Deco Fireplaces and Chimneys!

I agree. The crafting stations are something functional which everyone will want to use regularly. It seems like there's a huge advantage to merging something both pretty and functional.

I might not care much about giving up space for pure deco. But it's a whole different thing if I can cook on it.

 

Very nice!

 

Ok, I'm getting one of these for my basement and one for my tower and one for my workshop and one for my storefront....

 

Nice!

 

Dat Wireframe though lol. I would for the fancier chimneys fix the texture to look more like stones or bricks as opposed to pebbles and rocks. The second set of chimneys, the ones with the greyed out portions. Id inset that, make it look like it was patched but lost a bit of its volume due to weathering or battle.

 

Hey there! ^_^ I appreciate the input, but I'm actually not sure what you're talking about when you mentioning "fixing" the fancier chimney textures.... Neither of the two fancier "ornate" fireplace designs use any textures that look like "pebbles and rocks"... Could you be accidentally referencing the more rustic, craft-able fireplace instead?

"Dat Wireframe though lol" doesn't really tell me anything useful... Please explain your thoughts here... Are you attempting to make a point by referring to the higher poly mesh used for the rustic, non-fancy, craft-able fireplace that has its corners broken up to actually create an uneven, stony profile at the edges? That's a pretty common trick, actually, when dealing with these kinds of designs...which is why you'll see additional polys added to the edges of various stone wall set pieces throughout the game (and occasionally to flatter wall expanses) to break up an edge surface with polys to accent a less "even''-looking texture treatment.

The second set is essentially flat with fairly thin patches of plaster having fallen away to expose the brick underneath, and wouldn't have a decrease in profile substantial enough to warrant actual geometry insets (unlike the rounded stones, which do), and instead will rely primarily on decent normal maps, which create the illusion of inset well enough for our purposes. "Weathering or battle" in one's living room or den?

 

Edit: I'm only referring to the tall chimneys right now.

@Scottie

The wire frame comment was sarcasm, its nice to see a wire frame in a color other than white and black. Thats all to that. Though I would like to see if there is an even higher poly model you have on hand for that chimney.

Yes, why not weathering or battle in ones living room or den? If i can take a throne of bone and put it in my house, why not anything else? Also with the bricks and stone comment I was referring more to the chimneys that would go WITH those fireplaces, not the ones currently there. My bad on the plaster like one I could only guess but it looks cemented over to me.

The major thing i noticed with the first stone chimney was that there seems to be a lot of pebbles/ tiny stones cemented into the rock work of the actual chimney. It feels inconsistent/ out of place with the larger stones, and makes the tiling much more noticeable.

Excellent explanation of the chimneys though, and for the sake of mapping it might just be the lighting or that the normals need to be switched in those spots. It looks inset to me. Might also be the coloring underneath that does that... unsure without looking at the maps.

All for the betterment of art in the end! or not after all it is SOTA who decides. Thank you for the quick response by the way.

Sorry if I leave out some details: Finishing up at work.

 

Ah! OK,...so you were talking about the basic rustic craft-able one, not the fancier ornate ones... Yeah,...that initial "rounded/crude" stone look is intended to be a bit messy and peasant-like, as if Bill the shoe-maker could have put it together by himself, by picking up small and large rounded field stones and essentially piling them up to make a crude hearth, and using smaller stones and pebbles to fill in the gaps and crevices, held together with a bit of muddy cement... You will see a bit more tiling in such circumstances (though less so when you're in-game), but it's an acceptable degree, for the sake of making that one look less "professionally made" (unlike the others that are available for purchase)...

You'll notice that the next in line, which is also still craft-able, is a mixture of stone AND wood elements... Since it requires more resources and is slightly harder to craft, it actually is meant to look a bit more "well-made" (with more uniform stones and such, and nice but simple wooden elements) though still with a bit of wear and tear with the patchy plaster on the chimney parts to make it seem less "professional"....

These two "craft-able" sets have two distinctive looks to allow for the fact that each look may not be for everyone... Some will enjoy the "rustic" look of the rounded stones and pebbles, while others will prefer the straight lines and edges of the squared stones with wood elements....

It's the remaining sets, all for sale in the add-on store, that will have the look of finely-crafted stone and more intricately-carved wood; the work of a professional worthy of sale. And, of course, the ornate "later-period" look of the fancy cast iron...which will attract those of a more "Victorian" persuasion.... ^_^

 

Hope some of these will be used in Hometown.

 

@Scottie you could have just said that was deliberate haha but Excellent i look forward to it. Though I feel for those of us that want to be able to get the endgame houses and things that are difficult (IE iron chimneys), rather than making them in store purchases, give them a high crafting cost, or even there own skill. Architecture.

 

Yeah, I'm verbose,...but honestly, I prefer that over coming off as terse and unapproachable... I value folks' input, and would prefer to explain why it is things are "as designed", when folks are unsure as to the reason behind why something looks or works in a way they don't prefer... Half the problems of the world seem like they're due to poor communication, so I just like to take proper care and time explaining intent... ^_^

Anyway,...I get you, concerning the desire to have more things be craft-able, and there may be a shift in our current thinking once we become fully online and generating steady revenue...(which is especially difficult, considering our paradigm doesn't require a monthly subscription)... But for now, as a small company generating just enough to keep going month to month (while staying a number of months "ahead"), we depend upon these kinds of sales in the hopes of eventually reaching that "comfort zone" of primary content complete, where more and more things will be craft-able, and we can worry much less about making sure our "runway to completion" is long enough for us to make it all hands on deck... There will always be the sales of new and cooler things than you could craft, though, and currently this type of thing falls into that category (though there may be craft-able, simpler metal ones added later, along with other varieties, if we can make the time)... ^_^

Thanks for the interest!

Scottie ^_^

 

@Scottie

That much is pleasantly clear. My major point now is to avoid making the game to bland to play without purchasing to add some color or diversity to player views of the world.But alas its a conversation for another thread. Might be fun to make these recipes purchasable form the addon store, but the players still have to gather resources for them.

That funding problem may solve itself once obsidian potions/ cotos run out from the pledge markets. Making more diverse ores for better equipment would drive the market some too (Mind you that armor stats would need to be buffed and balanced). The bonuses from those items alone should be enough to make consistent funding possible just put obsidian potions for store buy only until cotos reach there normal value. . Are you guys short on content creators?

 

Any room for a factory chimney in the mix? Anyway, looking forward to picking up some chimneys - they look great.

 

This looks incredible! We might need some "steaming pot" and/or "steaming kettle" deco items to go on top as well

 

I super appreciate your thoughtful replies. The more information the better!

 

Oh,...that's an excellent idea! It would be a wise thing to let people actually walk around them in-game before they decide to buy (or spend time crafting) or not!

Thanks for that great suggestion!

Scottie ^_^

 

Actually there is no higher poly version... ^_^ My work methods are very "old school" compared to many recent artists in the field... I'm an old duffer in the industry compared to many of my peers, and started working with Richard way back in the Origin days as an intern in 1994. I've never had any "formal training", cut my teeth in the industry using Max when it was still 3DStudio which opened with a DOS prompt, and worked on the last Ultima (U9) before it even became a 3-D game, and rode that thing into the realm of some of the earliest low-poly 3-D (the first of its kind for an Ultima game...)... After working with Richard again at NCsoft, I then did some work at KingsIsle on Wizard 101 and Pirate 101, which was another baseline-software low poly game creation experience... I often work by creating a detailed texture map first, applying it to a plane, and then actually cutting that plane up into pieces (using my texture as a guide) that I suture together bit by bit like a paper model, and only then add more polys to round out the appropriate bits by eye... That gives me a degree of low-poly control from beginning to end that I find hard to achieve any other way.... That cast iron fireplace was made in exactly that way! ^_^ I actually envy those newer artists who start with super-high poly models they sculpted in Z-Brush (which I have yet to learn), which they then use to render out their various maps they use...

Well, we do have a very small team, and when it comes to the type of content I'm creating, there's really only me, Bob (who creates most of the player houses), and Hutch (our art director who also has his hand in map creation and on rare occasions has a chance to work on item fabrication)... Recently we've also had Reid come onto the team, who's now starting to help out on some great new content, and Fletcher (over in the character department) adding to some of our coolest new wearables... Add to that another character maker named Kevin, and that's really most of our non-world-building content team...with the exception of a highly-talented fellow named Finn, whose knowledge with Unity causes him to be our defacto special FX guru, and general Unity problem solver/technical artist... If you consider that the character artists primarily stick to character bodies and wearables exclusively, and assume that Hutch must spend most of his time between managing us and specialty map work, the brunt of object creation really falls primarily on Bob, myself, and Reid currently... As for me specifically, I get pulled between specialty objects, some concept/promotional needs, specialty map building, and interface... All in all, I'd hesitate to say we're "short" on content creators, but we certainly run a tight ship, out of necessity... ^_^

 

Heh! Thanks so much! Not sure if there are any "factory chimneys" on the horizon, though.... ^_^

 

Are you guys ever planning to open up asset submissions from players again?

 

Factory chimneys would be great to use in a shop with dedicated smelting, smithing, and kiln-style crafting stations. Just need a few pipes from Aerie to connect them to the stack.