So Will, hope you finished your exams and jazz
help me out ye:
http://commandotrigger.imgur.com/
Yeah like dsesgh says, too many chaotic pictures aren't easy to analyse, but this is no problem here since you organised it fairly well and used descriptions which helps a lot. But it isn't clear on what to use. You also made an album with shaderless pics but there is only 1 picture of each build. How can the staff analyse that on skill? Delete the album and put the pictures in each build album and add more shaderless pics in each build album. Take the shader pics away if they are meant for other stuff. Also try to note which builds are for the app and which aren't, either on the albums themselves or on the post you make in the application forums.
Easy on the shaders though, cause they might enhance ambience but not build quality. For artist you need to be able to build good without shaders. Whenever an app uses shaders, it raises the question: "Why does he need shaders to make it look better?"
This means that you should try to practice without shaders so you can hone the skills better.
For general advice I am going to feedback the tower but I think I helped on the others already, so if you could point out the ones you'd like some advice on that would be great.
The siege tower:
- first of all the shaders again. The first thing that pops into my head is: I wonder if this looks equally good without shaders. Why? Cause the shape looks impressive but does it give you the siege tower atmosphere without those shaders? This is a weird notion but stick with me.
- the shape looks cool but odd at the same time. Whilst it is good to try out different designs, try to be strict on what works. If you are not impressed on what works or you think it doesn't fit, even for the slightest moment, use something else. So the reason why I find it odd is that for a siege tower it doesn't convince me it would be used. I don't see mordor or gondor pulling this out to use. Tolkien made a fantasy story but he made it convincing, and that's what I try to do too, make my builds convincing. I find the dimensions and shape a little over exagerated to convince me that's a siege tower from middle earth.
- following the previous point, why would someone use stone on a siege tower to such an extend? Be careful on just using a basic material to get a different colour or pattern in a build. The tower looses a little of that convincing power again with this as the stone design doesn't fit that well.
- I find the tower to be very big and overacted as the builder was trying to impress just by sheer size and not design. I wonder what it would have looked like if you weren't allowed to go to a certain height and a certain width. I even think that if you would have been forced to do it a little smaller you would have not been able to make something that works. Having limits to craft can cause creative people to push themselves and produce a better design, which is why we have a 50x50 lot on theme builds and not an unlimited space. Someone thay can impress us on a small lot can do the same on a big lot but not the other way around. My question would be, can you make impressive small builds?
- what I like, is that you think of a complete picture when building this. You try to add different elements and you pay attention to the entire build. Adding those terrain features and mechanisms is nice and something you always want to consider. Don't overdo these things which is something a lot of people do. Again be strict when adding.
- another thing is your use of textures. At the bottom you made a pattern and repeated it along the side without paying attention to what that pattern is. Why make a pattern? Is it something that would stand up? How is the tower constructed? Those are questions I would be able to answer with your tower. I think you tried to fill in those spots with something after you started with the shape. Try to think a little prospectively and go like: "Ok this is 40 blocks so the tower would need this and this to stand straight, what would be here? A right defensive planks and ladders there, what holds the tower up,... try to make a 3D image in your head before starting and estimate the measurements before building. I fall into this trap too and using those tips helps me to execute my ideas better.
Conclusion:
All in all a good try and shows a lot of effort and potential, but execution is a little off. I think you need a little more experience on executing ideas and certain scale techniques we use. Try to find and analyse other examples and be harsh on yourself when deciding to go for a style/shape/scale.
Cheers and keep it up!
