Jahmen's Journal Quest Stories

[Jahmen]

First, I have been reading the Guild Forums about the FCAL (Fan Created Art License) posted threads. It was not clear to me that there is yet a place for us to post out Age stories and puzzles at to get a FCAL approval. Or if yet the Guilds have worked out how or what Guild members will make up the approval panel for FCAL Approval. ( Though I thought it only made sense that a panel member(s) would need a Guild of Archivists on it) I have looked through some stories here, not all the stories, noticing they range from good stuff to Ok stuff. I guess the real test of any story is just how far a reader reads before losing interest. If anyone know where it is we are supposed to POST our Stories at to start the FCAL approval process, plese reply here to me. Thanx.

[BAD]

You would need to send Cyan's legal your story in order to receive a FCAL license at this time. The approval process that will involve the guilds has not been established yet.

Send your request to legal@cyan.com

[Jahmen]

Thanx Bad. I have actually been reading over the posted thread of guidelines and rules for Age Story content to get a FCAL (Fan Created Art License) from Cyan. Before I submit my massive and overly ambitious Age project, I was hoping to work out as much of the things that might be a problem with Canon and Uru Ae'gura City instances. As I read through the broad posted rules and Cyan agreement, an agreement that will allow Cyan to change their story canon with new content. Obviously it places great difficulty and burden upon Age Creators. Hard to know or foresee with any real certainty as to what we will be allowed to maintain or keep within what ever we create. What I mean is, our creations are always at the mercy of Cyan in that we might have to change or cut portions out from our Ages. They can require us to go back into what we have done and slash apart our story creation to accommodate new Cyan content. That's Cool though, their Game, their Rules. What really has me puzzled though, is that I can't find anything in any of the forum threads as to what MOOSE or Open Source Uru will be allowing with Neighborhoods and their Ae'gura City instances. Can we add or create our own content in to those private city instances for a more expansive Age Story? Will Private City Instances be allowed use in our Age Story Creations? Can we resurrect the ferry boats and get them running? Use them in Age Story? Putter around in the Kadesh Harbor with them? Expand their range out into the Lake and beyond? These are many questions I need answers to to know if my Age can be made or not. Answers Only Cyan can provide as to how free and far are they going to let MOOSE go? Thinking or hoping perhaps Cyan might even adopt a Fan Created Story Age, if it has a good enough theme to fit in with canon. I am doubtful if anyone can truly answer much of anything with MOOSE really being up in the air and still a pipe dream until it is released. At some point if MOOSE is to work, Cyan will have to set some rules and parameters for us Fans Creating Ages, if it is to work. I become more and more relutant to invest more of my time, energy and hopes into My Planet Dragonia Age. I need to know from Cyan that the promise of MOOSE isn't going to go the way of MORE.

[Jahmen]

Dragonia Age Story Notes

The Power Sources for the D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT are ecological systems. These Power Systems must be powered down in a certain sequence of events to keep the system from failing all at once in a cascade failure. The D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT also has a series of systems within that also must then be taken off line in a certain sequence. The D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT Systems were designed with safety protocols into them to keep key systems running long enough to allow the others to shut down in proper sequence to avoid a catastrophic power failure. What could result from a catastrophic power failure? Depending upon what sequence at which the cascade power failure occurs at, the galaxy could be left inside another dimension to be destroyed, nearby solar systems and stars would be consumed by the black hole left behind from the imploding planet Dragonia, to just the planet exploding, vaporizing or morph into another dimension lost forever. Simply put, any kind of cascading power failure during power down is really really really BAD!
The D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT Dilemma? The D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT when it reached maximum power, reacted with a D’ni Neighborhood Linking Book located inside the main station control room. A power arch between the D.R.A.G.O.N.S. systems and the linking book formed, creating a fluctuating dimensional rift. Planet Dragonia, along with the galaxy it was located in was taken out of time and space and sent into limbo. There, but not there. Rotating through the 11 known dimensions it would slip in and out of time and space. A lone Bahro was trapped within these dimensional forces trying desperately to find a way to release its self and the Dragonians from the confines of this dimensional prison. It was for this reason the bahro took the relto books from those who came to the off limits Dragonian Neighborhood. The Dragonian Neighborhood was long ago abandoned by the D’ni, unable to understand completely what had happened there or perhaps wanting to hide it in there history. The Bahro had waited thousands of years for the right time, place and circumstances to which it could get help for the Dragonians and its self. For this reason it cast the visitors into the future to the spaceship that waited. It would have only brief chances to help those it sent to understand what they had been taken to do.

STORY DIRECTIONS, CHANGES & NOTES: ORIGINAL STORY Line launches from a long forgotten abandoned bevin after the cavern closed in MOUL with players that stayed behind to continue their work and studies of the D'ni Civ.(Private city instance)
The Bahro in my story could be replaced with a Dragonian man or woman technician who had used the link book to escape through to Earth just as the D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT systems started to malfunction or just a lone survivor of the Dragonian Neighborhood.. Perhaps caught up in the effects, but to a lesser degree making it possible to be randomly set free momentarily to take action. Being trapped thousands years can allow for and explain the technicians abilities to learn, test and gain knowledge and to take action. The real beauty of the Planet Dragonia Age Story and the puzzles are in the way the Planet & Dragonians can be saved and then leaves open the storyline to which players can decide how the D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT might be reinitiated and brought back online. Their could become movements and followings to which players might work together and against others to control the D.R.A.G.O.N.S. PROJECT and how it might be used or never used again. Off hand I could think of 3 Story scenarios that could follow: First could be to complete the original objective of the Project. Second could be to reconfigure the system to regulate the Meteor storms with the Projects force shields to protect key planetary systems and places. Third could be the consequences or out comes to either of the first 2, being the planets is sent off into the asteroid field and the planet is destroyed completely or out of the asteroid field altogether into a new planetary orbit to which ecological systems are destroyed or the planets new orbit becomes unstable due to unforseen forces that take it to be frozen or melted. What ever the case, the manner in which what systems are engaged can be manipulated through the satellite network programming as to various outcomes.


PUZZLE BASED ECOLOGICAL POWER SYSTEMS
SOLAR POWER - Solar panels of Photo Voltaic Cells convert sun light into electricity. Solar mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto a central water tower to heat it to produce steam to power electric generators. Solar mirrors that concentrate sun light to heat tubes of special liquid that easily super heats to heat water for steam powered electric generators
Solar amplification system consists of a mirror disc that collects sunlight from on top a very high tower directing the sunlight down inside the tower onto a crystal that further amplifies the light while breaking it into focused beams that go out into and through thin clear waterfalls that act with lens on the back side that magnifies the light into a white hot beam of light that goes into a hole in the wall. On the other side of the hole is a room that has light heat collector that turns heat directly into electricity. Attached to the system are pipes that cool and regulate the system. There are hundreds of these stations across a vast area of flat terrain cratered high valley plateau of rivers running from the distant surrounding mountain ranges. The river water is channeled into the thin waterfalls surrounding the towers that are centered inside each crater. All the water is managed through a series of large pipes and old underground lava tunnels that brings the water into lakes at the lower edge of the upper plateau.
HYDRO POWERED - Lakes are created from partially dammed crates with hydro-dams. The water that run around the dams allow migratory fish to pass around the dams all the way back to the mountain streams from the ocean. The discharge water from the Hyro-dams are sent down a series of water falls that take part of the water down through turbine pipes that create additional electrical power.
TIDAL POWER - From theses series of water falls the water empties directly into harbors that have tidal generators. The water is directed into the harbor to increase the out flow strength and duration of the tidal system. When the tide comes in the water is redirected around the harbor. When it goes out the water is directed into the harbors to build a longer higher tide.
WIND POWERED - Desert winds coming off the back side of mountain ranges are used to power wind turbines of many types. Mountain top wind turbines and sea shore wind turbines.
THERMAL POWERED - Volcanic thermal vents are used on land and in the oceans. Deep underground caverns close to lava flows are used to tap thermal energy directly from the lava. The heat is converted directly into electrical power Deep underwater power stations tap into deep ocean thermal vents of rising super heated ocean water. The water is used to heat steam powered generators.
LIGHTNING POWER - Constant Mountain Storms produced by atomized sea water from deep volcanic thermal vents in the oceans are the planets greatest power source. Systems of Lightning Towers build along the mountain ranges collect direct current lightning into giant storage devices that then regulates that electrical power.

[Xindhus]

I think I'm missing something here. Just what exactly is this "DRAGONS Project" supposed to be doing? Why was it built? Who built it? Will it work if the player fixes it? Why are we more interested in turning it off than on? In terms of puzzles, it's much harder to make something work than to break it, but at least it's a new direction. How many of the puzzles do you intend to use? I'd think maybe four would be plenty, but the more the better! The 'dimensional rift' explanation seems a bit tenuous, but it could work if you smother it in enough technical-sounding gobbledegook. As for the name "DRAGONS", I'm assuming it's a clever acronym. I love acronyms! Mind sharing it with us?

The only problem I see with this whole concept (aside from the inevitable first-iteration story gaps) is the sophisticated level of programming that's going to be required. You'll either have to get a real whiz on board with the project or learn the code yourself. (Then again, maybe it isn't all that tough. I'm not ashamed to admit how little I know about code.)

So, now that you've hit us with the story, we want action! When will you be putting out the first screenshots?

[Jahmen]

Re: Jahmen's Story
by Xindhus » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:02 pm
First off, sorry Xindus for not checking back here more often and second, where did my Journal go?

I think I'm missing something here. Just what exactly is this "DRAGONS Project" supposed to be doing?
By use of producing a sophisticated structural force field around the planet and using the electromotive force it could generate to then push and pull the planet into another trajectory, it's supposed to change the planets original orbital path that skates the edge of an asteroid field every 4 years that devastates the planet’s surface cyclically.

Why was it built?
It was built to make the planet’s surface usable all the time (Dwellings are built deep underground and that makes it expensive and an engineering nightmare to keep pace with growth) and because the planet primarily provides vast quantities of food to other planets, due to its remarkable ability for everything to grow very large and very fast.
The "DRAGONS Project" was build to change and forgo the planets destructive cycles every 4 (?) years, thereby they could maintain food production all the time and limit damage/ rebuilding costs.

Who built it?
It was built by the Dragonians who came and settled the Planet.

Will it work if the player fixes it?
Yes!

Why are we more interested in turning it off than on?
It is already on! But malfunctioning and needs to be turned off and fixed to then work.

In terms of puzzles, it's much harder to make something work than to break it, but at least it's a new direction.
In this case, it already works but isn’t working right due to an unforeseen clash of technologies, so it has to be shut down.
Explorers must ultimately decide if they should fix the project as intended or not, according to their understanding of the Dragonian Culture and sciences as explorers play and gather information all along the way that influences them.

How many of the puzzles do you intend to use?
Each Planet Environmental Puzzle has 3 puzzle logics with the one and I have already designed all of them and their puzzle logics.
The number of environmental Puzzles I intend to use would be dictated by the time, effort and difficulty encountered.

I'd think maybe four would be plenty, but the more the better! 3 Environmental Ages with 3 Puzzles each. 9 Total.

My initial Puzzle iwill be the Star Ship that gets explorers to the Planet.
I chose to start with it because the environment of a Star Ship is easier to learn to build than living ones with mountains, hills, plants, etc.. Limits texture requirements by building mostly rooms, corridores, lifts and mechanical systems.

The puzzle logics can be worked and solved with a minimum of 3 players, but because accidents can and will happen, players will get auto Relto out to safety! So I would bring some spare players along for the team! Maximum of 10The 'dimensional rift' explanation seems a bit tenuous, but it could work if you smother it in enough technical-sounding gobbledegook.
As for the name "DRAGONS", I'm assuming it's a clever acronym. I love acronyms! Mind sharing it with us?
Dynamic Range Anti-Gravitational Override Navigational System

The only problem I see with this whole concept (aside from the inevitable first-iteration story gaps) is the sophisticated level of programming that's going to be required. You'll either have to get a real whiz on board with the project or learn the code yourself. (Then again, maybe it isn't all that tough. I'm not ashamed to admit how little I know about code.)

So, now that you've hit us with the story, we want action! When will you be putting out the first screenshots?
I have many of the conceptual sketch drawings for which I will base the graphics on. Hmm I never thought to up load them though.