You must be a star trek fan
I really like the valorite castle walls. I'm already ready for the next contest, as seeing 300 designs have given a lot of good ideas that I didn't try.
-
Hail Guest! We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
-
Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
-
Hail Guest!, Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
-
Hail Guest! Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!
The Castle Contest Voting-- Community House Previews (IMAGE HEAVY)
I really like the valorite castle walls. I'm already ready for the next contest, as seeing 300 designs have given a lot of good ideas that I didn't try.
I will take function long before I take beauty with bad layouts. We are designing Castles not Villas
I like the stone materials. To me they speak 'castle'. I also like the wide open areas that I can build to my needs/desires.
As far as the keeps, I liked 40 and 137.
For the castles, I really liked 51 and 143. I really, really liked 143 made by Jelly Beans for the use of the lava which was a fireplace. Totally Awesome!
As far as the keeps, I liked 40 and 137.
For the castles, I really liked 51 and 143. I really, really liked 143 made by Jelly Beans for the use of the lava which was a fireplace. Totally Awesome!
Angleswings
Adventurer
Lot of cool designs, but a lot of people are using the water floors which you cant use or walk on it, therefore, useless space.
Thanks stratics for creating this, because would be so crazy boring to recall into 250+ projects.
as far as Votes, I really Hope they think this in the correct way, they should let us vote for Keep and than Castle, everybody is just focused on the castles and No Love for Keep's. Think about, the chances of you have a keep is higher than a Castle.
Keep that I liked: 61 66 111 137
Castles 19 22 28 57 59 67 136 161 172
They should also remove the restriction on the Keeps and allow us to place them anywhere.
Thanks stratics for creating this, because would be so crazy boring to recall into 250+ projects.
as far as Votes, I really Hope they think this in the correct way, they should let us vote for Keep and than Castle, everybody is just focused on the castles and No Love for Keep's. Think about, the chances of you have a keep is higher than a Castle.
Keep that I liked: 61 66 111 137
Castles 19 22 28 57 59 67 136 161 172
They should also remove the restriction on the Keeps and allow us to place them anywhere.
There are so many awesome designs. As far as looks go, my favorite castle is 101. That is just some dang neat architecture work. As far as functionality, I like 69 and 239. Also the unnamed Sandy castle (can't remember which number) is dope but I have a soft spot for sandstone lol.
Riyana
Operations
Administrator
Professional
Governor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Event Coordinator
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
Super huge thank yous to everyone who helped screenshot and post these images for easier reference!
@Lieutenant Dan! in particular made this happen--if I counted correctly he posted almost 150 images!
@eZekiel
@Tarragon Slayer/MZB
@Khyro
@Khaelor
@Max Blackoak
@uokings7
Also, there were a couple of broken image links that I fixed, so make sure you check again to see if there is a house you might want to take a look at. The broken ones were 87 and 110 and I think 20 (I fixed that one yesterday but didn't note which one it was in the post--if it wasn't, it was in the same post as 20). Please let me know if you notice any missing or broken images that I missed and I'll get them fixed ASAP.
I started this post last thing before I went to bed, got up, went to work and had to run some errands after, and by the time I got home it was all done. I checked in on my phone as I could and was just blown away. Great job and thank you again!
@Lieutenant Dan! in particular made this happen--if I counted correctly he posted almost 150 images!
@eZekiel
@Tarragon Slayer/MZB
@Khyro
@Khaelor
@Max Blackoak
@uokings7
Also, there were a couple of broken image links that I fixed, so make sure you check again to see if there is a house you might want to take a look at. The broken ones were 87 and 110 and I think 20 (I fixed that one yesterday but didn't note which one it was in the post--if it wasn't, it was in the same post as 20). Please let me know if you notice any missing or broken images that I missed and I'll get them fixed ASAP.
I started this post last thing before I went to bed, got up, went to work and had to run some errands after, and by the time I got home it was all done. I checked in on my phone as I could and was just blown away. Great job and thank you again!
It's called a contest, but to be honest, I consider it a lost chance.
Even what the UO dev team once designed, is just one big horrible chunk, most probably, based on the motte & bailey fortress in Roman style with a central donjon. To be more precise, based on the uninhabited ruins of a motte & bailey. And simplified, of course, so that it could fit on a castle-size plot.
Castles are so much more than this. They weren't just inhabited by one person, but a by multitude of people who had different professions, and therefore different houses.
Also, they come in plenty of styles: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Romantic, Classicist... They were meant as a place where people could protect themselves, hence the many towers which later evolved into status symbols.
The Loire region in France alone offers nearly a hundred castles, each one completely different. And that's just one region in one country. There are 50 countries in Europe, and Europe is only one of the continents on our world where you can find real castles.
Borg cubes are fine... they're great... for a nice sci-fi dystopia game where such a construction would make sense. If it's true that UO explicitly said "no cubes", then why can we vote for them? I expect they didn't really mean it when they said they'd disqualify them. It's a terrible shame. I read about functionality in this thread, but what does functionality have to do with an MMORPG game? Leave functionality to bookkeepers and industrialists. Weren't we playing UO for the immersive experience once?
Many people just threw something together in half an hour, not even bothering to put a roof on their walls. If you want to do something truly well, you have to be prepared to invest time and work in it. Rome wasn't built in a day either.
I've seen only a few designs that are based on real (still inhabited) castles, and / or where a decent amount of time and effort was involved. Those are my favorites. I applaud the creative minds behind these.
More rounds are coming, and I hope those few master builders will continue to design castles and keeps that resemble our RL heritage more. It's a pleasure to visit them, and I could live in any of these.
Even what the UO dev team once designed, is just one big horrible chunk, most probably, based on the motte & bailey fortress in Roman style with a central donjon. To be more precise, based on the uninhabited ruins of a motte & bailey. And simplified, of course, so that it could fit on a castle-size plot.
Castles are so much more than this. They weren't just inhabited by one person, but a by multitude of people who had different professions, and therefore different houses.
Also, they come in plenty of styles: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Romantic, Classicist... They were meant as a place where people could protect themselves, hence the many towers which later evolved into status symbols.
The Loire region in France alone offers nearly a hundred castles, each one completely different. And that's just one region in one country. There are 50 countries in Europe, and Europe is only one of the continents on our world where you can find real castles.
Borg cubes are fine... they're great... for a nice sci-fi dystopia game where such a construction would make sense. If it's true that UO explicitly said "no cubes", then why can we vote for them? I expect they didn't really mean it when they said they'd disqualify them. It's a terrible shame. I read about functionality in this thread, but what does functionality have to do with an MMORPG game? Leave functionality to bookkeepers and industrialists. Weren't we playing UO for the immersive experience once?
Many people just threw something together in half an hour, not even bothering to put a roof on their walls. If you want to do something truly well, you have to be prepared to invest time and work in it. Rome wasn't built in a day either.
I've seen only a few designs that are based on real (still inhabited) castles, and / or where a decent amount of time and effort was involved. Those are my favorites. I applaud the creative minds behind these.
More rounds are coming, and I hope those few master builders will continue to design castles and keeps that resemble our RL heritage more. It's a pleasure to visit them, and I could live in any of these.
I actually went and looked online for some castle floor plans. I was just guessing but never knew that many "open for visitor" castles have the floor plan posted online! tried to model mine a bit after ones I found and ones I have seen in movies and such, but with limited things to do, what was in my head could not come out properly.
It was fun to create though!
The Rooster
Visitor
I found 4 top contenders. These 4 are each different from the other, but each one represents a touch of architectural genius. #14, #83, #101, and #216.
I think every builder is an architectural genius. Llamas are known for this. We are all great just for the fact that we bothered. We did it. Everyone has favorites but I live in my castle and my keep. I use them. They are my homes. I need space to put my crafts, my garden , my treasures. Some entries just do not have room for me and my herd. But like me and all others in this contest, they too are architectural geniuses.
- Awards
- 3
Please voters don't make my eyes hurt! I am from Atlantic shard, where its difficult to even place a 7 x 7. Can you just imagine......
Cubes : Tons of useful space, but do we really need all cube designs?
Water features : True we cant walk on it, but can we ask the Devs and M to put additional water tiles on the tool- we have tons of items where a water feature is needed.
Personalization : I just talked to the 4 players from the Asian shards ( Blend helped me communicate) their designs are wonderful lets face it) But I would have to be a contortionist to try and lock down my items in most of their homes due to being TO MUCH HOME and not a lot of open space, I asked if they could fix a couple of them for the next contest.
Please no long hallways, no door after door to get inside or even inside doorways that are doubled up, No really small spaces please
Keeps ; Please include at least one keep design when voting if you have more than one account
That being said, I am not finished with the actual house inspections of all 300 but this site did help me decide to take a couple possible designs off my list.
Our exisiting castles are brown stone and have dbl doors and long hallways so any that I have toured that didn't differ I took off my list
Yards: we have so many items for garden/green spaces we need more open areas. Problem is if you don't leave the SE corner unblocked your loosing site of that area
Roofing : I visited many that once I entered I couldn't see my toon, including my own design. ( i run transparency)
Themed designs : Orcs/Goblins/Trolls/Gargoyles ( I always thought they lived under bridges-j/k) I saw several with these thoughts in mind- dunno what to say about these other than I can see why they would ask for it due to the fact the UO team encourages game play of all types. guess it cant hurt to ask
I am asking for lighter colored walls, additional staircases, some sort of house banners that can be inscripted with our township/name/guild names to be added to the castle design tool and YARDS
I am considering #166, #200, #187, ( #206 add chopped stairs to front and teleporters to replace some of the interior stairs, I would call this home) (# 296 - I love this home- but i dont want a color to define any of my future décor) and will edit this when I finish and add more
Also everyone I talked to said give us more time for the designing phase
Ok back to my toad pond
Cubes : Tons of useful space, but do we really need all cube designs?
Water features : True we cant walk on it, but can we ask the Devs and M to put additional water tiles on the tool- we have tons of items where a water feature is needed.
Personalization : I just talked to the 4 players from the Asian shards ( Blend helped me communicate) their designs are wonderful lets face it) But I would have to be a contortionist to try and lock down my items in most of their homes due to being TO MUCH HOME and not a lot of open space, I asked if they could fix a couple of them for the next contest.
Please no long hallways, no door after door to get inside or even inside doorways that are doubled up, No really small spaces please
Keeps ; Please include at least one keep design when voting if you have more than one account
That being said, I am not finished with the actual house inspections of all 300 but this site did help me decide to take a couple possible designs off my list.
Our exisiting castles are brown stone and have dbl doors and long hallways so any that I have toured that didn't differ I took off my list
Yards: we have so many items for garden/green spaces we need more open areas. Problem is if you don't leave the SE corner unblocked your loosing site of that area
Roofing : I visited many that once I entered I couldn't see my toon, including my own design. ( i run transparency)
Themed designs : Orcs/Goblins/Trolls/Gargoyles ( I always thought they lived under bridges-j/k) I saw several with these thoughts in mind- dunno what to say about these other than I can see why they would ask for it due to the fact the UO team encourages game play of all types. guess it cant hurt to ask
I am asking for lighter colored walls, additional staircases, some sort of house banners that can be inscripted with our township/name/guild names to be added to the castle design tool and YARDS
I am considering #166, #200, #187, ( #206 add chopped stairs to front and teleporters to replace some of the interior stairs, I would call this home) (# 296 - I love this home- but i dont want a color to define any of my future décor) and will edit this when I finish and add more
Also everyone I talked to said give us more time for the designing phase
Ok back to my toad pond
Last edited:
I think its bit dull and completely unnecessary to use all that space to create a single walled claustrophobic isolation. Way I see it, potential here is with a bit more open places that breathe.. and with small villages and such. 146&177 are def my favourites here. 146 reminds me of some northern european real life castles actually.
I too would like lighter colored walls, walls of different heights so we could make crenelations on the tops of towers, granite colored walls (would still enable us to craft walls later) pink stone (not agapite), and wall pieces that would allow us to make rounded towers in something other than the brown stone. Is there any way would could add wooden doors and cast iron fencing/ gates into the crafting menu in game. While we are on the topic, could we get some water tiles like the grass and sand tiles we have in game.
I was impressed with the work and creativity that went into many of these. My top choices were 24, 136, 220 and 244.
Suggestions: I did not consider entries that used different colored floor tiles for each room or entries that used a lot of different wall tiles mixed in together. It made things seem far too busy and disjointed. If you are using walls other than the brownstone consider that those walls can not be crafted so it doesn't make sense to change the floor tiles in the middle of a space. Remember in your design that we have carpet tiles, grass, sand, lava and swamp tiles in game with which to decorate.
I was impressed with the work and creativity that went into many of these. My top choices were 24, 136, 220 and 244.
Suggestions: I did not consider entries that used different colored floor tiles for each room or entries that used a lot of different wall tiles mixed in together. It made things seem far too busy and disjointed. If you are using walls other than the brownstone consider that those walls can not be crafted so it doesn't make sense to change the floor tiles in the middle of a space. Remember in your design that we have carpet tiles, grass, sand, lava and swamp tiles in game with which to decorate.
Very disappointed in the winners.
Dot Warners gothic castle was really fantastic, but the pink floors are pretty off putting...
Tatiana's... i'll be really honest, i have no idea how that hit 3. Tied with "blank plot" no less. That castle, imo, is really bad. I have a strange feeling this was a situation where someone had 25 accounts and voted themselves to the win.
Dot Warners gothic castle was really fantastic, but the pink floors are pretty off putting...
Tatiana's... i'll be really honest, i have no idea how that hit 3. Tied with "blank plot" no less. That castle, imo, is really bad. I have a strange feeling this was a situation where someone had 25 accounts and voted themselves to the win.
Larisa
Publishing Manager, Stratics Leadership
Editor
Reporter
Moderator
Professional
Editor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
Dot's was actually my favorite out of them all but I didn't vote for it because it is very limiting as far as deco...glad it won though because it's just stunning.
Don't care for the other 2 though, (Sorry!) the keep design is nice but again with the water feature and smallish rooms it's still very limiting.
Congrats Dot...you did a fantastic job, your work will forever be a part of UO!
Don't care for the other 2 though, (Sorry!) the keep design is nice but again with the water feature and smallish rooms it's still very limiting.
Congrats Dot...you did a fantastic job, your work will forever be a part of UO!
voting is not over how are there winners?
Those massive windows make the corner rooms on the second floor very odd designs. and it kind of ruins the possible uses for the rooms, but by far the biggest problem is those pink tiles. Not everyone who plays appreciates full on pink.
Prebuilt features like fire places have to go, from reactions, im not the only one who felt that way.
Three cannot even comment.
I'm sure the answer is going to be "we'll run the co test again next year". Dot Warner's I get it. It's nice, pink floors and all. But the 2 that tied for 3rd is an absolute disgrace.
The devs should just go thru the list and pick one that exemplifies a castle themselves, because there was obviously some shady voting going on.
The devs should just go thru the list and pick one that exemplifies a castle themselves, because there was obviously some shady voting going on.
Larisa
Publishing Manager, Stratics Leadership
Editor
Reporter
Moderator
Professional
Editor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
No I don't want the devs to choose...it's nice they let the players decide...even if some people have more votes then others. And remember this contest will run at least twice..maybe three times a year depending on how often they put out a new publish.
As far as voting being over..as it states on uo.com
Voting will end Wednesday, August 29, 2018 4:05:03 PM ET
That was almost an hour ago so voting is over.
As far as voting being over..as it states on uo.com
Voting will end Wednesday, August 29, 2018 4:05:03 PM ET
That was almost an hour ago so voting is over.
Larisa
Publishing Manager, Stratics Leadership
Editor
Reporter
Moderator
Professional
Editor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wiki Moderator
UNLEASHED
Okay so voting isn't over and they lied because Dot is now in second place....voting SHOULD have been over.....
And sorry Cyrah I meant the other castle :/ your keep is fabulous!
And sorry Cyrah I meant the other castle :/ your keep is fabulous!
I love Dot's Castle that being said they should give us some ability to choose tile and wall colors... at this point i will probably roll with the llamas keep ! of course living on Origin i can move once a week 
they clearly stated no blank plots and have veto rights so Lt Dans is out...
- Awards
- 5
Oh that was pretty disappointing. At the moment I'm totally failing to see why these got so many more votes than the others.
I didn't have the keep on my short list because I didn't like the arches on the outside wall. I hate doors and excessive stairs, also the fireplaces and iron gates I wasn't keen on. Maybe an improvement over the current Keep for some people but for now I guess I'll stick with my 18x18.
Dot's was beautiful from the outside, but the pink floors I really couldn't live with, if only the floors had been grey or cream or something more neutral.
Third place wasn't anything special, there were better designs so not sure why it got so many votes, the different coloured flooring on the same floor put me off a bit.
No offense to anyone's designs, liking them or not is a matter of personal taste, they are just not for me.
I didn't have the keep on my short list because I didn't like the arches on the outside wall. I hate doors and excessive stairs, also the fireplaces and iron gates I wasn't keen on. Maybe an improvement over the current Keep for some people but for now I guess I'll stick with my 18x18.
Dot's was beautiful from the outside, but the pink floors I really couldn't live with, if only the floors had been grey or cream or something more neutral.
Third place wasn't anything special, there were better designs so not sure why it got so many votes, the different coloured flooring on the same floor put me off a bit.
No offense to anyone's designs, liking them or not is a matter of personal taste, they are just not for me.
I'd turn mine into the gothic rose/dot Warner house if the floors were neutral I agree. That's my only complaint with it.
The other one... Let's not sugar coat it. That's either someone voting with 20 accounts or people voting blindly based on name.
The other one... Let's not sugar coat it. That's either someone voting with 20 accounts or people voting blindly based on name.
Tatiana Thorn of Atlantic is one of the nicest most helpful players I have ever met in 17 years of playing. Give her a break. I know why she got so many votes. Players adore her. As for plot, well we said we wanted an empty plot. We got one. Start mining. As for my fireplaces, cover them up , try not to fall out of the arches, or never ever build it.
WildStar
UO Baja News Reporter
Reporter
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I also liked Dot's Keep but had trouble with seeing how the storage and decorating would work, so I had to with something more functional.
I also liked #113 but had the same issues.
I can see why the other two got votes.
I also liked #113 but had the same issues.
I can see why the other two got votes.
Tatiana is awesome.... But I fail to see why that means whatever you call that castle design, becomes a classic house on the placement tool.
While your keep is deserving of winning, I also think you received the benefit of some sort of popularity contest, as you already admitted.
Just because someone is adored doesn't mean they make good designs/design choices. Simple as that. Having a lot of friends doesn't automatically mean one deserves or should win a design contest.
As for your lava fire places you cannot cover them up, cannot remove them, but any player with a little bit of granite and some lava tiles could have replicated it if they so chose. Now the rest of the player base is forced with that choice if they want to update their keep. I know a lot of players who decided just not to update their keep. Your design could have been stellar with just a couple edits. Congrats on getting people to tc to vote though.
People need to be thoughtful with their designs. I know we only had two weeks, but you can still try to be thoughtful of how others can use the space.
all the winner's castles/keeps look great. Was so happy to see that a keep won as people were worried about that
Dot's floors don't bother me until the giant chess board. But that would be turned into grass anyways...hum well maybe. It was one my list for a while except for all the windows. Makes it hard for deco.
Now as to changing my castle. I shiver at the thought of having to redo all my deco not to mention moving stuff to safe keeping before changing. Not that any thing could go wrong and make things go poof. No way am I risking my blackrock chests collection.
Dot's floors don't bother me until the giant chess board. But that would be turned into grass anyways...hum well maybe. It was one my list for a while except for all the windows. Makes it hard for deco.
[bcolor=transparent]Tatiana[/bcolor]'s wasn't as open as I like but I do like the room arrangement. For me it makes it more liveable. It even has a stable and a perfect blacksmith shop.
I was hoping for an open central court yard, which neither have. But frankly, I can live with either of these very easily. I just hope they all get approved.Now as to changing my castle. I shiver at the thought of having to redo all my deco not to mention moving stuff to safe keeping before changing. Not that any thing could go wrong and make things go poof. No way am I risking my blackrock chests collection.
Last edited:
The results are already being posted on the stone, this by far is the stupidest way to run a vote.