Blizzard principal artist and designer Jay Huang, who previously focused on creating in-game props, now leads the systems design for World of Warcraft's player housing feature. With the recent addition of new decor and features in patch 12.1, including blueprints that allow players to save and share house interiors and exteriors, the landscape of player-created homes is expanding.
Huang has shared ten essential tips for players venturing into the world of WoW home creation, aiming to demystify the process and encourage creativity. His advice ranges from foundational techniques to more advanced design concepts.
Getting Started
For new creators, Huang suggests beginning by finding a reference image. This external visual guide helps solidify what you want to build and assists in identifying suitable in-game decor to replicate desired elements. He also advises against comparing your early work to the highly polished creations often shared online. "Just look at a building or something that you like the vibe of, then just start trying to copy, then add your own flair to it," Huang commented.
Structuring Your Space
Huang emphasizes the importance of breaking up large, open spaces. Instead of treating a room as a single empty square, he recommends using partitions, pillars, and platforms to create smaller, more manageable areas. This approach, he likens to building with Lincoln Logs or Legos, makes decorating less daunting than starting with a completely blank slate. He suggests picking smaller rooms to begin with, as attempting to fill an enormous space with only a few items can leave it feeling empty.
When considering proportions, Huang advises matching the scale of your build to its theme. For instance, a gnome house should feel appropriately sized for its inhabitants. This attention to detail extends to lighting, which can significantly impact the overall atmosphere.
Adding Detail and Color
Repetition is a key technique for adding detail efficiently. Huang draws a parallel to cathedrals, noting how repeating architectural elements like pillars create visual interest. He recommends focusing on patterns, proportions, and lighting to establish a desired vibe, followed by selecting a limited color palette, ideally between two and four colors, to maintain cohesion. "It's better to get two or three or four colors working. Then you kind of sprinkle in some of the other rainbow colors to add in that variety," he explained.
While limiting colors, Huang encourages variety in style. He notes that real-world homes often mix furniture from different sources and styles, and player-created spaces can similarly incorporate diverse cultural or thematic elements. "When you're decorating a Kobold space, throw a Naga thing in that Kobold thing," he suggests.
Advanced Techniques
Advanced creators often utilize kitbashing, which involves combining different decor items to create new objects. By using the in-game Advanced Mode, players can embed objects within others or even flip them upside down to use specific parts. Huang encourages looking at each prop not just for what it is, but for its potential uses, noting that clipping objects can result in novel appearances. Turning decor items upside down and examining them from all angles can reveal hidden possibilities.
Dyes offer another layer of customization, largely effective on more affordable vendor items. These can alter the appearance of objects, with players even transforming doors into wall panels or stoves by dyeing them. Developers are reportedly exploring ways to make such items static, disabling their interactable qualities for creative purposes.
Pushing Creative Boundaries
Huang expresses his admiration for players who have transformed housing into a literal art medium, creating murals that replicate famous artworks like the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh, or depicting characters and scenes from various media. He emphasizes that the player-housing feature is not