My Thoughts on Minetest Texture Packs

 ~ Minetest Textures ~

I keep a variety of texture packs installed in my Minetest clients because it is neat to see how much they can change the look of things in Minetest and could suit the build mood I was in at the time.

When I felt like creating something medieval looking, the JohnSmith texture pack was perfect. For modern builds, VanessaE's HDX-64 texture pack fit the bill. For general purpose building, the Misa texture pack was a good choice. However, as my build skills improved, I became more aware of color combinations and how texture images related with other textures to create patterns or how they impacted the overall scene that I was creating.



Some Colors are Too Far Off

Some colors used for blocks in texture packs are too far off from the default coloration. For example, the default color of desert stone is red but in the Misa texture pack it is yellow.

 ~ Default vs Misa ~
(click picture for larger version)

If the default color is red, then stay between reddish purple and reddish orange. Don't go yellow.

The default color of leaves is dark green but in the Summerfields texture pack, the leaves are pale yellow.

 ~ Default vs Summerfields ~
(click picture for larger version)

If the default color is dark green, then stay between dark yellowish green and dark blueish green. Don't go pale yellow.



The default color of wood planks is tan but in HDX wood planks are very orange.

~ Default vs HDX ~
(click picture for larger version)

If the default color is neutral like tan, then stay between light and dark values of that neutral color. Don't go bright and vibrant.



The default color of stone and cobble is grey but in the DokiDoki texture pack stone and cobble are blue. Also take a look at the desert cobble to right in the screenshot. Notice the radical color and image difference between the default version and DokiDoki's version.

~ Default vs DokiDoki ~
(click picture for larger version)

I don't even try to build with the DokiDoki texture pack because its colors are so far off from default.

Texture packs are supposed to change the way things look in Minetest but, in my opinion, the colors used should still be either within the same hue and value range as used for the default textures or should be equally shifted across the whole texture pack.

If you are creating a warm and bright texture pack, then shift all the textures, equally, to the same warm hue and brighten all the values by the same measure.

If you are creating a cold and dark texture pack, then shift all the textures, again, equally, to the same cool hue and darken all the values of all the textures by the same amount.

~~~ --- ::o:: --- ~~~

A couple links for you if you are curious about color terms and theory:

A graphical explanation of hue, tint, shade, and value/saturation:

http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorterms.asp

A one page explanation of the color wheel and color theory:

http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory

~~~ --- ::o:: --- ~~~

Not Maintained, Too Few Mods Supported

A lot of Minetest texture packs only support the default game mods and of those texture packs, several, like the Minetoon texture pack, have not been maintained for a couple of years and have not kept up with changes in the default game. As of this writing, the HDX series of texture packs are the only Minetest texture packs that have been consistently maintained and updated over the years and are the only ones that support most of the standard and popular mods of Minetest. (The HDX series is the same texture pack, for Minetest, released in different resolutions - 16px, 32px, 64px, 128px, 256px, and 512px.)

~ Default vs Minetoon ~
(click picture for larger version)

Minetoon doesn't even support the default game's desert stone and desert sand which have been in the default game for several years now.



Resolution Clash

When working with a non-default texture pack, particularly those of higher resolution, blocks and items from unsupported mods stick out like sore thumbs because of their low resolution textures or because of their mis-matched styles or both. This takes some enjoyment out of building because of the mottled visual experience and can make screenshots look really bad.

~ Resolution Clash ~
(click picture for larger version)

Resolution clash is inevitable because creating and maintaining a texture pack that supports each and every Minetest mod ever made would require a team of designers or a tremendous amount of time and effort from an individual.

So if your favorite texture pack doesn't support your favorite mods, your options are:

• accept the texture pack as is, or...
• submit a mod support request to the texture pack's maintainer and hope and wait, or...
• take the initiative to create the images to expand the texture pack yourself.

Image Discrepancies May be too Great

The images used in texture packs are what really separates one texture pack from another. A dark, rustic, stone-and-wood, medieval looking texture pack won't suit a spaceship build just as a slick, smooth, plastic-and-polished-metals, modern looking texture pack won't work so well for a medieval farm. This is unavoidable with texture packs that are designed to suit a specific genre of builds.

You will also run into this problem when the image discrepancies between texture packs are so great that they break some of your build designs. For example, I have a barbecue grill design that works in the default textures but fails in HDX because of the images used differ too much from each other. In the default texture, the HomeDecor-Building Blocks fireplace is black with the flame behind a grill and the oak shelves are dark tan. In HDX, the fireplace is silver with a glass door and silver handle and the oak shelves are a pumpkin orange.

~ Default Images vs HDX Images ~
(click picture for larger version)

As a result of these issues, I found myself reverting back to the default texture pack more and more. These days, when creating things in Minetest, I only use the default texture pack.

If HDX supports the most mods of any texture pack, why don't I just stick with HDX?

Again, it is because of the color and image discrepancies between HDX and the default textures.

Why are the default textures so important?

Judging by the past and present screenshots I see on Minetest's forums and YouTube videos of Minetest, most players use the default textures. So if I want the things I create in Minetest to look good to most of the people who see them, and most people are using the default textures, then my stuff has to look good in the default textures.

Love them or hate them, the default textures are the base line and, in my opinion, texture packs should keep the colors, values, and images at least somewhat similar to their default counterparts.

Texture packs can enhance how Minetest looks but there are issues with texture packs that you will have to keep in mind, particularly if you are serious about creating nice looking stuff that other players will see.



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Portabella Village - Preview

 ~ Portabella Village - Preview ~
(click picture for larger version)

"Portabella Village" is part of a larger, long-term, project that I have been working on over the past year or so. Portabella Village is still a work in progress; just a more polished work in progress at this stage.

There are fifteen houses plus support buildings in the village. I came up with the number fifteen because that is the number of colored wool in the default Minetest game. Each house has a roof where the dominant color matches one of the default wool colors. So, fifteen wool colors, fifteen houses.

I wanted the village to look old so I tried to avoid using electronic-looking decorations as much as possible. I also tried to stick with natural materials, like stones and timbers, so the village looks like it was made from resources in the surrounding area.

Another element that lends to the old and rural look is that the village isn't setup on a grid of right-angled intersections and perfectly aligned lots.

 ~ Portabella Village - Overview Map ~
(click picture for larger version)

Even though the village isn't setup on a grid, it still looks like a cohesive place; not houses built in random spots. This is mostly because of two things:

1. There is a road that loops through the village, connecting all the houses together. The road is also made of the same variety of materials, from start to finish, so that each section looks like it is part of the same road.
2. The primary structures, the mushroom houses, look similar as if built according to village's traditions. Great-grandparents built their house this way, grandparents built their house this way, parents, kids, grandkids... each generation following the similar build style as the previous generation, using the materials available in their surroundings.

 ~ Portabella Village - West Side ~
(click picture for larger version)

The houses are completely furnished and each one is furnished differently.

I tried to make the furnishings give a sense of what the people who live there do. Some of the houses are businesses like a cafe, a bakery, and a candle shop ("... the cook, the baker, and the candlestick maker."). While other houses are homes. Some homes are occupied by couples (one home even has baby furniture) and others are occupied by individuals. Some are rich, some are poor, some are old, some are young.

 ~ Portabella Village - East Side ~
(click picture for larger version)

At this stage of the project, I'm detailing the landscape around the houses. Detailing the landscape around a build really helps settle the build into the scenery.

How do you "detail" the landscape?

Well,... the villagers have houses, so now... what do they do with their yards?

Most of the village houses have flower gardens either in their front, side, or backyards. Some have food gardens. One is a farm complete with a wheat field, grain silo, and barn. The candle maker has bee hives in the backyard to have wax to make candles from and honey to sell. The village tinkerer has a workshop powered by a small windmill. The village librarians like to read outside so they have a gazebo in their side yard.

I still have five more houses to detail the landscape around. These are further to the south, closer to the Portebella Village Windmill. One of the houses belongs to the village apothecary; another belongs to a wealthy, trophy hunter; another belongs to the couple whose family owns the mill; another belongs to a young couple with a baby; and another house belongs to two elderly sisters. Thinking about such profiles of people has helped me with decision making during the design process.

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Internet Cookies and Europe

~ Caution - Governments and Corporations are Messing Things Up Again ~

Play a game, blog about it; what could go wrong? Plenty when governments and corporations go too far messing with inner workings of things the rest of us use.

I haven't posted for a very long time but I do check in on my blog every once in a while. This time there was notice from Google about European laws now requiring me to tell everyone about the cookies I use on my blog.

Here's the notice Google put in (I assume) all the Blogspot control panels:



"European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. 

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies. 

You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities."



Great.

Some foreign politicians, who don't represent me or most of the other folk who use the Internet, make sweeping decisions and now I'm somehow responsible?

At least Google put in a notice for Europeans to see but now I have to worry if I make any changes to my blog's setup, will those changes break this notice?

If I understand how the Internet works (and I really don't have much of a clue), the web is made up of many connections so who knows what cookies are being used along the way between the connections.

Ok, everyone in Europe (and where ever else this affects), I have no idea what cookies Google or anyone else has put into this blog and I have no control over it. Blogspot and Blogger are owned by Google. Google is the information super collector of Internet data, not me. Read at your own risk.

And here I thought all I had to worry about writing a blog was spelling, grammar, and getting screenshots to fit on the page.

Oy...


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Mansions and Villages are Similar in Layout

 ~ Minetest Ideas ~ 

When you feel you have run out of ideas of what to build, start looking at the things around you in different ways. You might surprise yourself with inspiration found hidden in the things around you.

For a while I had been looking at pictures of mansions for ideas for another project. Stuck for inspiration, I switched back to building roads and paths for a little village project of mine.

Roads and paths can be quite tedious but they aren't very taxing. They are productive exercises that allow your creativity to rest and recover.

As I was working on the roads I had to decide whether to make the roads in a grid pattern - as if the settlement were rigidly planned by some governor, or to make the roads and paths winding and organic - as if they were just there simply because that's the most convenient, well-worn route people took.

I began to think about the roads and paths I've seen used in villages built by others.

In my time, I've seen several Minetest villages that were laid out in perfectly spaced, evenly proportioned grid patterns and I've always seen them as nothing more than small villages.

But this time,... perhaps because I had just been looking through a bunch of mansion pictures,... in my mind's eye,... I caught a glimpse of something else.

Those perfectly spaced, evenly proportioned, villages where all of the houses were the same size, same proportions, same boxy look,... that type of layout,... from above,... looked very similar to the floor plan of a mansion.

As the fog of that notion gradually lifted, a concept started taking shape.

I began to imagine the roads as if they were hallways and the shacks as if they were rooms. The grass areas surrounding the shacks were the space for furniture, small sculptures, trophy cases, and paintings along the rooms in the mansion.

The village fields could be ground-level gardens or large baths or small, indoor swimming pools, or whatever large, open space may be in a mansion.

A ballroom?

A gym?

A large, open room for hosting gatherings or meetings or a big, empty room just to prove they have money to waste on wasted space?

A more practical use of the once-a-field-now-an-open-space would be to make a stair case there. After all, you need a way to move up and down between the different floors of a mansion.

Now flip the idea around - how to build a village?

Build the first floor of a mansion and instead of a single ceiling covering a bunch of rooms, have open sky and put roofs on the rooms. Instead of carpeting and a marble floor use grass and gravel. The large courtyard of the mansion could become the village's market square.

So the next time you would like to build a mansion, but are stuck for ideas, try starting your plan with a village in mind instead of a mansion.

On the flip-side, if you want to build a village, but are stuck for ideas, start your building plan with the layout of a one-level mansion that has no ceiling.


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