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

Selax, on Sep 10 2005, 06:46 PM, said:

I agree, twords the end of Shadow games there wern't many posts and I'd look at the ts once or twice a week and never see an update. It did get rather boring and eventually I just stopped checking the TS very often.

I have an idea for new kind of TS.

I had two possible variants in mind: first, it could start near the end and fill in the beginning in one long series of flashbacks, or, second, it could start slightly further away from the end (but still close to it) and switch back and forth between present and flashback past (provided that the posters clearly marked the difference between the two). Because these flashbacks would be seen from the viewpoints of several different characters, they could overlap in some scenes (i.e. show what happened in one scene from one character's point of view but another character could show part of that scene from their point of view); this would only be acceptable if each character's post still advanced the storyline, rather than post the same complete scene over.


Maybe we could issue some sort of challenge to the members to check and post in the Cythera web board at least once a week, unless they are really busy.

I like those ideas, they may be able to help with the general flow of the TS's because you are just explaining how they got to that point. I do think that it would be better to start from near the end and get to the end at the end.

The "pose the final question, rewind, play, then answer it" is a frequently-used technique in storytelling (in Fight Club, z.B.). I agree; it seems like it would work well for a TS.

Ok, I've been talking with Avatara, and we have an idea for the next TS.

We have only problem: the lack of members.
(I also think that the customary lack of posts in the TSs by the participating would be a problem.)

So, we need a way to rally several members (and to attract some new ones) and to convince people to post more frequently.

Should I start a separate topic specifically asking for members for this TS?

Whatever the case, we need suggestions and soon.

To everyone (especially the members from the other TSs):
Please, make suggestions on what to do about this problem.

And please considering joining the TS!

I think it should be started in a new topic, makes it easier to break talk about the board and the TS seperately.

I would say starting twords the end is a good idea. I wonder if you started a compleatly new topic for TS's that that might be better. You know how you scroll down and you see Cythera and under it is Cythera web board and Cythera Chronicals? What if you put up a topic called say Cythera TS's? I think that would probably draw some attention to the board

I really never have looked at the TS's much, too few people post, and a story written by one person is just that it's a story. it is not a TS. so if there would just be more posts I think it would make the TS's more exciting. Even a 2 man TS is fun if each person posts every day, or every other day. So I don't think that it is a lack of people that makes the TS's 'boring' but the lack of freaquent posts. Yes you need a good story line and interesting charecters, but guessing what twist the other person will unwittingly add is what I think really makes TS's fun.

I will join the next TS, not sure why but I will. Though, I really hope that people will post more often.

This post has been edited by Kentonis 417: 09 October 2005 - 12:05 AM

Asking a post every day is a bit much, sometimes posting can take a significant amount of time.

I'll be lucky if I can get a post in once every two weeks.

I had hoped (and indeed had already started) to post some possible lead-ins to the TS, but I'll postpone things for now.

I actually never said that people should post everyday. However when a person can come back to the boards and not have a post in three weeks that gets boring. The only reason I mentioned posting every day and a two person TS is simply to show that I don't think it is a lack of people bringing the TS's down. Mabye adding people would help, but I don't think it's absolutly nessesary. Sorry for any vagueness in my last post. Just thought I'd clarify .

I have just been thinking about getting new members, one thing is that i think they need to have played Cythera before for the TS's. Probably not all of them as it seems that a lot of TS's aren't exactly based on Cythera in much of a way, just locations and thngs like that which people can catch up on. It would always be better to get people who have played Cythera because they know the map, some of the plots.

Selax, on Oct 9 2005, 04:29 PM, said:

You don't have to postpone anything, just try to make sure your story isn't a repeat of the last two (plotwise).

Actually I'm one of the people who has never played Cythera and I can't play the game even though I want to (I only have PC computers and no I don't want to play it enough to buy a new computer). I think that putting out a map of cythera and some bacground info would help people that haven't played the game.

As long as the mood in this thread is so dark I might as well start seaking in metaphors, and enlighten the history that lead to this forum's ailment.

*ahem*

The lament of the Cytharian:

How i bemoan the fate of the once-mighty cytharian empire! For the reign of gandreas our land prospered and grew, and eventually the torch was passed on to our greatest of Leaders: Slayer. Through his reign, our empire reached its zenith, even the EV boards of the time gave way like water to our power, their stalwart meembers attracted to our empire like moths to a flame. But after all that time, the old king gandreas did nothing, indeed he only do nothing. But a time came, when the well of creativity and innovation began to dry to nothing. The distand EV and EVO kingdoms swore fielty to the new and mighty EVN empire, and our allies, the Avarans, fell to ruin. Even as our beloved homeland collapsed, once-loyal cytharians fled to take refuge from the comming storm. The greatest TS's and Crons, the jewels of our cities, fell to ruin, all but forgoten. The first era of the Cytharian dark age had begun. Slayer, our king, tried so hard to keep our empire intact; Rogan, our finest cron architect, did his utmost to rebuild the ruins; and Bryce, our finest engineer, sought to renew the creativity lost--even if it mean delving into the secrets of the fabled and forbdden 'source code'. But alas, even these heros failed in their tasks. The order broke asunder, the Crons crumbled even as crafted, and Bryce was barred from his task by gandreas himself. Sullen and broken, they went their seperate ways. Queen Avatara took control, and suceeded in saving a small part of the land from certain destruction. Along side her, the remaining stalwart citizens of Cythera remained to keep what was left alive. But now, even the combined efforts of tthese people is hard pressed to keep entropy at bay.

(I have waaaaaay too much time on my hands)

P.S. All the fresh bllod these days have no respect for the 'oh-ness' of Cythera, and are instead drawn to the shiny-new graphics of EV:Nova, PoG, and the like. There is little we can do, for without the best and bravest of our members our forum has lost its allure. The proposed 'Cythera-X' may help some, but in truth we need Cythera 2 to restore our former glory.

Last I checked, Avatara was no queen (though he does look good in drag).

It was a failed attempt at humor to lighten the mood. Oh well.

Oh, this is a random idea about cythera that i got when changing my icon. I Dont know if i should've made a new topic for this or not due to me being half asleep atm.

anyways:
You know how in Uplink where they have those different types of skins that you can download and do that random stuff to? What if we make the osx thing AND Have a graphic or something that goes along with it allowing the ability to make your own skin window things.

Oh and then you could make it so after you save beat it, that this thing gets unlocked and you can make your own Campaign and would therefore be able to make some of the TSes playable, minus the few strange Chars.

Also make it for PC, for that will give you a bigger crowd (maybe not by much) and then if you really wanted to, you could make a multiplayer option thing. Where you could get help from a fellow cythera player and lvl up and do all the save the world kinda stuff. But the problem with that would be the hector/other party members would be that if not done right you would have multiple hectors or some one. So basically have them at their normal locations. And depending on how many people is in your party, (Ex: Slot 1- me slot 2- Kto) then you possibly could be able to recruit hector but that may complicate who controls him. But when you leave the multiplayer, you would probably have to go recruit all of them back into your party. Another complication with this might be that they would lose their lvls (if they gain them?).

Just a thought

[Edit: added a lot more stuff]

-Dark

This post has been edited by Dark Jet: 25 October 2005 - 08:54 AM

What? A Cythera editor and Cythera Windows and Cythera Multiplayer are all highly unlikely at this age.

A Cythera editor could possibly be intergrated into Cythera without TOO much effort but it all depends on how its been made. Making it for Windows or Multiplayer would require a full recoding to do it.

Av - One might have to do a preposterous idea to bring bake life to one's favorite game.

HT - Yes it may require effort but the reward could be worth it. I know that i would be more inclined to play cythera then if i could play it with a friend. Otherwise the most multiplayer you would get would be while you are playing, talking on ichat.

Guy1: Yes i just killed five bandits
Guy2: Pshh.. I just saved Alriac(sp?)

Something more than that might be INTERESTING. Look at Spiderweb Software, they came out with exile and did 4 in that series, then they went he, lets make that better and is kinda the same thing but Avernum and then they might be redoing the Avernum series with Geneforge.. they take old ideas, redo certain aspects to make game play better.

-Dark

The thing is, this game is six years old. Is it worth all the work to get a small group of people to be able to customize (and destroy) the world the original creator made? Or to rewrite virtually everything to make it run on Windows? I don't think porting it to windows at this stage in the game's life would do much, there are far more Windows games with flashier graphics that will draw the target audience away from Cythera.

Cythera multiplayer might have some sense to it, but again, making games networkable requires a lot of effort that its not really worthwhile at this stage in time.

I am looking at learning C++ at some stage, if I learn enough about it I could possibly start something.

Same and i might be inclined to help.

but about cythera - If anyone really wants to keep this alive, and that didnt help, then its almost like hey, lets make cythera 2, - that has about the same, if not better graphics than WC3, better sounds (maybe? dont no) More music and maybe back to the editor - for the campaigns. Other than that you really cant keep this alive much longer except for the ppl that do tses, you will lose ppl over time and gain about 1 for every 2 gone. and then after a while the admin might just close down the topic.

OSX cythera might increase the amount of ppl joining, but this is bound to fall apart unless someone spends the time to make something really interesting for Cythera. I will almost join any attempt to bring this back to the banners of Ambrosia, but then there is High School. And school is another important factor why ppl leave, because some dont have the time, and some when they do choose to sleep to get rid of all that stress from "i need to do page 231 for math. oh s### forgot about German and that stuff"

-Dark

The decision to make Cythera 2 rests in gandreas' hands.

Dark Jet, on Oct 26 2005, 05:19 PM, said:

That's true, but it still remains that there isn't much we can do about it. Many other Ambrosia games have a similar problem, Avara has been dead for a while. Ares is dying, pop-pop (which is much newer than Cythera) is in a worse state than this board.

Even if you did decide to undertake the massive work it would require to port Cythera to Windows and make it multiplayer, you still need to gain approval from gandreas, its his product.

I am not talking about doing it at the moment, I still only know very basic C++, I don't know anything apart from the console at the moment, even then I still don't know a great deal.