28 replies to this topic

[{IP}jimmyman]

Basically, like most people who decide to make a mod, i've got this brilliant idea (in my mind at least) and i figure i'll ask for you guys' input on it. So, in my universe, i've taken basically ideas from most sci-fi universes and sort of made my own. It's set in a world called simply, Dorn. This world is home to several continents, races, and a detailed ancient past of destruction. The past will play little part in the gameplay/story, but will provide a good back-story .
In past times, there were many races. Aside from that, only one was really prominent: humans. The grew and expanded, learned and failed, and overtime created a sprawling metropolis of a world. But they started delving too deep, and exploring too much. They discovered Dwarves, set by the creators of the earth, and a war was fought. A war that threatened to destroy the deep dwellers. More races were discovered, and eventually a band of renegade elves, the only race that hadn't been discovered, decided to knock the humans off their high horse. They released the ancient dragons of the world, beings that had only been used once before, and they wreaked havoc across the land, destroying all and saving little. Even the elves were in peril, and besides that, the elf who had begun this has caused mass civil war across the elven lands, and the elves had branched to three separate races. Dwarves hid in their mountains. Humans split across the remaining two continents. The horde of evil creatures following their gods receded to their hidden fortresses. And the dragons were laid to sleep. The world had been torn asunder by this fighting, and the lands were left to regrow and replenish the races. After thousands of years, there are select few who remember the great flight. And now, one of them has forsaken his kind and raised the dragons, hoping to show the regrowing human population what it means to fear, what it means to live under the shadow of the elder races.
And this is where the game starts.
I'm currently modding this alone, it will take some time, but i'm hoping to get some nice stuff for show. I'll post some models later, i have a fam dinner to go to and it should take a good week or so to finish a model of two, so the ones tonight will be WIPs.
Any thoughts/ideas/criticism is welcome.

Edited by {IP}jimmyman, 16 May 2010 - 09:24 PM.

[Mathijs]

Sounds pretty similar to Warcraft lore.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Sounds pretty similar to Warcraft lore.

Would you explain how? Because i've been playing warcraft for a LONG time. Maybe since frozen throne? It sounds NOWHERE near remotely close to warcraft lore
If you're referring to the "evil horde," it's simply the name that's similar. It's pretty much a bunch of barbaric men and orcs. Some other hellish things, but that's it.

Edited by {IP}jimmyman, 17 May 2010 - 01:31 AM.

[Mathijs]

Alright...

Warcraft lore has Dwarves evolved from Earthen, who were created by the Titans, the beings that ordered the universe.

Night elves summoned the Burning Legion to the world, which eventually led to the Sundering, splitting the world in two. Illidan Stormrage is similar to your lone elf guy, a group of Night elves evolved into High elves, which later on became Blood elves.

There are several very powerful dragons in Warcraft lore, Aspects, most of which remain dormant in the current age. And, of course, there was a horde of evil creatures that followed their masters, namely the Orcs, enslaved by demon blood.

I don't know, it just isn't very original at all.

Also your signature is way too large.

Edited by Matias, 17 May 2010 - 01:54 AM.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Alright...

Warcraft lore has Dwarves evolved from Earthen, who were created by the Titans, the beings that ordered the universe.

Night elves summoned the Burning Legion to the world, which eventually led to the Sundering, splitting the world in two. Illidan Stormrage is similar to your lone elf guy, a group of Night elves evolved into High elves, which later on became Blood elves.

There are several very powerful dragons in Warcraft lore, Aspects, most of which remain dormant in the current age. And, of course, there was a horde of evil creatures that followed their masters, namely the Orcs, enslaved by demon blood.

I don't know, it just isn't very original at all.

I know all of this, and let me explain my flaws to your response, which I respect.
1) there are no titans, an he earthren don't exist in the least. The humans were reaching a point of exploration that they discovered the dwarves, the dwarves had know of the humans and were left to safegaurd old secrets. The only connection I see to this is places like uldaman, ulduar, and uldum. But there aren't any vaults, just boundaries. The gods are pretty much like every other god in a sci-fi realm, a belief that grants powers.
2) I know of the sundering and sargeras who failed to come through the portal and exploded the well of eternity. Again, we have no well, no legion. These dragons were left on Dorn to be 'oh sh*t' buttons when things got out of hand. In this case he humans were becoming dangerously close to discovering areas that weren't for them.
3)illidan legitimately believed he was helping, and beyond that, he was crazed. This character I made is hysterical and crazed, radical in the ultimate excuse. I had no thought of illidan when I made him.
3) the aspects are intelligent beings, they control many things, can cast magic, and are influencial in many workings of the world. These are three flights, the color has no assocation other than where they live. They are not that smart, and close to creatures.
4) the horde is evil only in he alliance's eyes. There is no distinction between evil or goo for the horde, the have no evil Demonic creatures. And the fel orcs are the only orcs remainng with Demon blood. The horde has none since grom destroyed mannoroth.
Your the firstto say, but I'll shorten.

Edited by {IP}jimmyman, 17 May 2010 - 02:04 AM.

[Mathijs]

I didn't say your ideas were exactly like them, but the general gist of them is very similar to Warcraft's outline.

[{IP}jimmyman]

I see where your coming from, and i know you didn't, i just feel really strongly bout the story behind it, something me and my friend have been working on for close to a year. Thanks for your comments. I'll try and change some stuff to make it seem more original.
BTW, sig shortened, thanks for the warn if it's still too big, lemme know.

[Radspakr Wolfbane]

You should put a little more time into your mythology and develop it into something different from what's out there.

Personally I'd avoid the Elves,Dwarves thing and try and come up with something different even if it's only in name.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Meh, the whole other name thing is true. I've done A LOT of background research on elves and dwarves. Orcs, not so much, but i have a gist of what i'm basically having them be. I figure if i can work out the background of the world itself i can hold up a legitimate argument against people who say i'm ripping off. And in all honesty, most people have influences for their races' ancestry from other. WoW has influences from thousands of fantasy universes, as does Warhammer and Forgotten Realms/Faerun/Eberron. I'm very well educated in those topics in all honesty, and i can say i'm very influenced by the latter two than WoW. But yes. Thanks Rad i'll be working on a background story tonight. I've been working on the current for almost a year, but tweaks could be made. But other than that, i'll have some models up. Very, very scratchy models i may add.

[Gfire]

Yeah, it could use some expansion to make it more original, but really it's a fine base. Warcraft Was Originally much simpler, very standard fantasy, with Orcs and Humans, and it's been expanded a lot over the last fifteen years into what it is now.

I'd say just don't limit your own creativity too much. Let your ideas expand on this, and make it into something really cool. Really, it is a great base.

If you wish (and this is what I'd do,) you can somewhat let gameplay dictate some of the background. That is, not all units and things have to come from the story, if you come up with a cool idea for a unit you can write a backstory just for that. Sort of reverse but it could help expand into a more rich world.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Thanks Gfire yea that may be what i'll do in the end. There is a backstory, but i'm really hoping the mod will dictate what the rest of the story comes too. I really swear it won't be anything like Warcraft . But yes, i'm working on the expansion atm. It was this huge story i had written back last summer, involved crazy elf guy, mentioned above, being chased by his son who now holds his position in society since he's an outcast. He's under some sort of mind control and he summons up the black flight, living in a pitch black cave in the mountains, namely a single mountain, and it expands from there. Thanks a lot for the unit idea, i kinda already did that with a story i just started writing for the mod.
AND here's a VERY rough WIP Dwarf house model. Made from scratch

I'm hoping to get the chimney to show up on level 2.

[Kwen]

Too high poly. You don't need perfectly rounded spheres or cylinders. The illusion of roundness can be achieved through texturing.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Too high poly. You don't need perfectly rounded spheres or cylinders. The illusion of roundness can be achieved through texturing.

Thank you sir . I use 3DS currently, and i'm wondering how would you suggest me decreasing poly count. I'm trying to make things more square, 'cause i figured too round would be too much.

[Kwen]

Well when you select to make an object, you can select how many sides you want it to have. Just put in a lower number. Then when you make the object, it will be lower poly. For example, you can make either the default (18 sided) cylinder, or lower the number to say 8. Which in an rts, is still fairly round, and with texturing, not noticeably different.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Oh, that's what i thought. Thanks. I've been doing that actually. The torus on the dome has 6 sides. I'll keep it around that.

[Nertea]

Just to warn you, that looks like the Max 9+ interface, you can't reliably export directly from that format.

[{IP}jimmyman]

Yup, i need to downgrade a few to get to the one that exports correctly, which one was it again?

Edited by {IP}jimmyman, 17 May 2010 - 08:32 PM.

[Nertea]

8 and lower will work. Remember that you can't even open 9+ files in them though... well, not without some awkward conversions.

[{IP}jimmyman]

I'll have to copy down the numbers then. Thanks for the warn Nertea. Maybe i can get things to be similar without converting.

[Gen.Kenobi]

Just to add: 3ds max 8 has a issue with .dds textures.

Good luck with your mod!