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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 10, 2018 18:04:24 GMT -9
Been plugging away at a modular set for caves. I like how the walls and floor textures have been turning out, and have fought my way through a couple missteps to produce some simple walls that I think will accomplish what I want. At first, I tried making some large tiles that would be my "destroyed" tile geometry. What I struggled with was a "fun" way to make the walls that would support the tiles. Here's a picture of a U-shaped tile on top of a prototype riser box. It took me WAY too long to assemble, and if the scoring was off a bit, it just didn't assemble well enough for my liking. If I don't enjoy making it, I don't want to try to sell it. After some bumbling around, I made some simple 3" walls with boxy attachments. They went together VERY easily, and I was able to put several together with no frustration. That's a good start! They let me assemble along a straight wall, at 90 degree angles, and as stand-alone structures. I'll probably work on some special posts to cap off the free-standing structures, but that'll take a back-seat to hammering out the grid system to use on the floor tiles, which is what I'll start working on this weekend.
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Post by oldschooldm on Jan 11, 2018 7:51:22 GMT -9
I love the idea of this kit, but really dislike the dependence on the TLX post design. They just look like a lot of extra complicated build for no real utility and a very distracting appearance.
I could much more easily bobby-pin all those pieces together for a better look and a quicker build.
Why did you choose that attachment method?
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 11, 2018 11:27:42 GMT -9
Why posts? 1) There will be anchors on the tiles, and standard walls with cave textures, and the combination means there will be posts available. 2) I like the anchors and posts, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with them in the first place. I like them above pins, boxy builds and fold-flat solutions. 3) I'm trying to straddle a system that works well for me with very rigid shapes and a system that will accommodate mildly organic shapes.
Once I have more geometries "completed" I'll be trying an actual build-out and using the stuff. Right now, I've literally built one style of irregular 3" wall and one size post. The rest is in my head, and may or may not work out. But, my head tells me it can work, and my heart didn't tell me "I hate it!" while I was building the few bits I did build. Those things haven't been true for other attempts I've made...
So, the work will continue to evolve, and I'll continue to post pictures. You may not like what I end up with, but we'll see where it leads!
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Post by oldschooldm on Jan 11, 2018 15:12:21 GMT -9
Thanks for the answers.
Of course, everyone should build what they love! :-)
I was only surprised to see them in that the first photo had no obvious posts at all and they seemed extraneous given the early stage.
Keep up the great work - no matter what anyone else says - especially me - (this is to you and every other builder.)
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Post by sunraven01 on Jan 13, 2018 3:55:10 GMT -9
Mike, I really like that these walls don't depend on a separate tile piece to cap them off. Very clever work!
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 14, 2018 4:41:46 GMT -9
I've been playing with some ground tiles, laying down some rocks to make up grids. This was an attempt to blend grid lines and rocks, and it's not far from where I think I want to be. At the very least, the drop shadows under the rocks will be adjusted so it's not looking like the rocks are going through some goth makeup phase.
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 16, 2018 3:51:56 GMT -9
Hm. After doing several boxy boxes for walls, I'm thinking of going back to having limited supports to attach to the walls to help hold its shape. I want the walls to be bi-directional, and the boxes don't allow for that. At the end of all this, I may come full circle, but the journey is educational.
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Post by okumarts on Jan 16, 2018 4:33:33 GMT -9
I really appreciate the peek into your creative process on this.
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Post by lightning on Jan 21, 2018 11:03:04 GMT -9
I have been working on prototypes of cavern stuff for a while and this looks really great! Looking forward to more!!!
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Post by lightning on Jan 22, 2018 0:34:40 GMT -9
... not looking like the rocks are going through some goth makeup phase. made my day
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jul 3, 2018 9:06:26 GMT -9
Caves bubbled back up to the top of my list. I've got a much better workflow for making little ledges for broken tiles to rest on the walls, and for keeping the walls in shape. I'm hoping to spend some time this coming weekend doing a textured prototype or two, and then kick into high gear getting the templates built.
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Post by lightning on Jul 3, 2018 10:02:14 GMT -9
The beginning was looking very promising. Very interested in how to proceed!
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jul 11, 2018 3:02:28 GMT -9
Chugging through some templates. A couple more days of template making then I'll start doing some prototype builds.
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jul 11, 2018 17:33:00 GMT -9
Just some of the smaller bits to go. I will soon be sending some pieces through the cutter to see how they all go together. Hopefully I'll discover quickly that my new workflow is flawless, or flawed in one minor way that I can easily fix. If you're wondering, the brown bits are ticked off my todo list. The white bits are still to be done. Phase 1 is almost complete!
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jul 15, 2018 17:07:46 GMT -9
Blarg.
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Jul 15, 2018 20:11:26 GMT -9
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Post by lightning on Aug 9, 2018 2:19:59 GMT -9
How is the cave coming along? I hear some Trashmobster is creating spiders for a cave!
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Aug 9, 2018 4:37:45 GMT -9
How is the cave coming along? I hear some Trashmobster is creating spiders for a cave! It’s been a hard project to push through with all my other responsibilities. I have been doodling some things again and think I have a workflow to follow, but I need to get some geometries ‘right’. I want to put an through with it after tying up the Tudor building set. I want some booster packs too for the sets. Not... enough... time... Kids are both off to college in 5 years, so worst case scenario is a few months after that. Lol.
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Post by lightning on Aug 9, 2018 5:41:37 GMT -9
How is the cave coming along? I hear some Trashmobster is creating spiders for a cave! It’s been a hard project to push through with all my other responsibilities. I have been doodling some things again and think I have a workflow to follow, but I need to get some geometries ‘right’. I want to put an through with it after tying up the Tudor building set. I want some booster packs too for the sets. Not... enough... time... Kids are both off to college in 5 years, so worst case scenario is a few months after that. Lol. Yeah, I know that feeling! Remembering our kid ... that 5 years will fly by. So I'll settle on soon(tm)
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Aug 9, 2018 6:27:48 GMT -9
I will try to never say "soon" - that word was ruined long ago. I should search all of my posts and see how often I use the word. I hate not being honest about how long things take me to get done...
I was hoping to knock out a whole slew of pieces for the Tudor house last night, but a major lightning storm rolled through for a couple hours. We powered off all the major electronics, and enjoyed the evening as a family. It was kinda great.
This morning, I was thinking I'd at least knock off a piece or two before work, but the dog walk took longer than I expected, and I had to bring my son to get his wisdom teeth removed. He's more of a Fighter than a Cleric anyway.
As parents, my wife and I are kind of in the freaking-out stage at the reality of the kids going off to college. We're not ready!!!
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Post by Punkrabbitt on Aug 9, 2018 7:44:12 GMT -9
As parents, my wife and I are kind of in the freaking-out stage at the reality of the kids going off to college. We're not ready!!! My son is starting his last year of High School on Monday... I am totally freaking about that...
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Post by lightning on Aug 16, 2018 9:20:55 GMT -9
As parents, my wife and I are kind of in the freaking-out stage at the reality of the kids going off to college. We're not ready!!! My son is starting his last year of High School on Monday... I am totally freaking about that...... at least on our side, the good thing was that the kid has no problems to come for food and other parent-provided-free-services, so he is not totally out of the picture
Yes, it's not the same like when we were living together, but on the other hand it is great to see him grow up and become self-dependant ... and come by for free food every now and then!
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Nov 30, 2018 11:56:22 GMT -9
The on-again-off-again cave project was jump-started a little while back, and I've come across a build mechanism that resolves the problem of holding the walls in shape in a way that I don't mind building. Here's where I'm at: I am so looking forward to getting this packaged up. Each one of these 'core sets' represents a LOT of work. I've already printed and built many of the pieces, and will be spending another week building out the remaining bits I haven't gotten to yet. I need some special instructions for the special 'organic' floor tiles, the walls, and the 'covers' that help them hold their shape.
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Dec 5, 2018 17:07:56 GMT -9
I’ve got a four day ‘weekend’ so I’m pushing to get finishing touches done on this set. Playing with some layouts tonight!
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 25, 2019 18:55:22 GMT -9
Working on a new tile set to go along with my caverns - adding streams and underground lakes!
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Post by cowboyleland on Jan 27, 2019 6:46:01 GMT -9
Don't forget some stone bridges for deeper underground where wood is hard to get. In a high fantasy world dwarves would probably use bronze.
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Post by mproteau (Paper Realms) on Jan 27, 2019 6:55:02 GMT -9
There were two more experiments:
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Post by cowboyleland on Jan 27, 2019 7:05:55 GMT -9
Come to think of it, the stepping stones is probably what dwarves would do, depending on depth of water and depth of the drop to the water. I am thinking maybe you could release "racial" terrain sets ass add-ons to your natural caverns. Bridges, doors, stairs etc. as dwarves, drow, orcs etc. would build them.
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Post by cowboycentaur on Jan 28, 2019 21:17:15 GMT -9
Or even spiderwebs, perhaps?
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