Helping with Ideas for Player Owned Towns Templates

Discussion in 'Player Owned Towns' started by Winfield, Jan 26, 2015.

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  1. Winfield

    Winfield Legend of the Hearth

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    I (Winfield) talked with @RichardGarriott and Starr Long ( @Darkstarr ) at PAX SOUTH in San Antonio about some ideas that we players can do to help designers who will work on Player Owned Town scenes. As many know, I own a metropolis to be used for the PaxLair town along with others with their scenes. Many players purchased Player Owned Town scenes from small (holdfast) to large (metropolis) in size. The design team will need to make scene templates to make the process efficient for them and for us. We can help now to prepare for that design process.

    A relatively simple way to help now is to identify already-created features and places in New Britannia that we may want to have in our Player Owned Town scene. I will call these "parcels". We can compile a catalog and then express our interest in these parcels so they can make good templates that meet a lot of our desires.

    For example, PaxLair may be interested in the Bandits Lake in North Ravenswood, rock formations like the Sunset Rock in Valemark, some docks similar to Kingsport, a cemetery like Braemar, circle meadow neighborhoods like Valemark, and a nice flat festival area. (oh, waterfall of course *smiles*). So then we just provide information about these parcels here.

    We can use this thread to identify these parcels (features/places) of interest with /loc locations, biome type, description, screen shots, comments ... then create some spreadsheet if needed to help sort and catalog. I don't envision the catalog to be a huge project; I think the key will be getting a number of pre-existing parcels identified here first. This will allow the Devs to quickly look over our thoughts.

    This thread is NOT a complete discussion about everything to do with Player Owned Town designs and desires. There are other threads for other parts of that discussion. This thread should be a pretty objective look at what is already designed.

    I hope what we do here will be extremely valuable to the Player Town Owners and the Developers. I will add more information to this OP as time goes too. Thanks!

    Resources to Help:
    1. http://sotawiki.net/sota/Category:Maps - the mini-maps you can view, download, circle things and then upload to your site / space for your reply here.
    2. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...l-player-towns-gathering-monthly-event.18268/ - All Player Towns Gathering event in game each month (on Release weekend).
    3. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?forums/player-owned-towns.154/ - This Forum (Player Owned Towns)
    4. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/player-town-list.11723/ - Player Owned Towns List thread
    5. http://sotawiki.net/sota/Community:Towns - SotAWiki Player Towns Listing
    6. #PlayerOwnedTowns IRC chat channel on irc.ultimacodex.com Port 6667
    7. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=19#faq_341 - Player Owned Towns Official FAQ
    8. More...
     
  2. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    I LOVE this little nook near the bandit lake, would be fantastic to have it in a corner of the PoT

    [​IMG]
    Parcel Name: Wheat Fields
    Scene: Greymark Forest
    Location Coordinates (/loc): (175.9, 185.8, 134.3)
    Location: at my camera angle
    An area with grassy, wheat-looking fields intersected by little streams would be lovely for a for a forest or plains biome. Would suit smaller PoT sizes tying to emulate farming communities very nicely. A grassy hill or two for lookouts and a few fish swimming in the streams would make this scene very appealing to me and hopefully others.

    [​IMG]

    Palisades like the ones small kobold areas have would look great surrounding the NPC market Square.
    [​IMG]

    This standing stone is ideal for a centrepiece in the market square.
    [​IMG]
    Caves like this one would make great transition points for towns that are made up of more than one instance.
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Winfield

    Winfield Legend of the Hearth

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    Here's a quick example of posting a "Parcel" to this thread:

    Parcel Name: Bandits Lake (an arbitrary name)
    Scene: North Ravenswood
    Location Coordinates (/loc): will add this later.
    Location: in SE part of the Scene (entrance is in the South).

    [​IMG]

    ( see http://sotawiki.net/sota/Category:Maps for more maps )


    [​IMG]

    I like this pond with fish in it. The NPC houses would be great to have too, but we would want to place a couple of village houses on the lake, maybe a row house. It would make a great place for us to make a Fish Shanty and Restaurant, so a water village lot would be great. Need a good fishing pier of course.

    The rock formations and the waterfall are great! Those would be perfect with this lake in this type of biome setting.
     
  4. Bowen Bloodgood

    Bowen Bloodgood Avatar

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    If I might make a humble request.. as I have bandwidth issues (don't get to play as much).. I just had a thought in regards to ruins. It seems common for people to settle on top of old ruins. So a template that incorporates ruin pieces seems very appropriate.
     
  5. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    There is a nice area for that in west ravenswood.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

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  7. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    Parcel Name: Subterranean PoT
    Scene: Graff Gem Mines
    Location Coordinates (/loc): (-24.4, -25.0, 237.9)
    Location: in the larger hidden section behind the breakable wall

    A series of these large caverns linked together and lit by the gems and iridescent fungi would make a nice scene for those wanting to live underground.
    [​IMG]

    These gem shards can generate substantial amounts of light when clustered together.
    [​IMG]

    Additional light could be achieved by adding these supports with lanterns, perhaps with slightly adjusted illumination radius.
    [​IMG]

    There maybe some issues with the height of cavern roofs , but height could perhaps be raised inside the radius of plot areas. Sewer and dungeon assets could be used for streets and NPC market areas. Finishing touches like glow-worms and fireflies could make these underground areas spectacular.
     
  8. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    Parcel Name: Snowed In
    Scene: Vertas Pass
    Location Coordinates (/loc): (168.9, 10.0, 239.3)
    Location: in NE part of the scene, entering from SW

    The elf settlement here is a great example of how nice a snow biome PoT could look.
    [​IMG]

    This little cul-de-sac near the beginning of the scene could be duplicated to add plots embedded into rocky barriers around the edges.
    [​IMG]

    Clearings like this one directly outside of the elf settlement seem ideal for larger plots.
    [​IMG]
     
  9. Winfield

    Winfield Legend of the Hearth

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    These are great ideas! Thanks Themo Lock and Bowen Bloodgood!

    1. Have the devs announced the Biome types for Player Owned Towns yet? Or at least a speculated list? Then we can start categorizing a few parcels into the Biome types.

    2. I also wonder which existing scenes are most popular right now as potential base-scenes for templates. Ideas?

    For example, PaxLair could be a "rustic" scene as we plan to be settlers in Episode 1 ... thus the scene-base could possibly be the North Ravenwood scene, but with more elevation changes, adding in a town center, open festival area, and circle meadow neighborhoods like in Valemark. If PaxLair is on a shoreline, then some docks too.

    We will be talking more about all of this on Saturday (January 31, at 4 PM US Central Time) at the All Player Towns Gathering hosted in PaxLair in R14. Hope to see everyone soon!
     
  10. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    I ask just about everybody that will stand still lol. The most common answer is forest biome, with almost everybody that says that wanting some form of water (lake, stream, pond). A few people have expressed enthusiasm for an underground scene and snow also has been a common choice, which is why i added those last two parcels. A few people (captain jack for example) have said they ONLY want a PoT if they can have an island. There are others as well but by far the top answer has been forest.
     
  11. Lord Baldrith

    Lord Baldrith Avatar

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    I hope to have a snowy biome for Wizards Rest. I love the picture you posted Themo with the pine trees. I don't want my town to have a violent and blizzardy looking theme like the Vertas Pass area tho. I want a more serene wintery scene...Hoping for a scene that can be summer and winter as well...Not sure if these options are coming or not. Also, need ice lakes for ice fishing and possibly ice skating...
     
  12. Sean Silverfoot

    Sean Silverfoot Avatar

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    So Lord Baldrith a variation on the pond would be it being iced over, perhaps some "snowdrifts" about.
     
  13. Net

    Net Avatar

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    Well,

    I would love to see template with flowing lava and active volcano:) And I love all those climbable rocks i nthe game.

    However, what I would really like to see is Scene Editor. I think there is WYSIVIG editor for Unity, something like that with SotA templates for trees, rocks, and other placable 'items'. That way we could easily make the town we want (with the approaval and maybe some help from the devs. I might want flat are for lots there, higher area here, river dividing those areas... I would prefer towns to be unique scenes, but it is unlikely that devs can spend much time making them themselves, so I would prefer if we could use game assets to create them ourselves with perhaps only little help from the devs on some finer points and actual placing of lots and such onto the map.

    This is bit offtopic bit I would also like if we could place more lots on the map (even though we could not use them all at once). And if we could divide City lot into two town lots ot 4 village lots later in the game and combine them back if it was needed.
     
    Arianna, Tarsin, royalsexy and 4 others like this.
  14. Winfield

    Winfield Legend of the Hearth

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    We had an excellent discussion at the All Player Towns Gathering on Saturday, January 30, 2015 in game. The main topic was about this template idea. Here are the minutes of the meeting.

    The main topic covered was the idea to compile ideas on what portions of scenes or features could be put into Player Owned Town templates. This directly related to the discussion on the forum thread "Helping with Ideas for Player Owned Towns Templates". After Winfield introduced the the topic, there was much discussion and statements that supported the plan and method to help the developers. Winfield said it would be good to post more idea on the forum thread within two weeks so the developers could see more ideas sooner than later. There were also desires for town owners to be able to have a 'scene editor' to make their own modifications and work closely with the developers, but to not increase the developers' workload.

    I also recall from the Gathering that there is an interest to offer other scenery features that are not currently in game now. Those could be added here too; perhaps those are easy to obtain through Unity assets? I don't know much about Unity, so I defer that to more skilled and knowledgeable people.

    I look forward to seeing more "parcels" posted here and how our towns might use them in our scenes, e.g., waterfront docks, dirt or paved roads, bridge separating two portions of a city, etc.

    If I were a designer, I would think some standard "functional" templates could be like the following, that could be adapted to the Biome of preference.
    • Explorer scene - a rugged, undeveloped area with few dirt paths or old bridges, a bit like the feel of the Swamps.
    • Coastal Rugged scene - a rugged, sea shore focused area, fjords, mountain passes, a bit like Brave Coast. Could be less sandy and more rocky too. (like Norway or Cape Cod).
    • Plantation scene - A single main big house with smaller housing areas around it with farms and work areas.
    • Settler scene - central and scattered housing areas in rural setting, wooden bridges, dirt paths, like Valemark and Brave Coast.
    • Island Hilly scene - like Brave Coast.
    • Island scene - beaches, not too hilly, lots of coastline, some inlets, town center in middle or on coast.
    • Archipelago scene - several small islands in one scene.
    • Sprawling Camp scene - rugged, semi-developed area with fences and camps throughout, like Kobold Camp.
    • Underground scene - cave passageways, large caverns, high and deep ravines with areas for paths and houses
    • Suburban Plains scene - country roads, meadows, trees, a spread out town center, cul-de-sac(s).
    • Coastal Port scene - a cove with waterfront, main commercial areas on shore, housing spread out behind it (like Kingsport)
    • Industrial scene - central industry (foundry, dairy, workshops) with housing around it (like Graff Mines).
    • Geometrical scene - an organized layout of house locations, roads, and features such as a "grid plan" or a "hub and spoke plan" - can be rustic or developed
    • Seamless scene - simple scene with many or all housing lots seamlessly aligned next to each other to help make mega-lots with many house (e.g., a big maze town).
    • Two-Town scene - one town opposed against another with a mountain pass or bridge between them.
    • Layered Town scene - a central part of town with village area surrounding it, much like medieval castles and fiefdoms - like Owl's Head or Braemar - can be rustic or more modern with stone - good for combat defenses, farms, homes.
    • Central Defense scene - central keep and inner town, designed for combat defenses, like Obsidian Keep.
    • Developed City scene - something like Kingsport or Ardoris, has stone bridges and walkways.
    • more??
    What are your thoughts?
     
  15. Sean Silverfoot

    Sean Silverfoot Avatar

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    And to throw this out there. What kind of things might we need specifically for PVP towns? Should there be any kind of design features that would or need to be specific for a PVP town?
     
  16. Themo Lock

    Themo Lock Avatar

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    I LOOVE that idea! if they made a scene editor interface i would explode from happiness. In fact i would happily volunteer to use it to decorate empty NPC homes and basements all day if they would let me. I will get back on this project tomorrow.. trying to do some much at once haha
     
  17. Jack Knyfe

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  18. Winfield

    Winfield Legend of the Hearth

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    I scheduled three discussion events on the Calendar - http://avatarscircle.com/community-events/ I hope people can attend and rapidly offer ideas. Two are IRC Chat Sessions in #PlayerOwnedTowns and one is in game on Saturday.


    Player Town Templates Chat
    When: Wed, February 4, 7pm – 8pm Central US Time
    Where: #PlayerOwnedTowns, SotA IRC Chat (map)
    Description: irc.ultimacodex.com:6667
    #PlayerOwnedTowns
    We will continue our discussions about Player Owned Town Templates. See the SotA Forum thread of discussion here:
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ideas-for-player-owned-towns-templates.20067/


    Player Town Templates Chat
    When: Thu, February 5, 6am – 7am Central US Time
    Where: #PlayerOwnedTowns, SotA IRC Chat (map)
    Description: irc.ultimacodex.com:6667
    #PlayerOwnedTowns
    We will continue our discussions about Player Owned Town Templates. See the SotA Forum thread of discussion here:
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ideas-for-player-owned-towns-templates.20067/


    All Player Towns Gathering - templates
    When: Sat, February 7, 9:30am – 11:00am Central US Time
    Where: PaxLair, Valemark (map)
    Description: Come one and all to the Player Towns Gathering. This is an additional meeting at the request of town owners and leaders, and will hopefully be at a better time for more people to attend. We will continue to discuss ideas to help design Player Owned Town templates.
    /zone Winfield
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ideas-for-player-owned-towns-templates.20067/

    Please help get the word out to people you know for these events. Thanks!
     
  19. Moiseyev Trueden

    Moiseyev Trueden Avatar

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    Thanks for the updates on this. Looking forward to chatting with you all on Wednesday and again on Saturday (sadly Thursday is too early for my lazy bones, but to all my friends in the old world hope you have a great discussion).
     
  20. Winfield

    Winfield Legend of the Hearth

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    We had really good Chat sessions - one yesterday, another this morning. We will meet again Saturday per the calendar and discuss more, perhaps tour around and see some ideas too.

    We updated the Functional Scene list shown above... https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?posts/311958/

    I add a list of "Parcels" that could be put in different places in the scenes of interest.

    Parcels:
    • Snowy gate entrances - like Vertas Pass
    • Marketplace - like Kingsport
    • Bandits Lake - like North Ravenswood
    • Cemetery - like Braemar
    • Ruins - like West Ravenswood
    • Open Fields - like Greymark Forest
    • Crater - like Shardfall
    • Skeleton Ruins - South Ravenswood
    • Circle Meadows - like Valemark
    • River and Wooden Covered Bridge - like Kingsport
    • Dragonbone Area - like Wyrmsans
    • Rugged Coastline - like Ravensmoor
    • Wooden Palisade - like Braemar
    • Shuttered Eye with Alcove - like Veiled Swamp
    • Hidden Roads - like Ravensend road to left off main street
    • Kobold Camp - like Southmarsh
    • Camping Areas - like Hidden Vale: Hills scene
    • LOTM Island - like Brave Coast
    • Smuggler House - like Kingsport
    • Dilapidated Cabanas - like Mysterious Swamp
    • Combined Lots 4x4 - 16 village lots arranged in in 4x4 square, perfectly aligned to each other for maze building (different sizes possible)
    • Dark Alley -
    • Hilly Houses - 1-3 houses on hill
    • Bright Alley -
    • Garden - low hedges, flowers, trees, benches
    Thanks!
     
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