Uru Again...

[Jojon]

The apparently wide-spread impression, that I have heard about, but never understood, that the Guild of Writers is a hostile environment, is the only reason that I lingered for some time over the "submit" button, before pressing it. I know that I was quite vitriolic and not just to the original poster.

I don't believe I have ever been "that guy" before (the "dick", as Hoikas so succintly put it); I certainly hope not -- at least never before intentionally. (...although I may have been quite outspoken in the early days, when some people pushed for the GoW to have power structures, with chain of command and tiers and other such nonsense.)


You do carry yourself very well, uaOmicron.
...just how "new" are you?


At any rate; I am terribly sorry, but; Yes, I do hold the anonymity against you, even though I sympathise with your situation: "Do X and agitate 50% of the population, don't and make enemies of the other half".

I have just seen too many self-proclaimed "leader" types in my days, the ones who come in with a half-baked "idea" and expect less half-baked people to be their menial tools.

So when an entity pompously comes in, does not properly introduce itself and begins to demand to see portfolios from people who are expected to "just do as they are told" and work for free, albeit using flowery language; I MUST ask: "Oo-kay... Where's YOUR portfolio?"

Too bad one could not separate worlds, pre NDA, and be anonymous in MOUL forum type environments and candid in talent pool ones... There are certainly different standards going on in different types of communities and sub-communities.


I don't think I can judge your screenshots at the moment - I'd have to jump into Uru and do a little side-by-side, but I must say that I am personally not that concerned with detail level in the old material.
(Sometimes higher resolution textures, however well made, can even make things look too harsh and less natural; and, through constrast, highlight deficiencies in other areas.)

I do like the sans-DRC angle. The act of puppeteering somebody else's characters is the most appalling aspect of fan fiction.


Communication... It's a lose/lose game. :)



EDIT: Oh... and I do apologise to the entire guild, if I have reinforced its apparently drab public image. I am sorry for any such concequences, but do not regret.

[uaOmicron]

@Jojon: I never said I was new, everyone just assumed that
I accept your apology. Your concerns are absolutely justified, and I get where you're coming from.


Obviously this anonymity thing didn't go over the way we had hoped. So... I'm willing to reveal my secret identity, so folks can be reassured that there is a good team behind this crazy idea, and that I'm not just some upstart.

That being said, it's no fun to just tell you who I am. So let's make a game out of it. You like puzzles here, right?

I've been dropping subtle and not-so-subtle references to the Uru Again project in my posts on this and other Uru forums. Between that and my writing style here, I think you guys can figure out who I am. Please PM me, so as not to clutter the thread. If somebody can guess, I'll post using my normal account and congratulate whoever gets it. If nobody guesses it before I get tired of waiting, I'll just come out and say it, so we can move on with the discussion.

@Dendwaler: I promise I will address your post, but I want to do it as "myself"... so I'll reply to it once my little game is done.

[andylegate]

Cool. I'll take a stab at it via PM, since I'm stuffing my face with dinner right now.

[Jojon]

Ok, one last post - sorry about the clutter...

Do not do anything just because I (one (1) loud guy) am being a... well... a dick.

Do whatever you deem most productive.


(I must say that while I have been blind to any hint droppings; timing, along with temper and eloquence, certainly does make at least one suggestion float to the surface of the slush inside the old noggin. Can certainly imagine a bunch of prominent names, as part of the group, some of which have long been lying low...)

[Rhee]

To re-rail the train of thought that I was previously holding a ticket for...

You DID sound quite councillor-ey, Omicron. Whether that is true or not, to me, is beside the point. And I totally understand the desire for anonyimity, whether to protect the integrity of the project, or to save people from pre-conceived notions of a possible alternate identity, or both.

It's awesome that people, both long-time enthusiasts and eager noobs, can come here and post ideas and find the help they are looking for and banter back and forth about changes and share their talents and tell their tales of wonder and mystery and learn this craft of making Ages and maintaining/improving the existing ages and cavern areas. But what you proposed seemed to me almost presumptuous; right after the "Who the heck does this guy think he is?" moment, I provided myself with a few answers, including (but not limited to): "Sounds like one of the high mucky-mucks! I should hop right on this band-wagon!"; "Maybe he's a Cyan employee, masquerading as a recruiting officer, looking for volunteers to help work on his cavern upkeep project! Perhaps there is a reward! I should hop right on this band-wagon!"; and "Okay, what sort of person comes out of left field with such a well thought out plan with existing adherents (whether real or pretend) that DOESN'T have a long and rewarding history with Uru? I should hop right on this band-wagon!"

So clearly, I WAS interested! Still am, in fact, except that I doubt I have any of the skill-set you are looking for... maybe someday. It was just the sudden, out-spoken-ness that set me aback. As I mentioned before, I am a newcomer. If I had tried to do such a thing as you did today, I would not have blamed anyone if they took me down a notch or ten. The apprentice should not seek to teach his master.

I came here seeking to learn. I asked around the cavern for guidance where to go, and almost unanimously heard "whatever you do, DON'T go to the GoW." When I asked why not, a few names were named, and a few reasons were given, none of which will be repeated. My response to this was "I have not met them. I prefer to reserve judgement." Maybe it seems like I'm being judgemental, by feeling as though you "deserved" a notch-removal, but that is truly not what I meant to convey. But don't tell me that there is ANY place on this whole planet where there is NOT a pecking order. So I came here, with as few pre-conceived notions as possible, knowing that I might someday be working with the people with the names i had heard bad things about, and you cannot imagine how excited I am about that. Fully expecting that at some point, I would be subject to the "pecking" of others, simply because I know less, understand less, and am newer.

So I too apologize if I have seemed like a "pecker." Not intended, only sympathizing with Jojon's point of view.

Anyways, I now feel that I have had my FULL say.

I don't really know enough people around here to make a decent guess at who you might be. Though I DO have my suspicions. Because I am also one of those creepy people that reads through archived threads just so I can make note of old news and thereby seem like an insider when really i'm not. Muahaha.

[Tweek]

If it makes anyone feel better (those with trust issues), I was working on this project with Omicron before I shelved most of my community/uru/myst related dealings/projects/anything-else-here

[Branan]

Well, I promised I'd reveal myself is someone could figure it out, so here I am. Hopefully I'm something of a reassurance

Congratulations to AndyLegate for spending entirely too much time on the various forums. He spelled out his deductions to me completely, and I was quite impressed.

Those of you that guessed Hoikas... nice effort.

[kaelisebonrai]

Welp, time for me to step forward then.

I'm also involved. >.> (Gasp! Big surprise, right? =P)

I've got another little teasery thing from the original UU version of this... a little video that was to show a friend what we'd done at the time (This isn't really representative of what we've got, to be honest, most of what you see was testing, incomplete, and the video was taken fairly early in the project)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19223939/lights ... -motif.mp4

You'll note the "tree" motif in the centre of the plaza, like you may've seen in old screenshots of the neighborhood. This will be a random option, so don't worry too much if you don't like it - it doesn't replace anything. We've got a much better texture (higher resolution) for the tree motif, thanks to Tweek. Open source happened before we got it in-game, though... at which point, it became a case of get things sorted with open source so we can properly get this project up to date, and awesome.

EDIT: oh, and before I forget, the smaller blue lights are also another random option =) You'll still see the classic ones in some neighborhoods. =)

EDIT2: I hate to edit after someone's added a post below but - I forgot to mention the stuttering in that video is due to a weird issue I have recording on the older versions of Plasma... for some reason it murders my framerate, but the MO:UL-era engine does not. =P

[Rhee]

Hey!! i guessed you too, Branan!! I sent a pm to your Branan inbox. I guess I was supposed to send it to the Omicron box. Boo.

I would complain that I deserve a share of the cake... but... I've heard that the cake is a lie

And... I am excited to see what else comes of this project

[Branan]

Hey!! i guessed you too, Branan!! I sent a pm to your Branan inbox. I guess I was supposed to send it to the Omicron box. Boo.

I would complain that I deserve a share of the cake... but... I've heard that the cake is a lie

And... I am excited to see what else comes of this project

I have no PMs from you, sorry. I just double-checked both inboxes. The PM system is always awkward, though, so I trust that you really did guess before I came out with it


So credit to Rhee, too!