The Q and A Thread

[ceriux]

mk well i just stopped reading halfway through this last page. so if theres more info im missing sorry. but the problem that seems to be happening here is everyone wants their creativity to be able to flourish and blahblah. but the problem is that your ideas arent part of MSC lore or at least not an important part of it. MSC's running out of space for new content. so i'm assuming your maps, with the custom scripts/monsters you require are very low on the totem pole of things that the coders/scripters are willing to work on, considering there more important things that need to be finished.

with msc's lore already written theres not much room left for creativity. so basically if you're not willing to work on the actual core game. get to the back of the line of contributors. the developers (and some of the community) has worked hard to put together the media contests if your maps dont meet the standards of whats needed in game you're less likely to get what you want.

i know i dont show my face too often around here. but iv been around since there wasnt a C in MSC so i know how far this mod has come. MiB and Thothie are really some of the last original people i remember working on this for as far back as i can remember being a part of the forums. please dont argue and fight with them over what gets done and how. im positive they'd love to have your content and your ideas and would like to have your map working how you imagine it. but the thing is , they also have to worry about balance and a ton of other things. so imo its more up to you to work with them than the other way around.

Any word on the contest? Like anyone working on something or planning to? Kinda clueless if people are joining this one or even know there is a contest going again, i could try and add some games again later this year, but yeah i need to be safe first before acting/spending more money into games...

Not sure what games i would add, but i would aim towards a good selection of popular/most-wanted games of 2012/2013/2014. Things like bioshock infinite, borderlands 2, dishonored, assassins creed 4, metro last light, skyrim and so on... Perhaps with some games for origin too.

You are just angry because zeus

For some reason I only saw this now, it'll be a pleasure to make your edana runs become a nightmare now.

*cough* add riot points to the list *cough*

 

[Thothie]

I maybe just really tired - but I dunno what you're on about or who you're responding to. :\

 

[Monika's_BFFEx0256]

He never makes any sense. Not sure if he's non-native English speaker, or takes copious amounts of drugs... but he never seems to have coherent input.

 

[zeus9860]

I maybe just really tired - but I dunno what you're on about or who you're responding to. :\

I'm pretty sure he was speaking @oyster and his mapping project, pretty much his 50 cents in the subject.

He never makes any sense. Not sure if he's non-native English speaker, or takes copious amounts of drugs... but he never seems to have coherent input.

Wordor plz.

 

[ceriux]

im native english, but even verbally i have problems communicating with those around me. social interaction is not my forte. - sp?

 

[Regorty]

Sooo basically Ceriux wants more lore friendly maps made so it pertains to the story/lore that has already been laid out in the past? Because if that's true, then he wouldn't be the only one who wants me to start those sort of maps. *hugs for Ceriux*

Sidenote: no matter how many times someone tries to explain the lore to me I'll never fully understand it. But, at least I know my temple maps have the slight possibility of standing as lore friendly.

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

as far as I can tell, my map series is the only set of lore maps we have in the works, so by that logic, my maps should be getting top priority.

I think I agree with you.

 

[Monika's_BFFEx0256]

as far as I can tell, my map series is the only set of lore maps we have in the works, so by that logic, my maps should be getting top priority.

I think I agree with you.

+1

 

[Thothie]

as far as I can tell, my map series is the only set of lore maps we have in the works, so by that logic, my maps should be getting top priority.

I think I agree with you.

You're working on a lore map now? Which one? :\

Incidentally, your two releasable maps have gotten a bump, due to the fact that Regorty now has a fire temple map, and as I was previously unaware of this, I was populating the desert temple map with a fire theme and plot (Infernal Blackhand vs. Shadahar). So, I dun wanna waste all the new fire stuff I "cooked up" on the wrong map. (On the down side, the one map that I made any progress populating, in the last few months, is now, to use yet another heat oriented pun, back burnered.)

 

[Regorty]

Incidentally, your two releasable maps have gotten a bump, due to the fact that Regorty now has a fire temple map, and as I was previously unaware of this, I was populating the desert temple map with a fire theme and plot (Infernal Blackhand vs. Shadahar). So, I dun wanna waste all the new fire stuff I "cooked up" on the wrong map. (On the down side, the one map that I made any progress populating, in the last few months, is now, to use yet another heat oriented pun, back burnered.)

Sorry for not saying anything sooner, though I never really wanted Desert Temple to be fire orientated, especially while at the time I had an idea for a fire-esque map under the frozen ones. I still don't know what will become of Desert Temple...

 

[Thothie]

I sent it back to ya when I was about 1/4th done populating. Ya need it again?

 

[Regorty]

Nope. I just looked at it and felt bad that I wasn't gonna use it in the series anymore due to it making 'too little sense' in the game. But, it could always be added somewhere else as a non-lore non-connected map that you gotta votemap to.

 

[Thothie]

Well, it's the only one of the series I have to work with at the moment - but again, I dun wanna fire theme it and ruin your future plans.

'Tis a shame as I contrived this whole epic battle between Sorc Thuldahr and the Blackhand fire shamans... Which I wouldn't mind so much, if I hadn't also written up half the scripts ><

 

[Regorty]

You can still do that, since it isn't gonna be connected to my other Temple, other then in design, you can do whatever you wanted to do with the map, since I did plan on just handing it over and letting you run free with it.

 

[zeus9860]

'Tis a shame as I contrived this whole epic battle between Sorc Thuldahr and the Blackhand fire shamans... Which I wouldn't mind so much, if I hadn't also written up half the scripts ><

Dayyyyyumn, i bet things are going to be out of hand in that warzone. Once i get there, that is!

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

You're working on a lore map now? Which one? :\

Saying the Uurrakrh mountains aren't "lore maps" is like saying Daragoth or Aluhandra2 aren't lore maps.

 

[Thothie]

I'm unfamiliar with Uurrakrh and wasn't aware you were working on any such. Closest thing to a lore map I heard you touched was Crow's Underkeep, which at least gets a shout out in Gatecity (albeit, post inception).

Mind you, any map with any story behind it, eventually, becomes part of the lore, much as is the way of everything else around here. Most of what we accept to be cannon now came about that way or similar such, including the bulk of the main storyline. That, however, doesn't make one map anymore unique than another. When I say "lore map", I'm speaking of core storyline lore yet to manifest itself in the world: Shae'ha'deed, Melanion, Frozen Tear, The Bleak, Verath, Kray Eldorad, etc. And, at the very least, is something on the list of things to do so there's some sense of progress, and we can have an actual story with a beginning and end, in game.

But we didn't get to be a 70+ map world by being picky. I takes what I can gets. I prioritize whatever I think I can get done quickest, or nothing happens at all. Which means, of course, if someone submits something that's actually completed, it goes straight to the front of the line, regardless. So, lore map or no, that's the key to getting sh*t in game around here: DIY.

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

I'm unfamiliar with Uurrakrh and wasn't aware you were working on any such. Closest thing to a lore map I heard you touched was Crow's Underkeep, which at least gets a shout out in Gatecity (albeit, post inception).

When I say "lore map", I'm speaking of core storyline lore yet to manifest itself in the world: Shae'ha'deed, Melanion, Frozen Tear, The Bleak, Verath, Kray Eldorad, etc. And, at the very least, is something on the list of things to do so there's some sense of progress, and we can have an actual story with a beginning and end, in game.

Undermountains/Valley of Undermountains

Not connected to original lore, but should definitely include the ruins of ancient Dwarven settlements. It is safe to say that it is related to the original lore in that Norim the dwarf once spent seven months exploring underneath the central mountains in Daragoth and stumbled upon the great temple of Urdual. That would likely mean that the mountain we call Bloodrose today was once known as Utraakkrh. Bonus points to whoever knows what I'm talkin' about.

Maybe I'm the only one left who still gets these bonus points?

http://www.msremake.com/Files/History.html

Norim (NOR-imm)
A dwarvish warrior, employed by the king to find the path of fire, deep in the heart of the
mountains of Utraakkrh (oo-TRAY-kah-rah). He journeyed underground for nearly seven
months before stumbling across the Palace of Urdual. This portion of his journey is
related in this diary entry:

“...As I made my way down the dusty path beyond the ring of
chasms, my eyes were suddenly blinded by an intense light. I shielded
them with my hand, and after a few minutes adjusted. Ahead of
me stood a great palace, stone towers rising so high in this great
cavern that they were lost in the slight haze. A monolith of beauty,
an immeasurable bridge spanned a ravine. At the center of this
bridge, surrounded by stone walls at least 50 meters high,
I could see a stone pedastal, on which a very simple house
stood, bare, alone. Next to this house were two statues,
at least twice as tall as this dwelling, one of a large man
sitting cross legged, holding a jewel in outstretched hands,
and the other a curious design of two crescent shapes that
intersected near the bottom, between them floats a jade
crystal, as if by magic...I’ll draw a hasty sketch...

I will now make my way to the building..what sort of
beings could build such a wondrous palace?”

Norim never returned to the king, but his journal was found, left purposefully it
seems, on top of a small rock structure that was found just inside a small cave, almost one
hundred years later.

The ultimate goal of my underworld series is to get all the maps released, and then have a quest where you have to look for the lost pages of Norims notebook scattered throughout the underworld.

 

[Thothie]

Uurrakrh is not mentioned there, or anywhere else I can find, but yeah, there's plenty of dwarven ruins to fill. It's not what I refer to when I say lore map, but a little story behind a new map is always nice. Just, ya know, something that actually causes the mainline story to progress would be even better, as I thought we'd be at the end game about two years ago.

Lanethan axed the god's palaces from the mortal plane a long time ago, as discussed elsewhere, but some great sacred palace/temple erected in their honor will suffice. There are a bunch of Loreldian ruins too, and perhaps the triad abandoned their old fated homes to better rule from afar, and maybe they still commune with their followers there, so that squeeze works too. (Actually works a bit better than hijacking The Observatory for the same purpose, except for the fact then you need 4-5 such palaces.)

PS. We still don't have anything that'll work well as an in game book, or our world would probably be looking Elder Scrollsish by now. We've a model, but the 512x512 texture limit makes for hard to read text. If you can make BMP's, we can convert them to TGA's, and display those on the HUD, I think up to 2048x2048 (scales by percent). But the decompressed TGA's we can display eat HUGE amounts of disk space. (Like, maybe 128MB per page.) So... Yeah... Need some code help to get us a proper massive text display function. Half-Life has a scrolling text box, just seems tricky to invoke, and I'm not sure what the KB text limit is. I think the HTML box display belongs to the newer SDK, and depends on IE.

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

Uurrakrh is not mentioned there, or anywhere else I can find

It's not mentioned where? In that "History of Daragoth" document I linked? If that's what you meant I think you should look again. It's mentioned in the very first sentence under the "Norim" section.

Just, ya know, something that actually causes the mainline story to progress would be even better, as I thought we'd be at the end game about two years ago.

I don't agree with this for a couple of reasons. First of all I' don't want to see one (probably linear) map for each of the high level areas and then a "last boss" that ends the game. I'm not interested in "votemap shahadaead, kill boss, end game". I'm honestly afraid that's whats going to happen.
Secondly I think the best way to "tell the story" so to speak is to flesh out the world Lanethan imagined, so we can actually go to Daragoth and explore.
Thirdly, Lanethans lore isn't exactly linear, which is why it makes good 'history'. To tell the story in a perfectly linear fashion would do the history of daragoth a disservice imo.
Also, I don't think new or otherwise unskilled mappers should be allowed to work on the most epic, end game content, and when I first began this series, I was just learning to map. I needed to pick a project that was as friendly as possible to a learner while still being as relevant as possible to the MSC lore. The undermountains seemed like the most logical choice, since I didn't have to make outdoor areas. Now that I am more advanced, however, I feel more comfortable trying a map like, say, thunderplains.
Finally, I think early game content for dwarves is just as relevant as end game content. By mapping out a convincing underworld, I was hoping to inspire a certain someone to allow us to play as dwarves

Lanethan axed the god's palaces from the mortal plane a long time ago, as discussed elsewhere, but some great sacred palace/temple erected in their honor will suffice.

That will suffice, or Norim could have been teleported to Urduals palace in whatever plane he resides (Not the Astral plane surely. Was his plane the Sea of Prorale?). Either is fine with me.

perhaps the triad abandoned their old fated homes to better rule from afar

I was always under the impression that the Triad retreated from the mortal plane after the big battle where pathos returns, because their use of fate was stirring up the Lost?

PS. We still don't have anything that'll work well as an in game book, or our world probably be looking Elder Scrollsish by now. We've a model, but the 512x512 texture limit makes for hard to read text. If you can make BMP's, we can convert them to TGA's, and display those on the HUD, I think up to 2048x2048 (scales by percent). But the decompressed TGA's we can display eat HUGE amounts of disk space. (Like, maybe 128MB per page.) So... Yeah... Need some code help to get us a proper massive text display function. Half-Life has a scrolling text box, just seems tricky to invoke, and I'm not sure what the KB text limit is. I think the HTML box display belongs to the newer SDK, and depends on IE.

Perhaps the images could be restricted to a library map?

 

[Thothie]

No mention of Uurrakrh, not one.

Utraakkrh on the other hand...

The end game function was to supply replayability... Namely you work up to 60, get the gods to give you an apostle weapon after gathering players with the various requirements, gather a crew with one of each of said, attempt to kill final boss of the internetz, fail cuz u r not Apostle, have option to continue game as is, or start over as a level 1 Apostle or Apostate, do it all over again with new power line, kill final boss of the internetz, be given option to level 1 and do it all over again as Lanethan's replacement, then become said. Hopefully archive Steam ID's who achieve that sorta OCD goals for special MSS stuff. Plus the quest line for "The Adventurer" himself, as he rediscovers various aspects of his forgotten past via quest lines generated by skill choices.

These days seems about as distant as MSS though. Really are way behind the intended schedule for all sorts of reasons, but the past year, at least, can be blamed entirely on my not having nearly as much time for this lately, and I think my poor old brain is shutting down on me too. Getting harder to muddle through this stuff in mah old age.

 

[zeus9860]

Now that I am more advanced, however, I feel more comfortable trying a map like, say, thunderplains.

I dare you to do that next!

It's probably the map i'm looking forward to the most, in terms of exploring secrets and whatnot about the place.

 

[MS:C community]

Maybe I'm the only one left who still gets these bonus points?

http://www.msremake.com/Files/History.html

Oh u

If you're going to talk about something like Utraakkrh, at least link to the original file which includes a few nifty pictures:
http://www.alaska.net/~radigan/MS/History.html

 

[Red Cell]

Just a heads up, contest ends in 10 days.

 

[Thothie]

How demoralizing would it be for me to say that I didn't realize another one had started?

TBH, when I saw this thread light up, I actually thought "Oh good, maybe Big Red started another contest!"... D'oh.