Guild of Writers

So...Hi all! I is here, reading yor forms, and makin ages maybe?

...Oh that won't do at all.

Anyway, I'm an independant game designer with a total passion for anything Uru now that live is back. I know nothing is solid (heek, the source isn't even released yet), but I am totally excited for what ages and stuff we could make for Uru Live. I figured I might as well sign up here, once I saw this was the offical Guild of Writers forums.

My skill set:

-I like doing some 3d modeling, but can't use blender worth beans.(tried tutorials, just can't stand the interface and the heavy use of hotkeys. Kills all my creativity instead of helping it flow.) I used to be a truespace user, but that got discontinued, so now I currently have been using Softimage Mod Tool till I can afford a copy of 3d studio. I know very little about 3d studio, but I did take a class on the interface, so I figure once I can get my hands on a copy I'll teach myself from there.

-I am decent at writing stories. I can easily do journals by "role playing" the characters involved, so if you need some IC journal work, I can probably write stuff up.

-My passion is mostly in creating worlds. Not so much puzzles(though I love doing that too), as just interactive worlds that breath, and feel like someplace someone would live in or has lived in. Thus my signing up for this forum, since that's pretty much the style and attitude behind Uru and all Myst games spirit. I'm definetly a Game Designer at heart.

-I can do photoshop stuff, and am actually rather good at it.

-I can draw conceptual stuff. I have a tablet(once I steal it back from my sister), so I can do sketchy free hand stuff instead of the mouse.

-I have played all the Myst games, except the single player version of POTS(Live was my first time through those ages). I also have read all three Myst books. In other words, I'm definetly a Myst Geek to some degree, and understand how linking stuff works from a lore approach for the most part.

-I can test stuff, and don't mind spending a few hours test running through things for the 20th time. I do it all the time when I'm making my own games, so testing Uru ages probably won't be much different.

-I am rather good at learning stuff on my own, if given proper manuals or refrences.

-The only bad thing is I don't know much about coding stuff. I can code, but I am very bad at it, it's not even funny how long it takes me. It's just not my cup of tea.

I have never made anything for Uru before, so the tools and way things work is all new to me. (Of course, with Live being different then single player, I guess we all will be learning together once the tools are released.)

I don't have a formal job, I just live with my parents and develop video games on my own. In other words, I have extra time and creativity as my boss(me) permits. Jumping into making Uru stuff might just be what I need to keep my current game project from becoming a total grind, as I like to work on different things each day, and currently only have my game project to stare at.

So Shorah all! I hope I can find something to do around here, and that you're all open to having me around. I also got a few ideas for ages. Unfortunetly, I don't have CC, only the basic Uru disk, so I don't think I can follow the current tutorials and age making processes just yet. But I figure once Live is opened for good and we get our hands on the tools, I can just learn with that instead.

Welcome to GoW, Mr. Griffin.

Things are still uncertain, I think, as to whether writers should continue with Blender or start developing with 3DSMax. AFAIK there is a significant amount that can be done within the constraints of cross-compatibility, like meshes and UV. I'm not the expert on this.. hopefully someone else can elucidate? *looks around*

Also I think Drizzle works with the basic Uru install, if you want to see what's been finished so far. There are a few gems in there.

Check the Storytellers and Artists forums. There are quite a few people offering beginnings, and nobody available to do the work and realize them. For something more immediate, you might join in the chain letter age.

By the way, if you haven't heard, Uru Live is currently donationware. Check it out.

I'd love to see a link to your current games!

Drizzle only works with basic uru if POTS is installed, according to the wiki. Haven't got Uru installed to try it out personally. Actually, I haven't installed it since back in the big shutdown. I couldn't stand(and still can't really stand) the empty feeling the single player had after the beta taste of live. It doesn't help that the basic Uru disk install always stood as a reminder that "Uru live was coming soon". Anyway, the only version of Uru I have installed is the new Liveagain, and I suspect that I won't be able to install custom ages or hack that one, for good reason.

I *ahem* now have 3d studio 9, and have been relearning how things work. I never could get the hang of doing textures and materials in Max, but that's nothing a few tutorials won't hopefully fix.

Uru live being donationware and soon to be open source is why I reinvestigated Uru after all these years. I can't wait to see some fan made, quality ages. I know there have been some hacking and tools and such for Uru, but without a central multiplayer server to share with, I just sort of lost my drive to create much in Uru.

As for my games, well, I don't have much yet...but you can read my current progress over on the Smiley Games forums here. (Warning, the rest of the thread is mostly random ramblings from me working on it, and not really that useful for "news".)

http://z4.invisionfree.com/Smiley_Games/index.php?showtopic=604

I don't have a website offically up for it yet, as my game is still in the early stages, but I hope to get one once I start moving on from developing the engine to making the actual level areas for the world.

Making stuff in Uru seems like a mess right now, and I don't own POTS or CC, so I think I will hold off doing anything major for now till there is more info on how making stuff for Live itself is going to work. That doesn't mean I won't be trying to follow some tutorials, reading info off the Writers Wiki, or modeling useful random props for practice. I'll be around, but since I know next to nothing at the moment about making Uru stuff, I'll mostly be lurking and reading info. There seems to be a lot to catch up on, both for making Uru stuff, and for relearning 3ds max.

Good luck

By the way, I remembered it's available for $10 on GOG.
Although, uh... be warned.

Fyxa's problem seems to be due to his personal Age which he installed. One can apparently use the GoG files without problem!

Would I need POTS to develop and test stuff for Uru Live Again? I know we probably don't know yet, but I'm really tight on money now, so even 10 bucks for ages I've already played through on liveagain is really hard on my wallet. (though, my money situation will hopefully change a bit come mid March, when my parents can return all the cash they had to borrow from my accounts. Then again, most of that money will probably be saved up so I can actually purchase Max instead of using the "obtained" version.) I'm also thinking that the fans, namely the Guild of Writers or possibly the Mantainers, will probably have a "test server" to try out stuff on without breaking the real one. I'm going to hold off spending any of my rare $20 USD till we hear more about how making stuff for Uru Live Again works.

I'm currently relearning how to do stuff in 3d Studio Max 9, since I think that's the program the new Cyan plugins are going to support. If nothing else, I'm having a blast making stuff to play with in Unity Game Engine(which is now free, or at least has a free version to toy with). It's nice to have a modeling tool that isn't the rather retarded selection tools of milkshape, and fun to be able to make things come to life on the screen again. I feel like an artist who just got all his paintbrushes back again.

Dark Griffin wrote:I'm also thinking that the fans, namely the Guild of Writers or possibly the Mantainers, will probably have a "test server" to try out stuff on without breaking the real one.

We would absolutely like to but got no word on that from Cyan yet. The technical possibility for a multi-player test server is already there, right now.