Do Players Want Castle Gardens?

LilyGrace

Greetings,

Sooo...I'm working on Test Center, building a castle, and I'd love to get some feedback.

My original idea was to create a castle that lent itself well to creating multiple gardens. That being the case, I created multiple garden beds, using the various dirt tiles (not just one tile to paint the whole area quickly to save time) to mark the beds. Then surrounded the beds with various walkways, arches, etc.

I graciously received feedback from another player on Test Center who advised against having dirt tiles make up any part of the floors. They were quite sure no one would like the look of it.

My thinking was, having garden plots with the look of garden soil would be exactly what a player whose into creating garden spaces would want. Plants, after all, do live in beds of garden soil. Back in the day I, and many others, put cloth dyed brown on the floors to create dirt for gardens. So I thought, YAY! I can make much more realistic garden beds now!

I also thought, with the way I have things laid out, if anyone didn't want to create gardens in these beds, these same areas would be perfect spots for putting down carpet. Or creating floor tiles of granite that could be placed. And it would all still look very well.

Now I'm just not sure! So I thought I'd ask. Are there enough UO gardeners out there that they'd be interested in a castle that has ready made garden beds?

Thanks for listening!

Lil

Garth_Grey

You should get some pics, and then have a mod move this to Homes and Castles.

jaytin

Yes we want to see pics!! 

LilyGrace

Yes? No? Maybe? Perhaps it is too specific to those interested in UO gardens? But again, I see so many folks who like to put gardens together I thought there might be a call for it. And there are options for covering the garden beds if they weren't wanted. 

On the other hand, if we had access to dirt tiles, like we do the snow and grass tiles, there'd be no need to have a home you can place that offer ready made plots. 

Should this thread be moved? I thought more folks would see it here but I suppose it would have made more sense to post in Home and Gardens.

Anywho, thanks again for any feedback offered. :-)

jaytin

Very nice, I like a garden myself, handy for those with many raised beds too.

Captain_Lucky

Well if you don't want the gardens... it's gonna be pretty hard to cover that up and have it look right. If we had a sandstone tile available, we could cover it with, I'd think it doesn't really matter much. While it's a fine idea, your shooting at a very narrow section of the player base. Not sure if the average player has that many garden beds for plant growing either or shares your zeal for gardens on that large a scale. I use grass tiles for my "dirt areas" and that works fine for me. Just an excellent example of what a misguided notion it was to not have customizable plots. You've got a great dream there that would work great for you, but I doubt it would have the mass appeal to get votes. Your either all in for a lot of gardening or your left with a situation of how to cover up the dirt and have it look right. If they gave us "sandstone granite" to work with to make floor tiles  then everything would be fine. But I pretty much have OCD so colors and symmetry  have a major effect on me lol If it were me I'd be wanting a water fountain in the center of the large bed and it wouldn't fit in centered so my OCD wouldn't allow that lol If I walked in and it was all done up I'm sure it would be awesome but I'm not that big into gardens I'd want to devote a whole floor to it.

Cinderella

the dirt patches you are standing in, look cool...
but i'd do it 3X3, the size of the large raised gardens... that would look awesome...
but I'm not really a fan of doing the sandstone look
and I think a garden would look better in the courtyard or the roof

TimSt

The problem with 3x3 is that it does not work well with a 4x4 water fountain (or soul forge).

Cinderella

the smaller areas in her design would be perfect for a 3x3
maybe in the center, between the 3x3 would be a good spot for fountain or soulforge… a 4x4 area
in her design, would you really put 4 soulforges there, or 4 fountains...

I like the concept of having a dirt spot for a garden... would be cool to have a spot for corn stalks, fruits and vegetables... not opposed to dirt spots

Lady_Storm

I like the looks... and that's saying something.   Did everyone forget we have floor tiles stone and such?  Snow, grass, sand too.   Might even get Mesanna to make more different floor tiles. 

LilyGrace

Thanks so much for the feedback! I think folks are split for sure.

My thinking was the same as Lady Storm's. That if one didn't want to put a garden in one of the plots they could cover the spot with crafted tiles or rugs. But as Captain Lucky pointed out, we can't craft tile that looks like the sandstone. So It would have to contrast rather than match. 

It can be difficult to get that darned fountain to land in the center sometimes! This isn't spot on perfect. But it's close enough that I'd be okay with it...

I'll put some plants in and take more screen shots. Then take the plants back up again before submitting. I'll also try to fill in spots with other options to see what covering the dirt would be like. 




Thanks again! 
Lil

AmberWitch

My opinion? Never, ever take it as fact when a player tells you they were quite sure no one would like the look of it. That kind of narrow mindless blanket statement are the kind of statements that keeps things in the status quo!

Secondly, thank you for taking the time to play with this idea and think outside the box!

Personally I would be very much interested in something like this. I really like the 2 sets of rectangular spaces at the front of the house. I think it gives a lot of options for creating a personalized garden compared to the squares at the back of the house.

I also like the rectangular space at the back of the house. I'm not suggesting you change what you're doing but if it were for me I would probably put down water tiles where the dirt is and put dirt where the center tiles are so it's an indoor water garden. You can't walk over water tiles unfortunately so maybe I would create a one tile wide bridge to the center island. Like Lady Storm mentioned above, maybe Mesanna could change those so they can be walked over.

I hope you run with this. Can't wait to see the rest of the house!

Oh yeah, my idea of a garden?  A meteorite maze garden. Going to drop it February 9 and see what the rock pile looks like. Hope you come. I'd love to meet you.

Lady_Storm

Holy smokes !  that's a lot of rocks..

Captain_Lucky

Mesanna.... toss us some sandstone tiles. We could craft them from sand or something. We can wait on the walls and all that for another day. The sandstone craftable theme is way over due.

LilyGrace

Amber! That is wild! A maze indeed! I feel like if I went in I might never come out again! Would love to see it some time! Yeah, placement gets tricky with not being able to walk on the water or lava tiles. 

Sandstone craftables would be nice. Water and dirt tiles would be nice. I tried a number of hues of floor tiles to cover the dirt tiles. Didn't love them. I do like how the carpet tiles fit. Without fringe they look a bit like decorative floor tiles.

Still working on putting gardens together for a couple more screen shots. 


lil

Lady_Storm

Was thinking we do have sand tiles … light in color but would be a option for the floor if you didn't want the dirt for garden beds or plants.

Captain_Lucky

Lady_Storm said:

Was thinking we do have sand tiles … light in color but would be a option for the floor if you didn't want the dirt for garden beds or plants.

They're really quite different in color and texture. Sorta close but not really. Plus the supply of those is very limited. I think everyone for the most part opted for grass tiles.

LilyGrace

Better late than never...

Finally got some screen shots done. Time to take décor down and hit send, so to speak. 

For what it's worth, Trinsic Gardens (with a little less dirt showing)…

Front Entrance

Balcony (No flowers but I'm guessing those trees can stay for presentation?)

Mixed Bag ( Sort of a hodge podge to show a few options for filling garden beds) I agree it would be really great to be able to craft sandstone pieces. I'm not hating the mix of carpet and shadow tile but...ya know



This is my first contest. I had a blast. But it sure would be fun if we could place customizable castle and keep size plots. Someone on TC last night suggested they could be store bought items. I wouldn't hate that.


Thanks again for the feedback offered both here and in game. Can't wait to see more designs! There are some jaw dropping places out that already! And thank you again to the fellow who first came and helped me out with advice and the gold to actually commit my design! That saved me the chore of lots of copying over characters to pad the bank account. :0}


Lil

Lady_Storm

I do like this one  and I am a hard sell on design 

jaytin

Ohhhh that's so pretty, really like the sandstone walls too! Good job!

LilyGrace

Thanks, Lady Storm and Jaytin! 
:0)