The Writer's Niche Project

[Jamey]

Hi guys,

I've been working on a new area in D'ni lately called "The Writer's Niche" and I wanted to share it with you all.

Okay, first, an overview;

This place in D'ni is far away from Ae'gura (which should minimize confliction issues). It is a place where a selected few elite D'ni writers, or D'ni writers with a lot of possible potential, went to share concepts of writing with each other, as well as did research into the art, presented ages, and a few other things. After the fall of D'ni, the whole place became empty, but compared to many structures in Ae'gura, it was still in tact for the most part.

There are 7 rooms connected by many hallways, the first room is a giant one. It has a magnificent view of the cavern and the lake.
The second room is a room with a bunch of tables where the D'ni sat down together to write books, and exchange concepts of the art.
The third room is an assembly room, where the Writers gave announcements, presentations of new ages, etc.
The fourth room is a "Gallery of Ages". This room contains linking books inside glass cases. Books that the D'ni considered well written, were put inside this gallery.
The fifth room is a small library which contained not linking books, but Journals of Writers and books which taught about the art.
The last two rooms are both classrooms which writers used to teach others skills (if they wanted to present it more formerly than in the 2nd room).

Since I plan for this age to go into MORE(or Until Uru 2 if allowed, or whichever form of Uru comes), I plan on the purpose of this age to be sort of like what the guild pubs significance were; Usable by the modern day writers (us, the explorers), where we will do what the D'ni did there. This age also has a few blocked off hallways by debris, which means expansions could be "discovered".

I do have a few screenshots of the age, this is a picture of one of the hallway intersections (not all textures in this age are Cyan's, but I did have to use a few) More screenshots will be posted as things progress:










It's not much, but the age is still early in it's development, so things will get much better over time. The D'ni area is still pending an FCAL from Cyan at the moment, so I can't release it publicly yet. Plus, given the amount of extreme detail I'm putting into this project, I don't think it'll be done for some time.


So, what do you all think? Questions, Ideas, Suggestions, or Comments?

[Raider7]

Great work Jamey, I''ll be looking forward to seeing more of your age when it is finished.

[Jamey]

I just got an FCAL from Cyan for The Writer's Niche

This age will be able to go on the ULM when finished

[Raider7]

That's great news Jamey.

[Jamey]

Thanks a million for the support Raider

I've gotten a lot done with the age lately, new textures, new models, and much more. I'm not completely done with the age at all, but Here are a few pictures;

(I apologize for the lighting for that is not done yet)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a nexus book near the link-in point in a hallway

Show Spoiler

Here's one hallway intersection with the Writers logo on the floor

Show Spoiler

Here's another with banners hanging down. You can also see a sign directing that the Library is down the hallway

Show Spoiler

The Library

Show Spoiler

Here is a picture of the auditorium room, I added a huge red carpet for people listening to the ones on stage to sit on

Show Spoiler

Here's a view from the stage

Show Spoiler

Here's the "Concept" room as I call it where the writers would exchange ideas and concepts of the art.

Show Spoiler

And, the view room. A room with a beautiful view of the Cavern with more banners, and a giant pool of water.

Show Spoiler

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, having showed you all the Library, I have a special project for you guys. You can see that the far side of the Library has two empty bookshelves. If you can make a good quality book spine texture, and send it to me either in this topic, or through PMing, I'll put it in my age when it comes out on the ULM

[Chacal]

I like the concept, as it could take the place of the useless Writer's Guild Pub in MOUL.

One problem I have is you seem to be expecting a lot of Writers. Your rooms and hallways are huge! When I think about the Writer's guild, I envision a series of small, cozy rooms for small workgroups, a meander of narrow, twisting passageways. It would look a little like K'veer (passage under the stairs).

The size and rectangular shape of your areas, along with the overwhelming red colour, makes them unattractive to me. Maybe lighting will help though.

[Jamey]

Yeah it does look a bit big. I made it big because at the time the layout was being modeled, I had the impression that when MORE arrives, we would be expanding our community, thus, bringing in more people, and I didn't want the age to be too small if that was going to become a reality And I know where you're coming from when you say there is an overwhelming amount of red, but when I start putting in more things on the walls in the rooms, and decorations throughout the Niche, it will most likely stick out a lot less.

And the idea of turning and twisting passages is definitely a possibility in the future. Near the link-in point, there is a sealed door, meaning expansions can be made over time

Now, you say that the areas of the age are a bit rectangular, any ideas for anything I should add to try to eliminate that as much as possible? door borders perhaps? I'm always open to new ideas

[Chacal]

Oh, I meant something less geometric, more organic, like it had been carved out of the rock.

[Jamey]

Ok, I'll toy around with that idea

Any place in my age in-particular where the "rectangle shapes" is a really big problem?

[Jamey]

Ok, I took your advice Chacal (to make the areas less rectangular, and added door frames to the places where hallways intersect rooms in my age, and I have to say they turned out quite well Not only does it gives the intersections a natural rounded shape, but because it is a bit lower than the hallway ceilings, it makes the age look smaller in areas

Show Spoiler