Office Journal

[Robert The Rebuilder]

You can be the proud owner of your own glowing crystals - just click here!

Yeah, I know it is unrealistic. How about some schistostega instead?

[Whilyam]

You know the Firemarbles are lgowing crystals, right?

Either way, I may replace the crystals with small lamps sometime during development.

[Aloys]

*hides glownig crystals from Ahra Pahts* hu, what's wrong with glowing crystals?
Rather than ranting (rightfully) you better finish Riven this game is amazing and the ending is even more amazing!
(seriously though as far as Ahra is concerned it's mostly because I was very limited on the number of polygons I could use and crystals are easy to do with few polys; also it fit well with the geometric looks of the Age)
I tend to agree less with floating islands, they are overdone that's a given, but if well done that can be really nice.

That chasm looks quite nice though, I agree the lack of lighting gives it an original eerie look.. It reminds of that part toward the end of Ahnonay (we could really use some spoiler tags on this forum )

[electroglyph]

In the real world crystals that glow like that are usually being bombarded with radiation, UV, or electricity. But I thought that the real world was what we were trying to get away from in the first place?

I feel as long as you make your own rules and stick to them you have made a good world. I got pissed at Star Trek when they said, "the transporter's not working". Hello guys! Remember the shuttlecraft? You can create matter from energy but you have to mine dilithium instead of whipping it up in the replicator? If you made everything dark and somber then put in little pink bunnies everywhere I'd complain.

In a cave you either have glowing rocks, glowing plants or animals, lava, or cracks and light from above. Unless you go with manmade lighting like torches or installed lamps. All of them have their own problems and most chew up more polys.

This looks great Whilyam. I'm looking forward to the next bit.

[Jennifer_P]

You can be the proud owner of your own glowing crystals - just click here!

lol, but that's cheating.

Yeah, I know it is unrealistic. How about some schistostega instead?

Hey, that's really cool! I wish that grew where I live...

You know the Firemarbles are lgowing crystals, right?

Are you sure about that? I didn't think we knew what material they were made of...Real marbles aren't made of crystal you know.

Either way, I may replace the crystals with small lamps sometime during development.

You'll be my personal hero!

Rather than ranting (rightfully) you better finish Riven this game is amazing and the ending is even more amazing!

Hehe, I'd love to but I have a mound of homework waiting to be done and somehow it's a lot easier to justify wasting 15 minutes on this forum than 15 minutes on Riven (translation, an hour...just so I can check this latest theory out...).
Actually I wasn't bugged by your crystals for some reason, Aloys; they seemed to fit in well in a deliberate way with the architecture and I didn't really notice they were glowing obviously. I'll have to look at them closely next time! But, uhhh, I'm afraid I didn't like the ones in Prihn Pahts too much? Don't kill me Rob! They had a really nice crystal form, actually--that's the scientific way of saying that the had an aesthetically pleasing shape--but they also had this sort of "conveniently placed" thing going on, like they were planted on the ceiling artificially like patches of flowers. I mean, I think when people make Age designs they must be like, "Yes, we'll have this here, that there, and oh yes, a patch of giant crystals here, next to the path and the garden gnomes..."
Feel free to ignore me now...
And I do agree that if properly executed, floating islands can look good (to me), as can giant crystals. Have you guys ever seen pictures of the Cave of Swords? If not, google it, right now! You're in for a treat!

[Chacal]

You can be the proud owner of your own glowing crystals - just click here!

lol... I love the pastel colors. Is it WalMartusite or Searsotite?

[Whilyam]

Yes, the firemarbles are a type of energized D'ni stone. Then there are powermarbles, but that's a Riven spoiler.

Phase 1: "Initial mapping" completed today. I've got a general idea of what I'll be doing with the age.

Depending on how much work gets done tonight, I may have some more pictures.

[Robert The Rebuilder]

They had a really nice crystal form, actually--that's the scientific way of saying that the had an aesthetically pleasing shape--but they also had this sort of "conveniently placed" thing going on, like they were planted on the ceiling artificially like patches of flowers.

Yeah - they are very conveniently placed and colored. My excuse is that I bought one of these kits and cranked the knobs all the way to 11.

[Jennifer_P]

Yes, the firemarbles are a type of energized D'ni stone. Then there are powermarbles, but that's a Riven spoiler.

Gee, thanks for the spoiler. Enjoy your last night alive...
All stones aren't simple crystals though; for example a chunk of stone such as granite can contain multiple types of crystals and also glass, which is not a crystal at all. Do we know if firemarbles have a uniform composition? And do we know if their molecular structure is an orderly lattice such as true crystals have or a jumble as glass has or somewhat orderly as quasicrystals have? We must know the details of the internal structure of a substance before we can classify it for certain as crystalline...

Depending on how much work gets done tonight, I may have some more pictures.

/clap Yay!

Yeah - they are very conveniently placed and colored. My excuse is that I bought one of these kits and cranked the knobs all the way to 11.

Ahh, that explains it then! I gotta buy me one of those...

[Whilyam]

Thank you, Kodama

No work got done last night, so no pictures, unfortunately. Hoping to do some work today depending on how many other things call out to be done today. "Fix me! File me!" etc.