Classic-Castle.com

Hi all
I am the father to a son at 5, and we build a lot together. So I try to focus on playabillity, and would very much like to hear what elements you think can raise the plausibility of a castle.

So far I noticed that a prison, a gate and a throne for the king works well.

Ideas or examples of how one can access the interior of the castle are also very welcome. I think I prefer a roof liftoff, but if I build too many floors, he will never access all of them.



So let me hear your best ideas/examples of playabillity in lego castle

I have found the having the building hinge open makes it really easy to get inside and play. Although it takes a little more effort to design. Also make lots of stuff that has a real function, like drawbridges, trapdoors, secret rooms.

Somethings that I have learned to do:
-Spare the tiles. This is a big one. The more tiles you use, the less studs are exposed making it harder to place figs on the inside.
-Fragility. Lets face it, no ones wants to play with a creation that keeps on breaking after 5 minutes of play. Make sure your connections are solid and firm with lots of support.
-Make sure you can have some sort of access to inside the buildings. For example a removable roof, hinges in the walls so it can swing open, and things like drawbridges/trapdoors help to add some play ability.
-As a bonus, try to add some sort of realism to it. Things like furniture, food, foliage, are great to add some story to the play.
-ALWAYS include minifigures. Most themes are rather boring in themselves without them. Castle is no exception. Getting some good solid minifigs with tons of custom ability will make this creation!

I hope this helps!

Hey,

Hinged walls to open up and play inside is something with a long history with LEGO castle, going all the way back to the Yellow Castle:


Here's a recent MOC demonstrating this by TMC:


-I'll edit more into this later. Hmm, maybe this should be a 'how-to' article if I flesh it out some more.

John Langrish has a very interesting feature in his Nottingbley Castle. He had a couple of 'drawers' that slid out of the side of the castle to show interiors. This probably isn't the best solution for playing in a castle with a kid, but it is a cool idea.

Walls on hinges are doing well. My example:
http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/subix ... sun214.jpg

Also wide enough (at least 4 studs) space everywhere (top of walls,...) to put figs and no tiles as mentioned before. If possible build walls two studs wide and creation will be very solid even if multiple floors are made.

You can build weapon&arms room to store unused items. A horse stable too. Basicaly all real stuff with easy access.

I have two girls and in every building I have to provide space for mirror, comb, tiaras, extra hairs,...balkony for the princess to talk with a knight.

Just do not complicate too much with excelent look and perfect color scheeme. Kids do not care about that.

I've always treated castle building like making a doll house.

Although I'm by no means a child, I always try to include an element of playability in all of my builds. Full interiors aren't a difficult feature to include, but they really add to a MOC. My earlierst AFOL castles were hinged, but now I'm more inclined to split the structure by having it pegged together with pins.



It's a simple solution that allows you to build a large and playable interior.

I hinged this tower right down the middle.


http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/thebo ... re_917.jpg

Thanks for reply's.

I think the problem with hinged castles is the the castle is split into two. Adults can easily imagine that one floor is one floor even though it is split into two. But my son will look at is as two rooms, but maybe I should just not care about that, since I guess it does not matter for him. But for me some of the rooms are not accessible if it is not one room.

And thats another thing, I care a lot more about rooms / towers being accessible than my son. He does not care about that a tower has no stairs to it.

Another thing that bugs me with hinged castles / walls is that my son does not use them to access interior, but as real doors where the enemies can attack. I know it is stupid, but it annoys me

So I prefer roof liftoff.

I like some of your ideas to interior and "real castle things", I will try some of them out. But my son prefer the battle stuff. Guess he is some of the reason we have so few non war castle sets.

Here's a site with a castle that is built specificly for realism you can probably get some idea's from here:
http://www.hoernersburg.net

I didn't see it all very well, but the Hogwarts castle at BrickCon had all sorts of parts that would swing open so you could see inside. Parts of the wall would open up to show individual rooms. Some parts of the castle appeared to be stackable, and others seemed like they could be removed and moved around.

Now with our DUPLO I finally made a castle big enough that my daughter can fit inside, surrounded by walls on three sides. But I suppose that would end up being a mite expensive with the smaller pieces.

eilonwy77 wrote: Now with our DUPLO I finally made a castle big enough that my daughter can fit inside, surrounded by walls on three sides.

Sweet