i just finished my first batch from mr. beer. it was really good, considering it was my first home brew. it didnt have that distinct IPA bitterness, but it tasted better than miller & co.
sure, it doesnt have the craft of true home brewing, and that i recognize, but i think Mr. Beer is a nice simple version. less chance of poisoning, too.
The Burdisson Brewery will have it's own dedicated "in character" website. The following are the rough plans so far.
SITE LAYOUT
Pages:
Home - Welcome to Burdisson's Brewery. Tell about the brewery in character.
The Beer - Learn about Burdisson's Original and read reviews.
Tour - Learn about Burdisson's Brewery, past and present.
a) Interactive map - the tour will include the interactive map
...on mouse hover - "hole" in landscape drawing opens up to see architecture below
...on click - area of map expands out to display a detail drawing of the area along with a written description (like An Orc's Tale)
b) Historic pictures and documents - the tour will also include vintage portraits of Burdisson and others in the clan, as well as pictures of their original brewery and "the early days".
Store - Purchase beer, books (The Story of Bordar Burdisson), maps (large, detailed version of online map?), shirts, hats, coolies, and other merchandise.
Sidebars - Quotes and reviews from Coalbeard and other beer aficionados
Textures and layout - I love the textures and style in Warcraft's anniversary site. Considerations... would parchment be appropriate texture for dwarves, or would we be better off with a stone feel? Stone might loose some of the richness this thing emanates though.
Oversized Banner - I also like the huge oversized banner in the Warcraft anniversary site. I have also seen deviantART make use of this kind of overpowering banner, and it's always awesome. Two goals I want to keep in mind for this project are authentic and modern. I think this layout holds a nice balance.
Framework - Another way to get the wide landscape perspective might be to use some kind of framework like in the harry potter site. This way we could still use the horizontal scrolling while keeping a vertical layout of the overall page where we could also incorporate portraits and vintage photos of the Burdissons, and the brewery's transition.
INSPIRATIONAL PICTURES
I'll post a few pictures here for inspiration as we go.
I got an email from Matt (the designer of bad ass labels) today that I thought you guys would like to see. We have been talking about the banner piece for the Burdisson Brewery website...
Hey Chris,
Attached is a thought for the banner piece... the red area represents where the actual webpage would be. I was thinking to show the brewery in a deep valley, built into the side of the mountain. I would add more details from the story as it went along.
Let me know your thoughts,
Matt
I think this would be a great compliment to the map Herwin is putting together. The water wheel could also be an exciting addition. It could even be fed from the aqueducts as a source of motion for gear work inside. The ducts could even be piped into the mountain for various uses, then back out at the entrance to power the wheel. Just an idea to consider.
Let me know what you guys think about the concept as a whole. This would certainly take some close collaboration between Herwin and Matt. I'll give Matt an invite to the forum here so he can check out the Burdisson map too.
The look of the aqueducts is fantastic, so as long as we can reasonably explain how they pulled it off, I could go with it. I could see Coalbeard visiting the brewery and commenting on the massive slabs and dumbfounded by how they were able to raise them for construction. Of course we have magic we can fall back on, maybe the dwarves cut the slabs and moved them in place, then had magical help to raise them. The "how it got there" doesn't even have to be explained in detail, as long as the end functionality can be explained. So yes, I think solid slabs would be an adequate explanation.
As for the machines, I think it's the bucket that bugs me... I can't picture a dwarf in a bucket for some reason
