Ambrosia Software Web Board: The Cythera Web Board - Ambrosia Software Web Board

liek chek it out im postin!1!!one!!

kthxbye

(you said short, Ty. I attribute this to short attention span. )

Any more opinions or suggestions?

I think that we need to get the ball rolling in the TS, I am not the person for that. At the moment the last lot of posts have just been small ones like 'I am waiting around'. Having small posts is fine but I think we need to get something happening. If it is that people haven't just left the forums it may be that they just cant think of anything to post of great importance (like myself).

I think Avatara is right - even updated for OS X, Cythera will be too dated to attract much in the way of new interest. Sure, a few of us old hands will buy it, for nostalgia if nothing else, but there's just so much good stuff out there now that it probably can't compete with.

As to the TSs/low post rate, I have a couple of observations from way back. When I started posting, most people wrote in such a way that they set up a situation, and left it for someone else to try and resolve, or at least advance a little. After a while, things started to get a lot more rigid - everyone was developing plans for their characters, and a lot of tempers got frayed when others posted things that didn't agree with those plans (I was as guilty of that as anyone, both ways.) For a TS environment, the key has to be flexibility. Once you start deeply planning the development of your characters, it's time to promote them to 'Chronicles only' status, and create a new one for TSs.

OK, so here are a few of the things I liked about TSs:

1. Speed. There was usually at least one post per day from someone other than me.

2. Challenge. I always looked forward to seeing what difficult situation someone else had set up that I could try and solve, or advance a little for someone else to solve. I could certainly have been better at setting things up for others.

3. Quality. The posters back then were all extremely good, partly because they paid attention to what everyone else had written. It's important to keep consistent with what's gone before. If someone has started to set something up that you can't finish, try to leave room for someone who can. I've seen several TSs somewhat messed up, because someone blocked something that was being set up, or jumped in with something that just didn't fit.

There are probably more, but that's all I can think of right now.

This post has been edited by cache22: 23 May 2005 - 04:06 AM

Wow... it's been awhile. I don't know whether to classify myself as a regular or a sporatic poster? I usually visit the Cythera boards every week, but usually to read the TSs or whatever else is going on. But alas, I rarely post.

Honestly though, I love Cythera. I've loved it since it first came out. I even bought a new SCSI harddrive, more ram, and a Sonnet G3 upgrade card for my PPC 7200 and started a new character last week.

And every once in awhile someone gets all excited about Cythera and wants a second one made or a port of it. But it always fails due to complications and lack of enthusiasum.

Cythera X will be an exceptional treat, but it's like carbonizing Warcraft 1. The game is dated and only a limited amount of people are going to take to it. Most people today go for games with glitz and glitter. They overlook the storylines and indepth gameplay of games like Cythera. Only a few out there, like ourselves, truely appreciate it for what it is.

So as for strengthening the numbers of the Cythera webboards, I cannot say what will boost it. I've noticed that the amount of newcomers has always been a slow trickle and that the posts still come from the regular posters. I believe that the glory days of Cythera has come to an end, but that it shall always be those posting now that will always be here. I will start spreading around to everybody that I know, that has a Mac, to play Cythera or at least visit the boards, you never know some might join.

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For me this one of the big problems of the current TSs. I think they might be more interesting if more people posted and they didn't stagnate for a few days. I also agree with the other two observations. I think challenge would be a problem because if one sets up a challenge one might have to wait to some time before someone else posts.

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Thanks, Cody. Everything helps.


I still wonder if the creativity of the old TSs is lacking in the current ones. If so, how could this be remedied?

Everyone please continue to post.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS ARE GOING TO BE A BIT LONG-WINDED

As said before the TS' have strayed too far from the true path. I find it impossible to participate simply because the Un-Cytheraness makes me uneasy (and at times, nausious). If we cannot find ideas to go forward, perhaps it is time to reflect on Cythera's past? What made Tavara destroy Abydos? What adventures did Lindus have in his school days? What moronic spellmaster neglected to finish the Fetch spell? The key to this problem lies not with the chärs we have made ourselves, but with the ones that were there from the start. Never will I forget the humorous 'oh' or the satisfaction of sending the Ruffian Encampment into oblivion. It is these aspects of the game that we need to emphasize, not brush aside! The very qualities of the game that keep us playing are what we need to rooted in our works, not forgotten and lost! Cythera must become the centerpiece again, not just the setting! Once our forum was an empire, a home to scholars, but now it has fallen from grace. We need to move back a step, TS' related to the game, Chron of the Month Awards! Our Scholars and Great Writers have strayed, and now we must bring them back into the fold. And so you may ask, "Why have you not spoken before of this matter?" the truth is that I have long been pondering the matter, and now that summer is near the time is right. The orchards of new followers is untended, yet nobody will tend them. The fruits of creativity are ripe, but no one remains to harvest them. Among those left we have not enough between us to govern, but we need to be a people again. We need our game again.

Glenn once said that he was too short on time and money to make Cythera 2, but if he "won the powerball..." Did he suggest we should buy him lotto tickets? Must we bribe him for an update?! Cythera X will bring back some of the oldies, but the newcomers will be few. We need fresh, dynamic minds in our fold again. We need daring programers like Bryce who dared to push the envelope and try to peer into the innards of the Delver Engine. We need a leader, like Slayer, who made Emperor EVula look like a tyranical small-time despot. We need writers like Rogan, who's creative juices never seemed to run dry. Our empire has fallen to the forces of Neglect and Decay. I would start a Speculation topic here, like the one oh so successful thread I started on the EVN foums so long ago, But you no longer seem interested in such things--and Glenn is not here to prod us like _pipeline does on the EV spec topic. Let us revive our old successed to light so that we might learn from our predecessors' examples. Let us not forget the past, or the game we claim to play.

First off, I gotta say that this was an impressive rant. Straight to the point and what many of us are probably thinking.

~vIsitor~, on Jun 6 2005, 10:55 PM, said:

But I really like this idea, maybe I should send some lotto tickets in Glenn's direction.

So the TSs need to be more related to the game? Any suggestions on ways to do this?

uhh... this might sound stupid but: possibly study the aspects of the game, like how big Cythera is, what weapons/spells/armor it has... stuff like that.

edit: took out previous comment

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 11 June 2005 - 04:42 PM

I did measure Cythera once; it's about 8 miles end-to-end, I believe. As for weaponry, Slayer's site has a decent inventory.

if i remember correctly, Cythera has mountains... and mountains can mean huge caves, one could go exploring those...

just thinking aloud

DJ

Well, I took what you said without even thinking about it, I didn't even know you posted that Dark Jet until about 20 seconds ago.

I was doing a little thinking and it seems that the reason a lot of people aren't posting in the TS is because they don't have the time, something that we could do is make a different kind of TS, one where you post a sentence or two at a time. This means that no one has to post a lengthy post, it also leaves room for more imagination. Of course some people get an idea and want to go on with that, not much point creating a very good idea for whats going to happen later and than 3 posts down the track someone kills your idea, its post what ever length you want but a few sentences would be better than 2 paragraphs but its sometimes unavoidable.
What do people think of this, its basically a STS because it has shorter posts but the TS can go on longer (in some cases) because of more activity.

Another thing that we need is more talk about Cythera its self, posts about it, theories that are unknows and make answers, more reality. We just need to get things rolling again. I will try to get something started.

Personally, I don't like the idea of a few short posts. Yes, people post faster, but what they are posting isn't often worth reading. Look at all the one-line posts in the current TS that people made just to get things rolling; its easy to read them quickly, but nothing happens.

Its pretty difficult to describe something in two or three sentences, unless you want a lot of "I sit on the rock and pull out my lunch" type posts.

Its now exactly how I ment it, I will try to explain it differently.

A few years ago at school we were doing creative writing and one of the exercises that we did was write a paragraph of a story and then hand it over to the next person in the group, this is basically was a TS is. To illistrate I have taken part of the first post in the lastest TS.

I am going to use a |1| and |2| and |3| to show what different people could have written.

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This is the type of thing I meant, what you are refering to the short posts in TS is a post on their own, I am talking about short posts that are of one big one, this stops all those useless posts that he have all grown to love.

Does this make more sence?

This post has been edited by Half Truth: 28 June 2005 - 05:23 PM

~vIsitor~, on Jun 7 2005, 03:55 AM, said:

*ahem*

this has already been chronicled in a joint effort between cache22 and I. go read Hand of Fate if you have not yet, for we put hours into it.

also, I don't know if I'll be joining any TSes over the summer, but I may -finally- get around to playing Cythera... we'll see.

This post has been edited by iKaterei: 01 July 2005 - 05:25 PM

iKaterei, on Jul 1 2005, 04:18 PM, said:

I know something you don't.

what, that I won't be posting in any? ah, what a pity, guess I'll invest all my time in getting my webcomic off the ground instead.

That's what you think!

iKaterei, on Jul 2 2005, 10:18 AM, said:

Aye, that we did, although that was just one take on it. Nothing is sealed, unless Glenn says it.

well he never said it -wasn't-...

Since no one seems to be around right now, I'll just give of some ideas and see what happens. (Some of these are ones I thought of just for the fun of it.) I can elaborate on any of these ideas if there are any questions.

1. We could do a TS based more closely on Cythera, as it is seen in the game.
2. We could do a TS with all our characters completely different than they are in other stories. The idea behind this is that something caused Cythera and all its inhabitants (including the heroes) to have been twisted and altered in various ways in the past. Some heroes would have become villains, and some villains would have become heroes. Example: Selax could be an evil entity with magical powers bent on ruling Cythera (which would be completely different than in any of the stories or the game).
3. Cythera could be invaded by alternate Cythera. This would something like the above idea; however, instead of themselves being twisted, the heroes would have to fight twisted versions of themselves from the alternate Cythera.
4. As has been suggested before, we could do a TS where everyone but one person is a villain, and they have to defeat the hero.
5. We could jump Cythera either into the past or future for one or more TSs.
6. We could also try doing a sequel to some TS already written.

I check the forum about every day or two but most of the time I just cannot think of anything to write in the TS's, I think a better way to keep the story running would be to make a basic storyline before we actually start the TS so that people know roughly whats happening and can post appropriatly.

Half Truth, on Jul 31 2005, 12:37 AM, said:

Same here, though I've been trying to force myself to come up with something.

I think we need to get out of the rut of using the same old characters in the same old way, which is why I kinda like #2, everyone (but a few people, probably the newer characters - Letsiya!) ends up turning evil.

The problem with this story is most of us knew the basic storyline and the beginning, but nobody planned out the end, because usually the end comes together while people are writing the story. Except this time we had a massive plot shift so the original ending wouldn't work (especially since the main antagonist, DF's evil inhabitant, left the story).

An alternative would be to do a completely different genre, sort of what Agent Vast suggested in that the real Cythera focused a lot more on political factors and the balance of power, rather than slaying dragons, but that is going to take a lot of discussion and planning to pull together.