WIP - IhrFussel Sever Spawn Tower

 ~ WIP - IhrFussel Spawn Tower ~
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I was recently asked by "IhrFussel" to build a spawn house on his new Minetest server, "IhrFussel's Server". When I asked what style he had in mind he said, [paraphrased] "something open air with water". That left a lot of design options wide open for me to explore.

 ~ Excavating the Courtyard ~
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I have been studying how to create round builds and experimenting with curvy designs. Flowing water fit well with the concept of using curves and water gave me the idea to use blue as a prominent color for the build. I was granted the "creative" priv which greatly helped with construction but I do not have "WorldEdit" privs.

Yup. That means every block was dug and placed by hand which achieved greater control over the various detailing aspects of the project.

WorldEdit is a very powerful tool but lacks finesse. If builders depend on WorldEdit too heavily, they will never learn to sculpt in Minetest.

 ~ Reshaping the Land Around ~
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At the beginning of the tower's construction, the server was so new that the spawn point had not been protected yet. Already players were building close. I was able to set Area protection 50m x 100m x 50m with the spawn point in the horizontal center before any more players built too close.

I had a rough idea of the general shape and structure of what I wanted to create for the spawn building. As for the land surrounding the tower - I had no clue. So I focused on creating the tower first; hoping that however the tower turned out to look like would give me inspiration for what to do with the ground around it.

 ~ Outlining and Planning ~
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As I worked on constructing the tower, players were creating more and more builds very close to spawn. Some structures were built right up to the edge of the Area protection. The spawn point was set on the lower side of a large hill. The spawn tower was already cutting into the side of the hill. With the other players building so close it was becoming less and less likely that there would be space to smooth out the cut in the hill so the spawn tower grounds would flow with the land.

Since I wouldn't be able to make the tower grounds to flow with the land, I tried to think of ways to make the grounds blend into the hill or at least make the transition look less harsh. To do that, I thought I would create background support structures at various levels to to break-up the sudden drop from the hill, down the shear wall, to the spawn tower's grounds. I excavated the tower grounds to reshape the land and laid down yellow wool circles and lines for roughing in sizes and locations of the background support structures. I still didn't know what to create, exactly, but several ideas were starting to form in my thoughts. Lay down some shapes and improvise as I go - that is about as detailed as my plans usually get in the beginning.

 ~ Twin Statue Fountain ~
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I had already successfully created two statues, "The Archer" and "The Guardian" using MoreBlocks' circular saw and the screwdriver. This gave me some confidence to try a third statue,... or in this case, twin statues.

One of the ideas I had for a background support structure was a water fountain with a statue, or statues, that were holding the water source for the fountain. I cut some shapes and twisted them around, experimenting, and occasionally would leave the keyboard and try some poses myself, in real life, to try to figure out what sort of configuration to make the statues into. I didn't want to detract from the spawn tower by creating something taller or brighter or more colorful so the fountain statues had to be short. Kneeling fit the bill. How do you pour water when kneeling, particularly if you are a statue of classic nature? Shouldering large urns of water came to mind,... and so that's what I tried to create.

 ~ Upper Tower Lighting ~
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By this time, the spawn tower was shaping up to look quite temple-like. I wanted stately, reserved lighting that was just enough to see by at night and to tastefully accentuate different parts of the tower. I didn't want bright and flashy; this isn't an amusement park.

 ~ Water Vortex ~
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I wanted players to be able to reach the upper portion of the spawn tower so they could look across the burgeoning town below but I also wanted to keep the spawn open air with a mystical quality. Plunking a series of ladders up the wall just wouldn't fit the motif. In keeping with the water theme, I created four streams of water, pouring down from pools above, that players could swim up to reach the upper level of the tower. The floor is only four swirls of cyan wool. Looking straight up from the spawn point, the player sees lots of blue, streams of water, and swirls,  centered by an illuminated circle at the very top; all culminating to give the impression of a vortex of water.

This is still very much a work in progress as I have yet to finish the courtyard ground surrounding the tower, final detailing of the land and structures, and I also have an idea for an underground section that is quite contrary to the theme of the spawn tower.



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