Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

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Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Korovev » Mon May 04, 2020 10:38 am

Tre’bivdil Show Spoiler

On the 12th expedition of the Fan Ages Touring Club, we visited the Ages from the RAD and DAWN contests: Abysos, Tre’bivdil, Ulteemah, Gairdin Grianmahr, Tahm Hehvo, Eder Licinius, Chloe’s Hood Office, Tehr’dovah.


1st RAD contest, March: “Anything Goes”

2008 was one of the most prolific years for Age Writing, partly due to three contests promoted in these very forums. Writers were challenged to create an Age from scratch in about a month, or less.
The winner of the first edition was Zephyr Cove by Andy Legate, Jishin, Nynaveve and Phillip, which we covered in a previous visit. Other contestants were two Ahra Pahts shells: 119 by Grogyan, and 201 by Paradox, both of which we also covered in a previous visit.

For the first contest, the only Age we were missing was therefore Abysos, by Trylon: a coastal location surrounded by a rocky wall. On one side, there are the remains of a stranded ship; on the other, a massive chasm, somewhat reminescent of the Cleft, but on a much larger scale. An invisible wall prevents the careless explorer from falling down, but a well aimed /jump will get you through. The chasm itself is worth exploring too, as it is actually modelled, with a ledge midway down. The rocky wall has a small, tunnel with a dead end that allows a nice vista on the whole Age.

2nd RAD contest, July: “Rise of the Shells”

The second RAD contest was entirely about Ahra Pahts shells, so we decided to skip them as they were part of the above mentioned previous visit.

The winning contestant was shell 309 by Tinuviel; the other contestants were shell 104 by DatokerJ, 129 by Marcello, 224 by Mar, 232 by Katreeny, and 427 by Di gama.

In case you are wondering :D the shells not made for the contests are: 111 by Robert The Rebuilder, 126 by Egon, 315 by Andy Legate, 336 by Luna, and 415 by Dot. The last one we have yet to visit, because it is the starting point for the Devokan Trust storyline.

3rd RAD contest, November: “It’s A Small Age After All”

We visited two entries of this edition in previous visits: Bimevi by Whilyam, and Eder Bavahnin by Andy Legate.

Tre’bivdil (“in the everything” in D’ni) by Lontahv, the winner of the contest, is a familiar name for anyone who visited the Gehn shard: a group of cubes, in the middle of a sea, connected by wooden walkways, with a tree, a garden, a cactus, a gear, stairs going in the dark … A great place for parties :lol:

Ulteemah by Boblishman starts in what appears to be a looping corridor, but if you pay attention you will see the entrance to the large middle room. At the very center, a nicely decorated platform lift will (if you catch it in time) bring you to the surface, an alien landscape with strange plants and a red sky.

Gairdin Grianmahr by Trylon starts in a circular building with many, many doors, including a few restrooms; unfortunately they are closed! A spiralling platform (behind a rather flimsy handrail :lol: ) leads to a few floors, from which one can admire the mountain panorama, and eventually leads to a terrace with a transparent dome. The atmosphere outside is toxic, perhaps?

Tahm Hehvo (“fire swarm” in D’ni) by SeanMc74 is a garden with giant mushrooms (our Writers really like mushrooms, don’t they?) under a night sky crossed by meteors. A large rock in the middle hides a table, and a landslide covers a short corridor with a dead end. A section of the rocky wall that surrounds the Age can be climbed (by running, avoid jumping because you will bounce back and down) to the top, a white, flat, walkable surface from which you can jump down behind the landslide.

The last entry of this edition also took part in (and won) the next contest, so:

1st (and to date, only) DAWN contest, February 2009

2009 started with a new contest, this time the theme was not a short developing time but the amount of details, in terms of arts and background. The winner was…

Eder Licinius by GPNMilano (also known as Chloe Rhodes) is part of the Writers of Illuminations’ storyline (which was never further developed), and is in many ways similar to the link-in area of Releeshahn: a circular landing, with stairs going down; a swinging cableway waits for passengers, but it will not go anywhere because the generator down in the castle (visible with the telescope) is turned off. Downstairs, there are two room carved in the green rock: in one there is a journal and a locked door; in the other, a large (swimmable) pool, and a linking book to … the next entry:

Chloe’s Hood Office, again by GPNMilano, is a small room somewhere on the wall in a Neighbourhood named Dorehn. Set in a pink light, it is decorated with maps from various D’ni (Cyan) Ages, journals (not all readable) and a laptop. The linking book in Eder Licinius is the only access to this Age, which is not listed in the Nexus. According to a journal, Andy Legate managed to visit the castle in Eder Licinius and found signs that it was inhabited.

Tehr’dovah (“tree world” in D’ni) by Mystifed Explorer is on the coast (but do not swim too far, or you will fall through!). A trail leads to what looks like a Shinto temple, facing the sunset, and a relaxing music plays in the background. A nice conclusion to this week’s expedition.


A Twitch stream will be available for the next two weeks.

-----

Next time, we will visit Tikibear’s (recently updated) Ages: Paper Pagodas, Sprite Gallery, and Duck Knee Skydiving Club!
(Previous tour: Whilyam’s Ages)
Last edited by Korovev on Sun May 10, 2020 3:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Splendor » Mon May 04, 2020 6:51 pm

Thanks for the video!
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Sirius » Tue May 05, 2020 3:17 am

Personally, Zephyr Cove and Tehr'dovah are my favorite. I'm a sucker for good visuals :P Although Licinius isn't far behind.


Korovev wrote:our Writers really like mushrooms, don’t they?

Er'cana plants, D'ni lake water, and mushrooms bread. We can't get enough of those weird D'ni delicacies ! :lol: (oh, and smoking frogs)



It would be cool to see the Age development contest being brought back at some point. That's what, 10 years after the last one ? :lol:
On the one hand, Korman and Blender are both really good, which should help get better Ages fast. And having a time limit is a really good exercise.
On the other hand, I'm not sure how many builders are still around, with enough experience with Korman, and enough time to work on a single Age for a full month...
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Claidi Song » Tue May 05, 2020 6:51 am

I would love to look at Korman. I use Blender 2.80, and I think I could learn 2.79. But, though I believe I'm following the instructions found on https://www.guildofwriters.org/wiki/Korman:Installation, etc. I get an error message when trying to install Korman. :?

Oh, and Sirius, you created Canyon, correct? Canyon was mentioned on this last tour as an age we'd love to see completed. It is an amazing place to explore (and get lost). :)

I'm loving the Fan Age expeditions for the information, the unbelievable details I missed on my own explorations AND being a crazy kid again with a bunch of cool adults also running and jumping and having a great time. :lol:
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Korovev » Tue May 05, 2020 8:38 am

I’ve edited the Eder Licinius and Dorehn paragraphs a bit, since I noticed a few mistakes.
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Sirius » Tue May 05, 2020 2:03 pm

Claidi Song wrote:I use Blender 2.80, and I think I could learn 2.79.

Both versions share some similarities, but 2.79 relied more on hotkeys (some of which don't match between both versions), and had a completely different (less powerful) material editor. It will probably take some getting used to. Personally I work mostly with 2.80, will backport the Age to 2.79 when it's time to test it ingame.


Claidi Song wrote:But, though I believe I'm following the instructions found on https://www.guildofwriters.org/wiki/Korman:Installation, etc. I get an error message when trying to install Korman. :?

Don't hesitate to create a new topic and paste the error message you're getting, and we'll help you figure out what goes wrong during the install :)


Claidi Song wrote:Oh, and Sirius, you created Canyon, correct? Canyon was mentioned on this last tour as an age we'd love to see completed. It is an amazing place to explore (and get lost). :)

Yep ! That's me.
And believe me, I would love to complete that Age ! But it's gotten so huge, I have a hard time finding motivation to work on it - it just feels like I'm progressing so slowly... I was extremely ambitious with the size and amount of detail I wanted. Then I got sidetracked when I discovered VR and other game engines. So I had to take a big, long break. Maybe some day I'll feel confident enough to resume working on it.
Recently I returned to building, but on a smaller and more manageable Age. I also have to switch between this and other projects (and real-life priorities, of course), so it's progressing slowly. But I have more confidence in this one.
I wasn't sure how many people visited the Canyon, and how many liked it despite not being finished. I'm really glad you enjoyed it, this really helps motivate me :) So thank you !


Claidi Song wrote:I'm loving the Fan Age expeditions for the information, the unbelievable details I missed on my own explorations AND being a crazy kid again with a bunch of cool adults also running and jumping and having a great time. :lol:

Personally I'm not much into exploring these days, but I still enjoy reading Korovev's summaries here. It looks like people need less to worry about the flaws in those Ages and just focus on having fun together. Just like explorers rarely see what goes into building an Age, builders rarely see how much people are enjoying these Ages, so it's really cool :)
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Claidi Song » Wed May 06, 2020 6:07 am

Sirius wrote:Both versions share some similarities, but 2.79 relied more on hotkeys (some of which don't match between both versions), and had a completely different (less powerful) material editor. It will probably take some getting used to. Personally I work mostly with 2.80, will backport the Age to 2.79 when it's time to test it ingame.


I was wondering if, and hoping that, it is possible to backport to 2.79. I like the 2.80 UI and was dreading all those differences. So, I will focus on 2.80 for now. And will definitely search for answers when, and if, I get as far as needing Korman. I was curious about it, but certainly don't need it, yet.


Sirius wrote:Just like explorers rarely see what goes into building an Age, builders rarely see how much people are enjoying these Ages, so it's really cool :)


Everyone is completely in awe of the creative and dedicated effort put into all the fan ages!!! Korov'ev is providing an opportunity to re-discover and further discover the amazing scope of talent in every age. On this last tour, aqua discovered a tunnel under Abysos. Accessed from the wall of the fissure. It requires using the /jump command to reach but it demonstrates a bit of the creator's planning and behind the scene's work that goes into making an age.

I hope the creators are hearing about our enthusiasm. I mean, wow! Most of the fan ages were created in a time when technology was nothing like it is now. Now, there are so many modeling assets, materials, textures, skyboxes, particle effects, etc., free to use. And, the tutorials for anything and everything are overwhelming, there is so much information! Blender 2.80 and above are taking a whole lot of tedious work out of the process creating anything and everything and making it all so much fun!
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby Chacal » Wed May 06, 2020 12:39 pm

Tre’bivdil by Lontahv is my all-time favorite. So peaceful and relaxing.

I wish it was developed a bit more, with a story and a few puzzles.
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby OneOverZero » Sat May 09, 2020 5:04 am

Hi! I'm Clara, I just discovered this branch of MOUL yesterday lol --- I never thought I'd see the day where fan made ages were online!!!!!!! Omg xD I don't remember my original name in MOUL but my name in Second Life was Ritose Parx (if anybody here was part of the group that moved to SL after the original MOUL shut down).

HOI!!! Is anybody usually online? I'd love somebody to take me on a tour of all the new ages and stuff. My email is ryancentralorg@gmail.com if anybody wants to reach out to me <3

Are all the older ages like Ahra Pahts and Camp Bravo etc in the online version too? Where can I find them? Making ages is singlehandedly what got me into blender when I was a kid and eventually into a computer science degree lol the fact this project still exists means a lot to me
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Re: Fan Age expedition: RAD & DAWN Ages [spoilers]

Postby diafero » Sat May 09, 2020 10:18 am

Welcome Clara! Glad to have you here. :)

Are all the older ages like Ahra Pahts and Camp Bravo etc in the online version too? Where can I find them?


Yes, they all are! You can find them in the Nexus.
There is also another fan age expedition this weekend, but I am not sure when exactly. It would be really helpful if these posts did not just say which ages are visited next time but also when next time is. :D
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