Welcome to the Homes and Tomes House Rally #17 – Developer’s Ghoulash!!!
We’ll start off in guild chat to let late-comers join up, and then switch to raid channel once everyone is on board!
I’m your host Huell Kuerden, and tonight we’ll be looking at places Everquest developers think are noteworthy! These houses occupy a special place on the Leaderboards, so for once they will be easy to find! All are quite different, and excellent examples of the art of decoration!
As we view the houses tonight, remember that lots of people on our tours have extensive decorating/design experience and are happy to explain any techniques used, so if you have any questions feel free to ask!!!
And now on to this week of Norrath’s Gold! As we take a look at these houses, don’t forget to reward the designers by liking creativity and/or style! A good rating means more people will visit and enjoy someone’s hard work!
For anyone new, we’ll be visiting houses via the Housing & Leaderboards selection of the main EQ2 menu. This time we will be looking at the 2nd category down – Dev Picks.
We’ll now switch to Group (#) Chat and dig into this week of Norrath’s Gold! Our first stop is…
Widow’s Storm Isle (#1 Dev Oicks/Creativity-Recent) by Dawnstriker: Storm Tower Isle.
Here we have a Storm Tower Isle – a underused house that offers many interesting possibilities to decorators. On zone-in you are depositing looking towards the un-skinned Storm Tower. Directly ahead is a very nice Hansom cab!
As you look around, you can see some very tasteful landscaping principally utilizing hedge seeds. The area around the tower is tiled using Sullonite paving stones. Ahead by the front door are additional paths, leading first to a open crypt.
The crypt is a beautiful scratch-built structure – and yes there is something moving in the coffin! Check out the other decorations and the use of roses.
Nearby is a small ocean-overlook shrine that reminds me of some British WWI memorials I’ve visited. There is mirror-placed fountain on the roof which I found and interesting feature.
On the island outcropping is a small graveyard, and the central to the paths is a well-executed gazebo. Look at how Ornate Shadowed Bookcases are uses as structural framing. Continue on into the tower.
Inside you are immediately presented with a sitting/music room. The paneling is interesting – it uses Wantia Armoiries to give an almost Qeynosian paneling effect. Adamantine columns and red glass tiles complete the effect.
On the far side of the room is a small kitchenette that is quite nice! Going up to the next floor is a bathing room using a Vasty Deep shrine for the floor.
The next floor is a bedroom, with Sumac and Burnished Metal paneling. Overall, this is one of the best-decorated Storm Towers I’ve seen. Take a few minutes and wander around!
Now we’ll move on to:
Is it a madhouse or a dream (#2 Dev Picks/Creativity-Recent) by Vadra: Everfrost Summer Home
Here we have an interesting Tinkered Everfrost Summer Home. This house, despite its beauty is quite difficult to re-skin due to its complex structures. Here a ‘jumbled’ approach gets around this problem nicely.
There is a ’dare’ issued on entry to see if visitors can get into all three rooms on all three floors.
Moving forward to the face-down corpse with the axe in its back, you can see the various pumpkin torture stations! The use of Misty Tiles makes the floor more interesting.
Crossing the room, head for the Freeport door. When you open it, you are immediately faced by a fire devil plushy – very interesting because of it’s rotation! Give a neat fire vortex effect!
Now wander and see if you can find a way to the other floors! Hint – some of the fallen panels are ramps! The second floor is a music/science lab. Sort of an Island of Dr. Moreau lab effect! Nicely done!
Try to get into the 3rd floor room! I wasn’t able to figure it out!
Next we’ll move on to:
The Shoe House (#3 Dev Picks/Creativity-Recent) by Cherrybomb: A Tenebrous Refuge
Here is the classic fairy-tale house in a shoe! Cheri always does interesting things, so take a look at the construction of the various items. Note things like the flagstones (upside down Scrimshaw Ritual Sculpture).
The windmill is an interesting collection of tinkered items, check out the use of the Titanium Hex Gaskets as struts.
The standard Treehouse is decorated with assorted streamers – but I liked the ‘rope’ bridge using Indium Cage Bars.
Going into the toe of the shoe, check out the very nice stained glass oval work. The use of the dreadcutter rug as wallpaper give a nice Victorian look. The boot includes a scratch-built kitchen that is nice!
Wander through the house and look at the items and rotations.
All the houses tonight are great examples of taking truly fanciful concepts and turning them into game-reality. Remember you really can do pretty much ANYTHING!!!
Well, that’s about it for tonight! In two weeks we’ll meet again on Saturday to view some of the beautiful homes of Qeynos and Freport! Be there or be square and have a great evening!
K-
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