Blizzard artist shares 10 tips for beginners building houses in WoW
Blizzard principal artist and lead designer Jay Huang, who previously created the props that populate World of Warcraft's interiors, now designs the systems that let players do the same with the game's new player housing feature. He has shared a set of tips for newcomers intimidated by the prospect of building their own homes.
The recent patch 12.1, The Curse of Ula'tek, added a large number of new decor items and features. Among them is the ability to use "blueprints" — saved rooms, house interiors, or exteriors — that allow novices to copy the work of experienced player designers for their own spaces.
Huang acknowledges that starting out can be daunting when other players are creating literal works of art in WoW housing. Below are his key recommendations for beginners.
First, find a reference image. "Even artists like to know what something looks like," Huang says. "What exactly do you want to make? Find an example of it. Even spaceships have structures, and reasons why they're built that way." The image helps determine which decor pieces can be used to replicate the desired look.
Second, avoid judging yourself based on others' work. Blizzard's housing team has an internal sharing channel where they circulate impressive player creations. "Daily, minute-ly, people are just dropping, 'Did you see this??' We see tutorials. We see posts we can't even read, because they're in a different language. It's just awesome, and we love it," Huang says. "But if you're a beginner, don't compare your start to someone else's mastery."
Other tips include choosing a clear theme for your house, working within a limited set of items to avoid overwhelm, experimenting with lighting and color, and drawing inspiration from real-world architecture. Huang recommends starting small — for instance, building a single room rather than an entire house — and gradually expanding as confidence grows. He also suggests using the blueprint system to learn from others' designs before attempting original creations.
