About Crow's Keep

This is an old project that I had been sitting on, but have recently decided to get back to and finish. 

A few of my friends and I are currently in a D&D campaign set in a world that has managed to mix magic and technology. As one does on occasion in D&D campaigns, things happened and our party (later known as the Crowned Crows) managed to fall fairly quickly into some money (a lot of money—a dragon's horde— in fact). We decided fairly early on that we would pool some money in to build a house, a place for us to call our own in between our adventures, and store our goods and trophies.

What became of it: The Crow's Keep.

After conceptualizing this house (which is really an estate at this point by sheer size), I was really inspired to make something. I wanted to create a 3D model of it for 3D printing, but I thought it would be fun to make it something people could walk through as well. I started creating concept art, fleshing out floorplans, and then eventually started trying to build the model in Blender and then, briefly, in Unity, hoping to simultaneously create a functional and printable model as well as a walkable environment for my friends to see and use. In hindsight, this was not the best approach, because while I was extra excited for the project(s), it was a lot of things to think of and work on at once.

Intent

A lot of lessons were learned during the time I had initially thought of the project and leading up to this reboot, and a lot more experience and knowledge has been gained in terms of using Unity, Blender, design, and even my own goals. It has been a while since the original concept was created, but this project has always been sitting somewhere in the back of my mind (with just a lack of time to start it up again).  Since I have the holiday to myself and time on my hands, I wanted to try the project again, and see if I could apply the things that I've managed to learn over the past year.

As I review my previous work, I'd like to try something new. In part, this project was always a way for my friends (and whoever is interested) to view The Crow's Keep as it could be. However, this project will also be my first approach to the intentional design of a space for people to play in. In comparison to my previous game jam projects, traversal and exploration of this area will be the main purpose. My goal with this project will be to make a house that remains true to my groups plans and intentions, while allowing me to learn some more about level design and what tools can be used to guide the players through areas. I'd like to really see and reflect on the things that I've learned as well through this time. These devlogs will hopefully be a documentation of my thought process in the creation of this space — a reflection of what I thought when I first developed the plans, what has changed now, and what I learn throughout the course of the project.