Dragonia Age Story & Puzzles

[Jahmen]

First of all thanx Kato for the journal!
Been working off and on pretty much since MOUL ended with my Story writing and puzzle making. I have now a fairly cohesive story that actually came together from the others I had done. This endeavor was born out of how I was left feeling about the MOUL pods or spheres of Negilahn, Dereno, Payiferen and Tetsonot. I was disappointed at how little they all did other than the portals and stones we got. Though I had inside information more might be added to them later. By like the 3 day the solution was posted and the calculation for portal times was available within another week or so. So my thing with the MOUL new age puzzles was did Cyan just under estimate the collective intelligence of the Uru community to have made such simple easy puzzles? Don’t get me wrong now, what we got in MOUL was good stuff for the average Uruite explorer to solve. I just felt a MORE sophisticated and challenging Community Age story and puzzles for the collective groups of bevin explorers was what everyone was really screaming for!

The Planet Dragonia Age story and puzzles I have already created will take explorers a week to get through the first age of 8 puzzles and that just to get explorers to the planet! And even after the first group of explorers solves those puzzles, their values and data will all change. So even if the puzzles mechanics get posted, explorers will still have to run through all the paces of regathering new values to work them. Plus, the puzzles require collective efforts to solve them. So nerves will run thin quick! So until then, I am waiting for the FCAL panel to get forged and set up an official place for us all to submit what we had done. I know I am not alone on this. I am anxious to see how much of my story and puzzles mechanics will be allowed. Maybe more about keep, as well as if some of what I would like to do with the puzzles mechanics will be allowed or can be done.
I would like to post my storys prologue here to see what reactions I might get. Though to be honest with all the time and work I have put in to it, I am cautious about putting anything out in the public for fear others might tend to borrow from what I have done to create their own alternate versions of the general premises I have created with in mine. I have only read a hand full of others stories. None resembling mine. Only one had good descriptive writing and held my interest. Other than the five here, I haven't really looked at what others have yet done to keep myself insulated from being influenced by others works. I want avoid unkowingly borrowing on others ideas. Once I get most of mine out and posted in on a secure well known place "public forum", it would sorta help protect it some. That others who then did borrow elements from mine would be recognized for such, even though flattering they would do so, I'd prefer they didn't.
I could certainly use some feed back on what others have or are doing with their stuff. If I should put mine out there or just keep adding to the story and puzzle mechanics until I can get it into a FCAL review.

Wow 69 viewings and not a single reply! Scary! Guess nobody cares or nobody knows anymore than me as to the FCAL status.

[ZeroCool]

Planet Dragonia is still going on. With the announcement of Open Source I am waiting to see how that goes and how long before any of us actually get back into the cavern. Is it just me or is the economy the total pits! Doesn't leave much time for much else but to find ways to save money and make it. Real life has me stalled on Planet Dragonia, but I am still making notes of my ideas.

[Dot]

Re FCAL panel etc, things are unclear as yet.

In the meantime, GoMa offers a service whereby writers can request a private subforum where a small team can work on story or age testing in private before an age is publicly released.

Would you find this helpful?

[Jahmen]

In the meantime, GoMa offers a service whereby writers can request a private subforum where a small team can work on story or age testing in private before an age is publicly released.

Would you find this helpful? POSSIBLY

DOT Thanx for responding. I will look into the Guild of Maintainers private sub-form where I might get a team formed to work at bringing my Planet Dragonia Age to reality. I do though have some concerns and reservations as to my Age getting highjacked by fellow team members or taken in a direction I was not interested in it going, if not altogether. I am a strong minded personality with distinct visions to my creative outcomes. This doesn’t mean I am not flexible or unwilling to allow ideas and visions of others to mess with my own in a collaborative process. Creative Artistic personalties often have tendencies towards being overly sensitive and often volatile and I do not delude myself as being this way at times. Guess I will see if there are enough safeguards and controls in place to protect my place and interests in such a collaborative endeavor.

[Jahmen]

I have decided to try presenting my Age story and puzzles to the Amber Horizon's Bevin/ forum site and run a thread for the members to input their ideas and assistance to developing it further. Though I am convinced any actual physical development for constructing the graphics, coding and final story will end up at a guild or simular place in the end. Not sure my AH members have the drive and skills, let alone enough interest in my project for a Community Age. Time will tell though. just as it will with Open Source being released and done.

[Jahmen]

Planet Dragonia Age was created by me, Jahmen, to be a Community Multi-player Game for MOOSE. My idea of a Community Age was to have an Age so extensive in scope and difficulty that it would take teams or groups made up of friends and bevin members to solve it over the course of months. Not like in MOUL, whereby players posted in threads what they knew until within a few days or a week the answer was known. I wanted to take it to the next level! An Age that even with teams or groups entering into it posting in threads what they learned and knew along the ways would still require all explorers massive collective efforts to get to a final or best solution. Not only would the players need to work mechanisms together, but also to work out the solutions together, deciding in which direction to work for the Game ending they wanted to see happen. Even if how a puzzle worked got posted, it still required a new set of data to be collected each time with each group or team. That the Planet Age would allow only a team or group at a time to enter that time period. (NOTE: my reset idea for puzzles will become the greatest challenge to the teams or groups of players) With journals of information to be found all about, no one team would be able to find them all and learn everything on their own. Eventually, teams and groups would start to combine efforts and trade information learned along the way. In time, threads would become less revealing and information would become a more guarded currency toward the ultimate power to decide the planets fate. My over-all theme was for the story line to cause players to evolve into groups that would naturally become opposed in their philosophies of what should be done in the final end game. That the final outcome for the Planet and the Dragonian Civilization would be dictated by those who could first solve everything to shut it all down, fix the problem, and then decide if they should reinitiate the projects original intented purpose or change the projects parameters to a different outcome and thus deciding the final fate and outcome for the Dragonians.

Before I presented my Story, back stories, journals, sketches, puzzles, twisted concepts, etc... I wanted to present it here (HERE: being Amber Horizon's Forum) to those (THOSE: being Amber Horizon members) interested in helping me with some of the details, art, music, sounds, math, puzzles, etc... Of course, working with me together on the Planet Dragonia Age would spoil the age for any who might prefer to just play it. It would also need to be kept "locked" from members not involved with me in its further creation and development. I am looking to see whom has the skills and desire to get on board with me on this. I have an overall premise for it all, but I have decided it might be best to compartmentalized the project into sections. This way, no one member or persons could get to know everything about the Age to spoil it, if they, for what ever reasons, got angry and left the project as is not uncommon. I would pool together all the ideas and work of each section to make sure the overall project came together. I was hoping to deligate. Assign project managers to a team for each section. Give them the over all general theme and how their section fit within, along with what I had already done or started for them to fine tune and fill in the blanks. I didn't know to what extent everyone in AH might be willing to take on the project. What I mean is, actually start on building the graphics, sounds, code, etc.. or just work out a story board of sketched concepts and puzzle workings, music, art and everything else to take to a Guild for those with more technical skills and abilities. Let me hear from you all. P.S. I'm in FL and most of what I have is in NC. I will be heading up to NC in April. By then I should know the level of interest. Then I can present more of all I have to those who wanted to be a part of my Age. Let me know.

General Outline: Break Down
The Star Ship: The means by which a team or group gets to the planet.
The ship so far has 8 puzzles based upon the ships various sections.

The D.R.A.G.O.N.S. Project! Broken up into the many components that make up the projects systems. Contains various stations and energy sources build on the planet surface, lakes, rivers and oceans. Utilizing natural environment elements. Solar Power, Wind Power, Thermal Power, Hydro Power, Tidal Power, Lightning Power, Etc...
The Planet and the solar system, it’s history, all play a huge role in it all. As do the moons and satellite system.

[Jahmen]

I seem to have a glitch with the Guild of Maintainers site.
I have tried to login, but can't seem to ever get in.
I got a new password set up, but it only worked one time and never again.
I have tried over weeks once AGAIN to Login many times over. Tried every pasword I ever had, including the new one I had gotten. Starting to think someone in the Guild of Maintainers hates me!

Other wise Dot, I would take my Age Story to where you suggested by now.

P.S. Based upon what Ace posted as to Amber Horizon members active and 1 post reply over last 10 day or so, I doubt much help will be coming from there.

[ardent red]

I had that problem too, when I first signed up- you should email Nyn, she can sort it out for you.

[Jahmen]

August 1 2009 Update
I have the story line 90% written with 10% left to be the number of endings it can have or take given how the explorer groups play it out among themselves. It all comes down to what each group or individual explorer does within the game that determines the endings.
The Age story theme of the Planet Dragonia Age being one caught in a temporal flux, lends its self to multiple outcomes as the waves of explorers move through it. In this way it can be solved and brought to an end in a multitude of ways all based upon the parameters being set and reset according the choices the explorers or groups collective choose to make within the game play. The interesting thing I have found, is in creating this Game Age story is it seems to start writing its self. What I mean is that the Ages story line and puzzle mechanics I have worked out seperately, along with the pages, journals and link books to be found or not found with each wave will produce different story endings. It sort of writes and plays out all by its self. I have set it up so that the means by which explorers get to the planet will cause them to become grouped into a set number of explorers within the Age and together, eventually they will play out their own unique temporal version to what ever ending they create accidently and deliberately. An ending created not only by what they find, but what they do or don't do with it. More importantly, I have also made it possible, not as likely, but possible that two temporal verion groups could come together creating a more dynamic larger group outcome. This twist will require an explorer that really knows how to think outside the box to figure out though. I have also made it possible for individual exploreres to cross over between separate temporal games and influence them. The Age game also plays out that some temporal game efforts will fail. Yes, just plain fail! Why? Because explorers who get to aggressive and careless can get reltoed out of their temporal game and have to start again in another. Some may discover along the way the means to link their way back into their temporal game to return, but that will be more rare than the norm. Other temporal games will fail simply because to may explorerss will be relto lost and not have enough left to do the games puzzle mechanics. Self preservation Reltoing from overly agressive experimenting with the limits to which they test and probe the Environmental Ages Systems. In the Game of Planet Dragonia, You can't die, but reltoing will be like it! My guess is that the first few temporal games will fail, but those who learn the lessons will become valuable to future groups efforts. What I am saying is that when it comes to playing PLANET DRAGONIA, knowledge will be the currency of this game and experience the KEY. It will take time and many seasoned explorers versed in the do's and don't of failures, quite a few trips in the space ship to the planet before they become savvy enough to get to making some real game progress!

PROGRESS UPDATE: I have the over-all Systems worked out and I have sketched out several of Planet Dragonia's environmental power sources and puzzle mechanics. The mechanics to the Main Control Station and Computer System to the D.R.A.G.O.N.S. Project is done and sketched out. The puzzle mechanics might be way to complex and involved though. Fortunately the the designs are simple systems combined into a complex system, so it should be doable over time. I am counting on the collective intelligence of the explorers to work it all out. The Under Ocean Thermal System is done and the land version is in the process. The Hydro electric falls puzzles are done and sketched with the Lakes above to be finished. I have yet to sketch out the TIDAL systems or the Wind Systems, but I have them worked out in my head as well at the Lightning system. The Moons and orbital satellite systems complexity have bogged me down some. Of course I have most of the Space Ship and puzzle mechanics for it done. I'm a bit afraid I might have made it way to hard though. The Sun light Conversion Tower system was the first thing I had done. The most interesting and most challenging part to this whole project has been the almost reverse engineering of everything because unlike many games we are not trying to get something to go on and work, we are trying to shut something that is already running and out of control, OFF!

[Jahmen]

A recent event has brought my Planet Dragonia Age Project to a halt. I was in the process of setting up an online website to feature all of my drawings and story line developed content. I was separating out the note details of the game play themes and sub-game puzzle logics from off the drawings and graphics I had done. Simply put, remove all the game notes from off the drawings that explained the details of how each environmental theme puzzle worked to a solve in conjunction with the others and the over-all game theme. Same with the Story line being sanitized enough to keep the twists and turns from being revealed. I had created and produced an enormous amount of game play content to my Planet Dragonia Age Community oriented game theme for multiple explorers. Far more than I could have ever hoped to have rendered and done on my own. The web site was to help recruit interested explorers into compartmentalized creation of the various environmental theme puzzle sections. I thought I might have been able to release it in separate built environmental sections in MORE or MOOSE to Beta test it before releasing them all as an over all community game puzzle. Even with the separate environmental theme portions done, learned, tested and solved, the over all final puzzle logic would create a different end game than the individual environmental sections would separately. An overly ambitious Age project for sure. My Planet Dragonia Age Project is on indefinate hold due to Age instablity factors.