Guild of Writers

I'm fairly new to all this, but it is beginning to look to me like perhaps it would be easier to just make our own standalone ages. Has this ever been brought up before? The PyPRP is terribly complex and limits us as to what we can export. Don't get me wrong. I am very greatful for this tool, but wouldn't it be much easier to just make your age without the constraints of pyprp? Why are we trying to export to uru? I want to keep the whole uru/myst thing alive as much as anyone, but it seems to me that it is more work than it is worth to do it this way. If Cyan can't give us the tool we need to add to their creation, then we should just make a new one.

They only have rights to a very specific part of the story. We could continue the story of myst and expand on it as we like if we just went our own way. Anyone think this is a valid thought?

No.

Do you know how to press all your objects and textures and all from your age into a .prp file?

Well, I don't but the pyprp plugin does. And even when it limits me and is complicated I will still use it.

So no it wouldn't be easier. Really not. I may be a noob, but I can see that.

i don't think many ppl know how to compress textures manually. There are many programs out there for doing this for us. I'm just making the point that we are expending huge amounts of time on learning to use a plugin that only really gives us a free avatar to use. we could do all this stuff easier in any 3d program and save our own exe games which could them be added to by other fans. I just think we could accomplish so much more on our own

We are here to create ages for Uru, Myst 5, Hex Isle, and all other Plasma games. If you are interested in making your own game, then I suggest you start here or here. If you would like to continue making ages for Uru (thus doing what we are here to do), then you're welcome to contribute code to PyPRP, ask for new features to be added or certain ones reworked, or even start your own age creation plugin for whatever 3d modelling program you choose. There are plenty of us who understand the Plasma engine well enough to help you in this regard.

Basically, you just need to model your Age in Blender or 3DSMax, and not export it.
Then you can distribute the .blend or .3ds file.

bnewton81 wrote:i don't think many ppl know how to compress textures manually. There are many programs out there for doing this for us. I'm just making the point that we are expending huge amounts of time on learning to use a plugin that only really gives us a free avatar to use. we could do all this stuff easier in any 3d program and save our own exe games which could them be added to by other fans. I just think we could accomplish so much more on our own

I feel like the original question isn't really being addressed, which is this: is the Guild of Writers exclusively a Plasma development community, or is it generally a Myst development community? Would projects like Surprise in Minkata, the Lara documents, or Plum Lake be considered Writerly activities?

However, there is another part to the original poster's question beyond that, which is whether we should abandon Plasma outright to work exclusively in other forms. I think I can be fairly confident in answering that question no. Running a program from your desktop is just not the same as walking into Relto or Nexus and placing your hand on the Book.

Pavitra, Thank you. You summed up my thoughts nicely for me. I fully agree with you when it comes to the "feel" of uru (the nexus, linking books, etc.). But why are these things only possible through plasma? plasma is nothing but a set of math formulas. Most 3d designers could easily copy every aspect of uru into any of a number of other engines. Not that I'm considering copyright infringement. Cyan would have a heart attack. No, I'm just saying who knows if the D'ni were the only ppl making linking books? Maybe early in their history they broke into sects and there are many such races doing the same.

I'm just wondering if we should wait and later incorporate uru into our design instead of converse. I can't get anything accomplished on my ages for beating my head up against pyprp for hours on end. Took me a week to successfully get a single plain into uru, and I'll be damned if I spend months building an age and then send it off to some yahoo in France to work out the rest for me.

Check these sites out if what i say makes any sense to you.
Unity http://www.unity.com
Unreal Development Kit http://www.udk.com

bnewton81 wrote:Check these sites out if what i say makes any sense to you.
Unity http://www.unity.com
Unreal Development Kit http://www.udk.com

Don't you mean http://www.unity3d.com instead of "Unity Microelectronics"

oops http://www.unity3d.com