Archive for September, 2017

VGHVI Minecraft: August 31, 2017

Sep 04 2017 Published by under Uncategorized

In the August Minecraft session, the next question was what to do with the surroundings of the building I’d been working on.

Approaching the mountain

Getting closer up

At the back of the building, looking towards it

There was a green area behind that I was thinking of a sort of garden; I had a vague idea that I might fence it in? But when I started wandering around, that didn’t work: it was too large, and it was also hilly enough that a fence didn’t feel like a natural boundary. So I looked around, trying to figure out what I could do.

Around one side of the building, I saw an area that just didn’t look good; when I cleaned it up a bit, though, it actually did turn into a nice coherent area. So I started out emphasizing that, which ended up turning it into a patio.

Uneven territory right next to one side window

There’s a pretty sharp edge right past that tree

Creating a fenced-in patio

Here’s the view past the tree

And here’s the view off the side next to the building

The view of the whole thing

Looking at it from inside the house

That was pretty successful: I’d started with something that looked actively bad (as opposed to the main part of the forest back there, which was fine on its own), cleaned it up, and turned it into a nice little area of focus. So maybe I could repeat that idea elsewhere? The next question, then, was how to connect it to the door out the back of the building: just being adjacent via a window seemed a little funny.

Looking along the back of the building towards the patio (which is around the corner)

Maybe a wood path would work?

Here’s what the end of the wood path would look like

Stepping stones are a better fit

The stepping stone version at the patio

Later I came back and made the border more uniform

At this point, I had a bit of a design language: I’d try to find spaces that particularly stood out (and I’d clean up spaces that look ugly), I’d use fences to enclose them as appropriate, and I’d have stone paths between them, with spaces between the stones reflecting that this is a loose federation of spaces rather than a tight and dense neighborhood. And I actually had another immediate place to put this into action: the area right outside the door was a bit of mess, so I cleaned it up too.

These lumps and holes don’t look good

We’ll start by leveling it out more

Next, fence it in

Looking straight out the back; and we don’t need fences everywhere, the dirt on the side is a good boundary once it’s been made a bit less lumpy

Wandering a bit further afield, I found a relatively empty flat area that was overlooking the chasm in the middle: it had a nice view, but needed a bit of punctuation. This time I decided it didn’t need a fence, but maybe a fountain in the middle would look good?

Here’s a potentially interesting spot with a good view

Starting to construct fountain walls, but this doesn’t really look right

I like it better built into the ground

Here’s the end of the path to the fountain; and stone stairs seemed like the best way to handle the change in level

Finally, I started going further back looking for one more spot to emphasize; I found one area with a steep drop over a nice view under a tree.

Looking back towards the house partway down the hill

I think we can do something with this view under this tree

Fencing it in and trimming away some dirt

Here’s the path leading back there; you can also see the branch off the left to the fountain

Let’s add in a wood floor

And a table and chair, to make it easier to enjoy the view

That was enough for the back of the building; my next question was what I should do with the door over the chasm. I’ll work on that in September!

What should I do with this doorway?

That’s what I was doing; Pat was finishing off the latest addition to his city, in the mean time.

A purple carpet

More purple upstairs

A tree and flowers in the middle of the courtyard

The vestibule behind the entrance

The street right outside

Comments Off on VGHVI Minecraft: August 31, 2017