Profile for Solodric
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Solodric |
| Member number | 3978 |
| Title | Warrior |
| Postcount | 125 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
Recent posts
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Tuesday, February 8 2005 17:56
Profile
This topic has moved along nicely. I think I'll put in some more of what I've encountered. I want it to be known that I have played Avernum since it's inception, but I have never repeat NEVER come onto the boards before just a few weeks ago. I never played BoE. Someone said that there was no problem with BoA's scenarios as it had quite a few, and very good ones, since it came out, the only problem was that they had already been released for BoE. I say, in EARNEST: What the ****!? You don't see any minor problem with the fact that the only designers making anything are BoE desginers? Don't you realize that means you're getting NO new talent, that means your getting NO community growth? That might not seem important since you already have a large and well-established community. You might think "Well, since it's worked so well up till now, why not keep status qou?" Stagnation. NOTHING causes a decline in a community better, ANY historian or physcologist can tell you think. And I'll be brutally honest: I came to these boards because BoA was coming out, and I had some great (in my opinion) scenario ideas. I intend to work hard as hell on my first scenario. But guess what? Even though I'm designing for story, which lends perseverence to my effort, eventually I'll have a thought process resembling this, if all I can get is "you suck, your scenario is a piece of crap": Why bother showing my stories to people who won't appreciate them? I can always find another medium to tell stories over, and even if it isn't the same stories, I'll think of ones just as good. Don't think that the only designers worth having are the people who can hold out through lambasting. It takes ENORMOUS strength of will to keep plugging away and sapping your energy when your having NO visible effect. It's DRAINING to FORCE yourself to go through that ORDEAL. The few people with the strength of will to do it won't bother over a ****ing game made for enjoyment. This doesn't mean "Coddle crap" either. If a person makes what you consider a ****ty scenario, ask them what thier idea was. Maybe they made it just to get a feel for things, maybe they had a great plot and lost thier idea. For example, maybe they wanted to do something but found they didn't know how to script it. Heres a solution to that problem: Script up what they wanted and send it to them. Encourage them. Maybe they'll re-release it as something GREAT, just because they now believe they can do what they wanted. Maybe they lost thier inspiration for plot midway through. Have them take you through whatever it was they thought was so good about the plot. See if you can help them back on the right track. The important thing to remember here is, don't think about what YOU would do. Think about what THEY think would be cool in THIER scenario. you should know well enough, now that they've spammed you with plot-related text. Maybe they just made it for practice. Evaluate it, and if it's still mediocre despite that, they deserve a lot of praise: A simple practice scenario turning out well is no joke. Maybe they made it to tell a story. If you feel the story is told unclearly, ask them. "Why are there hordes of undead there?" Maybe they dont really know, just got frustrated and lapsed into Generic Syndrome, which is where you fill up a dungeon mindlessly out of frustration or fatigue. Help them put back together the dungeon. Maybe they had a good reason for doing it: Tell them to convey it more clearly. Betatesters and the makers of the game should get CLOSE. You should speak over IM's, not over forums, so you can hold a real conversation and really figure out what the deal is, instead of just sending a "Report", since that will usually look official and non-personable. If it's a persons first attempt and it's crap, and the above doesnt work, then try to point out whatever IS good about it, or at least not horridly bad, and try to convince them to make another scenario based on that. Or a remake. If they make a second piece of crap, first make sure they aren't just doing this to screw with your head, then make sure they're on the right track. Maybe YOUR the problem: Maybe it's a remarkable new genre of scenario that you think is crap because you dont understand how to play and enjoy it yet. Maybe the designer really DID know what he was doing. Don't be too quick to assume that just because he asked you to betatest, he thinks your opinion is all powerfull. Make sure to ask. Maybe they dont know, they just got inspired, and failed to convey it properly. Always ask. If the third scenario is crap, then it's time to stop coddling, because if all the above didn't work, you got a problem. At this point maybe what they need is a strong kick in the right direction, before they try out whatever idea or inspiration is failing them here. If after all you've been through with thier previous scenarios, they're ready to quit just because of a good shove in the right direction, then maybe it just isn't meant to be. At least you, and the community as a whole, got three scenarios that someone can play to pass the time. Maybe another designer can come in and remake them into something worth playing. Thats my idea on what to do with newbies. And as if this post isn't long enough, let me put in this as a last gasp of my stinky breath :P The community has been quite friendly to me. Granted, I see some posts here and elsewhere that can look gruff, but when I've sent PM's asking for help, there isn't a person here who's been rude to me. All have tried to be helpfull. I've even gleaned good ideas from people I disagree with. For example: Thuryl told me to do something in my scenario I was going to do anyway. But he then gave a reason for it. That reason happened to get me thinking about something, ADHD as I am. It resulted in a really sweet idea for my scenario. Inspiration is hard to come by, but it usually takes some level of inspiration to get someone to make a scenario. No one here has been an ass to me yet when I asked for help, and while forums like this one can get heated as hell, it works out well in the end to my limited experience. But newbies don't know that! Make sure they DO. Look at thier rank, consider thier number of posts, before you decide to shoot down ideas. I'm still not saying "coddle crap". Instead I'm saying "Coddle newbies" whether they release crap or not, because they might need it, and the above steps might fix the problem. If I'm seeing the scenario tables right, BoA needs some new talent. Where will it get it? RIGHT HERE. But if you guys think you can convince a sproutling newbie designer to grow into a tall, strong tree that grows scenario-fruit (horrible analogy) by not watering it, giving it attention, whatever, so as to "Buff it up and teach it to take the hard knocks of life" well.....your sproutling is gonna die. And when that happens it isn't the sprouts fault, it's YOURS. For sitting on your computer when you shoulda watered it ;) I hope my rant offered some insight into helping fix this problem. It certainly wasn't easy to type and I see flames rolling in my way on the frontier, but hey: Some newbie had to say it. At least I reframed from pointing fingers or calling anyone an ******* (And I'm not referring to ANYONE with that remark. you've all been constructive.) And by the way: *I, while originally I didn't try to change things with my opinions, since you've now asked me to, well, here it is ;) Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| idea shop in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Monday, February 7 2005 05:13
Profile
Hm. Interesting points. Would I be wrong in saying that one way to make a boss battle realistic and tense would be to remove the "Cough" thing that saves your ass when you hit 0 HP? That way, the players actually need to watch out for big attacks, instead of letting a melee warrior fight the grim reaper face-to-face or whatnot, and just minor healing every time the warrior goes down to 0. Also, I remember that one of the funnest boss battles I fought involved three different enemies, one a healer, one a spellcaster, one a fighter, each with different immunities (So you basicly had to guess and check which spells would hurt them) I remember the healer was constantly reviving the other two, but would heal herself whenever injured. Would something like that be construed as annoying, or fun? Personally I loved the challenge. Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| idea shop in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Monday, February 7 2005 05:13
Profile
Hm. Interesting points. Would I be wrong in saying that one way to make a boss battle realistic and tense would be to remove the "Cough" thing that saves your ass when you hit 0 HP? That way, the players actually need to watch out for big attacks, instead of letting a melee warrior fight the grim reaper face-to-face or whatnot, and just minor healing every time the warrior goes down to 0. Also, I remember that one of the funnest boss battles I fought involved three different enemies, one a healer, one a spellcaster, one a fighter, each with different immunities (So you basicly had to guess and check which spells would hurt them) I remember the healer was constantly reviving the other two, but would heal herself whenever injured. Would something like that be construed as annoying, or fun? Personally I loved the challenge. Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 10:19
Profile
It's a shame people cant use bodylanguage online to express thoughts, otherwise I wouldn't have to write this as I am. *I, if your accusing me, and note the IF in that statement, of being a newbie trying to make change with mere suggestion, your incorrect. I merely decided to bring this up for conversational purposes. I felt it would both offer insight into the community for newcomers, as well as be somewhat entertaining as a topic of conversation. If you were not accusing me of that....be more clear next time? :P Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| I'm getting butchered. (A Small Rebellion) in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 10:02
Profile
Your code gets it booty kicked by my code, because my code produces warrior with huge amount of EXP that tear apart your warriors and burn down your guild. So be pwned, f00! Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Boss Battle Poll in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 09:47
Profile
Well, I would think he/she DID vote considering that it's in the post? :P Either way, while I understand that discussing it is fine, telling everyone what you voted gets on my nerves a little bit. It really isn't that important - it's when people share the overall poll result that really gets on my nerves. Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Boss Battle Poll in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 09:21
Profile
Exactly why are you posting this in a reply instead of just voting? Please don't post poll results or advertise what you voted, it CAN effect how other people vote ;) Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 06:43
Profile
Thats one of the reasons I'm so reluctant to release my scenario. I'll grant my scenario is a going to be a bit abnormal, as all singleton scenarios are, and I realized I was going to catch a lotta **** for posting it. But you know what? I'm not actually making my scenario for the community. I'm making it because I have a great story in my head, I'm going to do my absolute best to convey it properly in my scenario, and I cant rest until I've managed it ;) And if people wanna ***** at me for that.....well, that's thier problem. Now that might not be the best opinion for a scen. designer to have, that is, the view that they make it for themselves rather than the community, but hey - that's just the way it is. Either way, back on topic, the BoE community seems pretty well established and all. It has a lot of flaws, we've admitted that. Does anyone have any ideas for how to fix them, or at least now that BoA is out, keeping them from moving over to the BoA community? [ Sunday, February 06, 2005 06:45: Message edited by: Solodric ] Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Boss Battle Poll in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 06:35
Profile
A series of questions asking you how you like your big, evil, deadly monsters. Poll Information This poll contains 10 question(s). 48 user(s) have voted. You may not view the results of this poll without voting. function launch_voter () { launch_window("http://www.ironycentral.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=poll;d=vote;pollid=DptJLxnMVmyF"); return true; } // end launch_voter function launch_viewer () { launch_window("http://www.ironycentral.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=poll;d=view;pollid=DptJLxnMVmyF"); return true; } // end launch_viewer function launch_window (url) { preview = window.open( url, "preview", "width=550,height=300,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status,menubar=no,scrollbars,resizable,copyhistory=no" ); window.preview.focus(); return preview; } // end launch_window   Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| idea shop in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 05:44
Profile
We've played some different games then Thuryl ;) I've played some console RPG's with long, boring final bosses. This I admit. What I'm talking about is making a final boss battle that isn't too long, or short, and is hard. A battle that really threatens the player, a tense and difficult fight. I'm sure you know what I mean ;) Any suggestions on how to go about that? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| idea shop in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 05:44
Profile
We've played some different games then Thuryl ;) I've played some console RPG's with long, boring final bosses. This I admit. What I'm talking about is making a final boss battle that isn't too long, or short, and is hard. A battle that really threatens the player, a tense and difficult fight. I'm sure you know what I mean ;) Any suggestions on how to go about that? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Linux? in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 05:39
Profile
Hey, I don't use linux at the moment, but I'm probably switching soon. Is there any chance of more games being converted over to Linux in the future? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 05:36
Profile
You put it in more aggressive terms than I, but I think we're getting at the same thing. The community does seem pretty centralized and biased. I haven't seen any of that in BoA yet, luckily, but it might come. Hopefully people will be more openminded now, because if I'm reading some of the old archives on The Lyceum right, that was a serious problem. Oh, and the Solberg Incident can be summed up in three words: Solberg Plagiarized Alcritas. I have never played either ones scenario's, but people who played both said that it was "blatantly obvious" that Solberg had plagiarized Alcritas, who happens to have been (maybe still is, I wouldn't know) one of the major scenario designers of the time. You can find an archive of the whole thing over at The Lyceum, it's on the EZ boards. I'm not getting into whether the communities reaction to it was proper or not (Djur seemed to think they were overreacting), unless someone here thinks that bringing up said incident might be constructive to our discussion of the history of the BoE community, and perhaps it's future? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Video Games 101 in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 02:20
Profile
It's really unfortunate that those things actually happened ;) I mean, the dishonor, can you imagine, of being killed by a flying COW!? ;) Finaly Fantasy Six taught me what an RPG should aspire to. Chrono Trigger taught me that having the main character never speak, while novel, kills a lot of character development. The entire Zelda series showed me what that adventurous wanderlust feeling can do to make a game more enjoyable. Neverwinter Nights also had something of that adventurous feeling. But the main thing it taught me is that it isn't the quality of the graphics, it's the stupidity of the glitches. Having few glitches but worse graphics = better overall, because it doesn't detract from immersion. Lord of the Rings the Third Age showed me that you can give a game the best system, no graphics glitches, good graphics, and a justified reason for almost everything, and have that actually work AGAINST you when something comes up you dont explain (In more understandable terms: It taught me that if you make your game really good at one thing, your expected to keep it that good at that one thing throughout) 007 taught me that making a game realistic can be more important than "making it fun" because the realism can help immersion value, and hence in itself increase the fun value. Geneforge taught me that you needn't be a badass warrior yourself if you have enough mindless servants, hence I created a Necromancer on another game I played ;) Avernum 1-3 and BoA taught me that the greatest badge of honor any game or game company can aspire to is to have it's own player community. Warcraft III taught me that any good medieval RPG has to have just enough technology to be easily relateable. Final Fantasy 7 taught me that any good futuristic RPG has to have just little enough technology to be easily relateable. While FF4/FF6 taught me how much music can enhance a game, the Seventh Saga taught me how lack of music and bad music can likewise cripple it. Counterstrike taught me that it's easy to make a game successfull, all you need to do is spoof another game and simplify it (I might be playing with fire, but I'm not asking for flames :P ) Unreal taught me that gore can enhance a game dramaticly or kill it outright (Not saying which I thought it was) Postal 2 didnt teach me, but reinforced my acceptance of the fact that "No one ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American public" for those who dont get that qoute, they didnt lose money because it's IMPOSSIBLE to underestimate the taste of the American Public ;) Soulcalibur II taught me that an unrealistic game can be well done and fun, as long as it sticks to the basics (Allowing magic, giving people super-strength, etc.,) And Firearms taught me what stealth can do even on the front line. Thats it for now ;) Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| idea shop in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 02:00
Profile
Eh, dont be too sure about that Kelandon ^.^ People could just throw questions out here, he could answer, and then some scenario designer could pop around and get inspiration. for example, heres a random question designers might ask: What's a good way to make a really TENSE boss battle, almost like a final boss in a video game like Final Fantasy? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| idea shop in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 02:00
Profile
Eh, dont be too sure about that Kelandon ^.^ People could just throw questions out here, he could answer, and then some scenario designer could pop around and get inspiration. for example, heres a random question designers might ask: What's a good way to make a really TENSE boss battle, almost like a final boss in a video game like Final Fantasy? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Sunday, February 6 2005 01:52
Profile
Probably a good suggestion. I guess that means I gotta get BoE huh? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Which of these is worth playing? in Richard White Games | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Saturday, February 5 2005 10:48
Profile
Which of the older games is worth playing and or buying? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Saturday, February 5 2005 06:56
Profile
Unfortunatly, I wasn't a victim of Jeff's bad policy ( I do not own BoE) and hence I wouldn't know, which is why I made this topic, primarily - to ask. This all started when I was referred over to the Lyceum boards to look for information on how to make a better scenario. The person who made said referal said that while BoE and BoA were different, it'd probably be mostly the same crowd playing BoA, so it was more than simply worthwhile to examine BoE's community. When I did such, I happened upon the posts and decided I wanted to have a firmer idea of what the community was like back then. And of course, being the bigmouth I am, I had to throw in my ideas as well. Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| History of the community in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Saturday, February 5 2005 05:38
Profile
It seems a great deal of the SW community as a whole revolved around the Exile series. The few people who might have started earlier on things like Homebound, don't seem to comment on it much. It seems Exile, particularly Blades, for the obvious reason that any game with an editor will tend to form a community, was the highpoint of SW's history. I've read a lot of the old posts. I've read about the Solberg incident, I've read about a few of the arguments with Jeff, I looked at the 9/11 posts. SW has a strong community, that much is clear. At one point, Jeff said that most of his fanbase were 8 year olds who like killing stuff. The designers retorted that there were probably very few people under 15 playing here. This makes me wonder why the bias against younger players? It isn't the youth, it's the *immaturity* that is *associated* with youth. My point is to keep an open mind (And yes, I know I'm responding to year old posts) I also note that when I made a poll about which spider product was a persons favorite, it seemed to be just a given that anyone who voted for Avernum had to be a newbie, anyone voting for Exile would be a veteran. So where does that put all the people who started playing after Exile? If liking a newer game with more capabilities (Less scenario's thus far, admittedly) means that a person is a newbie to the older spider crowd, I don't see you being very openminded, again (And this is a recent issue) And I am NOT making generalizations, just for note. I'm referring to the oldbie spiderwebbers who DO make these assumptions. I'm sure there are many of you who don't, or who've changed since the older posts. I'm not directing this specifically at anyone, just trying to open up the room for some discussion. Back on the topic of young players, Jeff said a lot of his money came from younger players. There were objections to this, but just for the record: For all we know, the "young" (by this I mean immature hack'n'slashers, but since "8-year-olds" seems to be what we're calling them.....look at the top of my post ;) ) players outnumber us 2-1. Now, granted, I SERIOUSLY doubt that, but not because of the reasons a person might think. I doubt it because typically, a "younger" player wants eye-candy, which Avernum isn't when compared to a lot of other titles. It's still top-notch gameplay wise, but it's just a known fact that the same crowd that likes hack'n'slash likes graphical quality. But that doesn't mean we don't have a lot of hack'n'slashers. Oh, no. We just get the older (And I mean, literally, older) players who remember the old Ultima's and Castle of the Winds, and Ragnarok/Valhalla, coming to play Avernum for more hack'n'slash. And I'm sure theres some young blood in there, as well (I know one person, but he's actually a better roleplayer than most older and more experienced gamers I know.) That being said, BoE made such a solidified community, I'm personally under the impression that we have maybe a 1-1 ratio, or something thereabouts. Perhaps I haven't been here long enough. Either way, just throwing in my couple of cents on some really old issues (As well as some new ones) and trying to convince people to keep an open mind (losing battle) I just find it odd that whenever I read posts about BoA, a lot of people keep talking about how they hate how BoE was abandoned and wasn't fixed. I really don't understand, wouldn't the best way to "update" it be to give it better (arguable) graphics, more capabilities, less bugs (all arguable, in fact, but please dont argue them here)? I suppose thats unfair, given as how the update didn't go to BoE directly and for free, as many players probably feel it should have.... But are we being a little harsh on Jeff? Throw me some of your opinions on all these issues (Except arguing over technical stuff. thats for a different forum)) [ Saturday, February 05, 2005 05:41: Message edited by: Solodric ] Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Video Games 101 in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Friday, February 4 2005 12:08
Profile
What have games taught me? Not much, directly. But games shaped my interests. Heres what games are RESPONSIBLE for my learning: I played Arcanum and the Rainbow Six series. As a result, I spent a great deal of time studying guns and terrorist/counter terrorist tactics. The result is I now know a great deal about guns, all the way from the industrial era all the way up to the modern era, including how to build them. I also as a result know a great deal more about our culture and american history during the industrial era, as I studied that as a result. I also read a lot about survival tactics as a result of both. What else have I learned? Games encouraged me to learn how to fight, fueling my desire to learn martial arts and swordplay. I was encouraged to study more history after Civ III, I read more about stealth manuevers after playing splinter cell. I studied war tactics before and after playing Warcraft III and Age of Empires. I studied some basic nuclear physics after reading tom clancy's Rainbow Six, as well as a few other novels of his, which I read because I'd played a few Rainbow Six games. And I've learned several other things from games as well. But you get the idea, I think. Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Speculating about Avernum 4's plot in General | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Friday, February 4 2005 11:54
Profile
I never said they were inferior warriors. They're not as strong or as durable. They ARE faster, and speed is what really makes the warrior. They can move farther faster, they can attack twice in melee in a single round, and they get a bonus to dex OR parry, or both, and/or maybe GYM as well. Like I said, it's a tradeoff, but I can definitly see a way to balance vahnatai :P Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Scenarios in Development in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Friday, February 4 2005 09:55
Profile
I've got a scenario in the begining development stages. I'm writing out a plot and reading helpfiles/the cookbook on how to script. Once I've got a fair handle on the editor, I'll begin work. Don't hold your breath, I'm trying to keep from getting overambitious. But hey, I've made huge mods for WCIII in the past, so maybe I won't be effected as much :P I can only hope. Anyway, if anyone wants to help give ideas for the scenario, hope over to Idea for Scenario topic, Blades of Avernum forum. Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Is there a call. . . in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Friday, February 4 2005 09:42
Profile
Question: I've been told that you can make a total of four special abilities for the game. Are those special abilities like Go Berzerk or whatnot, or are those special abilities like Parry/Blademaster/Lethal Blow/Riposte? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |
| Is there a call. . . in Blades of Avernum | |
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Warrior
Member # 3978
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written Friday, February 4 2005 09:42
Profile
Question: I've been told that you can make a total of four special abilities for the game. Are those special abilities like Go Berzerk or whatnot, or are those special abilities like Parry/Blademaster/Lethal Blow/Riposte? Posts: 125 | Registered: Friday, February 13 2004 08:00 |