Lockwood’s Jewel of the Skies
by BONZO, HSM Editor
At first glance, it looks familiar; but a second longer and you realize this is wholly unique and a world apart from anything else.
It’s sometimes very brave to jump into a concept and be the first, but it’s often smart to see what’s come before and improve upon it. It is inevitable that Jewel of the Sky will be compared to Palace of the Seven Winds, but these two spaces are not the same — not even in the same universe. It’s like comparing Star Trek to Star Wars because they have Star in the title and are both science-fiction themes. Those two are completely different, and so are these estates.
I struggle for words to describe the feel of the two, so I suppose an analogy works best. Consider the X-Men cartoons. Compare the 1990’s animated series to the more modern X-Men Evolution series. They both center on the same characters, but aesthetically they are incomparable. In my mind I keep returning to the word “mature,” but it isn’t right to say Jewel of the Sky is more mature, because it implies Palace of the Seven Winds is “immature” — and that is not apt. But there is a different level of reality between these two, and while one gears more towards realism, the other exists more in fantasy, even though they both deal with a similar surrealistic concept.
I suppose that is why the X-men analogy works best, because if you take a look at both these series and compare them you notice the difference. One is more realistic and deals with a more serious storyline, and the other is more cartoonish. Along those lines, the comparison between Star Trek and Star Wars works just as well; anyone who is a fan of Star Trek knows the series was more dramatic than fantasy, and Star Wars held its own dramatically but it was more fantasy than anything else.
The most impressive part of this space, in the post alternative locomotion revolution in Home, is the enormous NPC Genie which occupies the space. Let me repeat that: you get your own giant Genie with the space! This is Lockwood dropping the awesome nuke again. It makes a game of the space with the Genie as a quest launcher. You complete quests which consist of riding on a flying carpet collecting jewels you trade for rewards. And you interact with a giant Genie!
This works as a single game and a community game with a community goal. You unlock rewards, and even space features from completing quests and collecting jewels. And there are some really amazing rewards, and once the community goal is reached something very cool will be unlocked. The beauty is that you as a space owner and your guest not only get the carpet mount to use anywhere, but can both contribute to the community goal by collecting jewels and contributing to the community goal, so it’s not an owner only restriction. The community goal reward may not be spared of that restriction though.
The space encourages exploration with hidden secrets to discover throughout the space, and the ability to fly on the carpet at will without the restriction of performing a quest.
If you take a look at the detail of this space you can quickly see what I mean by the difference in atmosphere and why Lockwood often seems to stand apart. The textures are heavy, very detailed, and dirty. But dirty isn’t a bad thing. It takes more work to make something look dirty than to make it look clean and polished. It is often when things look dirty that we pay attention because something about that makes us recognize it as more realistic. The world is dirty, and heavily textured, often with cracks and pores and peeling paint or scratches on the polished finishes. That’s realism, that’s detail and even if we more than likely ignore it in real life, when we see it represented in virtual landscapes we pay attention because it resonates realism to us.
This space is filled with that level of realism — with heavy textures on the walls, detail in tiles, and even water stains marking the balcony walls under water falls. The plants undulate under the flow of an invisible wind we somehow understand has to be there, and the clouds look dense like you would expect cumulonimbus to be. This place looks aged, like it has a long history ranging in millennia behind it.
The one drawback is the lighting. The lighting looks well done, but it looks static. The video doesn’t show a variation in time of day and a static atmosphere can be boring; a variation with diurnal cycles or even controls would be perfect, but it’s unclear if that will be available (particularly since it would possibly compromise the detailed lighting scheme). The setting sun atmosphere also makes it look dark, and if that isn’t an atmosphere you care for, it may be a drawback for you — but the other virtues of this space are more than enough to outweigh that limitation.
The real show stopper is the Genie. Giants in games have been a stable since the earliest adventure games, and they never get old. The interaction with an enormous creature as friend or foe has always had a level of awe which elevates the game to new heights. This is a very new concept in Home, particularly in a personal space, at least at this level of interactivity, and that Genie looks amazing. Like he belongs more in a God of War or Prince of Persia game and not in Home — but we are happy to have it.
December 11th, 2012 by BONZO | 4 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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When I first saw this place my heart sunk a bit, since I’ve nit long got the Palace of the Seven Winds. But, I have a serious love of middle-eastern architecture, which is why this will be difficult for me to say no to. Not only is it a theme I love, but it’s done by LKWD; the stylists and graphic gods of Home. I swear, LKWD still can not be matched for visuals. And man oh man am I gonna fold faster than Superman on laundry day when this place gets its release.
Nice write-up Bon, as per usual. ; )
When I first saw this announced last night all I could say was WOW!!!!! What a huge undertaking this must have been for them, the graphics look incredible and the fact it is also a gaming space is really nice. I think that with the saturated market of Home personal spaces this is going to be the future of most if not all of them. Even Xi is bringing one out that you get with your buy in of the game as had Emo Ray already. The stuff is coming out in Home so rapidly we barely have time to absorb it before another appears.
I am soooo going to be at the store asap tomorrow buying this, even though I own the Seven Winds as you said they are worlds apart.
by the end of this week I will be broke with all of this content coming out at once.
What I saw of the graphics in the videos reminded me of Mercia — the same slightly-decayed grittiness and sense of place.
I love it that flying is now integrated into a game, although I am sorry they are using flying carpets. The avatar flight of Seven Winds feels so natural that it seems like a step backwards to add a vehicle. But we’ll see how it plays — this does look like a lot of fun. And I like the idea of including community goals, which will probably not be met for a very long time. It will give us a reason to keep collecting jewels even after we have unlocked all the other rewards.
Seven Winds is for pleasure. Jewel seems so much more serious. Especially since Lockwood chose for us to see it ruined and desolate rather than showing us the grand version that all the questing is done to restore.
Looking around, I loved the modeling and the textures, and I’d love to see the genie. But I’m not ready to spend time in such a lonely place, chasing Avalon crystals until it becomes habitable.
Maybe they didn’t choose the wrong model for the open house after all.