=Story and Dev= 11May2010 Bizzare Flecks. (The Finale) (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Artix Entertainment Games] >> [AdventureQuest] >> AdventureQuest General Discussion >> AQ Design Notes



Message


Falerin -> =Story and Dev= 11May2010 Bizzare Flecks. (The Finale) (5/11/2010 12:51:03)

Time between worlds is a funny thing and as the Bizzare Fleck saga reaches its conclusion this week it is revealed that since the end of the war that is ongoing now from our perspective a full fortnight has passed on the alternate Lore. A Fortnight in which von Krieger has been all too busy. The final war pits Krie-Guardian against Guardian and unites the heroes of both Lores for a last stand against the necromancer Artix von Krieger. And it is own own Artix who leads the charge to free the undead from their enslavement and captivity! Artix cannot do it alone however help from the Chosen and two Galanoths are crucial if plans are to succeed...

Even as the flecks reach their conclusion however it is far from certain that all questions have been answered... have you ever gotten the feeling not knowing something might come back to haunt you? That is just what the player is faced with by wars end.

Geronimo!

Stay tuned for some commentary from myself and others on the process of including the Krie-guardians and development for the Fleck Cycle entire.

Falerin




Falerin -> RE: =Story and Dev= 11May2010 Bizzare Flecks. (The Finale) (5/11/2010 16:02:56)

Several people have noted that the Bizzare flecks saga is a bit shorter then other arcs.

At seven separate releases plus several tie-in’s to seasonal events this is actually a bit of an illusion.

Mind you it is not nearly as heady as say the devourer saga, because we are trying to make things much more manageable but it is not very short either.

Admittedly it feels shorter because of our new modes both of story telling and of release scheduling. Bizarre Fleck is resolving in five months where other sagas have gone on for much longer. However during the individual two cycles that have made the first Bizarre Fleck saga the releases have come back to back, with only the prologue standing alone. Furthermore the content of the narrative has been tied to the other events of Lore. With seasonal holidays like Blarney War and Frostval connected to the event and with the ongoing Hall of Memories chain very directly integrated and influenced by the Bizzarre flecks events.

We are trying all in all for a more meta-aware storyline and for a universe that is cognizant of itself. No longer does the player suddenly drop all action without explanation to go off and do some other major quest right in the middle of fighting the big bad. It is our feeling that this method of story telling has distinct advantages. It allows us to tell bigger stories over a long time but with each of the pieces consistently making sense.

Using recaps it is easy to build from cycle to saga and from saga to story arc in a sensible way. The chunks of the story however need to break cleanly and need to make sense they also cannot be too prolonged or the players may get bored with an individual storyline. So ongoing side stories like the Hall of Memories serve to flesh out lore and weave things together while also breaking up the monotony. Seasonal events and one off quests likewise add variety to the dish that is Lorian life.

Now to answer some more direct questions:

quote:

ORIGINAL: Digital X

So is this why the Saga was shorter than others because it is leading into another? Or was this one just designed to be short in general?


Something of a bit of both. As Barrius says most of what I do is interconnected. I do very little that is ignorant of what has gone before. Threads link to threads. The tapestry is woven in that way. Both what I write and what others write should form a coherent narrative.

That said initially this was scheduled to be drawn out much longer. I rewrote several sections to fit into the desires of the masses. Namely to consolidate storylines and not draw them out forever. This was consistent with my own desires as well because quite frankly the old way made no sense.

Why would a player stop in the middle of a conflict to go explore another continent or start another major arc and never ever comment on the change?

It was silly and very hard to follow.

Now then as fleck comes to an end I suppose I should comment somewhat on the process that took us to where we are. As is apparent by the Krie-Guardians in this war fleck was in the planning stages for some considerable time. Those guardian lists were collected back in September and the first pieces of this saga were penned well over a year before they appeared.

Fleck was a labor of some love, but alternate worlds are not to be the meat of every day Lore. While the mechanism will almost definitely be explored again, there are very large parts of our own Lore left to expand and explore. So we do not want to get so lost in exploring other places we miss the diversity of our primary world.

Like I said we are trying for continuity and an overarching meta-storyline. There are arcs to see here as grand as the Devourer Saga one but finding your way in those arcs should be.. natural and quite obvious as they evolve. This does not mean we have no suprises up our sleeve nor mysteries to unravel over the long haul. We have plenty yet to come. Alternate worlds will not be an everyday occurrence, but that is not to say that the fleck events just go away and are ignored either. Fleck will have its lasting impact even on every day lore. To see how you will just have to play things out.

We are eager to hear how you think our first major two cycle saga panned out using our new methods. Do you like the new way of doing things? Do you enjoy our meta-aware storyline with even silly seasonal events knowing whats going on in the world around them (and poking ridiculous fun at ourselves in the process of course). Are the shorter interlinked storyline’s working out for you? What do you think of the explicit reference to the players the Krie-Guardians created?

Share your thoughts. As always we are watching closely.

Lastly you have by now undoubtedly noticed the strange spelling employed when refering to these events. Bizzare Flecks, Bizarre Flecks, Bizzarre Flecks. Even the spelling cannot help being a bit odd and inconsistent. This is of course a joke in and of itself. Naturally the correct spelling is none of these. It is in fact:

Bixare Flex

;-)

Falerin
Loremaster




Page: [1]

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition
0.078125