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I do not understand why a large guild does not win every time. Atlantic can't group together to make a star on a tree or win this design contest.
What you think are the best designs are not popular enough to get votes, so they are not the best.
I think the biggest thing with the contest is that majority of the designs people aren't going to love for their own use. When this happens they just don't vote. It's only the people that make a design or are super opinionated about anything/everything that really vote and then a few others that a design actually appeals to (who actually own a castle). This is why they just should just allow custom castles on Prod Shards just like they were an 18x18.
My problem is with half the designs is that while I do really like the village square design or the re-designed castle (missing almost an entire 3rd level); there is just too much wasted space with those designs. All of my lockdowns would need to be fit into the small pre-fab rooms. The big wide open layouts appeal more to me but I'd still like to have some walls but the placement of those walls will likely vary with each person. This brings me back to why the should allow custom castles on Prod Shards; there are few enough castles available on each shard that it shouldn't be an issue allowing people to create whatever ugly cube they can think of.
My problem is with half the designs is that while I do really like the village square design or the re-designed castle (missing almost an entire 3rd level); there is just too much wasted space with those designs. All of my lockdowns would need to be fit into the small pre-fab rooms. The big wide open layouts appeal more to me but I'd still like to have some walls but the placement of those walls will likely vary with each person. This brings me back to why the should allow custom castles on Prod Shards; there are few enough castles available on each shard that it shouldn't be an issue allowing people to create whatever ugly cube they can think of.
I wish they would even if you had to have it "pre-approved" and then wait for a publish to be able to use the design... I'd prefer that to the "popularity" contest and having to hope that the DEVs decide you won if you got the votes... even after getting votes, you can still lose... so yeah.
I would even be willing to pay for this. Rather than having the design added to the placement tool you could get a deed that would place an approved design on production shards.
I definitely agree that the best solution would be a way for players to design their own custom plot and get it placed on production.
That said, given the parameters we have to work with today, it can be a challenge designing something that appeals to a broad section of castle owners. A giant cube allows for the greatest space availability, but isn’t the most visually appealing. Trying to combine architecturally pleasing designs with open floor plans has had some modest success, but still leaves a lot to be desired with specific wall placement. So many castle owners use them as more traditional types of rares displays (myself included) so it can be challenging to conceptualize how to fit all that in when designs have more limited floor space. I’ve desired the “village” layout for a while but really struggled with how to make it work… that is until I saw some of Dryzzid’s work in North Harbor. He does an absolutely amazing job of taking small spaces and making them work while incorporating rares into them.
The town square design is meant to give players an opportunity to do something similar on a single plot. For example, on the first floor I envision a stable, mage shop, tavern, church, blacksmith/armorer, and a provisioner. The second floor has a guard shack with barracks, a fishing shack, the rectory, a tool shack, a bakery/mill, a citizen residence, and a Lord residence. Perhaps others see those small spaces as different “venues”, but the design help make them more distinct. I know it’s definitely a departure from most of the more “single castle” layouts but I think it provides a design that is fairly underrepresented in the current selection. Hopefully there are a few out there who agree.
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I really like the look of the stone accents. The only trouble I have with them is they block the tiles against the wall for most objects. Ingame it would be tough to deco around the outside of this design.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with popularity or "best design" but rather with gold. See pics from a 2019 contest in the link.
And that´s just one example that happened to be documented.
Just another system with potential that´s been corrupted by idiots...
If they are not going to simply add customizable keeps and castles to the game, then at the very least, they should add wall, floor, stair and door styles as craftable pieces. Make all wooden items (including wood and plaster walls and such) craftable using the carpentry skill. Make all stone items (including sandstone, marble, etc.) craftable using masonry. Any and all metal style doors (solid metal, wrought iron, etc.) should be tinkered.
This would allow exterior walls to be created by the contestants and allow for the owners to have as much interior flexibility as possible.
Just my two cents after giving this about five minutes of thought.
This would allow exterior walls to be created by the contestants and allow for the owners to have as much interior flexibility as possible.
Just my two cents after giving this about five minutes of thought.
I don't see anything there but people complaining about not winning.
Maybe something is missing.
Also seems their purpose was to beg for votes there.
Is that 1 vote per paid acc and you can not vote on your own design?
I think 3 votes per acc would be better I remember the keep contest it was hard to pick just 1 many of them was so similar
I sold mine for 20 mil back then, but then I didn't actually vote at all.
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You can vote for yourself. It works the same way when you vote for town governor.
Any opinions/suggestions would be welcome. We can edit designs until the voting starts.
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I totally understand what your saying about blocking some if not most deco next to the walls
The accent stone piece can be added later
I had taken 2 screenshots one with the added accents and one without
That’s why there are 2 pics but I put 2 of the same pics on by mistake
When I get home today I’ll load them again
I’m still working the design any other suggestions would be great
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you can edit the designs, as long as you don't enter the contest.
I did edits after I entered the contest, and they didn't go into the final design.
I suggest sticking to one floor tile color throughout.
That is a big problem for some people.
one thing this place makes me long for...
to be able to put raised gardens out front
there isn't enough room in your design
Floor tile has never crossed my mind just looked for something good. People tend to cover floors with carpet and goza and outside they use the grass and snow tiles just as long as you can walk on them it makes it much easier. I know the small house I made I had to place ladders on ladders to place anything in the water
#inflation
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ya I covered up Elsa's castle with red & white goza's
but i hear people complain about that design because all the different tiles
(on some computers the gozas create major lag though)
Well there is my go at it, although it's already been made abundantly clear to me that I don't have the accounts to win and that's basically what it comes down to
.....so F it, there it is tho
I dunno why it put these out of order I tried to fix it but can't, they do say what floor they are tho. And I hate EC, having to play uo in EC should be some sort of punishment...lol
.....so F it, there it is tho
I dunno why it put these out of order I tried to fix it but can't, they do say what floor they are tho. And I hate EC, having to play uo in EC should be some sort of punishment...lol
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I like your window boxes and dormers!
Hythloth Castle
Seems to me that if the best design win everybody wins so unless they add another price for winning I think you should get pretty fair voting even if some people have many accs
In the keep contest there was only 1 of all the winner designs that i thought it was strange that many voted for
In the keep contest there was only 1 of all the winner designs that i thought it was strange that many voted for
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Can you walk on the fire?
This is beautiful work! I think people should win on merit not popularity. Were not in High School anymore peops!!! I would give u a vote! Any chance u could screen shot the other floors? I would love to see inside.
We are all different. I have seen none here I would choose to use. They are pretty but do not fit what I need.
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Nope
Can't walk on water either
Maybe they'll give us fireman boots to protect us from it later on someday
It is an interesting design and looks nice though
Well, I stated earlier I like different textures and materials in the design. With this I got it. A couple things I would wish for ... seeing the floor plans to determine usage and where the roof stairs are - a teleporter. The TP allows for more grass usage to complete roofing more IMO.
As it stands now, tho ... you would have my vote for this. Seriously.
Is there a link to read more about how participating in the contests work? I did read the part about going to the test center and using the house sign to designate the house for the competition, but I have several questions.
Will there be a keep contest? If so, when? I see there have been some in the past, but is there a schedule of how often they occur?
When is the next test center wipe scheduled?
Is it easy to find a test center spot to build a keep (or castle)?
I was thinking of doing the character copy to the test center - is there a best time to do this?
Regarding the current competition: When the voting time occurs, are there runes at the Britain Commons for people to use to view each castle design? Can one walk around in and test each design?
Is there a chance that custom plot sizes will ever be offered in the keep and castle size - or even a range of sizes like the current custom plots, but make them range up to keep and castle size?
Thank you.
Will there be a keep contest? If so, when? I see there have been some in the past, but is there a schedule of how often they occur?
When is the next test center wipe scheduled?
Is it easy to find a test center spot to build a keep (or castle)?
I was thinking of doing the character copy to the test center - is there a best time to do this?
Regarding the current competition: When the voting time occurs, are there runes at the Britain Commons for people to use to view each castle design? Can one walk around in and test each design?
Is there a chance that custom plot sizes will ever be offered in the keep and castle size - or even a range of sizes like the current custom plots, but make them range up to keep and castle size?
Thank you.
I'm still waiting to be able to build this:
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on Tuesday Jan 18th
you will be able to go to the stone to vote
there will be an arrow on the left side to go to the entry
(you can do that for each entry, just return to the stone to go to next house)
then when you decide which one you like better
go back to the stone, go to the correct house #
and click the check mark on the right side
top 20 votes will go on to the 2nd round
(repeat viewing of all entries & then vote for the one you like)
at the conclusion of the event
top 3 votes will win (DEVs get final approval of those)
& DEVs choose 3 designs
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when we had the contests before
they alternated the contests for each publish.
so I am asuming Publish 113 will be for keeps
(they always wipe the shard, when they announce the contests)
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DEVs have always said that they won't allow custom plots
bigger than an 18 X 18. that is why they started these contests
Getting closer. Found a way to create the illusion of a dome on a single level, but only works with certain tilesets, and is limited to max 12x12 area. Still playing around with joining roof to walls (surprisingly difficult) or I would post pics.
A dome add-on tileset expansion with an array of half, compound, and catenary dome variants would be awesome.
Thank ya I don't have enhanced client so it's hard to screen shot the whole thing. If you would like to see it tho or even screenshot it you can give me a q 105811531 and I will gate you to it so u can have a look around.
When you get to the point where you feel comfortable showing it I'd love to see what you've done because I haven't even been able to come close. Doesn't have to be perfect, just like to be able to see what you've done thus far. Hit me up when you have a couple minutes to show it. Thanks.
Updated my post shows pics of all floors, even though they are out of order lol
One of my favorite non stone Castles. I would prefer if the first and second floor were open or had rooms and the grass area begin on the third floor. I need lots of space.
Drooling~!
Worked a bit on a township/castle setup. Really like the looks of it, but it's would be an absolute pain to decorate 
I tried to emuate a real structure, build over several decades. With different style additions where there was space to build. Still thinking of a name for it, and may change it up a little more if I think of something cool. Mainly the tower/gate on the North-East side - not completely happy with that.
In both the small rooms on the side of the main gate (South-gate), there are teleporters to the top of roofs, and the small rooms in the north-east corner, 5 teleporters total (1 to top of castle, 1 top of guard tower, 1 to each level in the North-east tower.
Anybody want to check it out it can be found in Malas, east of Luna. Location: 100o 12'N, 4o 34W.
I tried to emuate a real structure, build over several decades. With different style additions where there was space to build. Still thinking of a name for it, and may change it up a little more if I think of something cool. Mainly the tower/gate on the North-East side - not completely happy with that.
In both the small rooms on the side of the main gate (South-gate), there are teleporters to the top of roofs, and the small rooms in the north-east corner, 5 teleporters total (1 to top of castle, 1 top of guard tower, 1 to each level in the North-east tower.
Anybody want to check it out it can be found in Malas, east of Luna. Location: 100o 12'N, 4o 34W.