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I feel that a huge problem of mine on PMC is that I don't know what to do.
"Skins? Forum Posts? Blogs? Maps? What do I do? D=" -Me, like 5 seconds ago.
I hate that feeling; It's awful. But in reality, what is there to do?
Hopefully this blog post can answer that question.
[I will update this blog whenever I find the time]
Skins
Ah, skins. Definitely the most popular thing to post on here is skins. Everyone and their mothers have posted a skin on here. Hell, everyone and their mother's mother has posted a skin on here. With hundreds of skins getting uploaded daily, making an original skin is hard. Everyone has taken nearly EVERY idea for a skin and turned them into one.
Here below I have provided some steps which may hopefully guide you on your quest to originality.
Making an Original Skin
1) Come up with a unique shading style. (Noise and plain colors does NOT count.)
2) Think of a character (book, movie, game, etc) to draw inspiration from. Or you could find a topic outside of popular media (Ninja, pirate, Animals, etc).
3) Find two or more inspirations (For Example: A robot and Superman)
4) Take the costumes of those inspirations to either:
combine them into a new one, (FE: A Robot Superman)
or take elements from all of them and turn them into something completely new. (FE: A cyborg-y superhero)
5) Make a "rough draft" of the skin. As in use plain colors to design what it looks like.
6) Use your shading style to shade your rough draft to create a shaded version of your skin.
7) Check over your skin to make sure there aren't any missing pixels or "errors" in the skin. (Miscolored pixels, unshaded regions, etc)
8) Post it.
I personally find taking something from Minecraft and combining it with a popular media character makes an original skin. (As in combining a Wither with The Joker into a totally new skin) Always remember that doing skin requests is bound to get you more people to check out your skins.
Texture Packs
I can't be much of a help on this one, as I don't make texture packs, but I can give you some tips on how to make original ones.
Making an Original Texture Pack
1) Think of a general theme (Clean, Simple, Fantasy, Modern, Future, Movie, Book, Game, etc)
2) Keep that theme consistent. (Don't use different styles to shade different blocks)
3) Texture EVERY item and mob (no one likes having a diamond sword textured and the pickaxe not)
4) Absolutely NEVER use other texture packs as a base for yours.
5) Do a test run. Run minecraft, select the texture pack, and go into a creative world and quickly look over all of the items and mobs.
Remember, ALWAYS TEXTURE EVERYTHING AND BE PREPARED TO HAVE TO UPDATE OFTEN. Try to update the textures within a couple of snapshot releases to save the trouble later.
Maps (Projects)
With maps, there's usually a broad range of things you can do here.
Types of Maps
Adventure Maps,
"Tribute" Maps (Dedicating a structure to a popular show or something of the sort by building something from it like the main headquarters in teen titans or the batcave),
Pixel Art,
Real Life Buildings (Empire state building, Statue of Liberty, etc)
Houses,
"Realistic" natural structures (Making a realistic mountain or cave system that looks as though it's from the earth instead of minecraft),
Memorials (As in a shrine or structure dedicated to someone or something that has passed away),
and Redstone Contraptions (Working models of so and so using redstone in minecraft).
Always remember to spend as much time as you can on these maps and almost "proofread" them by testing for bugs, missing blocks, despawning mobs, spawning errors, or broken redstone and much more besides that.
Servers
If you want to create a server that people are willing to go on, you have to make it look professional.
Tips on Making a "Professional" Server
1) Establish the type of server it's going to be. (Minigame server, Hunger Games, Hardcore Faction PVP, Creative, Regular Survival, or a server with a mix of all of those things.)
2) Create a Bukkit Server. (Create the server folder and make sure the server itself is able to run)
3) Add plugins and test them to see if there are any compatibility errors.
4) Fix any errors with the plugins or the server itself.
5) Create a spawn area.
6) Create Ranks and a Rankup system. (As in how does one get promoted and what commands do the ranks give access to)
7) If you're doing mobarena, minigames, roleplaying servers, etc, make sure the maps for each game/whatever are all set up, working, and un-exploitable (not able to take advantage of the maps).
8) Port-forward the server or have a hosting company host it for you so people can now join.
9) Try to have an IP that doesn't look like a bunch of numbers. (such as 71.6574.22:38912) IPs that look something like this: survival-pvp.com, always look more professional and are easier to remember if forgotten.
10) Test the server, maps, ranks, plugins, etc with a friend to make sure the server is fully functional.
11) Find a group of people to be the staff on your server. (Moderators, Ops, etc) Or have a trial mod rank to see who is qualified to help you run the server.
12) Plugins that prevent griefing, regenerate greifed sctructures, and provide evidence of who a griefer is are always nice to have.
13) After everything else is done, post the IP on PMC.
Remember, don't be a jerk to your community and staff, don't allow staff to be jerks to the community, and don't allow the community to be jerks to one another. Make sure the server is on frequently if not on all the time. Have a large amount of staff so that there is always a moderator available, and have a large amount of slots so many people can join. If you notice any frequent lag problems, try and find an immediate solution. Listen to suggestions from the staff and community instead of ignoring everything they say except for what you want to hear. Make sure you have the time and a good enough computer to keep good track of the server. Always remember, the default group on the server is the most important and they are crucial to any good server. Also never use Hamachi, it brings up many possible problems with the server.
"Skins? Forum Posts? Blogs? Maps? What do I do? D=" -Me, like 5 seconds ago.
I hate that feeling; It's awful. But in reality, what is there to do?
Hopefully this blog post can answer that question.
[I will update this blog whenever I find the time]
Skins
Ah, skins. Definitely the most popular thing to post on here is skins. Everyone and their mothers have posted a skin on here. Hell, everyone and their mother's mother has posted a skin on here. With hundreds of skins getting uploaded daily, making an original skin is hard. Everyone has taken nearly EVERY idea for a skin and turned them into one.
Here below I have provided some steps which may hopefully guide you on your quest to originality.
Making an Original Skin
1) Come up with a unique shading style. (Noise and plain colors does NOT count.)
2) Think of a character (book, movie, game, etc) to draw inspiration from. Or you could find a topic outside of popular media (Ninja, pirate, Animals, etc).
3) Find two or more inspirations (For Example: A robot and Superman)
4) Take the costumes of those inspirations to either:
combine them into a new one, (FE: A Robot Superman)
or take elements from all of them and turn them into something completely new. (FE: A cyborg-y superhero)
5) Make a "rough draft" of the skin. As in use plain colors to design what it looks like.
6) Use your shading style to shade your rough draft to create a shaded version of your skin.
7) Check over your skin to make sure there aren't any missing pixels or "errors" in the skin. (Miscolored pixels, unshaded regions, etc)
8) Post it.
I personally find taking something from Minecraft and combining it with a popular media character makes an original skin. (As in combining a Wither with The Joker into a totally new skin) Always remember that doing skin requests is bound to get you more people to check out your skins.
Texture Packs
I can't be much of a help on this one, as I don't make texture packs, but I can give you some tips on how to make original ones.
Making an Original Texture Pack
1) Think of a general theme (Clean, Simple, Fantasy, Modern, Future, Movie, Book, Game, etc)
2) Keep that theme consistent. (Don't use different styles to shade different blocks)
3) Texture EVERY item and mob (no one likes having a diamond sword textured and the pickaxe not)
4) Absolutely NEVER use other texture packs as a base for yours.
5) Do a test run. Run minecraft, select the texture pack, and go into a creative world and quickly look over all of the items and mobs.
Remember, ALWAYS TEXTURE EVERYTHING AND BE PREPARED TO HAVE TO UPDATE OFTEN. Try to update the textures within a couple of snapshot releases to save the trouble later.
Maps (Projects)
With maps, there's usually a broad range of things you can do here.
Types of Maps
Adventure Maps,
"Tribute" Maps (Dedicating a structure to a popular show or something of the sort by building something from it like the main headquarters in teen titans or the batcave),
Pixel Art,
Real Life Buildings (Empire state building, Statue of Liberty, etc)
Houses,
"Realistic" natural structures (Making a realistic mountain or cave system that looks as though it's from the earth instead of minecraft),
Memorials (As in a shrine or structure dedicated to someone or something that has passed away),
and Redstone Contraptions (Working models of so and so using redstone in minecraft).
Always remember to spend as much time as you can on these maps and almost "proofread" them by testing for bugs, missing blocks, despawning mobs, spawning errors, or broken redstone and much more besides that.
Servers
If you want to create a server that people are willing to go on, you have to make it look professional.
Tips on Making a "Professional" Server
1) Establish the type of server it's going to be. (Minigame server, Hunger Games, Hardcore Faction PVP, Creative, Regular Survival, or a server with a mix of all of those things.)
2) Create a Bukkit Server. (Create the server folder and make sure the server itself is able to run)
3) Add plugins and test them to see if there are any compatibility errors.
4) Fix any errors with the plugins or the server itself.
5) Create a spawn area.
6) Create Ranks and a Rankup system. (As in how does one get promoted and what commands do the ranks give access to)
7) If you're doing mobarena, minigames, roleplaying servers, etc, make sure the maps for each game/whatever are all set up, working, and un-exploitable (not able to take advantage of the maps).
8) Port-forward the server or have a hosting company host it for you so people can now join.
9) Try to have an IP that doesn't look like a bunch of numbers. (such as 71.6574.22:38912) IPs that look something like this: survival-pvp.com, always look more professional and are easier to remember if forgotten.
10) Test the server, maps, ranks, plugins, etc with a friend to make sure the server is fully functional.
11) Find a group of people to be the staff on your server. (Moderators, Ops, etc) Or have a trial mod rank to see who is qualified to help you run the server.
12) Plugins that prevent griefing, regenerate greifed sctructures, and provide evidence of who a griefer is are always nice to have.
13) After everything else is done, post the IP on PMC.
Remember, don't be a jerk to your community and staff, don't allow staff to be jerks to the community, and don't allow the community to be jerks to one another. Make sure the server is on frequently if not on all the time. Have a large amount of staff so that there is always a moderator available, and have a large amount of slots so many people can join. If you notice any frequent lag problems, try and find an immediate solution. Listen to suggestions from the staff and community instead of ignoring everything they say except for what you want to hear. Make sure you have the time and a good enough computer to keep good track of the server. Always remember, the default group on the server is the most important and they are crucial to any good server. Also never use Hamachi, it brings up many possible problems with the server.
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