The OTHER Personal Age - Your Descriptive Book

[Nek'rahm]

I got this HUGE idea a while back... and I know it's sketchy but...

What if Cyan showed us the make-up of a standard Descriptive Book (like the one for Myst/Relto/Bevin)?

We could have a pre-written code/writing in the Descriptive Book you're given... and as you progress through the storyline of Uru... and learn about the Art... you can add and take from that writing and actually WRITE your own Age into existence.

Here's the catch: If something crucial is missing, the DB's Linking Panel will go black, and a message will appear as a note "linking" onto your book, telling you what may have to be added.

There can be troubleshooting from Cyan, of course.

I KNOW it's an incredibly sketchy idea... but I think EVERYONE would love it to have truly PERSONAL ages designed by, created for, and thought of by the player to be the world they could never visit before.

Comment please?

[Chacal]

So this would be like a scripting language?
It could work but with severe limitations. You can't shape objects like that, but you could use the language to make some objects that are already in the prp file appear or move.
In a sense, that's exactly how Relto works right now, activating a page is a simple graphical language.
What you are suggesting is to change the interface to written text, and expand the possibilities of the scripts. For example, you could select shapes to add sections to your island or remove some, thus changing the shape of it.

[BAD]

This idea has been put forth before, and though it sounds awesome, the implementation of it would be staggering for Cyan.

The way the climate is right now, it seems Cyan is looking for fans to create their own way to create content for Uru. THere are many who still hold out that Cyan will release a set of tools, but I severly doubt they will be anything like what you describe.

Regardless, I am really enjoying your creativity (albeit I am hoping you will move on to a more original bend), and I don't think you should be discouraged by what I say as anything is possible.

[Nek'rahm]

well, anyway... thought it was a stretch...

I'm coming up with new ideas as I come into this.

[belford]

Consider it as something that we will create, using Blender.

We know that it's possible to create an Age which can be customized from inside the Age itself. Jalak is a simple example. We can do more in that direction.

[greendragoon]

I think there is merit to having both a simpler method and a more complex method. The simpler method could be how you describe with the common explorer given the ability to make ages using pre-stocked elements. This would ensure that those unfamiliar with 3D modeling or programming are not left out, plus there is already a level of quality control. The more complex method would be more along the method Cyan uses now and would be for more experienced teams.

[Pryftan]

I don't know if it's worth the resources to make something that extensive. It'd be really difficult to do much more than the Relto page level of customization. We'd be basically modelling an entire Age for every distinct set of possibilities somebody could choose.

[belford]

Ah, see, that's where a firm grip on the *kinds* of possibilities comes in handy. If you start with something like Jalak, and then define a few different platform types, and let the players choose a type for each square rather than an altitude, you can get quite a variety of customization without doing that much work.

It's not like creating a new Age, but it should be like a garden Age which you can rearrange (in a griddy way).

Don't dismiss the "Relto-page" model either. Imagine choosing from one of three different sky textures, one of four different cloud layers (below the sky), set cloud movement speed with a slider, and then add sliders for overall illumination color and fog/distance color. That gives a lot of choices for the overall environment and palette, and it's not really any harder than Relto.

[Nek'rahm]

Wow... well, THIS thread took off O_O

Well... I liked the last comment... almost have tabs on pages.

One tab for sky, one for ground, outlying, environment

Set an orange sky, snow on the ground, ocean surrounding the island and having frost-covered trees around (respectively)

That does that

[Chacal]

This could be a standard object in H'uru Studio.
For example, a stone tablet with those controls. You place it in your Age, and then you can control those parameters inside the game.