Recreation of Williamston High School in Minecraft
This article was last updated on: April 10th of 2021
An enhanced version of the Williamston W.
"Is that what the fuck I think it is?" - Andrew M when a screenshot of the project was released to #Williamston-Discussion, 11/06/20.
Lore
The Recreation of Williamston High School in Minecraft was a project aimed at re-creating WHS in Minecraft accurately. The project began on the evening of November 3rd of 2020 and was canceled in March of 2021, with Ian H. and Devin A. as the original project members. The building was constructed on a superflat world. The end goal was to construct all of Williamston High School, as well as the surrounding landscape. However, the project was not to scale and far from perfect. The project was never completed, and the plug was pulled in March of 2021 after months of no progress. Ian cited a lack of time as the main reason for ending the project, although the world file is still intact, so the project could hypothetically reboot.
A lot of source material was used for this project. Most notably, a map of Williamston High School from 2020 was used to get the overall shape and layout of the building. A much older map from 1995 was also used to determine what affect rennovations have had on the building's interior. Google Earth was also used for landscaping and the roof to some extent. Many sources from the Williamston Community Schools website and YouTube channel were also used. Images of the auditorium, pool, and commons were used from the website. There is a playlist of all videos used as a reference for the project, you can view it here.
Project Members
Project members are listed in order of when they joined the project.
- Ian Hampton (project leader)
- Devin Abood (building)
- Malcolm Hollingworth (decoration)
- Eli Payton (decoration)
Project Updates and Developments
The rest of this article is dedicated to recording project updates, developments, etc. Each day Ian worked on the project, he has made a paragraph-sized log of it below. It includes the time spent working, progress made, future plans, and occasionally an image of the build. Sometimes there are gaps longer than 10 days between updates. This is typically because Ian is lacking motivation or is too busy with schoolwork to work on the project more consistently.
November 3rd of 2020 - Project Begins
The project began on the evening of November 3rd. The decision was made to start with the D-hallway, because it was relatively straight forward. In real life the hallway is pointed northwest, but it was decided that it would point north in the build so that more of the building could be straight. It is really annoying to build diagonally in Minecraft, and so minimizing that at the cost of the building's true orientation was deemed an acceptable sacrifice. The entire d-hallway was constructed on this day, begining with D8, D6, D10 & D9, and ending with D1. The hardest rooms to build were the first four, as the curves of some of the walls and doors made it difficult to scale well. During that day, a number of "POV: You are ___" images were released by Ian on Willemstan, which were screenshots of various rooms. Work for the day ended at 2:00am on November 4th.
One of the many screenshots released that night.
November 4th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued on the evening of November 4th. The goal of that day was to construct the C-hallway. The classrooms were easy enough, but the Media Center proved to be more of a challenge. The C-hall classrooms and a part of the b-hall were constructed first in order to get a better idea of the Media Center's proportions. In order to decorate the Media Center properly, a video from Williamston Community Schools was examined closely. Unlike the D-hall, only one classroom, the former robotics room, was decorated that day because not much was known about the other classrooms. Work for the day concluded in the late evening of the same day.
November 5th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued in the evening of November 5th. First off, the Media Center was slightly re-decorated to be more accurate to the real thing. The entire B-hallway was contructed as well. A scaling issue arose near the B-hall bathrooms, but this was resolved by making one of the walls thicker. Only Mrs. O'Rourke's classroom was properly decorated that night. This was also the first time that the true nature of the project was made known to the Willemstan public, as a screenshot of all that was built thus far was posted to #Williamston-Discussion by Ian. Work for the day concluded on November 6th at 12:30am.
A screenshot of the building after the B-hallway was completed.
November 8th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at Midnight of November 8th. Several B-hall classrooms were decorated, and an important decision had to be made. The main area of WHS is such a massive area intersected by the A-hall and F-hall, so both had to be angled perfectly in order to avoid distortion. A chunk of the F-hall and A-hall were built that evening, but then the night was called so we could sleep on the problem. It was very important that the halls were constructed correctly. Work for the day concluded at almost 3am the same day.
November 13th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at 10:30am on November 13th. This time, a quick hour was spent working on the courtyard area. While the progress is minimal, great care had to be taken to ensure the courtyard was contructed correctly. An exterior room was constructed, along with a few interior rooms (most were probably food storage) as well as the kitchen, which had yet to be decorated. The A-1 classroom, as well as a few small rooms were built. A rough outline was made for the rest of the remaining area around the courtyard. However, during construction it became apparent that building the A-hall diagonally is going to cause some space issues, and as a result, an office or two may need to be cut out to insure the A-hall matches up well. However, this may be able to be solved by reducing the size of the A-1 classroom. This should be the only significant compremise of the A-hallway, but it is a bummer neverless. On the bright side, using drone footage provided by the school, the windows in the school were able to be put in more accurate spots. Work for the day concluded on November 13th at 11:30am.
A screenshot of the building, featuring the newly constructed rooms around the courtyard.
November 19th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at 10:30am on November 19th. Progress was made throughout the day with some breaks in between. First, the kitchen area and its connecting rooms were remodeled and reworked entirely in order to make sure the hallway next to it flowed properly. The rest of the A-hallway was constructed, with the exception of the main office. It will probably be added much later after the old gym and cafeteria are constructed. The A-hallway was hellish to complete due to the cramped nature of the offices, and building small rooms diagonally just sucks. The A-hallway is probably the worst of the building. The cafeteria bathrooms were also added, and a segment of the roof was added to the D-hallway. This was mainly a test to see how the roof would look on the school. Most significantly, the courtyard was decorated and completed. The roof and courtyard decorations are subject to change, as I may rework the trees and roof color in the future. Work for the day concluded on November 19th at 11:30pm.
A screenshot of the building, featuring the new improvements.
December 1st of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at 7pm on December 1st after a long break. Eli and Malcolm joined the project to decorate some rooms, including D4 and several B-hall rooms. The Main Office was constructed, and the roof color was changed in favor of a lighter color. Some issues were resolved in the A-hallway, and the side enterance leading into the four hallways had to be completly redone due to a building mistake that was offsetting the whole area. More windows were added at the end of the D-hall thanks to newfound fotage of WHS. It was also rediscovered that there are indeed lockers in the A-hallway, and so those were added. Finally, the roof over the C-hallway and the traditional D-hallway was completed, as was the lighting inside those hallways. The infamous glass skylight in the intersection between the halls was built as well, and a roof was put over the entrance area. Work for the day concluded on December 1st at 10:15pm.
A screenshot of the building, featuring the newly done roof section.
December 9th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at 7:30pm on December 9th. A minor rework to the library was undertaken in order to complete the interior and lighting. The roof of the D-hallway was added and completed, including the lighting inside. A small segment of the F-hallway roof was constructed. Going forward, the next task is the A-hallway roof and making sure the main enterance is accurate. Work for the day concluded on December 9th at 10:30pm.
December 18th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at 10:00pm on December 18th. The lighting and roof for the A-hallway was completed, finishing the A-hallway aside from decorating empty classrooms. The wall between the commons and A-hall was partially constructed. Most importantly, construction of the F-hallway began. An outline of it was completed as far as the old gym. The F-hall bathrooms were constructed, as well as the hallway from F-hall to the commons. A part of the gym wall was constructed as well. Going forward, the next task should be completing the first pod and its surrounding classrooms, and if I have the time, fixing the main enterance for real this time. Work for the day concluded on December 19th at 12:50am.
December 28th of 2020 - Progress Update
The project continued at 3:00pm on December 28th. The main entrance of the high school was fixed and is now mostly complete. A major section of the F-hallway was constructed, including a couple classrooms and the teacher's lounge in between. Other parts were roughly outlined. The Old Gym was outlined as well. Going forward, the next task is to complete the F-hallway and the Old Gym. Work for the day concluded on December 28th at 5:15pm.
Bird's-eye view of the building. Note the roof completed a few updates ago, as well as the new F-hallway area.