Dev news : crafter (Patreon)

Ok so this one was really starting to p*** me off. Took me way more time that I care to admit, but I went a bit overboard with this block.

I really wanted to bring lots of my knowledge into it to make sure it was super consistent. This means that I wanted normals, heightmaps, and ambient occlusion maps to be consistent with each other, and that they would blend with the pixelated details smoothly and correctly.

For example, this means I wanted the heightmaps to blend according to a specific blend mode, and that I could smooth one without affecting the other and the consequent normalmap. This makes sure I have some smooth details, some sharp, with correct transitions and shading.

Each change to the strength or distribution of the pixelated map on the final result would be reflected on the output heightmap and normalmap accurately, not simply combined or blended.

Add to this an additional external heightmap used to create strong features that are not present in the pixelated or detailed maps, which adjusts the overall height balance to make sure everything is at the right height (mostly in case of chiseled blocks, or composite blocks like this one); and this one also gets merged to the other maps seamlessly while computing all relief outputs accurately. You understand the challenge.

Moreover, as I stated in the earlier technical post, I had to make some adjustments to the colormap to fix some POM transitions.

Speaking of POM, I had to tweak some parts of the image, mostly the edges, to ensure there wouldn't be artefacts like repeating redstone or steep stone inserts at the borders of the block. I had to "cheat" for this but I made sure it still looked good and believable.

Anyways, here it is. I hope you like it! Check out the tech post for more details on how I designed it.

Cheers