Complete Arabic Palaces

Arabic Palaces
By: JustALizardKing

From the builder that introduced Aquafus (before a username change) comes a journey propelling players to the far east.

Background
I constructed Arabic Palaces as a solo project many years ago, and it has been untouched until very recently. After my first map submission Aquafus got accepted (If I'm not mistaken, version IV should be in rotation?), I went back to the drawing board to build Arabic Palaces (working title was Hubal Palaces). I managed to finish it with the assist of one or two comrades.

I submitted the map, excited and enthusiastic for it's response. The thread, however, went largely unnoticed on my old account and was swallowed into the archives. Shortly after submitting the map, life got in the way and I stopped playing Minecraft. That was about four years ago. Only recently, during free time in college, did I get the time to replay this game. I discovered my map was still in one piece. With a new username at hand (the old one was Old_Spice_), I tweaked the map and decided to resubmit it.

Style
Arabic Palaces is a Middle-Eastern inspired map, swarmed with culture referencing Persian palaces, the Grand Bazaar, Mesopotamia and oases. The map features:
-Two red/blue palaces which hold the flags
-A center tower where both world collide
-Four large archer towers
-Arabic-inspired spawn areas
-Heavy contrast of color between red and blue
-Plenty of sponges, hiding spots, and PvP areas

Builders
Main builder: JustALizardKing
Touch-Ups: Decptive, new_instance
*It is important to note that these two may no longer be playing Minecraft, or they may not have these usernames. They still deserve credit for their work, whether they still play or not. They are the only names I have on record who contributed, so that is who I am going with.

Download
MC Build Map ID: 76589

Photographs
Resource Pack: FaithfulVenom 64x, MrMeeps Shaders (Lite). Taken on: 5/10/17.

Spoiler

Change Log
-Added sponges at the base of the center tower for easy access to the roof
-Made the time of day night
-Tweaks and minor adjustments
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-Removed the lava in the map
-Removed vines and grass
-Removed excess trees
-Removed any clutter
-Added more sponges for
entrances
-Removed ladder access to the top
-Restricted engineering building
-Replaced flag room glass panes
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-Removed more excess clutter
-Replaced all glowstone with torches to remove lag
-Adjusted sponges as necessary
-Removed bases of water features; either swim or fall to your death!
-Added herobrine
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-Redid the center tower
-Replaced all glass panes with glass blocks
-Minor tweaks and adjustments
---
-Configured map with sings
-Added more block 97

Any feedback/criticism is encouraged and accepted. It would be a dream come true to let this map be a part of the rotation. Please leave your thoughts below!

Take care,
-JustALizardKing
​

 

Wow, surprised that my map is remembered by some! Reminds me of Brian Wilson's lost Smile album, something that would have been truly revolutionary back in the sixties.

Anywho, the changes I made are essentially minimal; making the map a bit more fair by removing water, adjusting the spawn area, and a couple of minor tweaks.

 

Thank you for the warm feedback! I have noticed that it does appeal to soldiers quite a bit; I suppose there is not much of a way around it.

When you mentioned sponges, do you mean adding sponges that would launch you to the top of the towers? If that is the case, I'm happy to add some to the towers for easy access. Shouldn't be a problem as long as they are visible and not hard to get to.

I was wondering whether I should keep it at night...I was on the edge for a long time about it and I'm starting to lean towards night again. It does make the palaces look totally awesome.

Again, thank you for the warm feedback! I'll hop back on and see if I can update the changes.

 

Heh, I didn't even know it was used on somebody else's server! Not that I don't mind, but that's rather trivial!

Update: I have since changed my username to I_ate_some_pi, and the credits will be changed accordingly.

 

My goodness, thank you! Honest feedback is what I need the most, and this helps a lot. I can tweak this up and add it in the change log.

Made a couple updates to the changelog!

Removed more clutter, replaced all the glowstone with torches, and removed most lag-inducing blocks.

 

I did fix some of the archer issues by removing the ladders to the bulbs of the palaces (see changelog), do you have any suggestions to balance archers even more?

 

Good news! More changes were added today, including a major redo of the center tower. Glass panes have been replaced completely, and I was able to add some proper pictures with fancy shaders.

 

You think so? I may add some photos without shaders if it helps.

Update: Thanks to Xelani, I was able to configure my map properly and add more block 97 where necessary.