torches/glowstone/lanterns. The "blocks" do not interact with the player and you only see the Light "blocks" when you are holding one in your hand. They are an amazing feature. (that I completely forgot existed)

So... technically... I think this theater is big enough to hold more people than the city can actually house, but it's my made up world so whatever ya know? I really enjoyed getting to make this. Originally, my plan was to have an open air amphitheater carved into a mountain somewhere, but I always thought that was a bit lame.

Theaters are probably my favorite type of building. I just think they're so neat. All that engineering and architecture to figure out how to have hundreds of people be able to see something with more or less the same quality of enjoyment, but having all those people sitting at different heights and angles. It's just great.

The caverns under the city have never been officially shown (I think...) but I'll get there eventually. I was actually planning on that being the subject of this post but then it occurred to me that I have room for a theater underground and here we are.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-6 | Architecture and Development

This post will serve as a highlight of the new architectural style I will be adopting for this season of the project. I see it as a sort of cottagecore vibe meets Victorian England aesthetic. Or kinda like the style of the video game Dishonored but if the sun existed and being happy was allowed.

The scope of this post covers what I consider the main street of the city. This area was actually the first part of the city to be built, so it was quite satisfying to give it some much needed upgrading. I went with a townhouse style which is new to the project, and I really like how it turned out. Right as you enter the city is a tavern/inn/salon thing which I forgot to take pictures of but just imagine a bunch of tables and chairs and a skylight on the top floor. It also has no name, because thinking is hard sometimes. What I really like is how the banners and plants over main street block the clock tower from view until you reach the fountain. It's like you come out of a tunnel and the whole city opens up.

Another part of this build is the new river that cuts through the city. I had wanted something like this for a while but could never figure out how to pull it off, until now. The river flows from the "mountain" next to the city and down through the roof of Orpen's Paper Products, where it turns a waterwheel that powers the paper mill. The river also runs underneath Cassatt's Cafe, which has a seating area where guests can sit over the river. The river then goes down and under the clock tower where it was supposed to turn a water wheel that somehow powers the clocktower but I forgot to build that... I've been working a lot. Next up, I think I will finally be working on the caverns under the city. These will act something like the slums of the city, so I've been trying to lock down a good aesthetic for them.

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The Lord of the Rings - Rivendell

This build took weeks of on and off building and researching, and while I may not be completely happy with the end result, I've had enough, and am declaring my latest Middle Earth build finished.

There is no interior to any of the build, and a lot of the exterior was made up by me as I found the available reference material very lacking. Most of the main structure was based off the collectors model from Weta Workshop and screenshots from the movies.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-5 | The Tinker's Cottage

After all the large scale building projects I was starting to feel a bit burnt out, so I did what I always do and went off into the hinterlands around the city and built something small. Introducing... The Tinker's Cottage.

Built on a river at the borders of the Kingdom, this cottage is home to an eccentric engineer who makes all sorts of wacky clockwork contraptions and surprisingly good baked goods. The cottage is split between a small living area and a large workshop. There is also a dock for fishing and boat storage, and several vegetable gardens. The cottage has a large copper spike built into the roof to attract lightning strikes for experiments, and the tools in the workshop are powered by the water wheel.

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Minecraft Creeper Painting

Acrylic on canvas, 12in x 24in [16 x 32 "pixels"]

I have been considering doing Minecraft based art for a while now, and finally got around to it. My original idea was to practice landscape paintings using locations from my Kingdom project but I am still searching for the motivation to commit to that. So instead I made actual art from Minecraft. I can't paint straight lines very well, but the overall product brings me a lot of joy when I look at an in-game artwork hanging up on my real life wall.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-4 | The Engineers Guild

After some extensive reconstruction in multiple areas of the city, I am now ready to reveal the new Engineers Guild. The headquarters of the guild is still underground in the same spot, but has been greatly expanded. I did struggle with furnishing this guild and eventually just did enough to move on. I knew this part would be hard so I focused on builds from the in-world guild to expand on their presence in the city and give the place some much needed upgrades.

A new clocktower was my main focus, and I had a great time working out how steampunk I wanted to go with it. In-world, this is the Engineers Guild's pride and joy, so I wanted it to dominate the city. I looked to concept art from the video game Dishonored for inspiration. I also upgraded the drawbridge over the river, taking inspiration from tower bridge in England. The floating houses are there temporarily as I am doing some major reworking on the city layout.

The headquarters of the guild was expanded into the crystal caverns, and I carved out a part of the city to open onto the cavern to provide some verticality and natural light. The guild headquarters is still accessed by an elevator that opens onto the market. The headquarters is broken up into a small porch/sitting area, a large workshop, a schematics/records room, and a lecture hall. I am not pleased with the look of most of it, but I wasn't expecting much from it, and focused my attention on builds that would come from the guild, instead of the guild itself. I think I am going to have the project become more steampunk, but only in aesthetic, I do not want anything in the world powered by an engine, but I am liking the contrast of the greenery and colors with the large structures of metal and copper.

Some nerdy in-universe lore: The Engineers Guild is the newest of the guilds, and while they are an officially recognized guild by the government, many of the older citizens do not trust them or their newfangled contraptions. The guild is pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished with the introduction of new building materials and technologies being invented and tested all the time from their underground workshops. The successful construction of a new clock tower that dominates the city skyline was their first major project and cemented them as a powerful organization in the social and economic hierarchy of the Kingdom.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-3 | The Explorers Guild

After tearing down the borders of the city, I set my sights on the Kingdom's Guilds. I never really got around to fully fleshing these out, but I always planned on having several guilds with their own impressive guild headquarters and nerd lore. As you can see above, I did not accomplish the impressive guild headquarters goal. So, I fixed that. Introducing The Explorers Guild V.2.

I am trying something new by including image descriptions so hopefully I don't have to explain as much in the post itself. The new Explorers Guild is the first building made in the expanded areas of the city, and this is exactly why I made those expansions. Look at how big the building is! I had so much room to plan and create! This was one of the most enjoyable builds I have done in the project in a long time.

Time for some Nerd Lore. The Explorers Guild is one of the most respected institutions in the Kingdom. Members of the guild have travelled all over the world, making maps, discovering ruins, and digging up lost artifacts and fossils. At the end of their adventures, they come back here to store their finds, share their stories, and plan their next expedition.

Gaining entry to the Guild is not difficult as the Guild believes that the wonder of exploration and discovery should not be limited to the wealthy and powerful. They even host field trips for the common citizen to sign up for to see some of the safer wonders of the world.

Some of the most important members of the Guild are the donkeys. Each donkey goes through an extensive training program and upon completion, they are given full membership status to the Guild, along with all of it's privileges, and are the only members who live at the Guild Headquarters. Choosing which donkeys will be brought along on an expedition is a serious thing, and some expeditions have even been called off when certain donkeys are not available.

My favorite part of the build has to be the map room at the top of the tower. By making such a large guild hall, I had enough space to map out the whole Kingdom. I did go around and use banners to make labeled waypoints on the map, but they are too small to see in this picture. I have always loved making maps, and not just in Minecraft. In fact this whole build was inspired from a love of adventure, discovery, and the Age of Exploration. I am very happy with how this build turned out and as of now, I plan to upgrade the Engineers Guild next and give the city a very nice new clocktower.

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The Kingdom of Mossland

KoM 2-2 | Urban Development

The second major project of season 2 has been a rework of the city's borders and districts. This was a much needed change as the city had become quite cramped, but was still lacking several buildings that every city needs. (certain shops, services, and institutions)

What I consider to be the main entrance of the city received a complete make over, bringing the gate further out and adding a river and waterfalls to let me scratch the bridge building itch that every Minecrafter feels. Some of the buildings by this gate were moved to other areas of the city, and the Red Dragon Tavern was moved up with the gate so it would still be the first building encountered by anyone who entered the city. The mountain was also extended and a tunnel made to go to the ruined watchtower.

The other side of the city has become a completely new area. I turned the large chasm into a tunnel, which has added a considerable amount of building space. I also demolished the industrial district that I never got around to working on, and covered up the mineshaft. I am still not sure if I want a proper industrial area in this city, so I'm not sure what this area will be yet. New gates were built on this side of the city, and I am thinking about a really cool gate system for the waterway below this area, or even re-designing the drawbridge at the mouth of the river.

The pictures are roughly organized as before pictures on the left, and after pictures on the right. I am extremely pleased with how these reworks went and am looking forward to planning out some bigger buildings and exploring further changes to the city layout.

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The Kingdom of Mossland Season 2

KoM 2-1 | The New Castle

After a long hiatus, I have resumed work on my project. I had reached a point where it felt like I had built myself into a corner. So I took a break, and after some time to reflect on my progress, I thought, " I really don't like how that castle turned out." And so, I returned to my Kingdom.

The original castle was cleared away, and then the landscape was significantly world edited to accommodate a larger structure. The new castle features a library, garden, a council room, and a throne room. Not pictured are the stables and an aquarium room. I also chose a sigil for the royal household, a white tree on a green field, which allowed me to finally build some flags.

The decision for making a new season for my project was something of an epiphany for me. I was quite stuck on my progress with this project as everywhere I looked I was unhappy with what I saw. So I am using this season concept to launch a rework to a lot of the project. With the castle redone, I am now planning out how to restructure the districts of the city and expand the outer wall to provide more room for bigger buildings. I also will be trying to improve the quality of my posts with photo editors, but I am not a very tech savvy person.

Another reason for my return to my project is that I have a new job, and playing Minecraft in the mornings is a great way for me to soothe my anxieties. With a more consistent schedule, and less computer work, my willingness to sit at a desk and play Minecraft has returned, and I am greatly looking forward to working in my Kingdom again.

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@clustercraft's Buildtober 2023

Day 19: Moss

A mossy cave with a cozy hut inside. Featuring giant mushrooms and glowing crystals.

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Quainton 2 - Victory Park

After the big building project that was parliament, I did not want to build another structure so soon, so I built a park. Worldbuilding incoming.

Victory Park is a memorial park dedicated to Admiral Frobisher, who heroically sacrificed himself in a battle against those guys. His sacrifice is immortalized with a big marble spike made in the image of the steel one on the front of his airship that he used to ram the enemy flagship, turning the tide of a major battle, allowing our good guys to beat their nasty, evil guys. His standard was recovered from the wreck of his airship and now flies from the top of the spike on his memorial fountain. His tomb is in one of the quadrants of the park because I couldn't think of anything else to put there, and was rapidly losing interest in this build. The other three sections of the park contain an open air theater with benches and lawn space, a gazebo area for picnic-ing, and a lily pond that was inspired by Claude Monet's pond at his house in Giverny. The central walkway of the park features lots of benches in the shade of numerous cherry trees.

I think the next update will be a big bridge. I really want to build a nice bridge (and also figure out how big the river through the city will be). But I also might build some upper class housing along the sides of the park. I also feel like I need to do some major urban planning and map out parts of this build so I have clear spaces I can build at. Or I might not touch this for 3 months, ya never know.

This park was inspired by the historical figure, Admiral Nelson, and the celebrity status his victory and death at the Battle of Trafalgar brought him. Frobisher is the surname of a character from the books mentioned in the previous post.