So I had been thinking that I would tell the same story in three different media -- the Seven Day Quest as a game, a comic, and a novel.
But now I'm thinking maybe a trilogy -- three separate adventures for Rodney: a seven day quest, a one day quest, and a thirty day quest. Something of course tying them together.
I think it will work better. The nature of the game is that Rodney is going to be on his own. But a novel where it's just Rodney fighting monster after monster would just be incredibly dull. By creating three separate stories, I can optimize each story to its especial medium.
But I will keep the progression in place -- the end of the game will bridge to the comic, the end of the comic will bridge to the book.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Yendor
As far as I can recall, the Rogue backstory has never been documented.
I always had at least a foggy idea of what it was in the back of my head. I dunno if it matches with Michael's or Jon's, or if they ever really thought about it.
So here it is in bits and pieces -- probably I'll flesh this out somehow in the novel.
Yendor was a wizard, who once ruled all known lands -- all the Chronicles agree on this. Well, most of the chronicles. There's actually nothing that all the Chronicles agree on, and there's precious little that hangs together even in a majority of them, so really, most of them agreeing on Yendor is pretty impressive. If you think about it.
Yendor's power to rule was insured by his fabled Amulet. Growing weary of constantly having to vaporize beings who tried to hork it, he determined to hide it deep within a vast series of dungeons. He summoned many ferocious beasts to guard his dungeon, and put a number of spells on the dungeon itself as well.
But all of this was thousands of years before Rodney began his quest. Long ago (the Chronicles disagree on exactly how long, but none of them think it was recently), Yendor mysteriously disappeared. The beasts within his dungeon remained, reproduced, went wild. Legend maintains that Yendor's Amulet remains there, deep within the dungeon, and whoever can brave the dungeon and find that amulet will have the same power that Yendor once had -- the power to rule the whole earth.
Which is a lot more power than Rodney wants. Rodney just wants a nice castle with a big hearth. And maybe a princess. But he figures he could sell the amulet to someone for whom ruling the entire world had some appeal.
I always had at least a foggy idea of what it was in the back of my head. I dunno if it matches with Michael's or Jon's, or if they ever really thought about it.
So here it is in bits and pieces -- probably I'll flesh this out somehow in the novel.
Yendor was a wizard, who once ruled all known lands -- all the Chronicles agree on this. Well, most of the chronicles. There's actually nothing that all the Chronicles agree on, and there's precious little that hangs together even in a majority of them, so really, most of them agreeing on Yendor is pretty impressive. If you think about it.
Yendor's power to rule was insured by his fabled Amulet. Growing weary of constantly having to vaporize beings who tried to hork it, he determined to hide it deep within a vast series of dungeons. He summoned many ferocious beasts to guard his dungeon, and put a number of spells on the dungeon itself as well.
But all of this was thousands of years before Rodney began his quest. Long ago (the Chronicles disagree on exactly how long, but none of them think it was recently), Yendor mysteriously disappeared. The beasts within his dungeon remained, reproduced, went wild. Legend maintains that Yendor's Amulet remains there, deep within the dungeon, and whoever can brave the dungeon and find that amulet will have the same power that Yendor once had -- the power to rule the whole earth.
Which is a lot more power than Rodney wants. Rodney just wants a nice castle with a big hearth. And maybe a princess. But he figures he could sell the amulet to someone for whom ruling the entire world had some appeal.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Preparing for whatever this is
I'm at a low point in my life.
Struggling at work to even do a mediocre job.
Realizing that I'm just not really nearly as good a person as I always thought of myself.
But I got this idea in my brain a couple months back, and I've decided to pursue it. I don't know what to call it, maybe the Creative Endurance Triathalon or something. Suggestions welcome.
I don't think anyone has done this before: Completed a Seven-Day Roguelike, a 24-hour comic, and a NaNoWriMo (one month novel). I'm going to try to do all 3 this year.
I plan to tie all of them together thematically. In fact, I'm considering this blog plus the game, comic and novel (assuming I succeed at all three) to constitute a single, multimedia work of art.
First up is the seven-day roguelike. This year's contest begins March 10th. I will be at somewhat of a disadvantage because I work full time and most of the rest of my time is owed to family, church and sleep.
I can't start writing code until March 10th, but I think I'm allowed to start thinking at any time.
The theme (and name) of my adventure game is The Seven Day Quest, a parallel of course to my own seven day quest.
Classic Rogue consisted of a single dungeon of 26 levels, a single quest to find a single magic item, the Amulet of Yendor. 7DayQuest will consist of seven, sevel-level quests. Each successful quest will result in finding a magic item, and that item will be necessary to succeed in the next day's quest.
I'm working on the backstory of the game.
I'm figuring that that will be the novel.
I need to make sure I don't get overambitious with the thoughts of the game, because I have to have it completely finished in one week of spare time, and I am starting from zero.
7DayQuest will be written completely in Javascript (and DHTML). To my knowledge, it will be the first Roguelike to be written that way.
Next step: Overall design, and an implementation plan with daily milestones.
Struggling at work to even do a mediocre job.
Realizing that I'm just not really nearly as good a person as I always thought of myself.
But I got this idea in my brain a couple months back, and I've decided to pursue it. I don't know what to call it, maybe the Creative Endurance Triathalon or something. Suggestions welcome.
I don't think anyone has done this before: Completed a Seven-Day Roguelike, a 24-hour comic, and a NaNoWriMo (one month novel). I'm going to try to do all 3 this year.
I plan to tie all of them together thematically. In fact, I'm considering this blog plus the game, comic and novel (assuming I succeed at all three) to constitute a single, multimedia work of art.
First up is the seven-day roguelike. This year's contest begins March 10th. I will be at somewhat of a disadvantage because I work full time and most of the rest of my time is owed to family, church and sleep.
I can't start writing code until March 10th, but I think I'm allowed to start thinking at any time.
The theme (and name) of my adventure game is The Seven Day Quest, a parallel of course to my own seven day quest.
Classic Rogue consisted of a single dungeon of 26 levels, a single quest to find a single magic item, the Amulet of Yendor. 7DayQuest will consist of seven, sevel-level quests. Each successful quest will result in finding a magic item, and that item will be necessary to succeed in the next day's quest.
I'm working on the backstory of the game.
I'm figuring that that will be the novel.
I need to make sure I don't get overambitious with the thoughts of the game, because I have to have it completely finished in one week of spare time, and I am starting from zero.
7DayQuest will be written completely in Javascript (and DHTML). To my knowledge, it will be the first Roguelike to be written that way.
Next step: Overall design, and an implementation plan with daily milestones.
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