Age Creation Proposal

[Karkadann]

Im wondering if any one would like get together and create a community age specifically for MOULA. Putting our differences aside if any, and starting from scratch with some brain storming. A story line that fits into Uru, some concept art.. An age with journals and puzzles and various types of art work. Things to do, places to go, something that will hold your attention longer then a static puzzle. Taking into consideration the advancements of the average PC since Uru was first released we may be able to make this age a bit more elaborate then what Cyan was restricted to when Uru first came out. It can be an age specifically tailored for MOULa, one that will stand out and have that WOW factor to it.

Iv created a few simple ages, a few Cyan Redraws with out texture and a bunch of mesh’s in my do-dads folder I never published, I also have a puzzle but no age to put it. basic knowledge in Plasma and Max. but I don't feel can do this as an individual. I may have some skills others don’t have and others have skills that I do not posses, Would it be possible to pool our skills and resources here and create one of the first fan age for the MOULa server. Something that would make Cyan sit up and take notice, an age they would feel comfortable or even proud to put on there server.

Can we do this using the Writers Guild as a Think tank, and would any one be interested?

[Emor D'ni Lap]

Absolutely, all discussion about such a project could be done here, if people wanted to go ahead with it.

The core of such a project would have to be the first thing you mentioned:
A story line that fits into Uru

...can we come up with such a story line, one that fits all the requirements laid out by Cyan yet is intriguing enough and unique enough to attract and motivate skilled agebuilders for the duration of a large, long-term project? I can't say.
But all the design, all the puzzles, everything would have to hang off that storyline, otherwise you have an Age that may be beautiful - but is an empty shell.

Now, please believe me: I am NOT trying to be a downer here. But there are a couple things I think we'd have to overcome, to get people involved and active and sticking with the project for its duration:
- many of us have already had unsatisfactory experiences with group agebuilding projects, and may be feeling a bit burned. So my guess is everyone would have to agree on some operating principles, to make sure they could collaborate on well-understood and equal terms. A bunch of the pitfalls are discussed in articles collected here, including a few bullet points I wrote up a couple years ago.
- many of us are already involved in our own projects, or have lists of ideas waiting. I can't wait to get back to a project I started in 2008 but set aside to work on other things! So some of us may be willing to contribute a little work here and there, but working that way could cause progress to be very slow. However, if people are okay with that approach yet willing to remain dedicated to the project, then it could work...I don't know.

Taking these things into account, it might be best if such an Age were not some enormous undertaking but rather some relatively small place that could feature the skills of the people interested in taking part. Yet the story for the project would have to be special enough to sustain interest in both the creators and the eventual explorers.
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Hmmmm.....myself, I've long wanted to work on Something Really Silly, a project that would spoof the seriousness that both Cyan and most of the Myst "community" put in the whole world and story! A Monty Python / MAD magazine kind of place, but done with all the high detail and visual quality of the Cavern itself.
But I doubt an idea like that would motivate quality agebuilders, either!

[Calena]

A Monty Python / MAD magazine kind of place, but done with all the high detail and visual quality of the Cavern itself.
But I doubt an idea like that would motivate quality agebuilders, either!

Emor, this is age building. It's serious business, not a game .

Do you mean something like if they click the wrong button, the floor drops out from under them and they wind up in a sewer? Or maybe if they don't heed a warning, they get trapped inside a wall and have to go back to their Relto?

You bring up some good points to think about though. Collaborating on an age is something that I think we would all like to do, but experience has taught us to be very cautious and think things through thoroughly and well before making any promises.

I already have a couple of other projects I'm committed to. I might be able to pitch in here and there, but taking on another large project at this time would be a bad idea for me.

[Karkadann]

as far as silly is concerned
how about a nice long path in a cavern were everybody links into a gigantic transparent beach balls and we can have races.

You can make the Beach ball from a sphere add a shell put a simple component on it and have it at zero friction so your slipping and sliding all over the place.

[Emor D'ni Lap]

Emor, this is age building. It's serious business, not a game .

That cracked me up!
Best laugh I had all day!

[BenB]

as far as silly is concerned
how about a nice long path in a cavern were everybody links into a gigantic transparent beach balls and we can have races.

You can make the Beach ball from a sphere add a shell put a simple component on it and have it at zero friction so your slipping and sliding all over the place.

That sounds fun!
Do you know that you can make this work right (with avatars inside bals and the friction stuff and all that)
???

But, all that should be just part of an age with a bigger story. At least I think so. It should be something that is on the side of a bigger age, because I dont think people would only want a place to play inside balls?
Maybe if the beach balls was something you had to do to get through the age.

[Karkadann]

@BenB yes I do know I have the basic model set up in my testex collection

Perhaps it can be part of a timed multi player puzzle or obstacle course. where after completing a few tasked or puzzles you step on to a transporter pad that links you into the ball, you go threw a track or another part of the obstacle course and the only way out is your Relto book which would be considered a forfeit or the beam out point at the finish line.

[BenB]

@BenB yes I do know I have the basic model set up in my testex collection

Perhaps it can be part of a timed multi player puzzle or obstacle course. where after completing a few tasked or puzzles you step on to a transporter pad that links you into the ball, you go threw a track or another part of the obstacle course and the only way out is your Relto book which would be considered a forfeit or the beam out point at the finish line.

May be! Or may be that there is a different way, depending on what the story for the age shows us.
Still think we should think of a story first for the age. Right?
If we dont have a story, usually I think about what idea I would like to show people.
What is the message we would want to give? Thenwrite a story to show that message?

OH what is a testex collection?

[Karkadann]

Perhaps an old obstacle course that was used for training, was uncovered from the rubble of the fallen city of D'ni and adapted by some of the explorers as a competition age Similar to the Gahreesen Wall as part of the story?

Oh and a testex collection

its an Blank age with just a floor and lighting I use to test experiments, after I am done with the experiment I just save it with additional info on the file name like TestExGiantSphereSimple01. So I always have a clean age to test some of my goofy plazma experiments with

[Emor D'ni Lap]

Perhaps an old obstacle course that was used for training, was uncovered from the rubble of the fallen city of D'ni and adapted by some of the explorers as a competition age Similar to the Gahreesen Wall as part of the story?

I think I might know what Ben was talking about.
Minkata is a pretty good example of a Training area, for the Guild of Surveyors. The Gahreesen Wall is a great game concept (if it worked in multiplayer!), but normally it would be impractical to devote that much of a spinning building to a single-aspect training exercise. "Of course, it's just a game", we can say.

But in a larger story, why bubbles?

Again, it doesn't seem the kind of thing any Guild would train for: "I am now an Expert in Bubble Navigation"!

Maybe instead, this is some kind of natural phenomenon in the Age? Maybe there's a pool at a dead-end in an explorer's path, containing a soapy ingredient, with a waterfall aerating it. Large bubbles form, occasionally spilling over into an adjacent ravine that is too steep in places for an avatar to negotiate. So the only way forward would be for the explorer to jump into the bubble and roll over the nearby cliff in it?

Sounds like it could be quite beautiful - but a large number of these bubbles would have to rendered simultaneously. A proof of concept would be good.
But I still agree with Ben: what is the real underlying story for this Age? Is there a moral to the tale we want to tell?