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Guidelines
Current Tilers/modders/contributors/gentlemen/gentlewomen:
ArcElement2002WinnihymcptcaseycrystlshakeJohn_Hugheskronik83oddrheia
- First and foremost, the goal here is to provide the player with a graphically different image that should be "pleasant" (in the sense that it adds to immersion, not the other way around). If you feel that you can't do something that looks good with the guidelines, then you shouldn't do it. What I'm trying to say here is that the most important thing is that we end up with tiles that look good. Quality is extremely important, and it is a requirement (as are the other guidelines). Every tile will be up for discussion in this thread (post images), and I would appreciate it if everyone helped comment with positive criticism on each others tiles.
- Every tile requires two versions - one "under construction", and one in its completed stage. The "under construction" version of each tile should be significantly different from the finished version (you should immediately be able to tell that it is under construction). The "under construction" version does not have as high a quality requirement as the finished version. It is assumed that if you complete a "finished" tile, you will do the "under construction" tile as well.
- Color schemes will be rigidly followed. See each race below for the exact colours used for the buildings. Stay away from models that clash with these colours - you'll have to check for yourself, but a few models have colours that can't be changed. For example, if you're building a black city with the Living Stone, then white pillars are out of the question. Set the colours in the workshop, and you will see what models can and can't change.
- Keep in mind that most of these buildings are "repeatable", that is, the player will place several identical buildings right next to each other. Please try your hardest to minimize the negative impact this has on the visual experience. For example, placing a bright red flag in the top right corner will look extremely poor when the player places 10 next to each other. Broadly speaking, stay away from overly distinguishable models that clash with the color of the faction. With that said, this is obviously a very "gray" area and I only ask that you try your best to accomplish this.
- Also be careful to not divert too much from the previously established tiles of the faction. Remember, we are only doing a handful of the 50+ buildings each faction has available. It is important that the new design looks like it COULD have been made in that city. For example, if I am designing a new study in an elf town, I should be using trees and wooden buildings. With this said, again, the goal here is to create something that is visually distinguishable from the standard designs. I know I'm being very vague here, but be aware that you can go "too far" in either direction. This guideline will be mostly up to every tiler to discuss with each other.
- In addition, - Only one pedestrian may be placed on each tile (three may be used for 'under construction' versions) - Only one effect may be used, and it should be a detail in the tile, and should never "draw the eye" of the viewer - Ground decals may only be used if they are a significant part of the building. For example, see the elf school. If you want to add a new decal, that is doable. Stay away from general cobblestone usage and such, it looks very bad. - No design may contain more than 35 objects. Use them wisely. In particular, try to avoid "useless crap", which is stuff the player won't ever see (models hidden under other models, models too small to see without zooming in as close as possible). - All tiles should be 1x1 for the first stage of this expansion (no exception - make sure you select 1x1 in the workshop and stay within the YELLOW square) - Try to create designs that use as much as possible of the space in the tile, up to the edge. Avoid "inorganic" walls on the tile. - Make sure that you are using the correct environment for the tile. Environments are listed under each faction, and you change it in the Options in the workshop. This is because environments do change the colour on some models. - Scale: Look at other buildings of the same faction.
- The actual buildings in a tile must use the setting below for height placement - fixed height (see screenshot). This is so that the building parts do not go out of sync due to tiny environment changes. Fences, trees, rocks and such things should NOT have fixed height (unless they are the building).
- Each tile must be sent WITH THE SHADOWS. For the elf community project I had to re-save every tile without shadows and it was a total pain in the ass. Shadows are placed in the /tiles/shadows/ folder.
- DO NOT CHANGE THE FILENAME OF A TILE WITHOUT TELLING ME. IF YOU CHANGE THE FILE NAME TO SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT YOU SAVED IT AS, IT WILL NOT FUNCTION.
- Naming policy - please name your tiles close to something like EF_UU_factionhere_buildinghere and add _build to end if its the "under construction" version. For example, for the angels' study that is under construction, I would name the file EF_UU_angels_Study_build
- If there are any extra models that you feel are needed to complete a certain design, let me know. We can add more to the game, but it takes time to do so.
Asset: TESTBUILDING mod: http://www.mediafire.com/?ci39h3iu0l3l2ad
This is just a 1x1 building that can be built by any faction, and increases prestige by 50 and population by 300 in the city it is built. It is included so that you can test your tiles' appearances in a city. If you wish to test your tile with a city, open this file and replace the following lines
<TileDesign>F_Hovel_02</TileDesign> <ConstructionTileDesign>F_Hovel_Build_02</ConstructionTileDesign>
so that the tags contain the name you saved your tile as.
Uncolored means the task has not been assigned
Orange means the task has been assigned, and you should preferably choose something else to contribute with
Green means the task has been completed (and the files have reached me)
Note: You don't need my permission to start working on a tile. This is just so that if you want to take your time working on something, you can reserve that task so noone can steal it from under your feet.
These colourcodes describe how you get the right colours in the builder's forge - left from right means top to bottom in-game. For example, the drota have the <BuildingRoofColor>230,150,15</BuildingRoofColor> and this would equal this screenshot:
For citycores, the limit is 100 objects and 4 pedestrians, 2 effects
Each race requires at least 5 different cores,
core1 represents the beginning stages of building. It is what the player sees for the first 8-9 turns before he hits the cap in the city at level 1core2 represents the city after its beginning stages - what the user sees at the cap of level 1, and level 2 citiescore3 represents the "average town", you'll likely see a decent form of wall around this, it is used for level 3 citiescore4 is the stage between "average town" and superfortresscore5 is the last stage, the superfortress. This building should be quite large in height, so that it sticks out from the other city buildings.
Angels (environment:grassland)White temple-like buildings in a lush forest. Not swampy. Avoid specific religious symbols. <BuildingPrimaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>200,200,200</BuildingRoofColor>Study (Winnihym)Library (Winnihym)Arcane Lab (Winnihym)Hut (Winnihym)House (Winnihym)Beacon of Hope (Winnihym)Workshop (Winnihym)citycore1 (Winnihym)citycore2 (Winnihym)citycore3 (Winnihym)citycore4 (Winnihym)citycore5 (Winnihym)Living Stone (environment: dead)A race of living stone, they would be suited best to live in rock formations that resemble kingdom buildings. Avoid lava-pits and such. <BuildingPrimaryColor>50,50,50</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>25,25,25</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>100,100,100</BuildingRoofColor>Study (John_Hughes)Library (John_Hughes)Arcane Lab (John_Hughes)Hut (John_Hughes)House (John_Hughes)Beacon of Hope (John_Hughes)Workshop (John_Hughes) citycore1 (John_Hughes) citycore2 (John_Hughes) citycore3 citycore4 citycore5Death legion (environment: dead)Demons with slaves worshipping them. Avoid large demon statues as they will stand out when the building is repated (as ornaments they are ok, and as monument large demons are ok). Buildings should aspire to be "poor" and "twisted". <BuildingPrimaryColor>0,0,0</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>0,0,0</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>0,0,0</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (crystlshake)Monument (crystlshake)Hovel (crystlshake)House (crystlshake) Archivist (crystlshake)Master Archivist (crystlshake)Loreshop (crystlshake)Laborpit (crystlshake) citycore1 citycore2 citycore3 citycore4 citycore5Drota (environment: desert)Desert-living hunters. <BuildingPrimaryColor>140,120,100</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>80,60,40</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>230,150,15</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (kronik83)Monument (kronik83)Hovel (ArcElement2002)House (ArcElement2002)Archivist (kronik83)Master Archivist (kronik83)Loreshop (kronik83)Laborpit (kronik83) citycore1 (kronik83) citycore2 (kronik83) citycore3 (kronik83) citycore4 (kronik83) citycore5 (kronik83)Goblins (environment: dead)As much as I hate to admit, I didn't have a clear line of thought for these bastards. They're smart, evil and backstabbing. Think DnD, not warhammer. Their buildings should appear as "make-shift", and certainly never look like they were designed. But they also do not live in rubble, although rubble surrounds their buildings. <BuildingPrimaryColor>140,120,100</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>80,60,40</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>230,150,15</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (cptcasey)Monument (cptcasey) Hovel (cptcasey)House (cptcasey) Archivist (cptcasey)Master Archivist (cptcasey)Loreshop (cptcasey)Laborpit (cptcasey) citycore1 (cptcasey) citycore2 (cptcasey) citycore3 (cptcasey) citycore4 (cptcasey) citycore5(cptcasey)Golem king (environment: winter)As golems most likely built these buildings, they should be "flawless" in design (the opposite of goblins). No pyramids. Be careful not to place plants or trees, unless they get coloured white by the winter environment. Do not place snow, unless you are placing a larger pile of snow (in that case, use stones, or white flower stacks). <BuildingPrimaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>200,200,200</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>200,200,200</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (oddrheia)Monument (oddrheia)Hovel (oddrheia)House (oddrheia) Archivist (oddrheia)Master Archivist (oddrheia)Loreshop (oddrheia)Laborpit (oddrheia) citycore1 (oddrheia) citycore2 (oddrheia) citycore3 (oddrheia) citycore4 (oddrheia) citycore5 (oddrheia)Lost Souls (environment: dead)What buildings do ghosts live in? Heh. Alright, these are members of an old traitor-kingdom that is now following the logic of the empires. Run-down kingdom buildings that now look empire would be awesome - but they should not be ruins (doesn't make sense, why "build" ruins?). <BuildingPrimaryColor>100,100,100</BuildingPrimaryColor> <BuildingSecondaryColor>100,100,100</BuildingSecondaryColor> <BuildingRoofColor>100,100,100</BuildingRoofColor>Tower of Dominion (ArcElement2002)Monument (ArcElement2002)Hovel (ArcElement2002)House (ArcElement2002)Archivist (ArcElement2002)Master Archivist (ArcElement2002)Loreshop (ArcElement2002)Laborpit (ArcElement2002) citycore1 (ArcElement2002) citycore2 (ArcElement2002) citycore3 (ArcElement2002) citycore4 (ArcElement2002) citycore5 (ArcElement2002)
original post:
Decided on creating a separate thread instead of using the ExpandedFactions thread, so noone misses this.
tiler - a person who creates building designs in the in-game workshop
I'm looking for a few dedicated tilers to join me with working on the ExpandedFactions mod. I want the factions to become more diverse in how their buildings look, but I don't have time to do it myself. The ExpandedFactions mod is currently entering its second phase with the aim of adding unique units to each faction (which will be my main project).
Our first goal will be to create new designs for all the "basic" buildings for each faction (study+library, arcane lab, hut+house, beacon of hope, workshop). The tiles for the Elves have already been completed in the Elves community project.
Second goal will be to create new designs for all the cityhubs for each faction.
Third goal will be to create new wallsets for each faction, starting with the default wall and moving upwards.
I'm not looking for people who only want to do one or two tiles for this one (it's not a community project). I'm also not looking for people who don't enjoy modding, or think this would be something fun worthy of their time. There will be strict guidelines, and the demands on quality will be high. On the other hand, the timelimit will be very open - the project will be on-going until completed.
If you would like to help out, send me a private message and/or post here.
Oddrheia,
Wow, that looks awesome! I don't yet know what a civ tower is (not as obvious to me as a library) so I can't really comment on how it fits its role. But it looks great!
By the way, I encountered a strange problem. I enabled the expanded factions, but once I did, the tile editor wouldn't show the objects. I would select an object and place it, but the tile is still blank. I don't know if the expanded factions affects this, but once I turned off mods, it worked again. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Could you describe the problem a bit more in detail? Right now I have the mod on, and I loaded the game up and can place buildings (models) in the workshop like normal.
Arc: thanks! Civ Tower is pretty much the same function as beacon of hope, it draws in population (+prestige). Same function as a monument I believe? (+prestige as well)
Heavenfall: noted! I'll load up that in game to see how the ground will look, at some point. Want to get my paws on 2x2 tiles first!
Monument:
Sidenote: wow. Tree selection is so limited for winter... *sulks*
Edit: re: golems and white brick/icy crystal: I suspect it may clash a -little- with default empire buildings since those have darker beams and yellow wood elements in. I could avoid the default buildings for the most part tho. There are plenty of other objects to work with .
You want some white winter trees? Just give the word, and be specific in which ones you want.
Hmmm ok. Try this: Start a game with Tiny, World difficulty normal, Conquest, Master Quest, Spell of Making victory conditions enabled (ie, no win by diplomacy), minor factions enabled, spawn monsters enabled, pacing epic, choose the Drota sovereign, Drota enemy, and fight against Magnar, normal difficulty. Start the game and quit, and go to workshop without saving the game. Then I can't place anything visible. When I place it somewhere on the tile, the top bar shows it has been placed, but there's nothing there.
*laugh* As easy as that? Well. What prompted the sulking was that I was playing around with some apple trees to add to the monument and realized they stand out too much.
But then, I than I thought about it a little more and maybe the absence of those trees is actually a good thing. Icy/frigid/little vegetation look kinda makes sence in the context, and opens up more object count for industious stuff. What use golems have for pretty (living) trees anyway?
Still. If you find some time on your hands, I'd appreciate some of white apple trees for judicious use later on!
You're welcome Oddrheia, and thanks for the info! Wow, your monument looks great too. I especially like the simple lonely white tree, it adds... something. I can't really describe it, but it works well! And yeah, sorry Heavenfall, those are strange instructions, but that's what I did, and I tried it again and it happened again. Although it may be simply a problem with starting a game and quitting, then loading workshop, nothing specific about the Expanded Factions mod.
I think it's a game issue. I've had a similar issue where I just started a normal game, then tried to use the forge and it didn't work.
However, everything you build in the forge still turn out alright (when you do see the models). So just re-start the client before you do anything in the forge.
second round on the DL hovel
Let me know what you guys think for the new totem. I faced it in as an overseer protective role versus the out facing fear inducing role to ward of predators ( that and the population is more like prey anyway ). I'll start the build tile after it gets thrue QA, and work on one of the others in the interim (time to play with colored fire).
@oddrheia http://www.mediafire.com/?nottegqdb6fnqbq
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/5375/elemental1294194456.jpg
You might have to tweak the skin colours yourself to get the right white, I didn't have much to compare to. In that case just overwrite the two texture files, but you have to keep the filename exactly the same.
If you need the original original textures, check the elemental install directory for AppleTreeCard3.dds and TreeBark.png
Ps. If you don't like them, you don't have to use them. This only took a few minutes.
@crystlshake love it. Maybe reduce the size of the totem skull slightly, it's pretty massive (and it's going to stand out when repeated). Maybe add something around the bottom of the totem, a few mushroms or whatever.
I'll make the adjustments after work tomorrow, almost time to call it a night. Your right about the size of the skull, and the base of the totem though.
Went back and read thru the lore (noticed there was a capitalization typo on one of the paragraphs. Ive got some sketched out plans for a few other buildings (Ill probably use the hive building for the barracks for example- as there is a bit of caste disparity regarding the housing (slaves vs. others). May also designate this structure as the house and do an even poorer setup for the hovel if my next housing structure turns out as planned.
Heavenfall: thanks!!
Labor Pit:
Not sure about the fence... fussing over the fence took longer than the rest of the tile, which is a bit ridiculous :/.
I'm sorry I'm being slowwitted here, but how do you get these screenshots and post them here? Is there a tutorial somewhere?
OK here is the modified Living_Stone_Hut Tiles. Thoughts please. I liked HF's idea of a dual building tile so I went with that.
Build Tile
Finished Hut.
When you're in-game, press Print Screen and the game takes a screenshot and puts it in my documents/my games/elemental/screenshots. Upload the picture to imageshack.us , then add a link in this thread. If you want to show it instead of having a link, press the icon that looks like a tree in the forum tools.
@oddrheia that's a very unique look. Could you explain a bit what is going on?
@John_Hughes I like the idea, but you need to cover more of the tile in its finished state. Maybe put two similar huts next to each other? Or a fence around to make it like a small garden (then you can fill it out with a shed and barrels and whatevers). Personally I think you're wasting models with that grass, it's not going to be noticeable in-game from above or almost above, especially in city terrain.
Good morning all...
The tiles is looking GREAT!!!I have some questions. Firstly, is it the Tower of Civilization, or the Tower of Dominion? Don't want to make the wrong tile.
Now, I also have a question about the Drota. They live in the desert. So which type of building materials would they be using most of? Rocks? Stone? Sand? Wood (In the deserts?) Would they have an abundance of wood available for building? I've been working on some of the tiles but can't decide which material to use most. Any ideas? HF?
@ArcElement2002 - What do you think, you're also making stuff for the Drota
@Winnihym - I just use facebook to upload the images, then copy the image URL from there and paste it here (insert/edit image).
Right, thanks!
Here's the Beacon for the angels under construction:
http://img338.imageshack.us/i/elemental1294202687.jpg/
And after completion:
http://img52.imageshack.us/i/elemental1294202753.jpg/
I'm going for the "if I had wings, I wouldn't build on the ground" philosophy.
It's the tower of dominion (it was renamed recently). I'll let you decide what looks good. Desert, Hunters, those are the only keywords.
Hi Kronik83,
So far my building has used only wood and "cloth" materials.
Of course, you're free to pick what kind of materials you want I think, because the weapons are made of metal, so the Drota have access to metal supposedly too. An idea might be wood as the main building material, but metal could be there, but scarce and in "special" places? Definitely up to you though, best of luck!
Uh! Unique in a good or a bad way?
The first version of that tile actually had that half-circle structure supporting a stone beam that was supposedly 'worked on', but that looked... odd. So I swapped it for a hanging platform with ready to be used construction materials. Area on the ground is used to produce those bricks.
Could the overall look be considered a kind of golem constuction crane contraption? Just imagine the structure changing shape slighty and extending to neighbouring tiles to 'deliver' materials
On a more serious note, want me to tinker a bit more with the tile? (It's pushing the object limit already by one or two, blah)
Edit: John: I too like an idea of a fence around that hut (so you don't have to rework it so much with squeezing another, for one thing!) I've a bone to pick with use grass in general... ever since weeding it out on pretty much ALL of my elven tiles to reduce object count I swore off its use as a ground cover LOL. It really a lot more visible in the tileset than zoomed out in game, unfortunately. Not to say you can't have a garden or vegitation, just have to use more visible plants for that, I think.
In a good way.
Winnihym be very careful about making every angel building floating. First, it's not "realistic", even in a fantasy world. I'm also afraid it will clash too much with the rest of the tileset. You'll have to compare yourself with the rest elf tiles.
I love it for the beacon of hope though, it turned out very good.
oddrheia- I like the unique look of the labor pit, its very distinctive. Truely an advanced mechanical process fit for the Golem King!
ArcElement2002- Personally I think leather, rope and bone could be put to good creative use in relation to the hunting theme (waste not want not). I haven't read the drota backstory/ sov info yet to see if there might be clues or inspiration there. But I imagine that given the environment they live in that making use of everything/ repurposing things would be important to them. Tents would probably be prevalent as they allow air flow, shade and are more resistant to shifting sand (as they can be pulled up and reset easily) and would be a likely componenet of early structures as they are a component of nomadic living. Buildings would probably be fairly open such as your current housing or mostly closed off to ward against blowing sand (you could implement an L type enterence thing like as used on igloos to counter wind). Sandstone or natural rock formations may also be put to use. Wood could be viewed as specially prepared (dehydrated) or wrapped bone structures or something as well. Water would also be highly valued.
For some reason I suddenly started thinking of the song from the hobbit where the group is stuck in a tree and 'magic dance' in relation to the goblins....
OK I guess that invites some further discussion about what the "Living Stone" folk are, in more specific terms. I would like anyone who may have a thought to speak up please. HF I assume you have a vision...?
Does a "Living Stone" race require Food as we know it? What purpose would a Garden serve say? Their lands are dead to boot.
Are these Stone folk Larger, the same or smaller in stature than regular Men type folks. (in game skeletons notwithstanding) I envision them as +/- 25% larger. (no particular reason)
So do the sheds and barrels, and gardens etc get used to keep the focus the same (in general) with the rest of the Kingdom tiles that won't be changed out?
I only ask as I have been keeping things quite barren based on the obvious differences that might/should be when comparing Men vs Stone beings...
I don't have a problem adding Men based features, just want to mentally clarify the lack of, other than them being "Stone" differences between their world stuff and "Men's" world stuff.
I'm not HF but...
I think Mushroom/fungi plants would work with the theme you have going. Can probably even rescaled to be more small tree - like. They work with dead environment, and if not for food, they can serve decorative purposes.
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