Campaign Creations

Falchion will speak.

It's been many months since I released the Duality site and by then I was very excited.  I've been making my every dedication to constructing a different universe, from the Single-player scripting to selection for the best sounds.  However, I fear for my work, for it may become, like most of my other projects, mediocre.

The truth is, I've been ripping off every scrap of Warhammer 40k universe to make this universe.  I wanted to make different, but without inspiration, I couldn't overcome the giants Warhammer and Starcraft are.  The Legionnaire's Deep Space Suit was so Space Marine like, with the names and all that, that I've had to turn to other inspirations.  The Megaman fanart found on DeviantArt was a salvation, since the Empire was made to be technological, unlike the fanatical Imperial Elite.  Some of Mesk's ship designs, as well as some from the Wing Commander universe, have solved my problems for the Geodosian ship sketches.  Vehicles were never a problem, I've had the ideas on my head for a long time.

The Cult of Sigma is somewhat troublesome, because most of it's suits, vehicles, ship and structure design were, in my mind, derivated from a mix between the Eldar and Universe at War's Masari, with an inch of Greek (most likely Spartan) touch.  Hero suit design for the Cult was no problem, though.  The Heavy Legionnaire design is my greatest desire and my greatest pillar of doom, for, virtually, no idea I have to design it.  Be it either inspired on the Terran Marine, the Space Marine Terminator or the Walker from The Matrix, only God can tell what sort shall come out of it.

Most of the things I'm more concerned about is about developing the universe in itself.  To make something far more remarkable and remindable than just a mod.  While I'm only at the initial stages, I fear this:  What if the Geodosian Empire is fated to become nothing more but a washed out version of the Imperium of Man?  What if the heroes turn nothing more but a diet version of the deified Dawn of War heroes?  What if my mod becomes nothing more but a shadow, a copy, of the majestous board-game universe and the epic computer game Warhammer and Starcraft are?

Therefore, I ask myself:  Given the choice, whether to watch over a different but failing universe, or to throw out all cards against fate for a overcoming, a far greater overcoming against the rule of Goliaths in favor of a single David?  What is it to me, the Lord of Duality, Master of Dimensions, Worthy Follower of Insanity and Progenitor of Ideas, to do?

The opinion rest on my shoulders now.  Falchion has spoken.

OBS I:  I've posted this here because I respect content presence and boundary limits.  The Starcraft thread, for me, is for Starcraft related-content ONLY, and this is a mod for Starcraft II.  If the admin doesn't agree with my POV, I understand.

OBS II:  Please tell me:  I am becoming more and more like Mesk???

I am becoming more and more like Mesk???

No, all of my stuff is completely original

In all seriousness 10 years ago MFTG had zerg in it for christ's sake. Get your feet wet in design and then start off from scratch like I did. Building a large story isn't a cakewalk and it will take many years, but if you consider a good story worth it, then it is the path you must take.

Doctor Doack wrote:

I am becoming more and more like Mesk???

No, all of my stuff is completely original

In all seriousness 10 years ago MFTG had zerg in it for christ's sake. Get your feet wet in design and then start off from scratch like I did. Building a large story isn't a cakewalk and it will take many years, but if you consider a good story worth it, then it is the path you must take.

True, stupid question of mine. 

Indeed, you're right, and only one thing might make me overcome it all:  Lots of faith in myself.  But unlike you I'm overcome by things at the same time easy and numerous than Schizophrenia:  The sins of Sloth and Lust, which we all get corrupted easily.  That's right, I'm an exceptional lazy person and I suffer from a very high sexual libido, forcing me to spend hours with internet porn to satiate it, thus making a catalyst for the lazyness.  Unless I'm on a place without ANY computer internet access, like school, one should not count on me to release anything so soon.  Fortunately, I can control my libido a little, since it mostly happens home, alone in my bedroom, public is somewhat weird to me, as outside home.  That is what has been disrupting my conciousness and learning everything I'll surely need for Duality to succeed:  AI coding, 3D modelling and texturing and concept art drawing.

Many projects of mine died due to this, but not all.  State of War, Dominion: The Koprulu Crisis, these died from my sins.  Deathless: Ethereal Emancipation, a mod project launched weeks ago at StarEdit.net, died from several crashes concerning weapon graphic, considered to heavy, but one I wished to use to overcome myself in terms of modding.

Eons before, I didn't had the courage to admit it, not even to my father.  Now, no longer.  We all have demons.  Whether to face them is up to us, Mesk.

It's true, it would take years to develop an entire universe. That's why you just develop a story you wish to tell, and later expand off that story to develop your universe.

Character design is never original, it's always based off something. It's the character's story that is original.

Quite true, Lav.  BTW, I think lore for my units is what's my best.

A store always begins in the mind without visuals. Create your lore, design your units after. If they resemble something else, so what? It has it's own story.

You're quite an honest person, I'll give you that.  There are plenty of distractions that can get in the way at any rate.  Seeing all the interestin new stuff come out of World of WarCraft has me wanting to pick up the game again.  It is after all a Blizzard game.  But I already know the end of that story again, so its just a matter of a little mind over matter.  I really hope Blizzard doesn't come out with anything as addictive as WoW for at least 5 years, because WoW is definitely responsible for almost an instant death of the WC3 community.  Just gotta focus on what is important to you - if that ends up being something besides your StarCraft project, then so be it.  It won't be the first time someone has given up a project.  That kind of story repeats itself 100 times as much as any campaign is ever released.

Of course, look at the CC StarCraft campaign contest - proof that people can finish a project if the incentive is great enough, not to mention a deadline.

Deadlines are key.

You're going to need to learn how to use your willpower to control your physical desires. It's really very easy once you try it. I've never had such a problem; I've abolished thoughts before they were given chance to manifest many, many years ago. It's all mind games. Getting control over yourself is the first step to getting control over your path to creation.

Willpower isn't my concern, Mesk.  Using it is... 

As a matter of fact, I was so afraid of making every mistake of a normal teenager I forgot to notice I WAS making it already.  You know, it's just like Al Pacino said in "Any Given Sunday":  When you get old, things are taken from you.  And you only learn with that when you start losing things.

The only way you can avoid making mistakes like every fool does is to void yourself of the mindset that society and the media force upon you. You have to start at the beginning, or it's very difficult. So, now it will be very difficult for you. But if you value what it is you want to do, that is where you must begin.

There is a little something I like to live by.

"Everything has been done, it's just the matter on how you're going to do it again that matters."

You think Blizzard is original? Hell no! And I don't mean all the pop culture references they like to make. Take World of Warcraft, there is a whole slew of story centered around Old Gods that are ancient, have tentacles and have names like C'Thun and Yogg-Saron. C'Thun?... Cthulu. That's Lovecraft.

People are liking it though, because they are doing it their way. A lot, and I mean a lot, of Blizzard core stories are clearly based in respect for some other franchise or story.

Next to that we have the face that Warcraft 1 and World of Warcraft are in the same universe, but damn have they expanded it. As Mesk said, it takes time. Start smaller.

I guess I was lucky in that when the Lour Saga began its growth I didn't even know what Warhammer, LOTR, or the rest were. I was completely untouched by modern writing and only influenced writing style-wise by novels like those of David Eddings and James Clavell (Shogun heavily influenced how TOA was written).

With TOA, I started off rather simple, but it took many, many years to expand to the immense vastness it is now. At first, I started with the "Good guys" (The Lour) but this changed upon the inception of TOA. "What if I made the novel from the viewpoint of the 'bad guys'?". But when I did this, and had just the Zegredark with their relatively unique racial setting, I opened up boundless possibilities to take it from there. Slowly, I expanded it. What could have been more powerful, more evil than the Zegredark? The Undead. What other races existed in the Lour Saga universe that would get involved? The Zelconian, the DyiithJhinn. Then, we needed a setting. The physics of real-time space couldn't contain these powers at work. No, the Undead came from the Abyss. An entirely new dimension was born, and the story began to fit together.

This took a long, long time to make, and I am someone who is rather gifted in creating this kind of depth. TOA was free of outside influences for its entire production and even now I am still not very familiar with Lovecraft or other things, because I've chosen to keep to myself and keep as "pure" and "my self" as possible.

With MFTG and the Loladins of Legend, I intentionally introduced as many cliches as possible. Lolimpius? Lome? Lord Dread? The Doom God? It goes way deeper then that, too. LoL taught me a lot in its production by intentionally seeking out cliches and similarities to make between it and other things I knew about. I learned that even if a lot of the good ideas have already been taken, there's always room for ingenuinity. There's always room for exploration. Writing and design is a vast world that I imagine in a thousand years will still be as full of possibilities as it is now. But it's not something that comes easily, and not something that can be rushed.

You've only just begun the road to understanding. It will be rough.

Falchion wrote: ... and I suffer from a very high sexual libido, forcing me to spend hours with internet porn to satiate it, thus making a catalyst for the lazyness.  Unless I'm on a place without ANY computer internet access, like school, one should not count on me to release anything so soon.  Fortunately, I can control my libido a little, since it mostly happens home, alone in my bedroom, public is somewhat weird to me, as outside home.

WHAT?

Look, man, there's only so much we want to know about your personal... problems.

Mr. Legion wrote:

Falchion wrote: ... and I suffer from a very high sexual libido, forcing me to spend hours with internet porn to satiate it, thus making a catalyst for the lazyness.  Unless I'm on a place without ANY computer internet access, like school, one should not count on me to release anything so soon.  Fortunately, I can control my libido a little, since it mostly happens home, alone in my bedroom, public is somewhat weird to me, as outside home.

WHAT?

Look, man, there's only so much we want to know about your personal... problems.

Err...  Are you sure this is the proper place for such discussion???