A Game of Blocks
July 18, 2012 1:25 PM Subscribe
WesterosCraft is an attempt to recreate the main continent from George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire in Minecraft. Completed builds include Winterfell, Castle Black and the Wall, Harrenhal, among others.
According to the wiki, the builds are performed in creative mode by hand and there is a strenuous application process to get build rights. As far as creation time, "major builds take about a month usually, while some of the smaller castles take a couple of weeks at most." Flyby build videos are available, as are minecraft world downloads for specific builds.
According to the wiki, the builds are performed in creative mode by hand and there is a strenuous application process to get build rights. As far as creation time, "major builds take about a month usually, while some of the smaller castles take a couple of weeks at most." Flyby build videos are available, as are minecraft world downloads for specific builds.
Okay, now somebody needs to redo the TV series opening titles as a Minecraft machinima.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:32 PM on July 18, 2012
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:32 PM on July 18, 2012
There's something about those photos - are they 3D printouts of the map?
posted by LN at 1:34 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by LN at 1:34 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, I've been wanting a Minecraft thread to come around so that I can say this: I think Minecraft is going to be around for a long time. Like, decades and decades – hopefully it will be gradually refined without losing its core aesthetic, and hopefully other "sets" will come out over the years, but I expect that this is a game that's going to be with us for a while. (Space Minecraft, anybody? Asteroid mining, redstone-powered spaceships? Come on, you want that.)
Minecraft is basically Lego. It's digital Lego, where you can bring your friends, and have adventures, and build things on a scale that you could never do in your parents' attic or wherever. It's one of those toys with broad, deep appeal that is just instantly fun and lasts forever and which you can always find new ways to play with. It's going to still be here fifty years from now, mark my words.
posted by Scientist at 1:35 PM on July 18, 2012 [11 favorites]
Minecraft is basically Lego. It's digital Lego, where you can bring your friends, and have adventures, and build things on a scale that you could never do in your parents' attic or wherever. It's one of those toys with broad, deep appeal that is just instantly fun and lasts forever and which you can always find new ways to play with. It's going to still be here fifty years from now, mark my words.
posted by Scientist at 1:35 PM on July 18, 2012 [11 favorites]
Wow. Insane! I'd love to play in a Westeros if someone makes one using Skyrim.
posted by Edison Carter at 1:40 PM on July 18, 2012
posted by Edison Carter at 1:40 PM on July 18, 2012
Don't know my Minecraft except for what I've heard about here - but gotta say that the Winterfall and the Wall ones both made me gasp a little bit when I clicked the links.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:42 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:42 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
I believe the photos were rendered in an external program. The light source shadows and depth of field effects are NOT stock Minecraft. Also note that a custom high-rez texture is being used as well.
posted by m@f at 1:44 PM on July 18, 2012
posted by m@f at 1:44 PM on July 18, 2012
"It's going to still be here fifty years from now, mark my words."
I don't doubt you, actually.
I think the game is actually going to see a second round of explosive growth once the Mod API is implemented and after that ... the galaxy is the limit.
posted by Tevin at 1:52 PM on July 18, 2012
I don't doubt you, actually.
I think the game is actually going to see a second round of explosive growth once the Mod API is implemented and after that ... the galaxy is the limit.
posted by Tevin at 1:52 PM on July 18, 2012
Yeah, but do you know what's really fun?
Killing Rhaegar Targaryen and seizing the Iron throne for yourself.
posted by R. Schlock at 1:52 PM on July 18, 2012
Killing Rhaegar Targaryen and seizing the Iron throne for yourself.
posted by R. Schlock at 1:52 PM on July 18, 2012
How many players died horribly making this? None? Bah, unrealistic!
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:58 PM on July 18, 2012
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:58 PM on July 18, 2012
It is, however, entirely possible to get similar shots in-game, if you install appropriate mods (Optifine is popular), high-rez packs, and shader packs (for the dynamic lighting). On MeFightClub, the 'set' going around (courtesy of clevernickname) is:
- Magic Launcher for mod management
- Optifine for performance quality and ability to use HD textures
- Shader cores that have the same letter designation as whichever Optifine you installed
- Shader packs (same link as above) for extra gravy, including motion blur, DOF (I didn't lack their DOF, sadly), and grass/leaves that move in the breeze.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 2:09 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
- Magic Launcher for mod management
- Optifine for performance quality and ability to use HD textures
- Shader cores that have the same letter designation as whichever Optifine you installed
- Shader packs (same link as above) for extra gravy, including motion blur, DOF (I didn't lack their DOF, sadly), and grass/leaves that move in the breeze.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 2:09 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
There's something about those photos - are they 3D printouts of the map?It was said somewhere that they are renders done by one of the admins in an outside program of the in-game builds, that is why they look so good.
They also have a subreddit community on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/westeroscraft
posted by hexpen at 2:28 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
I really like how, when you get beyond the mapped area from the books, there's a hard line of discontinuity, and then you find out that the rest of the Song Of Ice And Fire world looks suspiciously like random Minecraft terrain.
posted by JHarris at 3:42 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 3:42 PM on July 18, 2012 [1 favorite]
I really like how, when you get beyond the mapped area from the books, there's a hard line of discontinuity, and then you find out that the rest of the Song Of Ice And Fire world looks suspiciously like random Minecraft terrain.
If they're not completely above using automated tools, that could be fixed by looking at the maps of the TV series and books, then sculpting the landscape through some heightmap drawing or something.
posted by ymgve at 4:57 PM on July 18, 2012
If they're not completely above using automated tools, that could be fixed by looking at the maps of the TV series and books, then sculpting the landscape through some heightmap drawing or something.
posted by ymgve at 4:57 PM on July 18, 2012
minecraft world downloads for specific builds.
I can't express how much I appreciate it when projects like this make their work available to download so you can explore and play with it yourself instead of just watching a video or hoping you can somehow join their server sometime. Twentymine (created by fans of Shamus Young's "Twenty Sided" blog) is one of my favorites.
posted by straight at 11:32 PM on July 18, 2012
I can't express how much I appreciate it when projects like this make their work available to download so you can explore and play with it yourself instead of just watching a video or hoping you can somehow join their server sometime. Twentymine (created by fans of Shamus Young's "Twenty Sided" blog) is one of my favorites.
posted by straight at 11:32 PM on July 18, 2012
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Seeing stuff like this makes me feel incredibly inadequate. The amount of time and care that went into that! And it's all done by hand! (Which was going to be my first question, before I saw the More Inside.)
Or, maybe I just have better things to do. Yeah, that must be it...
posted by Scientist at 1:30 PM on July 18, 2012