The Making of Yew

Hey guys! SorcerousSteve here to give you a sneak peek on my latest map!
For Release 50 I have been hard at work on uncloning the town of Yew!
Located in North Paladis the town of Yew will be shrouded along its perimeter with a dense fog.

In designing Yew we wanted the town to be built around these giant hero trees, and from these trees we created a town that had its structures built around them, giving life to a new elven town.


From the ground level a system of bridges connects the outside areas of the town to the center gazebo, while a system of elevators and stairs takes you up into the canopy where elevated platforms support elven homes.


At nighttime Yew comes to life in a wonderful display of color.


Small little streams which feed from a nearby spring crisscross the lower level of the town of Yew.


A dash of light tears through the canopy of the Yew trees, our volumetric lighting at work.


Another direct shot of the center of town this time during the day, in the background the giant town tree towers above all.


See you next time!
Happy Holidays!

Esteben Zaldivar

 

This looks great. Aside from the forest, was there any inspiration or ideas drawn from the Ultima games when coming up with creative things for Yew?

 

W O W that is looking great

I wanna have a house there...

but i can'T

 

Really neat concept for a town. Thanks for sharing! My only concern is the fog and times when the fog is thin more like a 'haze.' SOTA looks quite brilliant (graphically) at certain times of the day. But I notice even at the top graphics setting on a very good graphics card that 'haze' at certain times of day can really make a scene look dulled. Then suddenly the clock strikes another hour and things are very crisp looking again when the haze lifts. I like fog a lot, but hope this haze effect on graphics crispness can somehow be avoided.

 

Wow, excellent work!

 

Nice begginning Sorcerous Steve, as always I know we are on a time crunch but over-used assets in this game are seriously well ummmm over-used. Hopefully you can disguise them a bit. I know we don't have a budget of many games but we can always wish. One of the worst mistakes made was putting housing in NPC towns IMO. I watched this video today and while I don't compare the whole game because Pantheon will be focused on group play and I prefer more choices like we have on that, but housing on the outskirts of towns to avoid lag would have been awesome. Oh well spilt milk. Have a very wonderful holiday @SorcerousSteve . This is a town and easy to find your way around, easy to maneuver through. I really like that, but hey I guess we just have more challenges. Hopefully it's ok to post these photos. I will delete if I need.

 

f*ing awsome @SorcerousSteve
And when you are done, you will redo Brit Fileds..right? RIGHT? ^^

 

Once again we see @SorcerousSteve 's wizardry and a wonderful change of scenery.

 

It looks amazing and unique! If anything gets me back into the game, it's reading your uncloning threads. I hope the offline version looks as amazing.

 

Yes, very much so! I was very aware that Yew went back in history to earlier Ultimas, so I researched concept art and screenshots.
For example this concept art from Ultima 9:






Alongside this I also did a lot of research into elven towns featured in other mediums of entertainment.
Overall it came down to recreating a town that would have a unique elven feel together with the latest in assets that we have now.
So yes, I took some inspiration from earlier Ultimas but took that a step further with the graphic capabilities and tools that Shroud of the Avatar now has.

 

In the case of Yew, most of the player lots are actually on the perimeter, outward from the town NPC center. So when it came down for me to unclone the map, I was actually very excited about that. For one, this allows me to get more creative with the town NPC center, I can change things up more. And secondly I don't have to worry as much about obstructing views and getting too close to the lots. So it played out pretty well in that sense with Yew.

 

The offline version will look just as amazing. lol
Remember that these are in-progress screenshots so really it will look even better as I continue doing additional propping and really nailing down that detail as you get up close and personal to the town.

 

WOW! NICE!

 

There are 3 Village Lots free atm.

 

but i don't have a Place anywhere deed and i am not into paying taxes - i will stay free .... taxfree

 

This in-cloning looks absolutely amazing! One of my favorite NPC towns is Vertas, with all the Elven style and flavor, and the unique music there that isn't found anywhere else. The "new" Yew looks even better! Great job Steve. I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

OMFG ITS MY TOWN!

Did you preserve elevations in this rework? I plopped my tower on the north end since it was up high and had a heck of a view.

I'm really excited about this.

Are you Doing the NPC submission thing for it yet? I'll need to rework the one I haw written in advance if so, or are there a nix of humans and elves here?

Google doc of NPC:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fFAj3-24u9PfZncWFf5PGmzf54DqCv7tdfePSimK0uA/edit?usp=sharing

 

Last time I was in town we had a couple lots open. Move in, just PLEASE deco your house. I tire of bland lots with a big ole structure.

Heck, I can even help on the furniture if want!

 

if this is a POT i would come at once but - as i stated above - i don't have NPC Town Place Anywhere deeds

PS: btw i have already a stuffed out elven village keep with another village elven garden besides it aside from the elven excavation camp at the SSE -Exit (atm in Dragomir Mori, were most of my lots are)

 

Yew did a really great job!