Expanding Lore and Detail (Update: 8-4-13)

Game Talk The Lab
1

Greetings everyone,

I have begun working on the lore and detail present in the game. The first step will be to create more fleshed out content for all mobs in the game. Clicking the titles will allow you to view my work at Google Docs.

Expanding Mob Lore


COMPLETE: Forest Animals
COMPLETE: Domesticated Animals
COMPLETE: Insectoids
COMPLETE (Needs Editing): Swamp Creatures (Thanks Drakasin!)

In progress: Giant Worms

Expanding Evacuation Shelter

[code]COMPLETE: Write basic terminal content
COMPLETE: Add code for basic terminal content

In Progress: Expand on and modify previously written content.[/code]

Diary Entires & Notes For Cataclysm Immersion


COMPLETE: Write objective and guidelines

In progress: Actually write some content

SPOILERS Cataclysm Lore SPOILERS


COMPLETE: Add existing content

In progress: Review and edit existing content.

Please feel free to express your thoughts below.

[b]UPDATE (3/10/2013): It looks like Draskin will now be aiding me with this project. I am still interesting in having more people. Please feel free to contact me!

UPDATE (3/12/2013): Everyone please welcome Vorpal2 to the project! He is currently working heavily on the diary entries portion of the project and is doing a great job!

UPDATE (7-30-13): Welcome Clayton to the project. He will be working on our Diary section for now.

UPDATE2 (7-30-13): Welcome DwarfKoala to the project. He will be working on our Mob Lore and Evac Terminal section.

UPDATE3 (7-30-13): Welcome AnderHammer to the project. He will be working on our Mob Lore section.

UPDATE (8-4-13): Welcome Rivet to the team! She will be helping us expand our Mob Lore page.

EDIT: Incorrectly referred to one of our contributors as male. Corrected.

[/b]

2

As a note, most wolves in New England are actually wolf/coyote hybrids. Still called wolves, but quite a bit more dangerous as they have no real fear of humans.

Might be worth sticking that in the description to make it a bit more interesting.

I feel like the comments for the egg/rabbit thing are a bit off-theme, honestly.

3

The lore for the zombies and such infected creatures is already made. I’m too lazy to dig up a link ATM.

4

[quote=“GlyphGryph, post:2, topic:334”]As a note, most wolves in New England are actually wolf/coyote hybrids. Still called wolves, but quite a bit more dangerous as they have no real fear of humans.

Might be worth sticking that in the description to make it a bit more interesting.

I feel like the comments for the egg/rabbit thing are a bit off-theme, honestly.[/quote]

Gotcha. The location is a bit ambiguous beyond being in the US so I’m taking some liberties here. I might see about removing that section but I feel like it adds some humor (seems appropriate considering some of the stuff in other sections). Thanks for the input.

At the moment the creatures are being “detailed” more than anything. I’m trying to give an explanation so the player can use their imagination a bit.

5

The game is pretty much explicitly set in New England, though. Or at least has been in the past, maybe that’s been changed.

6

Yeah, but global warming and more recently teleportation science has fucked up the world’s ecosystems. It’s the fluff reason that I’m going to allow things like deserts, tundras and jungles to exist if anyone ever decides to add them.

7

Wouldn’t mind some more detailed descriptions. Especially when encountering a creature for the first time.

If folks havent seen tremors for example they have no idea exactly how big and dangerous a graboid is, and I’m still not entirely sure how big the various trifflids, fungaloids, and sub-plane stuff is supposed to be.

Gives me an idea for a suggestion tangentially along those lines too.

8

Oh, I fully agree. But I think it should be unambigously clear that these are NEW ENGLAND deserts, tundras, and jungles. :wink:

But really, with our mapping system, I could see, lorewise, these places being the product of subplanar portals bringing in otherworldly temperatures and weather conditions, allowing not only deserts (a “hot, dry” portal at the center), tundras (cold and dry) and jungles (hot and wet, so that steam is constantly rising from it and making the surroundings rain almost constantly), but even more hostile and alien landscapes, all rather easily and in an interesting way, since we could have these sorts of areas effectively “take over” what is otherwise standard New England suburbia, populated by mutated pets and houseplants that find the new environment pleasant.

We really should put in a bit more “New England” specific sorts of stuff and flavour at some point, just to make the dissonance even more jarring.

9

[quote=“Greiger, post:7, topic:334”]Wouldn’t mind some more detailed descriptions. Especially when encountering a creature for the first time.

If folks havent seen tremors for example they have no idea exactly how big and dangerous a graboid is, and I’m still not entirely sure how big the various trifflids, fungaloids, and sub-plane stuff is supposed to be.

Gives me an idea for a suggestion tangentially along those lines too.[/quote]

I completely agree with you. These are “basic” descriptions. The other descriptions will be added as conditionals. You can see examples of the conditionals listed under the “Mockup” section and the “Templates” section.

10

I have a pending pull request for a modification to the Evac Shelter Terminal

https://github.com/TheDarklingWolf/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/149

11

I have some experience writing stories, fanfictions etc., though the’re mostly in my language (not english) so I would need a proof-reader to fix my mistakes. Otherwise I would be happy to contribute with lore (notes, stories, journals/diaries, newspapers, books (perhaps Elder Scrolls style?) etc.) and maybe some other things.

12

Awesome. At the moment I’m working on fleshing out “examine further” descriptions for the creatures in the game. This will later need to be expanded to most if not ALL in game items. The lore portion will probably come later.

How about I assign you a section of creatures to work on, I can read over some your stuff, and we can go from there? If that interests you then pass me your email and I will add you to the Google Doc and we can collaborate on there. Looking forward to working with you further on this project.

13

Are you considering expanding also the object descriptions? So the player can have a good idea of how does it work and which materials are used in its construction. Mainly to have a better idea on what to expect before disassembling an object.

Example for crossbow: (basic) “A slow-loading hand weapon that launches bolts. Stronger people can reload it much faster. Bolts fired from this weapon have a good chance of remaining intact for re-use.” (expanded) “The crossbow is built in wood and iron. It uses a rubber hose to propel the bolt”.

14

[quote=“kenoxite, post:13, topic:334”]Are you considering expanding also the object descriptions? So the player can have a good idea of how does it work and which materials are used in its construction. Mainly to have a better idea on what to expect before disassembling an object.

Example for crossbow: (basic) “A slow-loading hand weapon that launches bolts. Stronger people can reload it much faster. Bolts fired from this weapon have a good chance of remaining intact for re-use.” (expanded) “The crossbow is built in wood and iron. It uses a rubber hose to propel the bolt”.[/quote]

We will likely give an explanation of how it looks in the expanded view (as seen in the google document on mobs) but it will likely require skills checks to understand what can be accomplished from taking it apart. See the “Template” section of the google document about mobs for more detail on this.

15

The Large Hadron Collider probably created a wormhole that started this whole thing. We all know what a LHC does to reality. It large hadron collides it. Shit it fucked UP!

16

Nice. I agree on the skill check, but it probably only makes sense for electronics. Something with the mechanisms already exposed should be obvious to anyone, like the example of the crossbow. Also, I’d appreciate if the description only would list the components that you will actually be able to decompose. Otherwise it might give the impression of the game cheating.

17

Awesome. At the moment I’m working on fleshing out “examine further” descriptions for the creatures in the game. This will later need to be expanded to most if not ALL in game items. The lore portion will probably come later.

How about I assign you a section of creatures to work on, I can read over some your stuff, and we can go from there? If that interests you then pass me your email and I will add you to the Google Doc and we can collaborate on there. Looking forward to working with you further on this project.[/quote]

Alright, I am in. I sent you my e-mail via PM.

18

Awesome. At the moment I’m working on fleshing out “examine further” descriptions for the creatures in the game. This will later need to be expanded to most if not ALL in game items. The lore portion will probably come later.

How about I assign you a section of creatures to work on, I can read over some your stuff, and we can go from there? If that interests you then pass me your email and I will add you to the Google Doc and we can collaborate on there. Looking forward to working with you further on this project.[/quote]

Alright, I am in. I sent you my e-mail via PM.[/quote]

Awesome. Welcome on board. I’ve sent you a PM and added you to the document.

19

Is there like a file where I can find creatures specific to a certain biome (except going in-game)?

20

[right][/right][quote=“Drakasin, post:19, topic:334”]Is there like a file where I can find creatures specific to a certain biome (except going in-game)?[/quote]

You should have received a PM with this information. I provided a link to a wiki page that has all the creatures laid out with the existing explanations.