June Entry: The Department of Mysteries

[Gidde]

The Department of Mysteries, deep in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic (from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in case anyone hasn't read it), is way too interesting a place not to be mapped I think this one may be beyond my skill, but what the hey, that's what challenges are for.

So far I have only a basic sketch which shows the placement of the six doors that are actually touched upon in the book. The reason I'm posting it even though it's so rough and basic is that I'd like everyone's opinion: Should I add stuff that isn't mentioned to "complete" the map? Or leave the other six doors a mystery (yeah, pun intended. I'm a nerd.)?


### Latest WIP ###

[Steel General]

Neat idea, I just watched that the other night.

[Gidde]

Thanks SG!

Moving onward, here's the first pass at the Space room. According to Luna, it's a dark room full of planets, and some of the time they were just floating, with no floor beneath them. Pluto got itself blown up, and Ron got to see Uranus. Still need to put in a partial floor, and I'm giving this room a door to the room of Death eventually. Also, when I put in the partial floor I'll be moving the planets around a bit (hence no shadows on Jupiter from Earth/Moon).

I haven't decided how much ambient light to use; right now this is Celestia's medium ambient light setting.

### Latest WIP ###

[tilt]

looking good - and great idea, must admit that I don't remember that - must have been to long since I saw the movie...

[Gidde]

It wasn't in the movie, I just rewatched it yesterday ... only in the book. Update coming soon; the black marble floors are giving me hell

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

Do you need any black marble textures? Here are a couple I'd made in Genetica. They should be perfectly tileable.

[Gidde]

Hey, those may indeed help! Thanks so much! (I don't have Genetica and failed at using the viewer, lol)

[Immolate]

It is challenging to model in two-dimensional space a place whose peculiarity derives from its defiance of the physical laws. I admit that the department of mysteries is an intriguing place, because it calls out to the reader: all of the rules you know don't apply here. Even the rules of magic seem loose and flexible. This is probably the one series of books I've read more often than Jordan. It is a story that is bigger than its author, as she relied upon each of us to fill in the blanks. For those of us steeped in fantasy and science fiction, it had the potential to be enormous.

I never cared for the movies. I guess when the standard you have to live up to is Lord of the Rings, it's nearly impossible. Perhaps someone will do the movies over again in twenty years and capture the wonder of the books effectively. For those of you who love the movies as-is, I envy you.

I think my advice Gidde would be to try a black marble texture with less "activity" as well and see how that looks, comparatively. Perhaps overlaying a partial galaxial sworl over the floor to heighten the sense of infinite depth.

[tilt]

If you need a black marble I can help you if you want - check out my marble tiles - they are white but I can easily convert to black

[Gidde]

As much as I hate to post something this terrible, so many people are trying to help that I figure I'll post where I'm at and what I hate so that you all have more to go on

So here's where I'm at. I started with the rectangular tiles, tried to make the circular tiles to match (failing miserably at the matching), and now I like the circles better. In the space room, I think I need to take out all of the partial floor except for the 2 circular areas and the one platform near the door to the death room. The death room is barely started; I need to texture the floors so that there's a walkway around the edge, and then steps down, and then flat, steps up, and flat in the middle (for the arch). I'm going by the book definition of that room rather than the movie depiction, btw.

Another thing I'm having trouble with is that everything is black. The floors, the doors, the walls ... which makes differentiating between them extremely difficult. I went with a lighter (but still pretty dark) gray for the walls, but I as yet have no idea what to do with the doors, or the background for that matter. White obviously is horrid, but black washes the entire image out. I'm thinking of maybe something misty; I toyed with the notion of a misty circle (like one of the prophecy globes), but I just don't know.

So, that's where I'm stuck. I guess the feedback I'm looking for most is: do the circular tiles look good enough that I should redo the square tiles to match? Or should I start from scratch with both of them? Do the walls look appropriate?

//Edit: I was so intent on my frustration here that I forgot to thank tilt and immolate for their insight and help. Thanks guys! (/sheepish look)