Guild of Writers

Shorah one and all,

Below I link to a ZIP archive containing the files needed to visit Eh'ko, my first fan Age written for the game URU: Complete Chronicles by Cyan. The work was originally started in 2008 and back then I had aspirations and notes for a fully interactive Age, with a rich and compelling backstory. At the time I was also trying to pioneer some new, or at least little used techniques for Age writing using Lightwave 3D and Blender, with a view to sharing these with other Writers. Sadly, for several reasons, it was not meant to be.

Thirteen years have passed and during that time I have never forgotten what being part of the MYST/URU/MOUL community felt like and it was always something very special. I know that many members of the MOUL playerbase and especially members of the Guild of Writers were looking forward to visiting Eh'ko, small and rudimentary as it was. That opportunity was never provided and it is something I have often regretted. So... all these years later, I have dug out my original source files, reinstalled URU:CC and have managed to convert that original version over to a releasable Age, at the stage it was in 2008. This was achieved with a newer version of Blender than I was using before and with the excellent 'Korman' plugin toolset. I now feel that I have at least achieved what I fully intended to do originally, which was to release an Age that was visitable by other MYST fans.

-: D'eux :-

Download the original preview of Eh'ko | HERE |

Hello Eh'ko,

thanks for sharing the files.

The age is a bit small, but I can say it i have had a little bit feeling of Myst.
Nice that you could dug out your original source files and that you have reinstalled URU: CC so that you could managed to convert that original version.
It would be nice if you would get back to the Agebuilding and we could hope for a next age.

Greetings
Dulcamara

Hi D'eux ,
First welcome back after all these years.
And your age sure is a little Gem, and very atmospheric.
Its a joy to visit it and would have been far ahead of other fan ages released in that era.
The high quality is even taken to a higher level by the beautiful Tune, perfectly in style.
I hope this only a small teaser of what we can aspect in the future.
But as always, take your time for building , don't feel pressed, that way you keep the fun in building.
Glad you are back again!

denDwaler

Thanks for letting us visit Eh'ko, it is a nice little age and goodlooking, so well done converting to new blender and korman!
I do hope to be able to unplug those little 'thingies' one day too

It's small indeed, but that's to be expected when the texturing is that good ! Glad that you could release a working version !

I’d suggest contacting Diafero, so he can upload it to Deep Island and UAM

Quality over quantity.

D'eux i was just thinking about you the other day, spooky. Great to see you still around. Shame you didn't carry your ideas forward (I am guilty of that myself) but great to see it alive once again.

Thank you all for the comments and welcomes and I'm so pleased that you are all able to finally experience Eh'ko in its current state.

dendwaler wrote:Its a joy to visit it and would have been far ahead of other fan ages released in that era.
The high quality is even taken to a higher level by the beautiful Tune, perfectly in style.

Yes, it's worth remembering that I am sharing something that is now 13 years old and likely as you say would have been somewhat pioneering at the time. Things have greatly changed since then and I know lots of Writers have pushed their Ages far and beyond what Eh'ko is. I know it's also possible to build incredible things with other game engines. But there is something charming and nostalgic about working with Plasma/URU:CC again, even with its limitations.

Turjan did indeed do a superb job with his atmospheric theme tune and I am deeply grateful for his contribution.

Chacal wrote:Quality over quantity.

Thank you Chacal, you've perfectly touched on what I always felt about my Age writing. I never felt I could tackle anything too large and complicated on my own, so settled for a more 'handcrafted' approach at the time. I plan to continue with that ethos if I can, with attention to detail being the primary motivation.

Szark wrote:D'eux i was just thinking about you the other day, spooky. Great to see you still around. Shame you didn't carry your ideas forward (I am guilty of that myself) but great to see it alive once again.

So good to see yet another name I recognise from all those years ago and thank you for thinking of me recently Perhaps it's all this lockdown time we've been having in the UK that has got us thinking about how good it used to be to just visit other places... even virtual ones!

-: D'eux :-

Hello there mister Deux Bières! Nice seeing you again.
It's great that you release Eh'ko after all these years. That's a welcome surprise.

I can't try it righ tnow, because my install of Uru CC is somehow corrupted beyond belief and I need to clean that up.. I've got some vacation coming up next month, I can't wait to look at this.

That being said, from that screenshot here it looks really good, even by today's standards (what are those anyway?) the lighting in particular looks sweet. Quality over quantity is a great philosophy. As someone who made the largest Age ever I know exactly what it is... >_>

"Lightwave"? omg, here's a name I haven't seen in years.. Is this software still around?