Concept/Puzzle designer here. Some concepts available.

[Ekoz]

Who am i?
I'm an avid Myst fan; have always been since a kid. and because of my attachment to the series, i've always loved to imagine, design, and draw strange worlds filled with interesting puzzles. over time, i managed to hone these skills into pretty wonderful schools of personal thought.

What do i have for you, the writers?
i've always loved to turn my ideas into reality. sadly, i never had the programming skill to do so. however, when minecraft came out, i realized it was a good oppertunity to make some of my more basic ideas. so i did; and now i'm here to offer some of these completed maps (full, 100% working) to writers who can turn them into URU-quality material.

at the moment, while i dig through some archives (most of which has corrupted over time ), i've found three good candidates, and an unfinished fourth. as it so happens, these four ages were meant to be a whole storyline, somewhat akin to the exile storyline.

What are these ages? here are some descriptions.
Ezmere'ah, The Island:

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a stark ridgetop, poking out of a vast ocean. carved into three pieces, with a lone cabin on the top of the middlemost bodies' top, you must find your way to manage the information scattered across its broken remains and reform it to fit solve the a ruinous mystery. it is primarily designed as a data input/output system.

PICS:

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Desecca, The Cavern:

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the world is a vast desert. not unlike minkata. underneath this vast desert are hundreds, thousands of caverns. again, not unlike minkata. however, unlike minkata, you spawn and stay your entire duration in just one of these caverns; a stark, dark place with only one hole in the ceiling, showing you the time of day. the puzzle here primarily serves as a series of timers you have to engage and hit with precision.

PICS:

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Pelo'oha, The Pillars:

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you're on a volcanic chain of islands. well, that's not exactly right. you're on a chain of volcanic spikes. these spires of rough basalt ooze lava out of their bases, creating a massive superheated pool of lava underneath you as you travel via bridge. 4 of the 7 main pillars are able to harness this heat to send power among themselves; meanwhile the other 3 contain generators made to redirect this power elsewhere. the puzzle is primarily a series of logic gates you have to manage.

PICS:

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Juvun, The Glacier:

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a giant glacier that happens to have been previously inhabited. learning the purpose of the mechanisms on the glacier and reaching the apex is your goal. this age runs entirely on water power, so you need to be able to juggle the sole power pump to various locations, operate the machinery, and maneuver your way slowly to the apex. mostly an exploration/integration-based puzzle.

PICS:

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Eder Gozin, The Garden:

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i won't spoil much, but it's a nice small garden age you can visit if you beat the game. There's an end to the story here, too!

PICS:

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What should i expect from anyone willing to accept these challenges?
firstly and foremost; puzzles define these specific ages. while modeling is nice (and some aspects of these ages will require some definite skilled modeling), the scripting and coding is going to be a pretty big effort.

i would also really like to request that you make sure you can finish what you start with a high degree of finesse. i expect that if someone does pick these projects up, they will have to keep in semi-constant contact with me to help iron things out. so i'd like that contact to mean something: a finished age at the end of the day.

That's all for now!
i know, this is a lot of info. like i said; in a rush, just trying to get everything down. if anyone wants to pick these up, feel free to leave a post. thanks for reading through this all, and good night.

EDIT: download to a version with all 4 puzzles, fully complete lore, and a special garden age named Eder Gozin! http://www.mediafire.com/download/k3yinuiy5qqjd14/URU_Ages_1.rar

[Ekoz]

NOTE: if anyone happens to be interested, I've finished the glacier age. It's by far the most URU-esque age (unlike the other three that are almost exclusively input/output puzzles, the glacier age is almost entirely environmental manipulation), and also the largest. i'm very proud of it and if someone feels like they want to give it a go, it might take more than a few people due to the size and complexity. i would say about a similar size as eder kemo. (the cavern being the smallest, at about the same size as your relto).

it's very late right now, and i have to get some rest; but when i get off work tomorrow i'll update the OP. also, i'll write some journals to go in the game and put a download up so that anyone who might feel interested, but needs to see the map first hand, can feel free to try it out.

i'd be really excited to see this come to life! i made these maps in the medium of minecraft to emulate what they had the opportunity to be in an actual MYST game, so here's hoping they one day realize their potential!

[Ekoz]

Hey everyone! one last multipost: I've uploaded a pretty finalized version of the map. I would appreciate if everyone give it a play if you can; i put a lot of work into it. And if anyone feels like they'd like to try to collaborate to make one of them an URU reality (or maybe the whole setup? ), i urge you to shoot me a message!

if you have any issues; shoot me a message as well.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/vsv3741by9a1rb8/URU_Age_ideas_V2.rar <Download Link

[janaba]

Hi and welcome Ekoz ...

I'm not an age creator, but I'd like at least to say to you that this all looks pretty awesome, comprehensive and well-elaborated on, so, this could go as a game of itself ... It'd be absolutely cool to have such worlds in Uru to explore and enjoy, but I suppose it'll be quite difficult to find someone here to have the time and energy to bring such vastness and beauty to life in Blender and/or 3DMax etc...

It is very nice and generous of you to put all of this here ready made to take over as a free offer, but see, there are not many around here anymore but still some age creation experts who have their own RL commitments and stuff to attend to, and most of them have their own projects they're working on etc., so, please be not dismayed in case the response might not come as hoped or expected and maybe even consider to put your own hands on Blender and/or 3DMax and age creation in Uru, which comprises of course more expertise and know-how than just that ...

However, Ekoz, those are just my own assumptions, thanks again, this looks all absolutely phenomenal, and let's see if someone all of a sudden gives it a go ...

[dendwaler]

Hi, welcome Ekoz.
Until now you have done a great job, for sure.
and you started in the right way by trying to collaborate with others to shape the world you have in mind.

Janaba is right when she says that most more experienced writers are already busy with their own projects.
Writing an age is more then having good ideas and story's and puzzles.
Its hard work. Hours a day and in case of a big age several years of creating are involved easily.
Unless you work in a team because then you can benefit of the synergy that flows when different skills mellts together, then it will have some more speed with less up's and downs.
So i hope you find some mates here, those who want to build an age but never did, or builded it in the past and bring in some experience.
If you are the puzzle and world designer, then you will need modelers, python programmers, Plasma experts, storywriters, artists for detailling, soundscapers, texture makers, lightning artists,... just to mention a few of the needed skills.

I hope you are not disappointed and continue with what you started, because the most needed skill is.....PERSEVERENCE !

Ofcoarse , there will be plenty of people that will help you out when you are stuck. Just ask your questions on this forum.
and you will get answers.
I wish you the best with your nice and fresh ideas and hope to see lots of questions in the nearby future, but once i hope to visit your own designed and builded age!

[Ekoz]

hi guys:

FIRST OFF, i've made a little bit of an update to the glacier age; made it so one of the puzzles doesn't have two possible answers (i screwed up on that, lol). so i changed the download link to V2, if anyone wants to re-download. here is the link, just for good measure: http://www.mediafire.com/download/vsv3741by9a1rb8/URU_Age_ideas_V2.rar

SECOND: it's awesome to see people trying it out! i completely understand that this place is not what it used to be, and those who are active have a literal ton on their plates. so of course i don't expect anything to come of this soon; in fact, i'd be surprised if someone hit me up within the year but it's really nice to know people are playing it through, and experiencing the ages i put a lot of effort into

in truth, i'm just putting this here so that others can draw inspiration from it; or possibly even try to tackle them should they, in the future, have time to spare. and i know how much time is going to be needed; i work with CAD vector design pretty much every day so don't worry; if any prospective designer comes along and decides they want to try it out, i'm going to make sure they have the time and manpower necessary to make the ages as best they can, but also to not neglect themselves or their health.

a happy, rested designer is a productive one

as for progress on the map, i don't particularly see myself going too far into the future with this specific set. maybe i'll make a "prize" age, like a garden age or something you can visit if you beat all 4 puzzle ages. and i'll probably add a starting journal that elaborates on the backstory. but there are no more plans for puzzles.

HOWEVER, i do have an older puzzle map i made which is much more expansive than this one (set on a single island, and involves time travel, which i know is illegal to the D'ni so it couldn't be imported directly into URU lore as-is.) if anyone would like to see it, i can post a lot of information on that.

LASTLY: i don't plan on self-building ages. programming is not exactly my forte, and my workload is already quite expansive. so, i generally relegate myself to producing concepts and such (mainly, puzzles and how to integrate them into an environment). if anyone would like me to help them on an age concept, just shoot me a PM and i'll try to help you!

[Ekoz]

once more, i return with a bit of news on this set of concepts. i've finalized everything, and added a reward age for anyone who completes the puzzles! what is it? what is is called?

well, it's a garden age, and it's called Eder Gozin. BUT...what it looks like, and the lore behind it, that's for you guys to find out!

in truth, if i were ever to model an age, it would be this garden age i made. although it would be very different around the edges, because there's a lot of really good ideas i couldn't add in due to minecraft's bulkiness.

Also, this new version has a DRC journal with some backstory and a "link" to nexus (obviously you can't use it, but it's for immersion )

anyway, download is here, and i will also update OP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/k3yinuiy5qqjd14/URU_Ages_1.rar

and, as always, if you like it, let me know; and if you feel like you want to model one or more of the ages, shoot me a PM!

[Ekoz]

huuuuuuge bug with last download. fixed, i'm nearly certain. please contact me if any of the age "linking portals" are broken.

the link in the OP and the link the previous post have been updated.

EDIT: OP has finally had new pictures added XD. much more showing of the present product!