Guild of Writers

Ok then. But how do we make it fun? As I see it having d'ni build the stuff was an easy way out in a lot of ways.
Let me make a list of the things that I enjoy about ages.
1. Exploration
2. Awe inspiring buildings/landscapes
3. Mystery
4. Reality in graphics
5. Believability
Ok that about sums in up.
I'm pretty sure that if an age a can have a huge amount of one of those things then you'll have a great age.
Let's look at some of cyan's ages

Er'Cana: Reality in graphics, Exploration, Believability

Relto: Reality in graphics,

Teledahn: Reality in graphics, Mystery, Believability

Kadish: Reality in graphics, Awe inspiring buildings/landscapes, Mystery, Believability

We can make almost all of those things with the prp-plugin how it is now(maybe not quite in the Reality in graphics ).
I personally like the fan-ages that are IC ie. you have an age with a desk and a computer etc. But the ages that I don't like are the ones that have written-in puzzles--If we are to have, say natives in this place then the building-style should be different ie. log cabins as houses and sharpened tree-limbs as fences. However, if we had this age be about exploring more than puzzles and mystery then we could have many miles of landscape and fewer puzzles--like Minkata.

First, this is a great original Age, and I don't see why we have to go and bring D'ni into it. I've said it over and over, but if we can make an Age original, we should, and there's nothing about this one that's intrinsically D'ni. Let's keep working on a new storyline without succumbing to the temptation to use Cyan's ready-made story elements, okay? C'mon, we're creative people.

Second, I just have to add that I'm not very comfortable with the evil-atheist-enraged-by-religion-and-gone-mad storyline idea. Not very comfortable at all. Anyone else a little skeeved out by that?

I don't have anything to add yet in the way of a storyline, but I do have some guiding principles which might be helpful. It seems to me that a lot of the imaginative power of the best Ages was they way they were self-contained and designed around a few key elements. Selenetic had the the singing crystals and was designed around the use of sound, for instance. Channelwood was wind and water and trees, and based around how the tree-dwellers used a windmill to generate power which they channeled through water to their treehouses. Minkata is sand and caves and two suns that are used in navigating the sands to find the caves. Edanna is one self-contained, living ecosystem of plants and animals that act in concert. Eder Kemo is an interconnected system of volcanic vents that can be manipulated to redirect pressure. Everything in Spire comes down to the charge and levitation power of the floating crystals. Haven is all about the animals and their food chain. Et cetera.

Each Age has one or two basic environmental "gimmicks", and the Age's puzzles and storyline are developed around manipulating and exploiting these features, whether it's floating rocks, wind power, volcanic steam, multiple suns, weather cycles, light-giving fireflies, or whatever else. In Yinfara, the two most distinctive elements we have are periodic electrical storms, and birds' nests that are crystallized by electricity. So let's use that. Let's use the heek out of it. Various colored moons with different properties are another possibility that's been proposed. I like it...if it can be incorporated with the storms/nests in a way that enhances the Age and doesn't just compete for attention. Will Yinfara be remembered as the Age of Electrical Storms and those Cool Glass Orbs, or the Age of the Colored Moons, or the Age of the Storms, Glass Orbs, Moons, Lighthouses, Lightning Rods, Shipwrecked Sailors, and the Kitchen Sink?

If there's a lighthouse, it ought to play a MAJOR role, and not be just for show. If there are colored moons, manipulating the light should be a MAJOR and integrated part of the solution, and not just an afterthought or one little piece of the puzzle. KISS. Everything should be interconnected, and everything should be necessary.

Let's lay that out more succinctly.

Principle 1: The Age should be be distinguished by one or two major environmental features.

Principle 2: Those features should determine gameplay and influence everything that happens in the Age.

Now here's another one. Principle 3: The problem and the solution should all be found within the playable area of the Age. That's just good and cohesive design. If Crusoe is going to manipulate the storms by magnetism, there better be something magnetic on the island (or on the neighboring island, if nesting birds are stealing material from there). If Crusoe brought a bunch of lightning rods and scientific equipment from the mainland, or a load of mechanical goodies from D'ni, that's cheating. Maybe he can steal an un-crystallized nest and use it somehow to attract lightning. Maybe the seawater contains a solution of magnetic particles (which is why the island might be an eye of the storm) and can be filtered or distilled to yield a magnetic substance. The solution should be close at hand and derive from the environment.

Okay, that's it for the lecture. I hope this helps some with the brainstorming. I've had a few ideas for the mechanics of the island and the storms -- I'll mull over them a bit more and post them soon.

Lontahv wrote:However, if we had this age be about exploring more than puzzles and mystery then we could have many miles of landscape and fewer puzzles--like Minkata.

Yeah...because the endlessly varied and fascinating landscape of Minkata was so much fun to explore. Something exciting around every bend!

I do agree with you, though. Excellent points.

Second, I just have to add that I'm not very comfortable with the evil-atheist-enraged-by-religion-and-gone-mad storyline idea. Not very comfortable at all. Anyone else a little skeeved out by that?

*/me nods*
*shudder*

Blue, those 3 principles maight be the best thing that has been written on the GoW yet.

Lontahv wrote:

Second, I just have to add that I'm not very comfortable with the evil-atheist-enraged-by-religion-and-gone-mad storyline idea. Not very comfortable at all. Anyone else a little skeeved out by that?

*/me nods*
*shudder*

lol, ya, I was trying to think of some reason for the guy to go crazy, so... lol, I just liked the Idea of them fighting to the death. o, and blueyvern, I think you're really on to something. Using D'ni would b sorta like cheating, and if we do this right, it can be a really great age! think of trying to figure out a story as one of the myst puzzles, and we just need to keep at it, until we find the answer to it.

What about this idea: There are two different cultures inhabiting different islands, then one of the cultures by mistake lands on the island of the other culture and befriends the other culture. The natives of the island could be great stone carvers and the other group of people could use tree-logs for everything(so there are log buildings built on top of great falling apart stone ruins)

How do you like it?

Also, you might try scrapping the idea of a temple in favor of something easier to make up a story around:
That pretty structure Lontahv made might also be a:
1. King's garden house
2. King's rain shelter
3. Gazebo
4. Trysting place for lovers
5. bird house

that's a good Idea, I always thought the Idea of a temple didn't quite fit in... a shelter from the rain/Gazebo would be a good reason for it... it could be a place to just relax... maybe we should take out the Geode, and add some chairs, and a table instead that we can sit in.

I don't mind if it's not a temple. I like the idea of it not being a temple more than it being a temple. I know this is kind of off topic but I made a kind of tower thing(maybe a lighthouse)


You can see the original building under the new structure.