Development

Hello everyone. So I have started working on the fourth version of this project, focusing on History, Culture and Politics. Central to this topic is the city of LutheriaLutheriaThe City of Lutheria is one of the main cities in the Region of Kilden and is situated along the important trade route to Belthem. The city is geographically located…, which will play a crucial role in the story and therefore must be fully developed before writing the story itself. I have started with a concept of LutheriaLutheriaThe City of Lutheria is one of the main cities in the Region of Kilden and is situated along the important trade route to Belthem. The city is geographically located… and created 3D models and renders for it. Now, I am going to work on the final model, taking inspiration from the concept and changing the things I did not like. This model will be entirely made in Unreal Engine, instead of using a combination of SketchUp (for modelling) and Unreal Engine (for rendering). I think (or I hope) I have acquired enough knowledge to make the full switch to UE. This means that after more than 15 years of working with SketchUp, I am cancelling my subscription renewal (which I am happy about, because it got very expensive the last couple of years).

Below you can see the first test render of the city of LutheriaLutheriaThe City of Lutheria is one of the main cities in the Region of Kilden and is situated along the important trade route to Belthem. The city is geographically located…, with the church of Wingchere AbbeyWingchere AbbeyWingchere Abbey is a monastery and a neighbourhood located on top of Scheddelsted Hill in the city of Lutheria. The Abbey was built around a sacred site where St. Mary's… (still unfinished), the Baptisterium and St. Liudger’s Chapel in the foreground. Also, I am working on a canal system for the city, which was not included in the concept version. At the moment, I am working on the streets and the first buildings in the city. In time, some of these buildings will also get an interior, but for now, I am focusing on the exterior first. I will keep you updated!

It has been done. After months of work Version 3. Redesigning the Website has been finished. It required rebuilding the whole website already build in WorldAnvil. Now, I really have a relational database behind the project, which makes it easier to create, update and maintain my website. While in WorldAnvil I had to spend quite some time in keeping everything up-to-date and neat, the relational database helps to update things automatically when one side of the relation has been updated. Because of this, I can focus more on content instead of the structure and integrity of my project. And I have much more freedom to change and add module. The downside however is, I need to have an understanding of my website and when things go wrong I need to figure it out myself (which did already happen when developing the new website). But, as a lover of complex systems and a bit of “not too difficult” ICT I think this may add an extra layer of excitement, especially when I found the cure for the error (after a long pondering through the house session :P).

The next step in my project will focus primarily on adding new content. I will focus on (1) History, (2) Politics and (3) Religion in the next version. This will require adding and updating my current articles and loads of new content. Meanwhile, I will also do some technical stuff, such as implementing “Maps” and “Walk-throughs” (which is like a virtual tour through the world) and refining the current modules. Also, I will set up my social media accounts and finally start publishing there (which I promised to do a few months ago, but my perfectionist(-ic) brain simply cannot handle showing this on an unfinished website. I cannot wait to start on the next chapter in this project. Stay tuned…

Hello everyone,

Again, a lot of work has been done to the new version of the website on the Guild of Stories. I have focused mostly on the development of the Feudal System, which is an important part to describe demography and politics of my world. This includes rewriting the original article, implement an ownership & shares system, ranks & social classes and rights & duties. I have already started assigning ranks, classes, rights, duties and ownership to some of my individuals and places, but will focus more on that in the next version of the Guild of Stories. In this version I will write more about Politics, Religion and History.

Besides the Feudal system, I have updated the detail page of “Places”. It is now possible to assign a flag, motto and coat of arms. I have written concept articles for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Prussia and Hanover, as well as rewritten the article about the Region of Kilden. And these articles now include flags, coat of arms and motto’s :D.

I am now very close finishing the third version of the Guild of Stories, but I still have to finish some things. I have introduced “Organisations” as a new part of the world, and still have to design the detail page. I also have to redesign the page for “Beliefs”, which include religions. Then I have to do some tasks, such as displaying my Portfolio at the Creators page, make a new “Guide” page, redesign the template of “Traits” and replace the placeholders for all Newspaper Articles. This I will do the coming weeks. Of course, there are many more things I can change, but I have to remember to let go of perfectionism and move on to the next version. I’ll try at least :P

Hello everyone. The last weeks I have been working very hard on the new part of the website, I formerly called “The Community Section”. While developing, I found out how much easier it is to manage the worldbuilding website with WordPress instead of WordAnvil, since WordPress is a relational database with page templates that update when I add something or change something. This is much harder to achieve with WorldAnvil. This is why I have decided to dedicate the WordPress website for describing the world and only post Articles that are more static and important for the main story on WorldAnvil. I might even see WorldAnvil more of a social media platform, where I share some articles on my WorldAnvil website and discuss about it with other WorldBuilders.

This means I have (once again) build the entire thing in WordPress, which went much quicker than I thought. I hope, however, WordPress will not break under the large amounts of data it is going to hold, but we will see in the future.

I am happy to say that the current WordPress website is the most developed version of my project ever. I even managed to build the social section, newspapers and a fully functioning Homepage. Also, my full portfolio is back on the website (although I still have some problems showing the gallery, but I fill hopefully fix it soon).

The next weeks I will probably keep on fine tuning parts of the website, and start publishing new content. I will keep you updated!

Hello everyone,
In the last weeks, I have worked mainly on the second part of the website, which is going to house the Community section of Field of Stories. While the description of the world is published in WorldAnvil, I will use WordPress for the Community section, since I have a little bit more freedom in setting up and managing the pages. The community section will be more of a blog anyway, where the people living in my world keep diaries, which are presented in a (sort of) social feed style. I do not want to flood my WorldAnvil website with lots of diary entries and social posts of my characters. So, a blogging platform like WordPress seems the best choice.

Besides the Community, I have also moved the Development section of the website to WordPress, since placing updates is also more about “blogging” instead of Worldbuilding. I have managed to finish this page already. It will give a little bit more insight about the development stage of the Field of Stories and updates/behind the scenes. Next I am going to work on the Diary/Social pages of the Individuals, the Newspapers and the worlds Economy. I may also create a Search page in the future, which is a little bit more elaborate than the Search options of WorldAnvil.

I will try my best with blending WordPress in with my WorldAnvil style, so the two different platforms still feel like one website, although the domain name is different. And, talking about domain names. I have decided to name the Community the “Guild of Stories”. I feel like it fits the style and does not deviate to much from “The Field of Stories”. I want to keep the feel of being “one website” as much as possible. Let’s hope I will be able to achieve that…

Hello everyone. Yesterday, something totally unexpected happened. The Field of Stories managed to win “Most Beautiful World” in the World Anvil Worldbuilding Awards (WAWA). Stupidly, I totally forgot that the ceremony was yesterday (and also the invitation for it was hidden in my spam folder). I was lucky enough to check my Discord in the evening and catch the last part of the event. I would like to thank everyone who voted for me and also would like to congratulate all the other artists who won in one of the categories. I am very motivated now, so let’s get creative…

Hello everyone,

Today, I am going to start working on an overview of the history of the Region of Kilden. It will be an abstract view, but it will give an idea of how the area developed and where it originated. I will start with the moment the hunters and gatherers were roaming the lands and the influence of the Neolithic Revolution on these people, where they started to focus on agriculture and settled. Then the formation of (agricultural) tribes and the creation of larger settlements will be discussed, which later formed the major cities in the area. This will give me an idea of when the Neighbourhoods and cities like LutheriaLutheriaThe City of Lutheria is one of the main cities in the Region of Kilden and is situated along the important trade route to Belthem. The city is geographically located… were established and why. For now, I will focus on the history until 1100 – 1200 AC.

Meanwhile, I will continue to develop the Community section of the website. There is still a lot that needs to be done to integrate it with the main website and make sure it works on mobile devices too. Also, some work needs to be done to get the main website to work on the main domain name (fieldofstories.com), since some of the buttons keep disappearing. Hopefully I will be able to fix it this week. See you soon…

Greetings everyone,

Today I will start with establishing the Community section of this website. I am working hard to integrate this section, which is hosted on a platform different from World Anvil, into the main website. This entails copying the style of the main website, the main menu and preparing a somewhat smooth transition between the two. It is going the be a tremendous task to set the community up, so I am going to work on it parallel with working on the content of the world itself. See you soon!

Hello everyone. We’re getting close to the deadline for the second version of this project. The goal for this version was to create the framework for the district of AegheriaAegheriaAegheria is a district located in the North-West of the region and consists of two major cities, namely Lutheria and Alden. Because of this, the district is of high importance… and the city of LutheriaLutheriaThe City of Lutheria is one of the main cities in the Region of Kilden and is situated along the important trade route to Belthem. The city is geographically located…. I needed to develop a 3D model of the city, write many new articles about its places, introduce a new family, and update the current regional map of Kilden. 

I’m happy to say that I’m still on track, although the articles and the 3D model aren’t as complete as I had hoped. However, I believe it’s enough to serve as a framework. I still need to finish some articles about the places, review the articles on the Mervell family members, and further update the regional map to include the city of Lutheria. :D I hope to complete this by the end of December. 

In addition, there has been a huge transformation in the website’s layout (which is probably why the articles are a bit lacking :P). Every page has been updated to a new full-width grid layout. I’m really happy with the design so far, as it fits the style I envisioned for this website much better. I’m curious to hear what you think of it, and I’ll talk to you soon in a later update.

Hello everyone. I’ve reached a point in 3D modeling the city of Lutheria where I need more historical information to complete the models for the remaining buildings and places. So, I’ve decided to wrap up the 3D model for Version 2 of this project.

In the last weeks of the year, I’ll focus on finishing Version 2. This includes writing articles about the city of Lutheria and some of its places and buildings. I’ll also (re)write articles for the Mervell family and expand the map to include the city of Lutheria. I think it will be possible to finish this before the current deadline of December 31st, 2024.

Additionally, I’ll create a plan for Version 3, which will mainly cover the history of the districts of Aegheria and Vöhren, and thus Lutheria. Version 4 will focus on the political system, including an expansion of the feudal system. Version 5 will explore the economy of the districts of Aegheria and Vöhren. Once these versions are complete, I hope to have enough information to return to 3D modeling and finish creating the rest of Lutheria and its surrounding area.

Although not much has changed on the website since version 1 was published, a lot of work has been done behind the scenes. In the coming weeks, you’ll see new articles and updated ones, including new renders. I can’t wait to share these with you. See you soon!

Hello everyone. It has been some weeks since the last update. On September 1, I officially launched the project’s first version and announced I would work on creating the first city, namely the city of Lutheria. The last couple of weeks I have worked on creating a lay-out of city in a 3D model and starting experimenting with rendering. The first (conceptual) renders, namely for Boutique Vos, are finished, and I am happy with the result so far (see one below). However, this is just a very small section of the city, and I need to work on many more buildings, including the massive Lutherian Cathedral. Stay tuned to follow the process…

Hello there. Progress has been slow but steady. I have worked mainly on the tremendous task of planning and modelling the city of Lutheria. The first buildings are already taking shape, but I am far from finished. There are still dozens of buildings to go, and I haven’t even populated them yet. The deadline I set for finishing the first version of the city at the end of December already was not very realistic, and I may be able to finish only 25% by that time (if I am lucky). But we will see how far I will get. 

Besides modelling the city of Lutheria, I am working on making the mindmap of the inner workings of my world public. In this mindmap, you can see the relationships between “”things”” in the world. By publishing it online, you can have a glimpse of the world’s complexity, and it may help you make sense of it more. Besides that, it stimulates me to update it frequently. I sometimes forget to do this because I am already working on more exciting or more important tasks. However, the mindmap is very handy to quickly see how things are related, especially after taking a break from specific topics. I will update you when the mindmap (or a portion of it) will be published on the website. 

Thirdly, I have worked on doing more with the 3D models I have created. Usually, I only post one render on the website, and the rest of the 3D model just sits there until it is used for animations. I envisioned creating a sort of walkthrough through the world, where you can click to go to different places and discover things more interactively. I struggled for a while to find the right tool to do this. I had a concept ready in WorldAnvil, but it is very finicky and requires much time to update. Other tools, such as Kuula, are too limited or expensive. Then I suddenly remembered how I used to create a sort of walkthrough using PowerPoint when I was a child. And it turned out to be working very well without costing me anything extra. By embedding the PowerPoint presentation on my website (using Statblock Iframe), I can create a dedicated page for the walkthrough. I have published the first version of Lutz Farm, which you can see HERE (CLICK HERE :p). 

And that was it for today. I am looking forward to share more of the work on the city of Lutheria and walkthroughs of other places. Stay tuned…

Hello there. Today is an important moment in the development of this project, namely the launch of the first version of “The Field of Stories.” I have worked for a year on developing the main framework, searching for the correct tools, and making a plan. I have collected all notes, stories, artworks, and other scraps of material created over the years and combined them in this single framework. With this, I can (hopefully) build my world and make my visual story. In this first version, you will find (1) the website itself, (2) the start of the development of the first district of Vöhren, (3) the first characters and (4) a timeline of international events. More information can be found in the Versions History. 

The next step will be (a) finishing the district of VöhrenVöhrenThe District of Vöhren is located on the border between the Kingdoms of the Netherlands and Hanover. Most of the area is covered by a dense, ancient forest called Grenn… by creating the last neighbourhood, Roven, and (b) starting with the district of Aegheria with, most notably, the city of Lutheria. With the development of this city, the Culture and Religion section of the website will be developed, a new family will be introduced, and the Map of Kilden will be updated to include the district of AegheriaAegheriaAegheria is a district located in the North-West of the region and consists of two major cities, namely Lutheria and Alden. Because of this, the district is of high importance…. This will be a big undertaking since the whole city will be modelled in 3D (focusing on exteriors). Meanwhile, (c) existing places and characters will also get updates and/or deeper details. I am incredibly excited since this project has not yet seen a stable release (with actual content). 

I will also start promoting the project more on social media. Since I wanted to have a stable version first, I have not posted a lot of updates. But, from now on, you can find me on social media and DeviantArt. I hope to see you there or in the comments… :D

Hey everyone! I’ve been working really hard over the past few months. My goal is to publish the first version of the project by September 1, 2024. This involves reviewing all the written articles, creating a basic framework for the world’s history, and getting the website ready for launch. I’m currently on track to meet this deadline and I’m excited to start sharing more with the public. Once the website is live, I’ll be active on social media and promoting it. I’ll also be working on creating a visual walkthrough, developing more 3D models of buildings and places, and planning the first video content. 

Before we get into that, here’s a quick overview of what was accomplished last month. I spent most of my time creating a comprehensive basic historical timeline spanning from 1780 to 1880. The focus was on real events in Europe, particularly in Prussia, The Netherlands, and Hanover. I will go into more detail when I work on the second version of the project. Additionally, I have updated the character descriptions to align with this new timeline and developed a personality system to describe individual characters without delving too deep into their personality development, as that will be part of the main storyline. Currently, I am developing a Feudal system within my world. This system will assign ranks and titles to all my characters, as well as establish the legal status of places. I still have a few more character sheets to finish, as well as revising the articles for all the places currently depicted in the world. After that, I will create a new version of the map that will hopefully be suitable for mobile devices (:P), and clean up the styling of the website. I hope to speak to you again on September 1st, hopefully with a finished first version of the Field of Stories.

Hello everyone. I have been working on the main history of the Region of Kilden during the last few weeks. I have made a rough sketch of the political and military timelines and am now starting to collect information and write the articles for them. At the moment, these events are drawn from the real history of the time period 1790 – 1868. I will later weave the fictional part of this project into the realistic historical timeline. 

Besides this, I am doing a bit of organization, cleaning up my ClickUp workspace, and checking if the websites match the information on the Kanban board and vice versa. This way, I can keep track of the things I still need to work on or have already finished. When both the reorganization is finished and the historical timeline of the period 1790 – 1868 is complete, I can start rewriting the character sheets of all the characters currently created and see if their story still fits in with the historical timeline. I will also update or elaborate on their stories, giving the characters more personality that fits their corresponding era. 

I am also planning to add more information on education, jobs, and cultures to the characters. Also, for this part, I need to finish the historical timeline first. I will start with the main religions in the area and dedicate a detailed page to them. Besides this, I am working (parallel to the historical timeline) on the simulation of the area and economy. The current plan is to make a yearly simulation that describes (1) the weather, (2) the events, (3) the population, and (4) the economy. I think this simulation is going to tie together the current articles into one cohesive story. I can’t wait to see the result of this…

Hello everyone. Once again, I’ve been struggling to find the right tools for my worldbuilding project. This time, I had serious doubts about the platform that I had used to build the website. Even though I was just getting started, I quickly reached the limit on the number of articles I could publish on the website. I realized that I needed to upgrade, but the cost was so high that I made the tough decision to switch to another platform, namely World Anvil. This platform is built specifically for worldbuilding and offers a wide range of tools to support this. Because of previous limitations, it was never an option for me. However, after keeping track of the development for some time, I concluded that the platform has now become much more workable, especially with the release of templates and variables. 

So, for the third time this year (:P) I have rebuilt the website and I’m currently transferring all the content manually. It’s a lot of work, but I’m really happy with the result so far. Over the next few weeks, I plan to transfer all the content from the previous versions of the website to the new platform and add some new content as well. 

Besides switching the website platform, I have also decided to cancel my subscription for V-Ray (which I use for rendering my models). The subscription has become much more expensive, making it unfeasible for hobbyists. As a result, I have spent the last two months learning how to use Unreal Engine for rendering my models. I still rely on SketchUp for creating the models, but I now use Unreal Engine for staging and rendering the scenes. I will soon publish the first conceptual renders of the places (such as Lutz farm, Hochter farm, Grennsted, and The Black Poplar Mill) on the new website. 

The recent changes have affected my schedule. Initially, I had planned to complete the districts of Vöhren and Aegheria by now. However, this is not possible as I need to redesign the city of Lutheria and write all the articles. Instead, I will prioritize finishing the first version of the VöhrenVöhrenThe District of Vöhren is located on the border between the Kingdoms of the Netherlands and Hanover. Most of the area is covered by a dense, ancient forest called Grenn… district before moving on to the AegheriaAegheriaAegheria is a district located in the North-West of the region and consists of two major cities, namely Lutheria and Alden. Because of this, the district is of high importance… district. 

Now that the website has been completed (again), I feel more confident about releasing the project on social media. I was hesitant to share updates before because I didn’t want people to visit a website that was only half-finished and had no structure or navigation. However, with the new version of the website, I believe these issues have been improved, and I’m ready to start sharing my work. Stay tuned for the next updates, and please start following me on Instagram, DeviantArt, and World Anvil.

Hello everyone. Recently, I have encountered some issues with the 3D models I was working on. Even though there were not many objects or level of detail, the models became too large to handle. I had two options to fix this problem. The first option was to split up the models into smaller pieces, but I realized it would only be a temporary solution. So, I decided to go for the second option, which was to switch to different modelling software. Although this means that I have to start everything from scratch, it’s better than continuing with the current problem. Although this will delay the deadlines for Vöhren and Aegheria districts and all deadlines following them, I believe this decision will improve the final product. In the next few weeks, I will focus on the main 3D models for VöhrenVöhrenThe District of Vöhren is located on the border between the Kingdoms of the Netherlands and Hanover. Most of the area is covered by a dense, ancient forest called Grenn…, and after that, I will start working on the city of Lutheria. 

Besides this, I have some exciting updates to share with you! Firstly, I have improved the maps by changing the perspective to an isometric view. This provides a better sense of the environment and helps me to create and plan 3D models. Although the map is still a work in progress, you can already check out the first version online. In addition to the map, I have also created a new inventory and trade system. This allows you to see the different goods that people are producing and the various production lines. It also helps me to determine which goods are locally produced and which ones need to be imported. Furthermore, I have developed a concept for a panoramic walkthrough function. This feature is not yet available on the website, as I am still waiting for the renders from the new 3D models. However, instead of using expensive third-party plugins to create full panoramas, I will be using clickable images, which will make it easier to update the website. I can’t wait to share the new renders and models with you. Stay tuned…

Hello everyone! I’ve been working on developing the two districts, “Vöhren” and “Aegheria“, for a few weeks now. I’m planning to add a lot of content to them in the coming weeks. Currently, I’m working on creating a 3D model of the city of Lutheria and Lutz farm. My aim is to render panoramic images from these models, which I will publish on the website in a panoramic walkthrough presentation. This will allow you to view the world and navigate through it as if you’re walking through it yourself. It takes a lot of time and effort to develop these models, so it will take a few months until they’re ready. However, the models will also be used for creating animations, which are an important part of the animated film. I’m very excited to see the models come to life – it’s like all of my ideas are being materialized for the first time. Please keep an eye on the website for the upcoming content.

Hello everyone! It’s time for an update since the last one was a couple of months ago. I’ve been busy transferring my website to a new domain name, specifically dedicated to this project. My old website was no longer relevant, so I decided to get rid of it and create a new website for this project with a page for my portfolio. This way, I can focus on the project and keep my portfolio separate. During the transfer, I took the opportunity to restructure the website, so some pages that were previously finished are now under construction again. However, I have some exciting new developments to share in an upcoming update. For now, I need to finish up with the website before continuing to create content and also preparing the social media accounts, so I can share my progress there too. Stay tuned for more information!

Hello everyone! Today is a special day because I launched the first version of my new website, Ayrngaer! I spent the last four days working on a renewed style that reflects the artistic and painted style I want to incorporate into my artwork and future videos. Navigation has also become much easier with a new main menu and sticky content menus on each page, making it easier to find the information you need. Currently, I am working on setting up social media platforms on DeviantArt and Instagram, where I will post snippets of my work in progress and finished projects. I can’t wait to finally start with the real creation of this projects, instead of all the prep-work I am currently doing. Which is very important ofcourse. But my fingers itch to start writing and creating artwork again!

Hello everyone! I am thrilled to share that I have been hard at work and have made tremendous progress since my last update. I am proud to announce that I have added even more detail pages, including eras, calendars, and cultures & religions. With these new features, you can easily pinpoint the time period of a story or event and explore it further. The calendars feature now allows you to view events and stories on a monthly basis, and recurring events like holidays are now included. To top it off, my “Cultures & Religions” category allows you to delve deeper into people’s religion or culture, with information about deities, events, and more. Keep exploring and discovering with me!

Greetings everyone! It’s been a while since my last update, but I’ve been hard at work creating a world simulation to gain a better understanding of population growth, economic trends, and overall happiness of the world. Though it may sound complex, I’ve managed to create a simple yet realistic simulation using Excel. The results will be presented on the Economic Page, likely divided by districts. Stay tuned for more information!

Hello there! I’m excited to share that I’ve completed the initial version of the map feature for my world-building project. This allows me to design interactive maps that feature locations, stories, and individuals. I’ve also begun working on a detailed map of Kilden, starting with the VöhrenVöhrenThe District of Vöhren is located on the border between the Kingdoms of the Netherlands and Hanover. Most of the area is covered by a dense, ancient forest called Grenn… district. You’re welcome to take a look at the map, which is still a work in progress. Click here to see the first map.

For a very long time, I worked on a world-building project. It has known many names and has existed in multiple forms of media, like stories, poetry, artwork and music. Yet, the project never took off until now. Today I have finished the first draft of the online portal of this project. It is far from finished, but that is okay. I envision this to be a “slow” project I can work on when I see fit and have inspiration. Still, I have huge ambitions like publishing short stories and movies. Time will tell if this project gets off the ground, but we’ll see. If you are curious, feel free to wander around.