The following is our latest blog, originally posted on May 27th, 2016. To see our weekly updates first, register your account at the official Worlds Adrift website.
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This week, we spoke to a few players who have created amazing islands using the Worlds Adrift Island Creator Tool. Let us introduce...
Dante (Lee in the Worlds Adrift forums), who created Vestige.
JetSet, who created Natural Island.
Logos, who created Last Saborian.
Jehy, who created Paradise Reef
We asked them all a number of questions about their islands, and their inspiration. Here’s what they had to say….
What inspired you to create this Island? Tell us about your thoughts and processes are you made it.
Dante – I actually wasn’t sure where to start, so my inspiration came from a Google image of a ruined-looking cathedral with an interesting grid design on the top arch, which you can see I managed to replicate a little bit, then further used the design on the front entrance. Other than that, I started with a small island and dug a hole in the middle, built a bridge, and pretty much went freely from there.
JetSet – There was not a lot of thought put into it , at least not for the first island. I just launched the editor and started to play with it, checking the scale and making sure I would have enough memory to fill the whole thing with assets and vegetation. For my second island , The Great Cathedral , there was more thought involved. I wanted to see if it would be possible, using the tools and brushes provided, to build a huge building. Turns out it’s possible!
Logos – my inspiration was actually Worlds Adrift itself and the feel it brings of discovering new and noble stories, mysteries and enigmas from normal people like ourselves (our avatars). So… I didn’t want the temple to feel alien, or strange. I wanted it to feel familiar and comfortable but wonderful to discover. A familiar face in epic proportions would have the effect, so the idol statue idea became real.
Jehy – I began brainstorming ideas for islands by learning about different types of island and how they form. I found the formation of barrier reefs particularly compelling – a dying island sinking back into the sea and leaving only the coral reef behind. I tried to design the island in a way that made it feel very natural.
How easy was it to learn the Island Creator tool?
Dante – I’ve worked with stuff similar to this before so I found it very easy.
JetSet – Since I’m a 3d artist , I am used to work in a more complex editor so this one was pretty easy and straightforward to learn. But even for someone with no artistic background, you could achieve really impressive work in no time. The tools are all easy to use and really intuitive.
Logos – The basics were very intuitive, tools were easy to apply. I wanted to know if the creator tool would let me do advanced stuff, so I experimented a lot, to understand how the creator tool mechanics works, and that was a little confusing, especially with texture overlapping on the statue.
Jehy – I found the Island Creator tool quite easy to use. I played around on a test map for only about an hour before I jumped right in and started this project.
How many islands have you made so far?
Dante – Just the one island, Vestige. But I’m working on a second right now which involves chains using one of the Saborian parts. It will take a while due to having to manually place each chain link but I think it will look great.
JetSet – Two. First, one named Natural Island and the second one named The Great Cathedral.
Logos – Basically just this one, and an island for my crazy experiments. I have some ideas and desire to create, but sadly not too much time lately, not even to improve The Last Saborian Temple I love. Nonetheless I’m looking forward, the Workshop will know about me again
Jehy – I have only completed one island so far but I’ve been slowly working on another project.
What’s your favourite and least favourite part of the Island Creator tool?
Dante – I have a few favourite parts. I love having multiple shapes for generating land, this really helped in the island I’m currently working on. I also love the amount of choices I have for objects to place, they’re very well done and flexible. I’ve found many uses for just one part. My least favourite parts would have to be the few bugs I encounter. And the lack of a copy paste. But mostly the lack of a copy-paste.
JetSet – There’s a few things I love about the Island Creator. First off, the texturing tool is awesome. Being able to select different textures, having different layers, being able to change the hue, saturation, and the tiling – it gives a lot of freedom. The second thing I love the most would be the terrain sculpting tool, again for the freedom it gives. As for my least favorite part, that would be the lack of ”control” using the brush placement tool. A copy and paste option and a way to select multiple brushes would’ve been really helpful while I was doing my second island, The Great Cathedral.
Logos – My favourite part of the Island creator is actually been amazed for the game’s possibilities. the assets like the ruins tell me a little about the game and how it could look like. been able to use it in my own creation make my imagination go fly and it feels like I was part of the Bossa studio development team. Maybe I don’t have a real least favorite part in terms of design, even the limitations are good, because that is what make the best creations so special, how people is capable of creating amazing thing out of a very simple stuff
Jehy – My favourite part of the Island Creator tool is by far the art assets. The art team at Bossa Studios has done a great job; I especially love the trees. My least favourite part of the Island Creator tool would be the imprecision of the terraforming tools. Sometimes making small changes could be very tedious – small tunnels and arches in particular.
What do you want players to feel as they explore your island?
Dante – Whatever they want to feel, I think being able to interpret something in your own way adds to the adventure. As for me I felt it kind of like a ghost town, or something recently deserted. I aimed to make it look like people crash landed there and lived out their days until the end, all while building up the walls around them.
JetSet – I just want the island i make to look like they belong to the world of world’s adrift. I want the people that explore them to say ” i would totally live there. ” I want them to be believable.
Logos – The map is designed to be explored progressively, if a person enter in the right place (like the little dock in front) the map will reveal itself piece by piece and the sense of wonder is even better.
if it happens to be that the players enter the idols yard from the main entrance, the angle of the camera to see it, is perfect, and all the destruction seen in the last section, is replaced for a peaceful, beautiful and melancholic scenario. (those are the key words)
with mysteries yet to be discovered.
Jehy – When players explore my island I want them to feel like they’ve just landed on a tropical island for vacation. Although, they will soon find that there’s more to the island than pretty trees and lush fields. I tried to add just the right amount of ruins to pique the player’s curiosity.
If you would like to explore these beautiful islands for yourself, you can download the Worlds Adrift Island Creator for FREE on Steam. To play the islands, head to the Workshop section of the game, hit ‘subscribe’ and then the island will be downloaded for you. After that, you can boot up the game. There will be a Steam Workshop icon in the right hand corner and your subscribed islands should be there to play. Have fun, and don’t forget to tell us what you think of the islands in the comments (and also share your own!).
If you’ve made a masterpiece already, be sure to share it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #worldsislandscreens – we’re giving away some lovely Worlds Adrift pin badges to the best islands (make sure it’s your own work or we’ll send Malford round, and no-one wants that).
Have a great week!