Trove Creations Digest - Issue #17

Newsweek Review [Top]

With the "Preparing for Launch" patch the new file archiving structure has been fully implemented and a number of community members have stepped up to make the transition clear and easy. First, if you haven't already, check out the Trove Toolbox for a quick and convenient way to search for and load Mods that you are hoping to check out. Full details can be found here. 

Additionally, two new guides were formed to walk you through unpacking archive structures, whether its for finding deco to place in your new lair or accessing files for modding. Player Dusty_Mustard gives a quick tutorial on how to access files with the new archive structure here. Player TeeKayM wrote up a new modding guide that works with the new archive structure here.

Last bit - I will be expanding the scope and access of what Trove Creations Digest is about by expanding onto Twitter. Starting next week issues of TCDigest will be accessible early on Sundays while it will be made public on Trovesaurus on Monday as usual. Additionally, there will be intraweek updates on hot items and relevant forum postings as well as a few to-be-annouced features in the coming weeks. Be sure to Follow @Qoaleth

Twitch.tv Stream Recaps [Top]

These livestream recaps are aimed at collating all and only the information directly relevant to player made Trove creations. For full livestream notes visit this link here.

Friday 7/2 saw the regular weekly Trove stream (moved a day early for the celebration of Independence Day in the U.S.). There was no item creation stream this past week (likely to be hosted later in July after launch).

Trove Livestream (7/2 stream archived here)

• New animation rigs added with a new mount type - the long awaited Spider mounts! Modders rejoice at new opportunities (though good luck not simply making reskins)!

• Final details on the new class coming with Launch, the Tomb Raiser were shown off. The latest reveal is what the ultimate ability will look like - an undead Golem that is powered by the number of skeletal minions you create. Although the Grave Golem will have different power depending upon how many minions you create (as well as different size) it does not appear as though there is any variation on the basic model. See a great overview with the recently posted "Class Preview: Tomb Raiser." Modders, get cracking!

Top Player Made Creations with Interviews - Week of 6/28-7/4 [Top]

As ranked by Reddit users, the following posts are the top rated creations from this past week here to give you a slice of the player-made creations from this past week. **(There is no guarantee that any of these items will be accepted in-game nor should their inclusion be understood as any type of endorsement. They are selected solely based upon their ratings by Reddit users.)

There were no dungeons submitted this past week (apropos given last week's survey quesiton on dungeon creation).

Player creator Jusiv (IGN: Jusiv) offered the top-rated [Noob Lair] Giant's Tomb. See the full post here.

What was your inspiration for this item?

I honestly didn't really have an inspiration. I had just been thinking one day about possibilities for a simple Noob Lair for Cursed Vale, and the idea of a giant grave just seemed to stick with me.

What was your biggest challenge in creating this item?

My biggest challenge was probably creating the tunnel which connected the gravestone to the coffin underneath. My original, simpler design used a portal to link the two parts, but when it was pointed out to me that any sort of portal would probably result in the lair getting denied I had to improvise. I ended up deciding to rotate the coffin to give me adequate space to carve a tunnel from it to the entrance in the gravestone. It was difficult to make the tunnel wide enough to explore without feeling really cramped but still manage to fit in the limited space available, and it also took several tries to find the right way to build the tunnel entrance given the size limitations of the gravestone. This change also made it so that the coffin no longer actually lined up with the raised area that originally covered it, but the trade-off was worth it since the tunnel added some more gameplay to the lair and the inaccurate alignment wasn't visible without blowing up the floor.

What words of inspiration do you have for other player creators out there?

Never hesitate to try out a possible change to your creation. It may very well improve it, perhaps in unexpected ways. And if it doesn't, it won't hurt your project in any way as long as you keep backups of previous versions.

A few more words:

Since the intent of noob lairs is to introduce new players to the game, one important thing that I noticed that we creators can do with them is create a tutorial on how different game mechanics, such as traps, work. If done properly and consistently, this type of addition could help teach noobs the basics of Trove gameplay without even needing to ever explain them in words. One example of this is the "tutorial" I built into my lair, almost by accident: as I was testing it I noticed that one part incrementally teaches newbies how line turrets work. One of my boss room variants has a single line turret that shoots well past the boss's spawn and into the end of the tunnel. A player approaching it will initially see just the fireball from it, traveling into the tunnel ahead of them but too high up to actually have a chance of hurting them. Due to the linearity of the lair they have no choice but to move closer and see where it is coming from, and this gives them not only a view of the boss from a safe distance but also shows them the turret that creates the fireballs. As they move closer to the boss, the player has to climb over parts of a giant skeleton, bringing them within range of the turret and letting them figure out that it can hurt them before the distraction of fighting the boss comes into play. So basically the lair introduces them to the characteristics of line turrets in a safe, incremental manner rather than simply throwing them at the player and expecting them to deal with them.

Player creator stedms (IGN: Stedms) offered the top-rated [Pistol] Monster's Paw. See the full post here.

What was your inspiration for this item?

Well, my original inspiration was to make a flower gun and then my creation process happened. Pedals turned into the hand, stamen turned into fingers, and somehow I ended up adding a gem into the mix.

What was your biggest challenge in creating this item?

Well my biggest challenge for this one I’d say maybe was just getting the idea solidified. I had to try a few orientations of a few pieces to get it to work out making sure that the claws felt right from a mirroring perspective (not visible with /weaponpreview on the gunslinger). I messed around with these quite a bit just going through iterations to make the placement feel right.

What words of inspiration do you have for other player creators out there?

I’d say to just experiment. Don’t be afraid to go into creating something with the vaguest idea of what you’re actually making and don’t be afraid to completely shift your idea towards something unintentional. With a mixture of mistakes and probing around you can really bring out some really interesting ideas, mind you you’ll get your fair share of monstrosities if you go too far like I always tend to do ;D

Player creator GogestickCJ offered the top-rated [Hat] The Tako Hat. See the full post here.

Player creator Narwiff (IGN: Narwiff ) offered the top-rated [Hair] Hipster2015. See the full post here.

What was your inspiration for this item?

This nice looking lady here.

What was your biggest challenge in creating this item?

Having to figure how to correctly color the hair in Zoxel (you had to use a red hue)

What words of inspiration do you have for other player creators out there?

Try to think of ideas that aren't already a thing in Trove (the hardest part) and take time on your items and dont rush.

Community Contributions from "Preparing for Launch Edition" - 6/30 [Top]

There were no new player made creations added (last added 4/28).

There was 3 new noob lairs added in this patch for a total of 3 new quest areas.

Updates to the database show that the final polish is being put on the last round of player made mods. Expect a Launch or soon-after-Launch release.

See the official patch notes here.

See updates to the item database here.

Reader Survey [Top]

Last week's poll surveyed readers about what stops them from making dungeons and the overwhelming response (out of 13 votes) was that it is "too complicated" (9 votes).

This week's poll asks about modding: "What less popular mods would you most like to see more of?"