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Things I've Created for the Spring Equinox!

Discussion in 'Developer Work and Blog posts' started by Scottie, Mar 12, 2019.

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  1. Scottie

    Scottie Master Artisan SOTA Developer

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    Hello all! Scottie here again!

    Here's another post to share what I've been working on over the last week and a half!

    Well, it's Spring again, and WOW has this year been flying by .... It's already mid-March!!!

    And whether you call it Easter, or Ostara, or Eostre, or even just the Spring Equinox, it's time for me to make stuff related to some kind of Springtime Festival! That means cool stuff that I am hoping will be made available to you in some way as decorations in Shroud of the Avatar! Of course, I say "hoping" because, as a standard disclaimer; I just make the art, and have no real say in how it gets sold or distributed in the game once it leaves my hot little hands... Any of these items (or sets of items) may get offered as Livestream goals, or sold for CotOs in the store, or produced in the game when performing recipes, etcetera... It's going to be up to those in charge to determine that... And, of course, sometimes it's not always possible to incorporate some of the stuff I make in exactly the way I imagine (I don't decide when things get released, how they get packaged up and offered or sold in the CotO store in-game, added as some recipe, or whatever)... However, what I WILL do here is show you everything I've made for this season, give you a little insight as to what inspired me to do so, and then describe the suggestions I'm offering to the "decision-makers" who will be determining how all this stuff gets incorporated!

    So let's begin!

    BAM!!!!

    [​IMG]

    Guess what all this is! (ignore that Yule Garland and the weird framed picture in back, those are merely the detritus of my "house full o' test crap"...)

    YES! That's right, this is every single potential deco object I produced/threw together within the last week and a half! All smashed together on an "insect table" (because it was the first table I found to give myself)... So ignore the furniture, too, and I'll go through all this stuff bit-by-bit!

    Let's start with the thing I was actually ASKED to make; this years Replenishing Egg Basket! Based on the ones we've had years past, this new one is remarkable in that the basket is square, flares out from base to rim (no off-color jokes please), and is decorated in lovely pink fabric! It may be simple, but sure is pretty! Look at all of those eggs!
    [​IMG]

    Now, for the rest of the stuff, I could have focused on things like flowers and bonnets or what-not (which I know folks have mentioned wanting more of from time-to-time), but those are less my "forté"... Because I've recently had the chance to speak to various groups and folks in-game, and heard various things mentioned over and over (stuff about the cupcakes that come from the LB birthday cakes, stuff about the cake slices, stuff about wanting more deco food and other such treats), ...AND... because I was once a pastry chef myself,...I decided to get inspiration from my inner sweet-tooth, and the fond memories I have of crazy-good baked treats and confection during this time-of-year in my youth! All religious stuff aside, THESE are the kinds of things my mom loved producing around this season... You'll be able to use these to decorate kitchen tables at home, plates of desserts at parties, and of course fill the shelves of your shops (especially if someone wanted to make a bakery)!

    Lets take a look at the first grouping of things; a dye-able cake, dye-able cake slice, and a dye-able cupcake! They may look all "Plain Jane" (no offense to any Janes out there... ^_^) with their generic cream color and off-white interior, but as you can see from the original image up top, they get really snazzy when you start playing with dyes! On the upper left is a whole cake that can be placed as a deco (to save on the deco-limit), but if you don't mind using up deco slots, you can also take the single slices, arrange them point to point, rotate with "Ctrl" + "Q", and easily make it look like the "partially served" cake you see on the upper right! I've carefully created the collision shape on the slices so that they fit together nicely... And, as you can see, the stand-alone dye-able cupcake will also accept awesome colors.

    Depending on how the folks in charge want to handle these things, the Cake Slice could, potentially, be used to replace what you get when you make the recipe for "Piece of White Cake", which currently creates merely an icon in your inventory of a plain slice of cake on a plate. If they choose to hook it fully up with the recipe I mentioned, not only would you be able to eat the product as you can now (I believe), but you could also decorate with it and dye it nicely...
    [​IMG]

    Speaking of cupcakes, having found out that the Lord British Birthday Cakes give cupcakes and fireworks from time to time, and having been told that the cupcakes are merely inventory icons of a singular plain white cupcake with an ankh on top, and having heard that folks are really wanting those cupcakes to be deco items, I've created four sets of individual cupcakes that actually look like they would have been made to match the particular color scheme of the LB Birthday Cake for that year!

    Depending on how the folks in charge want to handle these, they could either have each cake "give out" the one with the ankh decoration appropriate to the color of cake producing it, give out one of any of the four appropriate color sets randomly, or even give out the dye-able cupcake from any of the cakes, and let the player dye it the appropriate color (or any color they wish) themselves!
    [​IMG]

    With all that stuff created, I moved on to something I wanted to add personally... I LOVE the whole feeling of being a kid in a candy shop, and nothing pleases me more than seeing a decorative spread of various different confections like little jewels on a plate... And so, I figured that you fine folks might enjoy a similar set of things to display as a decoration... Here we have a golden plate full of confections; the Spring Equinox Confections Platter!
    [​IMG]

    Of course, this is nothing more that mere "eye candy" (see what I did there)... I'm assuming you won't be able to eat all this as a single bit of food in-game... I'm assuming it'll just be a deco object for now... However, if those in charge of this kind of stuff decide to take another pass at what eating things like slices of cake and cupcakes actually do for you in-game, perhaps being able to eat other sugary treats would be fun for players too! As such, I decided to create all the different components of this dish as separate "servings" (except the jelly beans, maybe I can make a jar of those later as a separate deco) that seem like a reasonable amount to eat at once, would be fun to decorate with, could have separate recipes for them, and if crafted individually and brought together as their own finished items in the right amounts, could be used to actually "craft" the entire plate of treats you see on the platter above! Allow me to introduce them and describe what they are supposed to be (hopefully to help aid in the process of getting these turned into recipes)...
    [​IMG]
    On the upper left we have a serving of "Confection Eggs"! Imagine eggshells blown hollow and decorated, washed, and filled with some tasty, sugary, nutty, walnut-butter nougat! On our world we would use milk chocolate, but on Novia chocolate hasn't made an appearance yet, so the ingredients above might suffice.

    On the upper middle is a serving of four delicious "Thumbprint Cookies", made with pastry dough and filled with some pecan-based, sugary confection paste, and topped with a nut!

    To the right of those we see another fine serving of four, traditional Novian "Elderberry Creamcheese Sugardrops", made with sugar powdered to a fine dust, the juice of freshly-picked elderberries, and delicious cream cheese blended all together into an icing that hardens quickly once piped onto wax-paper.

    On the far lower left we have a serving of three "Confection Bunnies", their sweet faces made from that same fine confectioner's sugar, honey, and walnut meal, and perhaps a hint of brown, blue, and pink dye.

    Lastly, in the lower middle, you can see a serving of light and fruity "Petit Fours", These could be crafted from light and fluffy cake sheets with layers of pulverized grape and apple pulp mixed with honey, and covered in a sugary fondant dyed with hints of pink, yellow, and green!

    Now, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't provide our decorators, bakers, and generous hosts with a few objects upon which to display such colorful goods... And so, for you pleasure, I have created a paper-doily covered, fine wooden confection platter and elevated confection stand! I'm assuming these could be either bought in the CotO store, or perhaps their recipe could be purchased and then these wonderful little display pieces could be crafted! Either way, here they are, and of course you can see items displayed on them in my original image at the top! ^_^
    [​IMG]

    Last, but certainly not least, was something I threw in at the very last minute because I had heard numerous people shout out to me that they were eager to one day be able to host delightful egg-hunts on their properties, or in their towns... Well now, with the deco limit being raised in at least some areas, it seemed like the appropriate time... Here, for your enjoyment, is a set of six dye-able eggs for the season, hopefully soon to be available either as something to craft from a recipe you buy, or obtained through the in-game store...along with all the necessary dyes. I have given them a little bit of base color just to get folks started, but each egg can be dyed two different colors! (we may end up making them plain white later, but I added the colors for now so you can clearly see the patterns)...
    [​IMG]
    Of course, they're never really meant to be seen so close up. In the game they will be fairly tiny, delicate-looking little things. But once they are dyed in some garish colors, they should pop out nicely for those who seek them carefully, once their hiding places have been discovered. It'll be amazing to see folks getting together to all dye eggs in preparation for a big egg-hunting event!

    Anyway, I must now draw this post to a close... I've gotten myself hungry with all of this! Hopefully you enjoyed the peak at things to come, and will have a blast decorating with all of this stuff eventually!

    Take care, and happy Springtime!

    Scottie ^_^
     
  2. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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  3. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    Wow, that is excellent. Thank you @Scottie! I look forward to a Novian Egg Hunt following the traditional Spring Festival.
     
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  4. Lord Andernut

    Lord Andernut Avatar

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    Looks good Scottie! FYI: Lord British Cakes came in years 2014,2016,2017,2018. There was no 2015 cake :)

    It would be neat to see these cupcakes come from those particular year's cakes :)
     
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  5. DavidDC

    DavidDC Programmer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Well good job! Now you got me hungry too :]

    The rabbit head look like those chocolate bunny we buy every year!
     
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  6. Lancell Lancermane

    Lancell Lancermane Avatar

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    Scottie .. what a wonderful JOB .. love it .. mahalo for the hard work :) loving all the eye candy you been doing .. mahalo again
     
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  7. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    These look wonderful @Scottie. Thanks again for your as always thoughtful and well-done additions to the game. *hugs*
     
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  8. Scottie

    Scottie Master Artisan SOTA Developer

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    You're very welcome! Hopefully you have a great time playing with this stuff!

    Scottie ^_^
     
  9. Scottie

    Scottie Master Artisan SOTA Developer

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    Thanks Lancell! Mahalo!
     
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  10. Scottie

    Scottie Master Artisan SOTA Developer

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    Ohhhh! So that first cake I made was 2014!!! Thanks!!! I wasn't sure about that, and it wasn't labeled with a year, so I just assumed I made it the year before the first labeled year... Ah well,...that's OK... Brain-fart on my part.... ^_^
     
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  11. Earl Atogrim von Draken

    Earl Atogrim von Draken Avatar

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    @Scottie not my kind of deco but good work non the less ^^
     
  12. craftymethod

    craftymethod Avatar

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    Some gameplay potential, even though the easter stuff would only be mostly applicable over only a few days a year. Birthdays etc for the cakes too i guess.
     
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  13. Steevodeevo

    Steevodeevo Avatar

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    will there actually be an easter egg hunt? that would be fun.
     
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  14. ldykllr

    ldykllr Avatar

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    These are awesome (as usual) @Scottie ! Can't wait! Totally going to do an easter egg hunt....
     
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  15. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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    it would be great if we could get easter eggs that worked like public chests. i could hide them all over town and on my lots for people to find fun treats.
     
  16. ldykllr

    ldykllr Avatar

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    I love that idea!
     
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  17. Echondas

    Echondas Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    but are they gluten free?
    :rolleyes:
     
  18. Synergy Blaize

    Synergy Blaize Avatar

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  19. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    would a glass lid for these be too complicated collision-wise?
     
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  20. Alleine Dragonfyre

    Alleine Dragonfyre Avatar

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