Guild of Writers

Build 1.3 has now been completed and uploaded for download from Beneath.

Age has seen some changes including the name (name and files names now designate as being Cass not Tochoortahv).

For new downloaders who do not have Tochoortahv installed: No worries

For old downloaders who do have Tochoortahv installed: Panic! Ok seriously you will need to uninstall the old Tochoortahv build as both the old build and new Cass build share the same Age prefix numbers so if both are installed they will not work

As usual you can download it here: http://beneath.dnijazzclub.com/order

'nuff said.

For the future, it's a large technical problem (especially online) when an Age changes just its filename or sequence prefix. It's fine to change the official name (and it will be "Cass" on Drizzle, no problem.) For everyone who didn't already know it: never change the filename or sequence prefix, unless you want to change both, and essentially have it as a separate Age. You'll note that Gira is still called "Garden", e.g. ;)

Edit: I mean Kemo, not Gira :P

Edit: In order not to crash, people who had the older version will have to download the older version again, then the newer version, because of this problem.

Edit: But I still like it, thanks ;)

Edit: Okay, I think I've fixed it so that people don't have to do that extra step offline. It will still be trouble online, however.

Yeah, I dropped the ball on that. I was supposed to have the cass filename in place at the initial launch of the Age, but that along with footsteps regions were forgotten when I released the Age.

Fortunately I learned from my mistake, so it shouldn't be a problem again (not that I plan renaming any Ages).

That reminds me to make it easier to grab a sequence prefix. By the way, I hope I haven't scared anyone off of downloading this Age: all is well, and you can just grab it the normal way!

(100% OOC) I just wanted to say that the external storytelling you've done around this Age is really great! I've been despairing over how to get interesting story into ages without resorting to "some very weird/interesting D'ni survivor wrote this Age a long time ago and I 'discovered' it"--the implications of the story you've come up with, and the way you've blogged IC about it and gotten others to do so also... !

So along with the countless other areas and Ages I've been working on I've also been working on updates for Cass.

The initial small room remains and still opens up to a now completely remodeled museum. I've also made a return of the first version of Cass (the burned room) which players will be able to access once again (and ties in to a larger story...yep eventually you'll get to find out who set the fire).

Instead of a more sprawling layout seen before I've confined it to a more vertical layout heavily inspired by the library in Ae'gura. This allows me to add new floors going down as well as rooms branching off if needs be (blue skies goal is to add a lot more documentation, have archived chat logs an what not stored in there so players can access this info in game instead of on forums).

Some progress shots from Blender:







The new version is pretty close to being complete at this stage. Need to fix some collision issues, update the book of commentary and sort the lighting out and it should be good.

Wow... This looks really good ! Lighting is quite nice too.
I like the idea of verticality in 3d environments. It's original, and allows for more interesting architecture/level design etc.
I don't know if that's what you're looking for in your Age, but I found that in some games, vertical design make navigating the environment less intuitive and a bit more challenging, since you can't make a 2d map of the place; also, although you may be able to go down, you're not sure you can always find a way up...
Come to think of it, that's one reason I liked Spire so much.

I'm afraid I don't have much more to say, except "keep up the great work" !

Yeah, what else can be said to such excellence and brilliancy ...

One can just sit there and breathe this all in ... a wonderful sublime atmosphere in every respect ... beautiful colors, forms and shapes, the whole architecture, the awesome stained glass ceiling, the winding stairs and just everything ... Of course I love that Bahro statue, and those circular, winding stairs, they are very energetic, they have an interesting dynamic, just look at them for a while ...

Yeah, just wonderful, thank's for sharing Tweek ...

Beautiful. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to the finished version!