Oolite Bulletins

I re-read the Writer's Pack pledge, and it does state that they will help with the marketing "IF IT IS FINISHED". Obviously they are happy for the books to be published any time, so that's nice and flexible.

Just got some feedback and I've got some significant alterations to make.

Good that they're paying close attention to detail, less good that certain things I'd been led to assume were ok have turned out not to be. Nothing critical, but quite a bit to do.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

Good that they're paying close attention to detail, less good that certain things I'd been led to assume were ok have turned out not to be. Nothing critical, but quite a bit to do.

Had the exact same feeling when I got feedback on my story. And the answers only opened up more questions as well.

Wolfwood wrote:

drew wrote:

Good that they're paying close attention to detail, less good that certain things I'd been led to assume were ok have turned out not to be. Nothing critical, but quite a bit to do.

Had the exact same feeling when I got feedback on my story. And the answers only opened up more questions as well.

Which means that it's going to be all the more difficult for those writers who plan to do their communication with FD only in January…

I trust the forum has become more active now that the anthology writers (well at least a couple of us) have arrived. Interesting discussions, but they do show that there's still a lot of ground to cover before we can safely nail down our stories and the descriptive details especially.

Wolfwood wrote:

I trust the forum has become more active now that the anthology writers (well at least a couple of us) have arrived. Interesting discussions, but they do show that there's still a lot of ground to cover before we can safely nail down our stories and the descriptive details especially.

Which is concerning me a great deal. My plan has the plot nailed at the end of Feb. At the moment that's looking increasingly uncertain because I can't peg certain details without fear of them being 'non-canon' or vetoed by currently undecided aspects of the game. A bit frustrating.

My solution is to abstract up some of the detail, and hope I can put it in at some point in the future. It's going to make redrafting much harder/longer.

Cheers,

Drew.

I'm having similar concerns, especially in light of the RPG's needs. Elements of the background are still completely in flux, the concepts of characters in game hasn't even been thought about and the majority of ship designs haven't been finalised beyond a vague "concept art" stage. Hyperspace concepts are being discussed, weapons aren't finalised and politics are still being developed.

They're not leaving us much to work with as writers at this stage other than pretty graphics.

I also have a concern that when a non-Frontier person makes a suggestion it may be quashed in most cases. I've seen a few theories on the public threads and the private forums be given a thumbs down with no room for compromise or even a reason why...

It's a bit worrying.

Selezen wrote:

I've seen a few theories on the public threads and the private forums be given a thumbs down with no room for compromise or even a reason why...

Yes, seen and felt the same. My question about ghost cloaking (already worked on by scientists today), for example, was simply shot down with no explanation whatsoever other than that Frontier had apparently decided that they will only want to play with radiation and related stealth methods...


EDIT: I really should not be writing today... Must have made a mistake in every single post thus far...

Frontier have had a vision for this game for a long time. David B for definite has a set vision for the game and its universe and I think we'll get that piecemeal as the development process goes forward. If anything is suggested that directly contravenes that vision it will meet a brick wall, which will be unfortunate if it's a genuine good idea as it will start to alienate parts of the community, especially DDF members who have been led to believe they have "god like powers".

I wonder how much of the actual game has already been developed and thus how many concepts are set in stone by the existing code base.

Selezen,

Did you get the "Politics" document DB wrote? I thought it was quite good, but it is very prescriptive. I think much of the "Elite Universe" is set in DB's mind, but it's not all available to reference!

Cheers,

Drew.

I did, and I agree that it was quite good but rather than being prescriptive I think it's a framework that leaves a lot of the detail very ambiguous. The Imperial structure is rather cliche, and I was quite disappointed in that.

As you say, I think most of it is in DB's mind and we'll get the full gen piecemeal over the next year, probably as we get things wrong.

drew wrote:

Did you get the "Politics" document DB wrote? I thought it was quite good, but it is very prescriptive. I think much of the "Elite Universe" is set in DB's mind, but it's not all available to reference!

Where might this be found? I didn't spot it in the writers' forum (mind you, I've still not had time read every thread)...

I don't think it's been put up on the forum. I thought it was a reference for the bible writers. Not sure how Drew saw it, if that's the case...

David Braben sent it to me directly. I don't think I'm supposed to pass it on, sorry. I'm sure it will come to light in the forum before long.

And my second draft detail doc is in for approval. Fingers crossed!

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

David Braben sent it to me directly

Namedropper...