Race Track Map - Stables, Farm and Orchard

Technically, there's not much left to add to the map. I've been working on aesthetics quite a bit, adding trapdoors as accent/decor for various features and putting in some flowers along pathways. I still have some chests to fill with fireworks and supplies for horses, but I'll do that prior to release because frankly it's kind of boring!

Anyway, here's some more WIP teaser screens!

This first image shows the sizable wheat farm now in place. Considering the amount of wheat horses will consume and the number of horses that could be seen on the map, even this may not be enough.

The wheat is planted behind the announcer booth/race options building.



Here you can see sugarcane and carrots growing in between the announcer booth and the stables. Both foods are horse-friendly (and carrots are essential for pigs, if you choose to use the map for pig races), but likely not quite as important as wheat. Carrots are also planted on the opposite end of the stables.



This pic gives you an idea of the apple orchard/park area, located next to the VIP booth. All the trees are oak, as they are the only kind that produce apples from their leaf blocks.





The image here is a look at the lane between the track and stables. I added arches (admittedly hard to see at night, my apologies) and some vines to pretty it up. It looks like a nice place to show off the horses while not on the track or in the winner's circle.




Finally, we have a shot of a stall in the stables. I know the angle is a bit awkward, but I wanted to get the overhead chest in the picture. The chest is intended to store food/armor/saddles and anything else the horse and rider may want to keep. There's ample room to hang signs designating horse/jockey names, accomplishments, etc.

I placed a filled cauldron in each stall to act as the horse's water supply. That's just for looks, as horses in the game don't actually need water. Next to the cauldron are 3 blocks of yellow wool, which will soon be replaced with wheat/hay bales. The floor for the stall will likely get carpeting, to represent the rubber mats used in real horse stalls.

While I'm nearly finished with the map, I know there's more I could add. I talked about minigames, and Sethbling recently uploaded a youtube video showing off a working roulette table. I'm really thinking about adding something similar to this, but with an actual automated payout system. I'm thinking a mix of hoppers, command blocks, and some other redstone shenanigans might just work!

That's when it really hit me - if I could find a way to award race winners with gold (automatically), they could use the gold to craft golden apples/carrots, buy horse armor, or a number of other neat things via a redstone vending machine. Likewise, gold could be used for currency on the map in general - at the roulette table, to buy VIP access, purchase other items, etc. which sounds like a lot of fun for server communities!

It's a big plan, but it really sounds worth doing. I'll see what I can figure out.