How to Create a Portal Hub

Dedicating one of your castles to store the portals to your other houses can be a laborious task, especially deciding you want to begin a project like this. If you’re not sure what I mean by a “portal hub,” I am referring to a castle that is the central hub to teleport to your other homes. Successfully completing a project like this is a big accomplishment for any decorator, for your friends to tour your amazingly decorated houses and simply teleport to the next once they’re done.

The Math

Before we begin, there is a lot of math to be done. For this guide, I will be doing the most complex option of how we can interpret this project (and very much so the most impressive!).

Open your list of houses and count all of the houses you want included in this project. I want my Balance House, my Storm House, my Death house, and my Midday Estate included in this project, plus my dorm. My Storm House will be the Hub, and my Dorm will teleport the visitor to the hub. Once the person gets to the hub, there will be several portals they can enter. This is described in the main flow chart. The Marleybone and Darkmoor houses will not be a part of this tutorial.

This means we will need one teleporter for the Dorm, three for the hub, and three more to put in the houses. Therefore, all together, we will need seven portals. We need two for every house we have, plus one for the dorm.

The Portal Plan

Next, we need to figure out the route these portals are going to take. The flow chart to the left makes it look easier than it feels when actually doing it.

We must set up three portals to go back to the dorm, the dorm portal to go to the hub, and the three hub portals to go to the houses. Remember, when you click on a portal without the mark in the corner of its box in the decorating menu, it means you need to select the location it will teleport to first. If it does indicate a point has been selected, you may proceed to place it. 

An Example

To the right is one possible combination a visitor may take. After teleporting to you in your dorm room, they go through the portal in the Storm House hub, and then the Midday Estate. When they decide to leave the Midday Estate, they will go back to the Dorm Room and begin again to see the other houses.

This visual shows where the portals are going to. The violet portal heads to the Storm House. This is color association. By using violet, it is a hint without needing to use a sign where they are about to go.

This works rarely. Most of the time, we need to put a sign nearby, or in the portal to show where people are going.

An extraordinary example of Paige Moonshade’s Portal Hub. Find her Wizard’s Watchtower on the castle tours!

It is always amazing to see houses on the tours that are connected together. Seeing portals linked together like this makes the house feels that its a part of something much larger, and is a product of greater quality. In projects like these, the more houses you have, the more work it will take to maintain it, but there’s a bigger pay off. In the image to the left, it looks amazing to see the portals of every single house in the game linked up together.

Thank you, Starlights, I wish you the best in your Portal Hub creations! Please remember to email your lovely interpretations of this guide to us at [email protected] because we would love to see them. If you have any issues following along with this guide, please get in touch with me in the comments below or on the Ravenwood Academy Discord!

Dorm Decorating: Death School

I ’m sure everyone remembers struggling to figure out what to do with their first dorm room. I had no idea what to do with the original furniture. Honestly, it just wasn’t for me, but after a week or so of fishing, questing, and collecting treasure cards, I had figured out how to make the most of my dorm.

 

First, I started by removing all of the furniture and by selling it in order to buy some furniture I could work with for the style I had in mind. I had to think “What’s a good color scheme?” and “What items are an absolute necessity for a dorm?” and most importantly, “How could I fit everything together to work the best for my dorm?”

Well, after a few hundred trips to the Bazaar (on the fine edge of an exaggeration), I had gathered enough decor to achieve my goal. Some of the first few items I chose were the Wyrm Crowned Bed, the Long Narrow Table, and the Portrait of the Bone Dragon. After I had picked out the larger items, I started searching for others that would work well with them.

I decided on some Aero Dwarf Chairs for the center of the room; this would be the first thing your Wizard would see each and every time you entered. I wanted to make my focus simplistic and fill the outer edges with more decor.

One of the most important things to go by when decorating is to ask yourself “Does this look cluttered?” I don’t know about you, but I definitely like to keep things tidy, especially in my Wizard’s home.

One of my favorite parts of setting up my dorm was glitching. If you’ve never tried it before, it might surprise you how easy it is! This was my first time glitching while decorating and it turned out flawless, in my opinion. All you need to get started is one Maple Bookcase and a Black Checker, the best part is how they always have both of these items in the Bazaar!

 

To achieve the decorating glitch, first set down whatever object you want to float on the floor, then place the bookcase next to it. Then, you place the Black Checker on whichever shelf you want your item to be when it is in the air. Then, grab your Black Checker on the shelf and move it so your bookcase sinks into the floor. Once it’s there, you can move the item into the bookcase and then move the maple bookcase again, and your object is in the air! After this, to remove your bookcase, you grab the checker again and move it so your item stays in place.

My favorite glitch in this dorm room is definitely my Small Fry Keeper Tank. For this glitch, I used my Maple Bookcase to glitch some Purple Dewberries into the tank. Then I used it again to set it up in the window and out of the way! By using the glitch, I saved walking space in my dorm. Plus, it looks amazing, even if I do say so myself. To finish the tank off, I placed a Blue Angel plant on top of the tank to add a splash of blue to the area.

Every Wizard needs a study area, and for this, I completed three separate glitches. I decided to put the Telescope in the window sill with the Castle Magic Help tome beside it. It only made sense to look at all those beautiful Wizard City sunsets up close from the comfort of my dorm! Looking toward the desk area, I glitched the Arcane Rebooter (from Wizard101’s 10th-year-anniversary code) onto the table because it was almost too big to fit otherwise. That glitch definitely freed up more space on the desk too! I added a few specimens in jars, a Bottle Burner, Test Tubes, and a Venus Flytrap plant to complete the look. I found the flytrap in the Bazaar, but you can also get it from Fishing Chests!

I decided to not put too much of an emphasis on the doorway and to keep it fairly simple, I added the Nimbari Sword Rack, one of my favorite decorations in the game. The Dragon Skull, the Black Rock Fragment, and a couple of Glowing Mushrooms to keep things interesting.

Last but not least, I glitched the Wyrm Crowned bed into the wall and placed more glowing mushrooms underneath it! This is a really small bed in the game, so adding the mushrooms turned it into its own focal point! Next to the bed, I have the Elegant Hat Stand, and the Special Hat stand each covered in Darkmoor Cobwebs. You can thank my pet Moose for that one.

I hope you guys enjoyed the read because I loved writing it for you! I hope you all have a blast glitching and creating your very own personalized dorm!

This article was submitted by Guest Author, Jen Skullbreaker

Dorm Decorating: Xmas Edition

It’s Christmastime in the Spiral once again! I’m sure all of you are just about as excited as I am (as if that’s even possible!). It’s the most wonderful time of the year and you can show your Christmas cheer with an exciting and original Christmas themed dorm room!

I am completely new at glitching and Castle Magic, but I’ve picked up a bunch of fun tricks this season to share with you all! For my dorm, I didn’t want to use any of the Christmas themed trees we all love so much. Instead, I decided to make my own original Christmas tree.

For my Christmas tree, I chose to use six of the Blue Holiday Ornaments and glitched them into the air using my trusty Maple Bookcase and Black Checker. For this glitch, all you have to do is set down whatever object you want to float and then place the bookcase next to it. Then you place the Black Checker on whichever shelf that you want your item to be in the air. You grab your Black Checker on the shelf and move it so your bookcase sinks into the floor. Once it’s there, you can move the item into the bookcase and then move the maple bookcase and your object is in the air! After this, to remove your bookcase, you grab the checker again and move it so your item stays in place.

I found all of the ornaments used for this in the Bazaar (and for quite a cheap price). All around my tree I have floating presents using the aforementioned ornament glitch. I thought this would be a really magical focal point and it turned out better than I had imagined. Speaking of the actual Christmas tree, it’s the Snowy Polarian Tree shrunk down twice along with the ornaments using Castle Magic. As you’ve probably noticed by now, my not-so-Christmas tree topper isn’t actually on the top of my tree. I did this because outside of Photomancy, the tree is too tall for it to show. For this, I just grabbed a handy Star Staff and enlarged it five times with Castle Magic as well.  

To the left of my tree, I made a cozy sitting space featuring one of the goodest of boys. Right next to him, I glitched a Regular Keeper Tank with a Red Cap Carpe (the perfect Santa fish!) into the floor using a rug and the Maple Bookcase. For this glitch, you start by placing your tank in your dorm and then set out your Maple Bookcase with the Black Checker on the lowest shelf. Once that is done, you grab the checker and move the opposite end on the bookcase into the tank. Grab the Maple Bookcase and set it down so that your tank is up in the air. After this you grab the checker once more and move it so that the bookcase is no longer touching the tank, which is now floating. Then you pick up your bookcase and then place it once more. This time you will put your checker on the second shelf and place a medium rug (either the Medium Magenta or Medium Purple). You then move the checker so your bookcase sinks once more and place the opposite end on the long side of your rug. Next, you move the bookcase and make sure that the rug is placed evenly inside of the tank. As you’ll see now, the rug fits perfectly where the wooden bottom stops and the blue base starts. Once this is done, remove the bookcase by grabbing the checker and place it somewhere else in the room. Pick up the bookcase. Grab the rug and move it anywhere in your room where you want your tank and you’ll see that the tank is sunk into the floor without the bottom wooden piece showing!

Inside the tank, I have a shrunk down Snowman and a Snow Pile. Remember that when glitching items inside of the tank, you need to place them where the tank will be first, which can get tricky if you need to float each item. That’s why sinking the tank is a perfect option if you want some extra flair! For the Snowman and Snow Pile, I shrunk them both using Castle Magic Reflectors and Start Detectors with the shrink cards in place (this is all trial and error, depending on how small you want an item. Using a Magic Reflector, you can use castle magic on up to eight items and you can shrink or grow a single item at least eight times!).  On top of the tank, we have another Snow Pile shrunk down. I also included some Yuletide Candy Canes and peppermints for all of the guests to enjoy.

One of my favorite glitches of all time would have to be putting the Silver Chest over the plain wooden one for your bank. It was revolutionary for me when I first tried it and it worked so well! I simply used two medium rugs and the chest. All you must do is place one rug on top of the other at different angles and rotate the first one until it is under the wooden chest. Once that’s done, you set down your Silver Chest (which is the one found under the furniture tab in the Bazaar) directly on top of your wooden bank chest.  You’ll never have a plain chest for your bank again!

Next to the chest, we have a matching table with the Cookies and Milk glitched on top using the Maple Bookcase once again since they wouldn’t fit normally, you always have to give a little something back to Santa! (even if he is trapped in your fish tank at the moment).

Next to my glitched chest, I used up my spare Blue Holiday Ornaments and glitched them into the air and placed the Azteca Basket underneath. For that, I used the Maple Bookcase and Black Checker glitch with the bottom shelf, one with the second shelf from the bottom. All ornaments were shrunk two sizes down and I enlarged the basket by a size. All the String Lights were enlarged twice with Castle Magic as well. Last but not least, in the window, I placed the Gingerbread House to finish off my dorm.

I hope you all enjoyed my article on How to Make the Most of your Dorm: Christmas Edition! Decorate those dorms and have a very magical Merry Christmas!

This article is by Community Contributor, Jen Skullbreaker

The Elements of Decorating

Intended For the Novice Decorator

I have no doubt you’ve been to homes with phenomenal mazes that extend to places in the sky you didn’t think they could reach, or beautiful portal displays of every house in the game. Each portal with an angel plant at elder, dancing elegantly nearby, or player-made homes of building blocks that are realistic in exterior and interior design. They all grab something within us. A kind of magic different than anything else in the game. When we enter those phenomenal homes, we are pulled into their absolute splendor.

Whether it’s to find a housing gauntlet or be inspired by other decorators, we’ve all entered another player’s in-game castle and felt a sense of awe in its aesthetic. As an avid housing decorator, I have won contests and have earned positions on the Top Rated houses leader board. Today, we will delve into the elements of decorating and see how you can apply these skills of craftsmanship to your own interior and exterior decor.

The Elements

Scale

Evaluate the overall size of your decoration in comparison to your character as well as your screen. From creating three-story high towers that can’t fit in your screen, to the smallest flower pot, the element of scale is probably one of the most important considerations.

Depth

Similar to “Space,” we need to think about angles and balance between the items. We cannot be decorating too flat, but we also need to decide what should get the most attention with depth. Debatably, this element can also be considered the most important.

Space

Next, we must determine how much space there should be between your items. Where can people walk through? Where should people walk through? At times, I find the best use of space in my home is when I block off areas I simply don’t want to decorate in order to focus on the bigger picture.

Realism

The truthfulness and believability that your decoration style can be accepted as possible in the game. For example, this does not mean you cannot have floating candles, because that can be explained with magic. Therefore, that would be truthful and believable. What this rule suggests, is to justify your room or exterior, and try to think of it from a new perspective. We must justify how believable the design is by looking at it with our visitor’s eyes in mind. 

Originality

 Does that stunning, beautiful, masterful home you just decorated feel like it’s yours? Of course, incorporating other’s ideas doesn’t hurt, but what does taking that idea add? How do you develop upon the different styles and themes within your castle? Remember, context screams louder than the idea itself.

Texture

 Make sure nothing feels too repetitive in your decor. Try to find items that break up your texture and gather attention, or create textures that repeat well together. With repetition, the simpler an idea is, the better. With complexity, it is better for it to stand-alone.

Color

Color is quite powerful. I suggest knowing or learning some color theory. Learn about the emotional impact of colors, what colors represent, what different colored roses represent, which are the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors- the list goes on. Think about how different colors make you feel.

Palette

A palette is a collection of colors that are consistent throughout your design. As this is a video game where we cannot always pick specific colors, we should be lenient with where our shades and tones happen to fall within the overall color family.

Example: Garden of The Albion Enchantress  

 

My entry for Paige Moonshade’s annual Summer contest.
Honorable mention 2018.

Here is one of the dorm rooms I’ve decorated, entered in Paige Moonshade’s Ninth annual best little Wizard City dorm contest. Let’s go through each of the various elements to see how we employ them in this example.

The scale might be one of the first things you notice. Several well-placed items make the room feel more grandiose because of their stature. The objects barely fit into the frame. Next, let’s see the depth. We create depth through the garden between the archways. Very diorama-like, it sits with us having to peer in, with each one of us taking a different perspective. This technique is used in Mooshu, with there being a fence next to the sidewalk and bamboo plants spread out between the wall of bamboo.

By examining this space, we see it is very tight, crammed, and in-your-face, especially when viewing it from an in-game perspective. Standing there, You are filled with a view 360 degrees around you of items. You can barely find your way out, and it’s not the door you think it may be. It is overgrown and wild, the feeling, like an enchanted garden that belongs to an evil queen.

We may find ourselves questioning the truthfulness of this design. Would an overgrown, enchanted garden of a witch looks like this? I  believe it would be. It was very W.I.T.C.H. inspired, after I had binge-watched the short running television series for the second time, and I wanted to incorporate its dark and contrasting magical vibe into my own decor (notice how that also covered the color section too? These elements can correlate to each other in intriguing ways!).

 

Selfie!

Some of the ways I break up the texture of items in my design is by using wall lamps to pretend to hang them on pillars and wall-like items. In a similar fashion, the bright mushroom breaks apart the dark violet texture, while still being within the color scheme established. In our palette, we see bright greens, dark violets, vibrant and dark reds, and light blues. These are consistent and rarely fall out of line.


As decorators, we strive to create new worlds within our own homes or give homage to the ones we have quested in, and bring it to life. Each Wizard is given one dorm in Ravenwood and I hope this helps you make the best of it and the other castles that you own. Thank you, Starlights