Folks,
Just wanted to say a big thanks for all the fun and games I've gotten out of this whole 'Oolite' thing over the last three years.
This is the first 'community' project I've ever contributed to, even in a minor way, and it's great. The teamwork, help, enthusiasm, silly games and plain *fun* are awesome - long may it continue.
I've had quite a blast writing both my stories and my OXP, and learnt a lot in the process. Not sure I'll ever write a *.plist from scratch, but there we go! Learning about 'stderr' and piping things to consoles was most ..er.. <key>enlightening</key></true>.
What I've enjoyed most is the feedback (both positive and negative) which helps me to consider what other people think about what I write. I've picked up a lot of stuff from what I suspect is a reasonably tough audience (i.e. people who know their genre and have fairly high standards.). I do have an ambition to give up the day job and take on writing full time one day, and this has definitely been a stepping stone for me.
These things (particularly the stories) take quite a lot of time and effort (I reckon Mutabilis is in the order of 400+ hours or thereabouts - mostly sat on trains! Even that probably pales into insignificance compared to others on here!) and I've got a big project beckoning for 2009 (not writing or games, but still space related - do a google on IYA2009) and I've got two other (for profit) books in the works I've promised to get out before I take on any other writing projects - so I'm afraid there won't be any more direct contributions from me in the foreseeable future. Never say never of course, but unlikely at the moment.
That said, I'm not going to disappear or anything, so I'll be 'treading the board' every so often, and they'll always be a copy of Oolite on my hard drive. Of course, if anyone else wants to continue the adventures of the good Captain Hesperus, Rebecca and Jim or anything else in the Oolite universe, don't let me stop you! I never get tired of reading Elite fanfic, and it's Creative Commons after all. With all the new OXPs now there is material to keep busy forever.
One thing I have taken from this is the whole 'use a wiki as a braindump' thing. It's been extraordinarily useful to have the Elite Wiki as a research tool for dumping ideas into during writing. I particularly like how you can square bracket a term and then click on it, flesh out a bit of detail and then come back later on and finish that thought off. I've become rather taken with it so...
Rather than clutter up the Elite Wiki with my stuff (which most visitors won't be interested in), I've set up my own wiki so I can flesh out character bios, mini-plots, events and so on. I'm going to start by completing my Status Quo, Mutabilis and Schism bits and pieces, and then use it for my other projects. If you are interested in more detailed character bio's for my Oolite stuff etc., can I humbly point you in the direction of 'Wagarpedia'? (I know, silly name - I'll get my coat in a minute). Right now it's readonly except for me, and the usual 'work in progress' disclaimers apply, but I'll probably open it up at some point.
So, once again, thanks to all of you, and may Oolite keep going on to greater and greater heights!
Write on, Commanders!
Cheers,
Drew.
but you seem pretty chuffed!
