NEWS [UO.Com] Publish 106 Castle Contest Important Dates

[UO News]

8/14/2019 Please take note of the following important dates for the Publish 106 Castle Contest Contest Start Wednesday, August 14, 2019 1:39:29 PM GMT-04:00 DST Round One Voting Wednesday, August 28, 2019 1:46:09 PM GMT-04:00 DST Round Two Voting Wednesday, September 4, 2019 1:46:09 PM GMT-04:00 DST Contest End Saturday, September 7, 2019 1:46:09 PM GMT-04:00 DST

Continue reading...

 

[TheGrimReefer]

If the contest is really about votes, Lets all vote for an empty plot. Maybe we will get it that way.

 

[MalagAste]

It would be disqualified er the posted rules...

 

[Drakelord]

If the contest is really about votes, Lets all vote for an empty plot. Maybe we will get it that way.

Place a plot and build a Keep on it with a moat The one thing that bites me is I cannot place a smaller house in Zento during the contest to check out all the rest that is there. I just wish to place a 18x18 in zento to test out the new stuff

 

[ShriNayne]

@TheGrimReefer There was a blank plot in joint third place in the first contest but it was disqualified as it was stated at the start that blank plots are not allowed. Messana made it clear more than once that we won't be having castle or keep sized blank plots.

 

[THP]

ive asked b4 ingame to the devs ....had a muted response.... i will ask again on here ... devs is it possible to get a drawbridge option say 2 squares or 3 squares high that opens up and down rather than doors left/right ....i think everyone would agree a drawbridge over a moat would be a absolure dream to play around with

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

ive asked b4 ingame to the devs ....had a muted response.... i will ask again on here ... devs is it possible to get a drawbridge option say 2 squares or 3 squares high that opens up and down rather than doors left/right ....i think everyone would agree a drawbridge over a moat would be a absolure dream to play around with

Would be awesome to have.

I'd really also love to have a portcullis that raises and lowers too. That'd be freaking awesome for custom castle design.

 

[Danpal]

I want to have the small stone walls added in to layers. Like we have on top of the towers and castle already when we build the old style.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

I want to have the small stone walls added in to layers. Like we have on top of the towers and castle already when we build the old style.

I've been asking for that one for years. Several wall sets have short short, short and half walls. Drives me nuts that the stone walls only have the one short short wall piece.

There's also not a single foundation style that perfectly matches the stone wall set. There's a couple that are ok but every one has a flaw or two.

 

[MalagAste]

I want to have the small stone walls added in to layers. Like we have on top of the towers and castle already when we build the old style.

Those are actually made of stacking the small stone 2 and 3 high... Which I tried to replicate on my Keep but unfortunately there are 3 places on the Keep design you can't put anything as it thinks it is not on the plot. I pointed this out to the DEVs at one point... but I doubt anything will come of it.

They do need to make 1/2 and 1/3 walls for use with the housing tool to make up for this. If they did I'd totally redesign my keep to fix that issue.

 

[Danpal]

I've been asking for that one for years. Several wall sets have short short, short and half walls. Drives me nuts that the stone walls only have the one short short wall piece.

There's also not a single foundation style that perfectly matches the stone wall set. There's a couple that are ok but every one has a flaw or two.

I know so we have 2 weeks to make a castle and hope that we have the room to add with stonework. It toke me months to get my 18x18 just right. And that was with placeing items then going into custem to change things.

Would be better to just let us build are own. On regular shard then let broadsword approve it. It can say as a normal castle or keep until they approve it. Once approved it will show as the approve look instead of the old style.

 

[MalagAste]

I'd be fine with them letting us make it on TC and then waiting till the next publish if it's approved to be able to play in on the regular shard.

That way everyone can have the chance to have their own design ...

And that way I could make it exactly how I want to without having to go in later and add doors and walls.

I'd even be ok with paying a fee for being able to do just that. Pay for the "design kit" usable on TC only and once the design is approved wait for a publish to see it added to the housing menu.

 

[THP]

drawbridges and portcullis for the win here

 

[DevilsOwn]

I pretty much suck at time zones...... can we make adjustments to our designs until 4pm dst? (which, I'm thinking, means 4pm est?) it's all so confusing

 

[Pawain]

Better hurry they are swarming the voting totem. Looks like a lot of posters are there now and in the contest.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

So when you check out mine, #52, be sure to get a rune from the Steward that'll take you to a almost fully decorated version.

I decorated most of it, just not the rooftop. I'm not much into rooftop gardens but there's tons o room for your custom creations.

 

[MissEcho]

Mine is #99 on the stone, Tudor Gables - builder Caitlyn. Pictures on the link.

No idea how you ever get up in number on the list. I placed first day, then entered it with a name within minutes of placing yet still come in at #99.

Yet plots I know that weren't submitted til well after mine are much further up the list. Can't cut a break lol.

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

I think I was online within an hour of TC1 coming up that day. I named the house and submitted the empty plot immediately. Ended up #52.

 

[MissEcho]

I think I was online within an hour of TC1 coming up that day. I named the house and submitted the empty plot immediately. Ended up #52.

yeah no idea how it works, after a bout a week I went running around trying to look at places and 90% were still bare plots and still private so there no way they could of been submitted as you have to be open to the public to submit. Today there are 150 entries so buggered if I know. I guess it makes no difference. It does suck tho as the further down the list you are the less chance you have of getting looked at as ppl get tired after about page 2-3.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Last time i took my place out of competition for some seconds to change the house name and got a very high number. Submitting before you name the house, makes you see the name on the sign but on the stone its "an unnamed house". Happened to me first rounds.

 

[Tamais]

Because people do burn out after the first few pages, I started on page 15 and went backwards. Found so many well-designed homes

 

[azu]

Check it out!

 

[Telraseth]

I just watched it. You made a nice collage video

 

[Cyrah]

Ty @azu Where is your castle?

 

[Cinderella]

Check it out!

ty for doing this

 

[Cyrah]

Where is his castle anyone know? It is so dark. I would like to see it.

 

[Nereus]

Check it out!

Great overview of the contest entries! Thank you for this effort Azu.
Would it be feasible to add footage of the 1st floor interior to #16? The video currently shows floors 2-4. The 1st floor is important to the concept since it contains the exit and 2nd floor stairway.
Thanks.

 

[DevilsOwn]

bumping this to the top cause first round voting is nearly over and because of the video made by @azu - great job for those looking for a specific type to examine further

 

[Phreak]

/OT/ Azu has one of the best UO YouTube channels I’ve found. Good mix of pvp and pvm. His video of soloing the roof had me laughing.

 

[Uriah Heep]

So why aren't the finalists listed where we can vote? Or what time (in most anything besides GMT) is voting starting?

 

[Maximus Neximus]

So why aren't the finalists listed where we can vote? Or what time (in most anything besides GMT) is voting starting?

The top 20 is up for voting now

 

[Lord Arm]

i wish winners can talk to devs before they make perm. i have wall doors in some place to get to venders. i would like to remove some inner wall so i can craft walls and make rooms as i see fit. later can change rooms if needed to be larger. i had to put walls up so i would be able to commit. i wanted it to be wide open so people can make the rooms the way they wanted. i also want my large front door/gate to raise up lol. my entree made it past first round #18 dragonmaster, dragons nest. there are door walls so u can get to the front for venders. will the devs know this? if you like, vote for #18 dragon master, dragon nest. thanks

 

[Pawain]

Its like a Wolfpack around the stone.

9 is awesome. Love the waterwheel fountain! I could deco this place.

2 is a more open sandstone. Love it!

15 speaks for itself.

I like them all. Congrats to the posters who made the cut.

Players are using deco now to help sell the designs. Love it!
Each round gets better and better!

Congrats to the top 20!

 

[ShriNayne]

Grats to the top 20, good luck for the next vote!

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Its not easy to make inside flexible for sure. Only classic castle stonewalls have the masonry option. You need to have some of the static walls with SE corner piece and open doorways for the owner to add walls. And such houses doesnt seem to appeal to voters. To leave a whole lvl open is usless in my opinion if there are no way to add walls with no gaps . I agree places look better and better . But for me an amazing outside just makes me even more dissapointed with the inside if the corners are plugged with a "stone pillar" or doorways so narrow you cant start a wall as well in the gap. Me and more and more ppl like to fill gaps with suggestions in coloured granite to show how it could look. It also helps the builder to see if something is not working as intended. Ezekiel is good at this ..
I think a little deco showing how you think the different areas could be used is nice. I also use to have a room designed to hold stone owens (yes i love to deco kitchens with thoose) Needs hole in the floor above so I atleast place the owens to show.
Im in the top 20 and wish all good luck. If not,see you next competition

 

[MalagAste]

I saw your place @Minerva Foxglove #3 I believe on the list this round loved it... but had to vote for my own design... I'm actually hoping yours wins... though I really want mine to win.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Aww thank you so much! ofcourse you should vote for yours! Im not sure wich one it is this time , but you are a better architect than me I know. Im more into decorating normally but now I have trained the whole year and learned from others that have shared here. My no 3 is the result of alot of experimenting between competitions and listening to ppl like you and Ezekiel and studied others work. I removed my masonry floors and walls early this year due to the laggggg. I thought it should be easy to find something to convert to back then. Since then I have most stuff packed in containers and spend time every day looking for things I need *sigh* This time I just have to pick something to convert to and get some order hehe..Hopefully my own but I dont dare to hope.. Been cloose before so..

 

[MalagAste]

I got my Keep the last keep run... I think... or the one before... this time I'd like my Castle it's #7 by Trilla... Hoping it gets a nod or two... but we'll see.

If not hope yours wins as it's my "runner up" and I decided I could use that if mine doesn't win.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Thank you! I have no idea how it goes . Its hard to get anything done with all fingers crossed.. As I said I have been close. No3 first round and 6 second but the devs picked something at the bottom of the list so I dont dare to hope .

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

Most of these this round would be worthy of adding to the game. I've looked at all twenty at least twice, some three or four times.

Just about every one would be fine if added to the game. There's seven or eight that are just excellent and a few more that are really good too. I don't think there's any bad ones this time.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

We are all lookingg for different things, so the more alternatives the better. For me three floors with huge rooms and no way to set in extra walls is a no. One such floor is good if it has ways to use masonry , but not three. If the building isnt made in classic castle stone it needs to have set rooms and doorways. Apart from that I think variety is great. I really enjoyed this year of building and im happy to see so many players taking part in this! Do we know for sure this continues for more years?

 

[Ezekiel Zane]

For me it's lucky that my favorite wall set is the classic stone. Ninety percent of all the custom houses I've ever built were done in classic stone.

Unfortunately, I don't like how the crafted stone was implemented. To me the classic castle and keep structures are such a waste of space that even with crafted walls there's not much to do with the main floors. I really don't like the ones where the crafted floors were added to the top to make one giant roof either.

Building the keep and castle size plots via the house customization tool is really gratifying and fun. Then disappointing when your design isn't liked by enough players to be chosen. Such is life.

Cheers and good luck wished to all who got into the top twenty.

 

[Cinderella]

Do we know for sure this continues for more years?

they keep asking about it at meet and greets.
its ongoing.
next contest keeps, following castle, etc, etc

I think it will be ongoing, as long as people keep entering the contests...
if people stop entering, then they will probably stop it

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Aha.. ill do my share to keep it going then. I have no keep but its fun to build anyways.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

. Amazing how much ppl are interested in this. And didnt Mesanna say something about adding more tiles to the tool.. cant wait to see what we get. Hopefully the missing tiles in the most used sets.

 

[Delores D]

Place a plot and build a Keep on it with a moat The one thing that bites me is I cannot place a smaller house in Zento during the contest to check out all the rest that is there. I just wish to place a 18x18 in zento to test out the new stuff

Since you can not place and 18x18 place the castle size and mark out the 18x18 size on there with different colored tiles. I do this all the time.

 

[MalagAste]

I keep hoping they will add more tiles to the tool... I once went through all the art in the game and sent them a HUGE list of wall tiles that are in-game but we don't have access to ..... I asked they be added to game... way back when she was more receptive to things... I sent them Multiple pages on "broken" furniture that is just not really practical because they don't sit properly in the tiles... I've reported a particular door that has the wrong graphic for its opening... Nothing has been done about any of it. I had to laugh when I saw someone used that door this round on their castle design. While it looks good closed it looks stupid when you open it and the handle jumps to the inside of the door... and it opens backward.

I gave up on waiting around. Anymore I just keep complaining about it at Meet and Greets I ask about it... I poke them about these things from time to time... If I dig I could probably find the original emails ... add more to them even... and send them over and over again... but I don't think they care. Which makes me feel like maybe I shouldn't care about the game anymore either and maybe it's time to just let it go... Quit paying and quit playing... They just keep adding more crap to the game without a care about stuff that we keep asking about.

They have a list of tiles... They know we'd like the crenelations for the castle walls made and added to the game so we can use them... but again nothing. The True Castle Crenelations are just 2 and 3 of the small tiles stacked on one another... sadly we can't replicate this even with the tiles they gave us because all the NW corner pieces think they are NOT in the castle. The only way you could do it is if you created the castle with at least 1 to 2 tiles surrounding it.... which then it's not a 32x32 but a 30x30.. and wastes a bunch of space which you wouldn't really be able to deco or do much of anything with... it would just be there. Sure you could put a door out there and go around the 1 tile you could walk on but really what would be the point as no one would ever see what you put out there anyway. And if you think the old castle keep designs are a pain to add tiles to try adding those crenelations on the North and West sides of a building... I tried doing it on my keep and quickly got disgusted... Especially when I found out that the NW corners are not considered part of the building. I still haven't finished decorating my keep because of it... got disgusted with it. I've been mulling over how to "fix" the problem.

 

[Cinderella]

I keep hoping they will add more tiles to the tool... I once went through all the art in the game and sent them a HUGE list of wall tiles that are in-game but we don't have access to ..... I asked they be added to game... way back when she was more receptive to things....

I think she didn't want you to send them again, cause she still has the one you sent.
I believe it was stated at a meet & greet, that this is something on their list...

the list has to be really long.
And this year is High Seas related.
I can't remember what they said they are working on next year.
unfortunately some of the meet & greets, there was tech issues & they weren't reported.

 

[MalagAste]

I brought her to my house once to show her the door and how stupid it is... There are quite a few files in the EC that are whacky... My character Malag always used to wear a long skirt (The idea RP wise being that he was stealthy was that it was used to "remove" his tracks...) however one publish some years ago made it so that they seem to have removed most of the "male" versions of things in the EC... the skirt being one of them and on the paperdoll I noted that with the skirt on he had very feminine leg showing... that was a game-changer for sure and had to be rectified immediately... so he's worn a Hakama ever since. Looks okish functions similarly... but no female legs slipping out anymore. Just one more thing that's messed up and been messed up for a long time... the only thing is I don't complain too much about it at all because it also meant that males in the EC got the female version of the elven belt which I prefer 100,000x over the male diaper looking version... so I just let it be and moved on.

But there are 2 of the 16th anniversary horses that are "reversed" in the EC... there was the mix up with the rocks from last Halloween as well were we had 2 of the same rocks in the EC and were missing the art for one of them... they ID'd as different rocks but looked identical...

There are dozens of such issues but nothing ever gets done about it... rather like how in the EC if you use the Circle of Transparency you can't see anything that has annimation.. very annoying to say the least.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

I don’t remember. How long does it usually take for winners to be announced along with the dev’s choices?