So as promised guys, here are the notes that I took from the conversation I had with you early (Gene and Jeff, our concept artists who are working on the layout of the town). I also added a final paragraph on the flow of the level, if you had any ideas or comments, let me know. Hope this helps you out guys.
Location: the town, will be in the middle of the crater (kinda like a canyon)…outside the crater in the distance we will see a volcano, which will explain the geothermal activity…bottomless in the middle, and the town rises out of it…the actual town will be on top of a big rock, and node will be attached to it and floating…there will be a path made out of bridges and terrain, that will guide the player up to the main rock...and in the way there will be stores, houses, and a the entrance to the mine…all around the level, we will find rail road tracks and gears..
Notes:
Mechanical, tech stuff all over the place
Geysers, and lift powered by geysers
Houses on the mountain side and on the rock
Entrance to the mine hidden underneath the bridge
Steam columns, clouds in the bottom of the pit, birds flying by, maybe some floating balloons
Rails all over the level, carts running on the rail system.
Cranes and pulley systems
Maybe add some windmills, wither close up or in the distance
Bridges to connect the path to the houses
One main path from going to the main island, some side paths to explore and the main one takes to the mine.
Main 3 elements: bridge, town square, mine entrance.
Node 3: in a different island, floating with balloons (moon is an eye that looks at the player)
Level Flow: The player will start on the path that will take him towards the main rock (already inside the crater) to make the size a bit more manageable. The player will follow the path that will guide him to the bridge that takes them into the rock and the town square, there will be a couple of side trails, one of them will take the player to the mine. Once inside the town square, the player will see the giant statue. Then the player will get the quest from someone in the town square and will have to go back to the mine, where he will find the entrance to the nightmare realm (via witchdoctor or something) and that will be the end of Node 1.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Concept art
Hey guys, dunno if you've checked the concept art yet, but it's still at the very early idea phase. Just wanted to say again if any of you guys have the urge to start working on something, or want specific concept art of reference quality let me and gene know so you can jump on that.
Ideas for stuff you'd like to see in the village, doodads that could be sticking out of the gnome houses, minerals that might be poking out of the mine, etc would help a lot. Reference images work too.
Ideas for stuff you'd like to see in the village, doodads that could be sticking out of the gnome houses, minerals that might be poking out of the mine, etc would help a lot. Reference images work too.
extra stuff fir the dropbox
I know i already set a naming convention for the files for the dropbox, but I'm just going to ask for one more thing. Please add your initials at the end of the file name so we can know who did what.
Thanks guys.
Andres
Thanks guys.
Andres
quick sketch...
Idea for layout of the village (AKA papermap):
This is just a quick sketch of me throwing out some ideas. I did a simple paper map based of the concept that Jeff made. Please make comments and we will make millions of changes on this, this is only a first idea. But I just wanted to start getting an idea of the size of the town, the location of the mines, and the separation of nodes 1 and 3 (the main village and the second courtyard where the battle with the statue takes place). We must keep in mind that we can't really go ind epth with the mines because the would be like a whole new node by itself. So I thought of only ncluding the entrance to the mines. We must remember we only have 9 weeks to finish this (week one is gone and we presnet week 10).
So let's hear those suggestions. What do you guyshave in mind for the layout of the level.
Andres
The skectch is also under the concept folder of the dropbox.
This is just a quick sketch of me throwing out some ideas. I did a simple paper map based of the concept that Jeff made. Please make comments and we will make millions of changes on this, this is only a first idea. But I just wanted to start getting an idea of the size of the town, the location of the mines, and the separation of nodes 1 and 3 (the main village and the second courtyard where the battle with the statue takes place). We must keep in mind that we can't really go ind epth with the mines because the would be like a whole new node by itself. So I thought of only ncluding the entrance to the mines. We must remember we only have 9 weeks to finish this (week one is gone and we presnet week 10).
So let's hear those suggestions. What do you guyshave in mind for the layout of the level.
Andres
The skectch is also under the concept folder of the dropbox.
Gnome's: Info, Architecture, and Story - Part 3
Story: These are some idea changes I had for the story based on the information I learned.
Since I agree we should scrap the river idea for the formentioned reasons of it already in use by another group I think we should change the dried up river bed to a path to a mine. Since gnomes value precious metals and gems we should have it so they unearthed a nightmare gem. This extremely rare nightmare gem is given to a gnome scientists who sets to work on experimenting on it. This gem is what throws him into the nightmare realm where he is trapped and becomes corruped. He could then use this gem to power up the giant gnome statue in the center of town and take control of it reacking havok in the nightmare realm.
The people in town could have knowalge that the science gnome disapeared shorty after working on the nightmare gem and that is why you adventure out along the path to the mine. On your way to the mine you meat the witch doctor who knows all about the nightmare gem and gives you the potion or whatever to entre the nightmare realm. The path to the mine could be outfited with mine tracks and possibly a few abandoned mine carts with gems or metals.
I think this idea would work best for our project as it fits into the lore of gnomes being good miners and coveting rare and power gems/metals.
Since I agree we should scrap the river idea for the formentioned reasons of it already in use by another group I think we should change the dried up river bed to a path to a mine. Since gnomes value precious metals and gems we should have it so they unearthed a nightmare gem. This extremely rare nightmare gem is given to a gnome scientists who sets to work on experimenting on it. This gem is what throws him into the nightmare realm where he is trapped and becomes corruped. He could then use this gem to power up the giant gnome statue in the center of town and take control of it reacking havok in the nightmare realm.
The people in town could have knowalge that the science gnome disapeared shorty after working on the nightmare gem and that is why you adventure out along the path to the mine. On your way to the mine you meat the witch doctor who knows all about the nightmare gem and gives you the potion or whatever to entre the nightmare realm. The path to the mine could be outfited with mine tracks and possibly a few abandoned mine carts with gems or metals.
I think this idea would work best for our project as it fits into the lore of gnomes being good miners and coveting rare and power gems/metals.
Gnome's: Info, Architecture, and Story - Part 2
Architecture: This info here is what I have read and been told from someone who played EQ2 a while ago. Couldnt find pictures of any Gnome buildings on the internet and EQ2's website didnt help either. Few pictures I did find were from EQ1 and everything was pretty much just boxes with textures that looked like metal.
1. There buildings are built out of 2 primary materials. Metal and Wood. Things such as stone, bricks, cloth are rarely used.
2. Gears galore - lots of there buildings feature rotating gears of all sizes.
3. Small houses but big doorways so all races can entre a gnome building.
4. Intertwine of technology and magic. Things like death rays, powered orbs and other things of that nature.
5. Primarily made out of metal for walls.
6. Lots of engines, moving parts, smoke stacks, presure guagues and blinking lights.
7. Over the top and flamboyant architecture. Not so much as World of Warcraft style if you are familar but close to it.
8. Lots of things to generate power
9. In there homeland of Ak'Anon they have large metal windmills to generate power.
10. Things are powered by steam engines
11. Observation towers for seeing off into the far distance for protection of any oncoming threat
12. Gnomes stick to themselves (from other races) but are a form cohesive whole. Same goes for there citys.
13. Massive machinery thought the city. Used to pump water to the inhabitance. Water also provides power.
14. Gnomes tend to live in groups within the city identified by there guild such as Spellcasters research near the big Library.
15. Evil Gnomes inhabit the more rundown/poluted part of the city. Lots of drains, smoke and other polutant things I would assume.
16. Scattered througt are clockwork signs to help you find your way.
17. Citys generally tucked away in mountain regions to provide protection/isolation. This dosnt mean that generally the whole town is surrounded by mountains just that its up in the mountains and protected atleast on one side by terrain.
1. There buildings are built out of 2 primary materials. Metal and Wood. Things such as stone, bricks, cloth are rarely used.
2. Gears galore - lots of there buildings feature rotating gears of all sizes.
3. Small houses but big doorways so all races can entre a gnome building.
4. Intertwine of technology and magic. Things like death rays, powered orbs and other things of that nature.
5. Primarily made out of metal for walls.
6. Lots of engines, moving parts, smoke stacks, presure guagues and blinking lights.
7. Over the top and flamboyant architecture. Not so much as World of Warcraft style if you are familar but close to it.
8. Lots of things to generate power
9. In there homeland of Ak'Anon they have large metal windmills to generate power.
10. Things are powered by steam engines
11. Observation towers for seeing off into the far distance for protection of any oncoming threat
12. Gnomes stick to themselves (from other races) but are a form cohesive whole. Same goes for there citys.
13. Massive machinery thought the city. Used to pump water to the inhabitance. Water also provides power.
14. Gnomes tend to live in groups within the city identified by there guild such as Spellcasters research near the big Library.
15. Evil Gnomes inhabit the more rundown/poluted part of the city. Lots of drains, smoke and other polutant things I would assume.
16. Scattered througt are clockwork signs to help you find your way.
17. Citys generally tucked away in mountain regions to provide protection/isolation. This dosnt mean that generally the whole town is surrounded by mountains just that its up in the mountains and protected atleast on one side by terrain.
Gnome's: Info, Architecture, and Story - Part 1
Hey guys here is some info I have found out about the little gnomes, their architecture and some suggestions for a story change based off their lore. I know its a lot to read but it has a lot of valuable info that will help with concept ideas mostly and on how better to incorporate the lore into the town and story. I will email this to everyone and post it on the blog. Will be split up on the blog so it dosnt get to long.
Info: Found different websites and a bit of second hand from 2 different people who played EQ2 a while ago.
1. Intelligent and wise race.
2. As for classes they tend to be priests or mages, and sometimes scouts.
3. Tinniest Race (might not be true anymore since the fairy race was introduced)
4. Constant tinkering with things both mystical and technological
5. Known for construing "clockwork" devices. These are generally mechanical versions of all manner from rats to dragons.
6. They also build clockwork gnomes to work for them (This is kinda what I was thinking the statue could be) ie. Large mechanical gnome with lots of gears that is brought to life by evil gnome. Thinking twice the size of buildings to show there gnome might over technology and so everyone in town can see some of it.
7. They are skilled miners much like dwarfs.
8. They treasure precious gems and metals.
9. Big into the study of technology and magic.
10. Get into lots of mischief with there inventions
Info: Found different websites and a bit of second hand from 2 different people who played EQ2 a while ago.
1. Intelligent and wise race.
2. As for classes they tend to be priests or mages, and sometimes scouts.
3. Tinniest Race (might not be true anymore since the fairy race was introduced)
4. Constant tinkering with things both mystical and technological
5. Known for construing "clockwork" devices. These are generally mechanical versions of all manner from rats to dragons.
6. They also build clockwork gnomes to work for them (This is kinda what I was thinking the statue could be) ie. Large mechanical gnome with lots of gears that is brought to life by evil gnome. Thinking twice the size of buildings to show there gnome might over technology and so everyone in town can see some of it.
7. They are skilled miners much like dwarfs.
8. They treasure precious gems and metals.
9. Big into the study of technology and magic.
10. Get into lots of mischief with there inventions
story changes
yeah i liked our idea, but was a little bummed when i heard last quarters team did the tainted river thing too.
okay, here's a few ideas:
when you first enter the town, you notice the statue is emitting a purple or black glow and the ground in a 5ft radius it around it is dead. The statue was accidently cursed by some random person who stumbled upon a sorcerers stolen spell book and read some stuff out loud.
maybe it was even intentional, a warlock curses this town because they make too much noise when he's trying to sleep so they'll never get to sleep either w. this curse.
or... the gnomes have a machine that gives them good dreams, but it stopped working and gnome who made it is nowhere to be found, because he got trapped in nightmare land
maybe there was a battle outside the city and the souls of the dead are troubled & causing this unrest
____________
okay, so if the river is no longer the primary focus, do we still want it? a floating island + waterfall sounds cool, but is a lot of visual work that's not attatched to the story anymore. I say we keep it, because it sounds like it would look cool, but we need to make sure we focus on what we'll be interacting with or seeing up close
okay, here's a few ideas:
when you first enter the town, you notice the statue is emitting a purple or black glow and the ground in a 5ft radius it around it is dead. The statue was accidently cursed by some random person who stumbled upon a sorcerers stolen spell book and read some stuff out loud.
maybe it was even intentional, a warlock curses this town because they make too much noise when he's trying to sleep so they'll never get to sleep either w. this curse.
or... the gnomes have a machine that gives them good dreams, but it stopped working and gnome who made it is nowhere to be found, because he got trapped in nightmare land
maybe there was a battle outside the city and the souls of the dead are troubled & causing this unrest
____________
okay, so if the river is no longer the primary focus, do we still want it? a floating island + waterfall sounds cool, but is a lot of visual work that's not attatched to the story anymore. I say we keep it, because it sounds like it would look cool, but we need to make sure we focus on what we'll be interacting with or seeing up close
Thursday, January 15, 2009
DropBox online!!!
What's up guys, ok I got the account on DropBox set. In order to start this account I needed an email so I just used mine. So after you download DropBox ( www.getdropbox.com) you need to install it, and then just log on to the account I already created:
email: huasaa@gmail.com
password: nightmare
Now you only have to sync this account and your computer, so you can have this stuff.
It's all pretty simple to remeber, and I already created a folder for the concept and a naming convetion so we can start throwing stuff in there. Hope to see stuff posted here and there soon.
Thanks guys, hope to see all of your computers synced soon.
Cheers!
email: huasaa@gmail.com
password: nightmare
Now you only have to sync this account and your computer, so you can have this stuff.
It's all pretty simple to remeber, and I already created a folder for the concept and a naming convetion so we can start throwing stuff in there. Hope to see stuff posted here and there soon.
Thanks guys, hope to see all of your computers synced soon.
Cheers!
Let's get this started
As promised guys, here's the blog for our project, please let me know if you got this email, to see if the blog is working correctly and to see if the blog work right. Lets get this project started. I know we are going to get some awesome stuff done! I will post the story tomorrow, or the overview, so Lee can start working on that as well. And we should ALL start posting some ideas, reference photos or sketches to help Gene and Jeff, starting tomorrow. I will be online during the weekend, so any ideas you want to share with me just let me know. I'll be online on msn, if I'm not online just shoot me an email. I'll add your contacts to MSN, later tonight so please accept me haha.
Anyways, this is our project officially starting, so good luck Excelsior!
P.S. remember the name of the blog (for now is)
excelsior-nightmare.blogspot.com
You should all download DropBox as well, os we can start syncing up the account. I will set up that tomorrow, but just so you guys can keep that in mind. ;)
getdropbox.com
Anyways, this is our project officially starting, so good luck Excelsior!
P.S. remember the name of the blog (for now is)
excelsior-nightmare.blogspot.com
You should all download DropBox as well, os we can start syncing up the account. I will set up that tomorrow, but just so you guys can keep that in mind. ;)
getdropbox.com
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