Christian Walther wrote:And I would even answer this question [...] by “Yes, because we had fun doing it.” That’s all that matters.
That's a very good point.
Although the question was not "Was it worth it", but "Is it worth it". But now that I think about it my previous post doesn't really express my idea correctly. What I mean by it is actually,
will I do it again during the next years, considering Uru's current state ?
The answer is no. Plasma is not worth it. Only Cyan and the Intangibles are bound to Plasma. We don't get new content from either of them, and the way things are going on we won't for a long while.
Why is Plasma not worth it ? Because creating a Uru clone on another engine is actually a lot less work than was required to hack Plasma to be able to put fan-Ages on it in the first place. Comparatively, it's also harder to build new content on Plasma, and the result will always be inferior to what you can achieve with another engine.
Sure, starting from scratch is a step backward. But what's a step back when Plasma is already miles behind modern engines anyway ?
Besides, like Dendwaler said, you don't even need it to be Uru. You need it to have the Uru feel, so players feel at home in it (and since we're in a "home" metaphor, I might as well add switching engines is like moving to a new, bigger, better home, while keeping most of the original furniture).
(Note: all this is obviously just an opinion, it's just annoying to start every sentence with "I think".)
Korovev wrote:Thus justifying Cyan’s policy. Why should they hand over their I.P. to people who might at some point abandon it? Better keep full control on a storyline and environment they might or might not, one day, have the resources to further develop properly.
I never said they should. As for us abandoning it, weeeell, we're still here after all these years, soooo...
Either way, speaking of abandoning things.... Where have they been for the last few years ?
(just trolling, don't take it personally
)
But I also agree with you and Dendwaler. I don't want anyone else than Cyan doing Cyan's work. Meaning I want the "official" Ages and storyline to be Cyan's.
Does that mean I'll spit on anything that comes from someone else ? No. That's the whole purpose of fan-Ages: use Cyan's framework (both in terms of game engine AND storyline AND gameplay) to create something new, that isn't quite Cyan, but is a whole world of its own, worthy of attention. I'll welcome any Myst-based fiction, even though I might not read it to the end.