Shorah,
I was talking with Zuri, one of the people from my bevin (who said he is a writer) and we got to discussing ideas for future ages. He directed me here so that I could run these ideas by you guys in case any of you might find them helpful or interesting in creating your own ages. I'm not good with technology and I don't know exactly what Blender/3DMax are capable of, and I'm not really interested in learning about how to use them, but I figured that I can at least contribute some concepts to the Guild of Writers' work. Some of you may have come up with these ideas anyways, but here they are:
1) A burial age. We know from the lore that some of these exist, but what they are like and what security measures against grave-robbers exist are currently unknown. If nothing else, this sort of age would, like Er'cana and Gahreesen, help to expand our knowledge of D'ni culture. Along the way to the final destination in this age (whatever that may be), we might read translated memorials for people of different social classes and professions (see the journals from that one rooftop in Ae'gura). The overall impact should be not only informational but also emotional or sympathetic, since we'll essentially be reading headstones and eulogies. On a similar note, death ages (basically execution grounds) and wedding ages would be interesting.
2) A sound-based age. Zuri said that you've been thinking of creating an age for blind people, but I was thinking more along the lines of an age in which you're effectively blind. What I thought of is something like the Selenitic Age in Myst I, specifically the Mazerunner section. Basically, sounds would tell you what's in your general vicinity. When you step to a certain area, you'll hear a series of 4(?) sounds, one for each of the cardinal directions. These sounds would be based on pitch and effect, where the pitch tells you the direction and the sound effect you hear tells you what sort of terrain is in that direction. For example, there could be a pitch for "west" and a sound effect that represents "wall" which, when combined, tell you that "there's a wall to the west of you." There could be others for "stairway," "nothing," "door," or "something important." Think blind man's buff meets Zork. Maybe there could be constant sounds that would direct you in certain ways. There could be some sort of KI upgrade effective in this area only, or some other sort of device that would help you find these sounds. There would be information in the beginning of the area that would somehow explain the significance of each sound.
In order to make this an actual challenge, there would have to be something that limits the effectiveness of your vision. The area could either be almost totally bright or dark so you can't see anything in the vicinity. I also have another idea, though this might be too challenging given the technology you currently have at your disposal. What if the WALKABLE map (where your avatar can actually go) is significantly different from the VISIBLE map? In other words, you might see a stairway but you can't climb it since it doesn't really exist and is just an illusion; conversely, you could go through illusory and insubstantial walls or "walk on air" using invisible stairs because what actually exists in the area is not the same as what you see. There may be places where "what you see is what you get," but in others, what really exists is invisible and you can only locate it by following your ears instead of your eyes. If this were the case, it may help to create a "test room" or two so that players could get used to the illusions and how to navigate around them. The first room might have the two maps sync up perfectly, whereas the second might have a door that only appears to exist and the real exit is through a seemingly solid wall.
3) I understand that one of the main ages you're all working on is a collaborative age that consists of many "shells" that connect to one another. It's basically a superpuzzle/hub; the one age contains many linking books, but also puzzles in its own right that allow you to progress further into the shells or towards the outside. If this is the case, why not have the sub-ages themselves be part of the puzzle? We know from Er'cana that things from certain ages can affect things in other ages to an extent, so maybe solving each age could have an effect on the "superpuzzle." Or it could be like Riven, where the central "golden dome" or firemarble puzzle (for example) requires information from numerous other areas and affects some aspect of the entirety of Riven when solved.
4) My last idea has to do with plots and puzzles in general. The journey cloth concept has kind of been overdone in my opinion, so why not turn to linking books? Maybe the "save" option in these new ages is related to finding missing pages from linking books so that you can complete them and return to wherever the book lets you go (obviously somewhere you have already been on the age by that point). Perhaps the pages have been deliberately hidden, or maybe the wind just picked 'em up and put them somewhere inconvenient, I dunno. That's up to the age writers.
Let me know if any of these have already been considered, if you need futher clarification, or if you have any other questions I could answer.
--Equinox
Guild of Writers
