Fan Content On Minkata

[Karkadann]

I doe-know Adam Horse piss can be pretty corrosive, with enough time it can eat its way threw sheets of mild steel and turn it into a pile of iron oxide. your idea's are hardly corrosive. and like you said it works and easier. I like the idea of a fan Nexes of some sort just because its adds new content to Uru something its needed for years, but if you can incorporated it in to the game and have books or linking stones appear threw out the cavern or in the existing nexus I think it would be better assuming the format of the fan age and the story behind it fits

I was also wondering how difficult would it be to open up the rooms in the pubs add the appropriate physics texture and a few book stands with linking books and stones ?

[Calena]

And frankly I see nothing whatsoever that "ghettoizes" fan content in a special Nexus for that purpose, unless explorers enter it to find themselves in ghetto environments.
If, instead, they walk into fascinating, well-designed wonderlands of beauty, intrigue, or even despair, there is no way such content would be considered "ghetto".

The idea of separating the content that we as fans have produced non-commercially from those Ages that have been created on a for-profit basis is something we should be proud of, not ashamed of.

On the other hand, if you wanted to ghettoize Fan Ages, I can think of few better ways to do so than to send them to the Doghouse, "referring to someone (in this case, something) out of favour being sent out alone into the cold." http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/in-the-doghouse.html

Well said Emor. I also like Chloe's suggestions.

I think the concept of accessing fan created content through a Doghouse is a self-defeating proposition. Who is going to spend hundreds and thousands of hours of their personal time knowing that before anyone even looks at what they've built, it will be "sent to the Doghouse"? I for one wouldn't do that, nor would I submit or allow any of the work I've already published to be included in such a scheme.

I'm completely on board for some type of central entry point to access our work. On the chance that open source becomes a success and we're able to attract new skilled content creators, placing linking spots (stones, books, whatever), all over the city to access that content could become a chaotic mess.

[Emor D'ni Lap]

Content is such a deliberate, manual process going through both community review and Cyan review that the risk of objectionable content making it to MOULa is essentially zero.

JW, I was not raising the scary specter of "objectionable content making it to MOULa".
I was saying that, for any fan-based reviewing/rating process to establish what are considered the "best" fan-created Ages, they must ALL be playable by the entire community, the only exceptions being pron or content that is very clearly objectionable.

[JWPlatt]

You just reminded me of something I've been meaning to mention generally for a while now. It wasn't specifically in reply to you. Just some reassurance to any of the general populace who might be concerned.

[janaba]

What I don't understand is why all the proposed concepts presume the need for such a 'huge space' lol ...

As far as I understand the fan age integration, though we might have 118 ages, 7 Relto pages, a reward for
an age solution and a Minkata soccer field lol, there are only two ages already integrated on the Gehn Shard,
and I remember Deledrius and others sitting for days and many hours to convert only one of them ... I don't
know how many would be ready to be considered and integrated like this if any at all atm ...

In general it'd be a good idea to have a nicely integrated central access point for fan ages with a proper name,
but I don't see hundreds of fan ages in MOULa, this is just not realistic IMHO ... Of those ages atm available
maybe 20% if not more can be considered in a quite elementary, developmental state, and as of some of the
remaining ones I suppose many of the age developers have already moved on, which leaves us with those ages
to be chosen from that can be converted for integration, means, as I understand it, we cannot just take and
integrate the whole collection of the fan content initially for exposure to the community to then choose from
like from a lavish buffet lol ... though that seems like a wonderful future prospect and goal ...

As rarified already mentioned, there are also so many server side and game client coding modalities to be
considered and elaborated on and this has all to be coordinated with Cyan and so much more ... So, I believe,
this will all take 'some time' to be properly prepared, and if we will ever see a fan age on the MOULa server,
it will be one or two, then after 'some time' one or two more etc. etc. ...

So, where's the need for an additional extra huuuge space, but ok, if Cyan needed years to tell us that nothing
was possible and now suddenly everything will just work magically and suddenly everything will just work also
without all those needed licences etc. etc., ... Yeah, why not, it'd be commendable when they'd finally open up
to abide by their promises or former decisions and Chogon's statement on the MOUL forums provides quite some
space for creative ideas and concepts ...

One more point I feel to be worth to be mentioned and considered, as everybody is always claiming to have no
time and no money, rarified even wants to learn stuff himself if necessary etc... There are still people like Adam
and the H'Uru team and others with much successful experience with all of this, and who are still willing to share
their comprehensive knowledge and expertise with a cooperative community ... Wouldn't it be awesome if you'd
all work together, so many geniuses, everyone in his/her own province, you could achieve and accomplish just
about anything together ... Yeah, just sayin' ...

[manloc]

.shorah
I don't know what's possible or not, but here's a proposal (several possibilities) for fans Ages introduction:

Explorers organize a party for 24 hours (due to time difference) to "PUT THE REASON FOR THE PARTY HERE".
During these 24 hours, many Bahros make appearances in different ages (city included).
At the end of the 24th hour:

a)

Spoiler

A Bahro comes in the city and left a pedestal (similar to those found in neighborhoods) forward the central monument of the Tokotah Place (giving a valid reason for the presence of pedestals in neighborhoods).
Then, this Bahro screams (that echoed through all ages and Bahros leaves).

On the Pedestal:

a1) A Bahro stone that leads to a different instance of Nexus (a new page will be added to the Nexus book at Relto).

a2) A Bahro page (operating in the same way that Relto pages but having been drawn by a Bahro ... So, it must be in Bahro style).
Touching the Bahro page, a new page is added to the Nexus book at Relto.
When this page is enabled, a 2nd terminal is present at Nexus.
At Relto, the Nexus book can be laminated to disable or enable this page.

OR

b)

Spoiler

A Bahro scream echoed through all ages.

- For connected explorers:

All explorers Relto books flashing (at the same time they hear the Relto page taken sound) and explorers are repatriated at Relto (Bahros are going).

At Relto:

b1)
1 tree or 2 has gone or has been moved, providing the opportunity to go behind the hut and discover a "Nexus like" terminal.
In the Relto book, explorers can disable or enable this page behind these changes (provided by Bahros).

b2) A 2nd Nexus book has been added.

- For not connected explorers : b1) or b2)

(The Relto page is implemented during the update, when connecting to the server.)
Arriving at Relto, explorer hears a Bahro scream, Relto book flashing (at the same time he hears the Relto page taken sound) and explorer makes a forced link to Relto.

- For new explorers: b1) or b2)

Relto page is set up during the avatar creation.

- In all cases:

A log is added in the Relto hut.
This log explain what should be on:

b1) The Relto terminal (a drawing showing the terminal location may possibly also be included).

b2) The 2nd Nexus book.

[Calena]

.shorah
I don't know what's possible or not, but here's a proposal (several possibilities) for fans Ages introduction:

Hi manloc,

I took the time to read through your ideas. They certainly sound like a fun way to introduce fan created ages to Cyan's server. I especially like that you're thinking about ways to introduce the ages, something that hasn't been brought up before. A few things to keep in mind:

- Anything that gets created will be implemented and tested on the Minkata shard first.

- Coders are in short supply and there is a lot of work to be done. Don't take it personally if this gets put on a shelf until we get closer to actual implementation.

- The only timeline is that it takes as long as it takes.

- Other people will likely come up with other ideas between now and the actual rolling out of fan-created ages. Again, don't take it personally, that's just the way it is.

Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas. I hope you stick around and are able to contribute to the final result. Heck, I hope I stick around and get a chance to see the final result .

[CalumTraveler]

Alright, I'm not happy with how some of these pieces of art came about, they're not as polished as I'd hoped to make them, but they're close enough to 'conceptual', I guess. I've got a few more pieces planned that I want to work on a bit more, however.

So first up: The floor plan!

Spoiler

Circled area in Red is what would be primarily used as a Nexus area, and should be what's gotten working first in terms of the entire age. I figure the easiest thing would be to import the Nexus terminal from the actual nexus and re-work the programming, as some have suggested, for ease of searching for the required book. Ideally, this terminal would only work for books that have been *used* from the Library itself- that way people have a reason to go hunting down those books in the main areas.

There should be three power boxes, similar to the ones in Er'cana, all of which need to be activated in order to open all of the doors in the age- The first power box would activate the door keeping you out of the library proper, as a sort of security measure.

The remaining two power boxes would need to be pulled in order to open the three doors in the round chambers, two of the power boxes would be in those rounded chambers.

The floor pattern is to indicate that those two power boxes need to be pulled, as the two powerbox chambers connect to the third, power box-less chamber.

Next: The Side view.

Spoiler

(Transcribed version of the notes in the image coming later.)

Next: A starry expanse!

Spoiler

A conceptual view of what you would see upon looking up either from the ground floor of the library or ground floor of the Nexus.

The idea is that it is perpetually night here in this age, the staircases that perpetually spiral upwards would be tunneled into the rock face that is hidden by this dark sky, meaning that for all intents and purposes, this night view is a perception trick.

We could then have the internal tunnels containing individual books spiral upwards for years, while never having to update the view of the 'outside' world. No moon should be visible from either star-light roof.

And finally (for now) a bit of D'ni Tree-play.

Spoiler

Each of the three spherical chambers leading into the tunnels containing the Library books should have a subtle tree motif modeled around them, possibly carved out of the rock by whomever originally carved this pit.

Firemarbles should be mounted around the lower wall, and inside each room, to give a subtle lighting to the ground floor. As it's perpetually night, these lamps should be close to ground level, illuminating only the ground and walls so people can see where they're going.

This place is a garden age, of sorts. There should be some small trees growing in the center of the plaza, a few benches lying around for resting, and if possible, a swarm of fireflies should be swarming about to give a moving light source. It's up to the age modeler to decide what kind of trees to make- what ever is easiest to do, really- and it's to their discretion to add more plant life around. It shouldn't be too cluttered- This is a library- but it should look like it hasn't been tended too in a long while.

I think it fits the Disheveled "Locked away" mood, especially if the Power boxes have some DRC stuff lying around them, making it appeared as if they tried to break the mechanisms in only ways they know how to undo. Alternatively, the second and third power boxes could be made to be used at once- meaning that there would need to be two people there in order to restart the power. Also, it has a sense of mystery and discovery. "Why was the power cut? Who put all these books here?"

The Nexus terminal, as mentioned in the notes, should be made so that you can *only* use a link from it after you've visited the ages in the Library. Meaning that while the Nexus Terminal would work (Or perhaps tie it into the first power switch?), it would be rather useless until people started visiting ages in mass.

It's not much, but it's as best as I've got at the moment. :)

So what do you all think?

EDIT: As a side note, I'm calling this age in my internal notes as "Eder D'sehvtee" "Eder Sevkor", combining the "Eder" naming scheme and the "D'sehvtee" that was mentioned earlier in the MOUL forum thread. the translation from DLT that would loosely go to "Library", Sevkor, since it would be considered an age name and thus shortened a bit.

[Ehren]

I really think the most realistic idea of something that could be made, that's not too complicated, and that could really make it to MOUL would be just an exact copy of the Nexus that we have now, but it would feature a list of the fan ages. Well, it should probably be recolored so it doesn't seem confusing between itself the regular Nexus.

It's not the most elegant idea, but it wouldn't run out of space and wouldn't take huge amounts of design.

[CalumTraveler]

I really think the most realistic idea of something that could be made, that's not too complicated, and that could really make it to MOUL would be just an exact copy of the Nexus that we have now, but it would feature a list of the fan ages. Well, it should probably be recolored so it doesn't seem confusing between itself the regular Nexus.

It's not the most elegant idea, but it wouldn't run out of space and wouldn't take huge amounts of design.

An exact copy seems counter intuitive right now. The momentum we have is leaning towards a Library/Nexus combo. The problem is "Display." Many age authors feel that if there isn't a place to display a link beyond a simple Nexus room, then there's no reason to put things there. Adding a library that you need to explore first to get those links into the Nexus adds a sense of display, and also adds some functionality to the age beyond a Nexus chamber. Besides, who says there needs to be more than one "Nexus"? Chogon sure didn't. Someone could make a copy of the nexus, rework it, and be done with it. Get that into the game, sure, go right ahead.

But for me, I really want to see Eder Sevkor made now! Even if it's just shoved into another Nexus as another link in a group of others, I want to have this place available after I've put in the work to design the art for it. A Nexus within a Nexus. Wouldn't that be something? ;)