06/10/2023
After a long hiatus, things have been moving along much better the last couple of months on all fronts: written material, U.R.M.I.N.D.™ programming, Unreal™ 3D modeling, and the website.
Written material:
1. While the game mechanics program has been ready for quite some time (U.R.M.I.N.D.™), writing the material explaining it has been behind. That isn't the case anymore. The game mechanics used in U.R.M.I.N.D.™ are nicely explained focusing on the user experience and explained like any other system. It is a Role-Playing Game, so there is a system to explain, but with none of the U.R.M.I.N.D.™ or Unreal™ technical babble. Just, "roll this to do that", and know that the U.R.M.I.N.D.™ engine is doing the rest.
2. The background history and current setting, which existed as timelines and notes for so long, is getting fleshed out and writing itself now that I've had the time to focus on it.
2a. The Anunnaki Council™, brief member species histories (detailed and extrapolated in their own release titles).
2b. The Invaders and their long-term plans for galactic domination; the Armagons and their Dark Energy/Matter technology; the mystic slavers known as Hykroachians with their perverse magic and slave stock; and the sentient nanobots called the Nanites.
2c. The Human situation on Earth, with the Parliament of Sol trying to mediate the warring factions of a decimated Earth, Humankind's special place in the galaxy, and our history as a warrior slave race during the 1st Galactic War.
2d. How Human Space emerged from the revolt against the "ancient masters" and the histories of the known Human races: Stellars, Ogers, Evos, Ultras, and the fabled Shifters.
U.R.M.I.N.D.™ programming:
1. I'm not going to lie, the hardest part of the U.R.M.I.N.D.™ engine programming was formulating the "metaphysics" mechanics in the game: magic (ambient mystic energy), psionics (personal mystic energy), mutagenics (genetic mutant abilities), and cyberkinesis (manipulating the laws of cyberspace). I started the U.R.M.I.N.D.™ project with a preconceived format for "metaphysics", based on decades of influence from all the games I played and loved over that time. I kept trying to inject that system even though the U.R.M.I.N.D.™ process was trying to show me something different. It wasn't until recently when I tried to let the existing U.R.M.I.N.D.™ process dictate the mechanics of "metaphysics", then lo and behold, problem solved. Instead of forcing what I THOUGHT was a great system, a system that I had proven with adaptions to other games, I looked at what the engine had turned into. After trying different formats over years of development, the issue with integrating the "metaphysics" of the system kind of solved itself through the development of other mechanical aspects such as Skills and Combat. Now, even though it's nothing near the idea that I started with, I'm excited about the way it turned out. All the variety and flexibility U.R.M.I.N.D.™ affords to Skills, Combat, Piloting, and the rest are now available to a "metaphysics" mechanic that I'm really excited to test. After years of uncertainty on the metaphysical mechanics, I'm sure this new approach will become one of the key features of the engine. I'm really proud of it. :)
3. Unreal™ 3D Modeling:
1. This is moving right along and, quite honestly, is a lot of fun to learn. Unreal™ is an amazing development tool and, as it turns out, is very compatible with the U.R.M.I.N.D.™ engine. I guess digital likes digital? I was worried that learning a whole new technology would be the longest delay of the project, but as it turns out, Unreal™ 5 is extremely streamlined, simplified, yet thorough and robust, and Epic provides an amazing amount of training for free. They will literally help you get certified, and although this part of the development will eventually fall to someone else, what I've been able to do with it in preparations for the Kickstarter™ campaign is incredible. My son has his action figures, and now, so do I. Only mine are digital, can be animated with cool effects, and remotely controlled and posed (K&M, control pad, and touch for Android™ and iOS™). :)
1a. Even after this gets handed off to a specialist, I'll be playing with Unreal™ for the rest of my life. :)
Website Construction:
1. Now that there's actually things I can put on the website, that'll be next, hopefully by the end of next week (10/15/2023).
1a. I'm thinking of creating sections for canon literature (work-in-progress). The current story project describes the "Su***de Mission of the Darkstar" and how they closed the wormhole connecting the Sol system to the Invaders' home galaxy. These are the events that lead to the reactivation of the Anunnaki Council and give the galaxy a fighting chance against a much larger and technologically superior foe. The game setting picks up not long after these events. Most of the crew is depicted in the awesome cover illustration of the core RPG, Beyond Terra Prime™, by the man I'm lucky enough to call "The Cover Assassin" and one of my favorite RPG artists, Mike Mumah. He's waited patiently for this body of his work to drop and I commend him for bearing with the situation, this is not only some of HIS best work, but some of the best work I've seen in a long time, period. I'm honored to showcase his work, he's f***ing awesome and I look forward to more from him as we go along the list of release titles.
1b. A page for mechanics discussions. Nothing too revealing, but enough to generate opinions, discussions, and maybe some new ideas.
1c. I'm seriously thinking of putting some merchandise up, specifically, high-quality prints of those awesome covers Mumah created. There are covers for the whole initial release lineup and the first wave of supplements for a total of seven covers and the Armagon pinup that serves as the StorytellasStudios© mascot.
Well, that's it for now, but there will be more coming soon. Please place your thoughts, comments, and suggestions below.
Storytellas Studios©
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