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Lord Barrius -> =Story and Dev= The Shadowkitten's Out of the Bag (8/28/2010 21:14:50)
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Okay, okay, you caught me. Or rather, the newsletter caught me. Curse your good eyes.
As some of you noticed, the schedule had something called "The Seekrat" as Coming Soon. And you, rather accurately, pinned it on me. I refrained from saying anything because I wanted people to focus on the "uber" set, and most of you did. I'm hoping you enjoyed the new set, and are looking forward to the rest of what 2010 has to offer in the wonderful land of Lore.
So, it's finally time. I promised that, when the day of the release was closer, I'd provide you with more information. And now at long last, I'll fulfill that promise AND another one: that I'd never discuss with you any personal content that wasn't REALLY "coming soon". I want you to know that when I mean "coming soon", I mean the textbook definition, not our usual definition. :p
They are my first official quest writing ever to premiere in AQ, and I'm extremely excited about it. So....let's talk shadowkittens (or shadow kittens, I use them pretty much interchangeably).
In the month of September, there are going to be three quests in a quest chain which features the first introduction to a real shadowkitten. You're no doubt saying "But LB, weren't there shadowkittens in that one April Fools event"? Not so. This is because the kitties in the April Fools event were merely clever copies of true shadowkittens,a product of Loco's magic. This will be your first sighting of a real one. What's the difference? You won't find out during this quest chain....but you will in future events that center more around the origin of the species. This chain is only the first planned series of events in what I intend to be a continually-running collection of stories, events, and ideas. An arc, if you will, featuring many different stories that I'm still working on.
There's a lot of history behind this quest chain itself. As many of you know, the first introduction was part of an in-game teaser YEARS ago. At that time, it was assumed that the material related would be introduced into the game fairly soon after. However, due to various complications over the years, the work has been continually pushed back and rewritten literally line for line. There were hours upon hours invested in this, trying to make it better. The result is a piece which hardly even resembles the starting project, except for a few retained character names. I've also had a lot of help in constructing both the finished script and the rewards for this event from two of the official writers for AQ, Eukara Vox and Lyra.
I've had several people tell me that the finished product is fairly enjoyable. However, I'd like to do something we don't normally do: I want to open up the floor with this quest chain. Throughout this chain and during each event, I would be greatly appreciative if you gave me your genuine and constructive feedback about the individual events and the chain as a whole. The reason I'd like to do this is two-fold:- Because I'm a fairly new individual to the idea of writing AQ scripts. I've got some experience with RP writing through work on my personal IRC RP, but I haven't written AQ quest scripts before. So I really want you all to give me solid feedback to help me tweak and improve.
- Because I'd like my material to be more of a user-based product. Very often, we produce stories that are mostly of our own crafting. I'd like some of my writing to be partially constructed by you, the players. I want to make the kind of content that many of you want to see. Stories are much easier to be engaged in if you're a part of the tale.
So, that's all well and good, LB, but enough self-promotion. What can we expect from your quests in the coming weeks?
Well, several things:- You can expect a story which provides a different mix of serious and silly. Many players are quite used to the large epic style of Falerin or Cyrus, but I follow a very different sort of style when I write. My hope is that people will enjoy the variation....but hey, if not, I'm asking for feedback for a reason. :)
- You will be introduced to a shadowkitten. As I've said, this is your first encounter with a real one. You won't learn too much about their origins during this event, but if there is significant interest, I will try to push that section of the story through as soon as I'm able.
- You will meet a brand new villain as well. This villain will become the recurring villain through most of my work (though obviously not all). In general, most of the stories within the arc I discussed above will tie to him in some way.
- Other small miscellaneous things that will hopefully make this a unique and enjoyable experience for you all!
I look forward to your feedback as we go through the events, and also at the conclusion of this quest chain. I hope you have as much fun with this as I did with writing it, and only hope I can live up to the high expectations built up over such a long time!
Oh, and one more thing that I know is in the minds of some of you: can I have my own shadowkitten? And for now, I won't answer that. You'll find out in due time.
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