Zarel's Improved Campaign planning

[Zarel]

If you decide that some changes are needed you can count on me. I was thinking that because, on some maps, to make the enemies tougher or make them send forces to attack you more often, maybe you'd need more space in bases for factories, or something. Also, adding oil resources for the enemies in away missions would really be nice (can the oil derrick be blocked like base structures in those? So that the player can't build them).

Oh, yeah, that. Yeah, we should probably start adding oil resources to away missions.

[Rman Virgil]

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Your neologism Artveloper translates etymologically as - "One who grows art." In essence making the word "developer" specific to art.

What you are trying to convey, I think, is that you develope code (aka are a programmer or coder) and are also a visual artist.

The only way "artveloper" could convey that is if you throw the English language etymology of the word "developer" out the window which is something the American Advertising Industry does all the time.

Could the title be something like - "Coder / Artist" ?

I myself prefer the Zen word "Jian" which is also the name of a very special sword in Chinese. In Zen the word means master of many arts vs. the English expression "jack of all trades, master of none." The Chinese sword fits into all that too - at least in my noggin.

Feel free to disregard all the above.

- RV
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[Zarel]

Oh, no, it's just half of the "Artist" rank image and half of the "Developer" rank image. It's not actually intended to be a word.

Oh, and, I'm Chinese, and the word 剑 (jiàn) just means "sword" - it's not very specific at all; it can be any kind of sword, just like the English word "sword".

[Rman Virgil]

Oh, and, I'm Chinese, and the word 剑 (jiàn) just means "sword" - it's not very specific at all; it can be any kind of sword, just like the English word "sword".

Ahh, my friend, I know you are Chinese but I dare say you do not know your swords. The Jian is not like the generic word "sword" in English at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian

- RV
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[Olrox]

Oh, and, I'm Chinese, and the word 剑 (jiàn) just means "sword" - it's not very specific at all; it can be any kind of sword, just like the English word "sword".

Ahh, my friend, I know you are Chinese but I dare say you do not know your swords. The Jian is not like the generic word "sword" in English at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian

- RV
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Jian is the classification of any double-edged sword, and dao is the classification of any single-edged sword (namely sabres), according to the article.

I believe neither of us actually practiced swordfighting or even handled those swords, so we cannot say too much reliable things about that anyway.

But, the fuss is about the "artveloper" thing that was actually a coincidence rather than mistake or whatsoever - this isn't quite the big thing IMO, Zarel isn't a sword anyway (I think)

~Olrox

[Zarel]

Ahh, my friend, I know you are Chinese but I dare say you do not know your swords. The Jian is not like the generic word "sword" in English at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian

And I daresay the Chinese word "剑 (jiàn)" is hardly the same thing as the English word "jian".

It's the same idea with "katana", which Wikipedia explains a bit better: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katana

• In the strictest sense, the term katana in Japanese is applied to any kind of single-edged sword, of any origin; contrary to common belief outside Japan, the Japanese word does not necessarily refer to a Japanese sword. But incorrectly or habitually, some Japanese and Western sword lovers define katana as the standard size moderately curved (as opposed to the older "tachi" style featuring more curvature) Japanese sword with a blade length of greater than 60 cm (23.6 inches).

[Rman Virgil]

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The Chinese Jian sword is a double-edged sword (have 2 cutting edges as opposed to just one - get it... a metaphor) with a 2500 year history with quite intriguing associations in Toaist mythos including an Immortal who wielded a Jian Sword called "The Sword of Wisdom".

And let's not forget my primary usage of the word Jian in it's Zen context:

I myself prefer the Zen word "Jian" which is also the name of a very special sword in Chinese. In Zen the word means master of many arts vs. the English expression "jack of all trades, master of none."

Our contrasting reality tunnels are interesting, don't you think, when they hardly over-lap even when using the same exact language.

- RV
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[Olrox]

Our contrasting reality tunnels are interesting, don't you think, when they hardly over-lap even when using the same exact language.

From the history I've already witnessed, those reality tunnels are concentric circles, which almost intersect each other, are indeed very close, but hardly have any equal parts.
It's good for debates, as spectators (as me) can get really interesting things from both parts

~Olrox

[Rman Virgil]

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@ Olrox: Yup. Share that perspective. It is also, in part, why one of the five basic "agreements" of a Toltec warrior is to never take these things personally. Just because I'm represented as such 'n such in your dream, it is not me. Or put an other way, a tenet of General Semantics: "The map is not the territory."

Then there is the alegory of Plato's cave.

Or from an anchient Chinese philosophical muse: "Am I a man dreaming he's butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he is a man ?"

I would express this last provocative thought. Artists are warrior dreamers. Coders are not. Goes back to that Left Brain - Right Brain funtionality & predominance of the one over the other - individually speaking. There are notable exceptions like Da Vinci.

@ Zarel: Back on topic....

IMHO the very last mission of the campaign is anti-climactic ..... it's like the last sequence peters-out to a conclusion or just simply runs out of gas ....creatively speaking.
Whereas the start of that last sequence is one my favs.

Any thoughts about how to "beef it up" ?

Or am I mistaken in that assessment ? It's perfect as is ?

- RV

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[Zarel]

@ Zarel: Back on topic....

IMHO the very last mission of the campaign is anti-climactic ..... it's like the last sequence peters-out to a conclusion or just simply runs out of gas ....creatively speaking.
Whereas the start of that last sequence is one my favs.

Any thoughts about how to "beef it up" ?

I'm a dev, a 2D pixel artist, a balancer, a documenter, and a UI guy.

I'm not a particularly good campaign designer. The extent of my own changes in this thread are to make the game less annoying/frustrating to play (the "UI guy" aspect). To make a scenario more fun? That'll have to fall on someone else.

Hmm, Rman, you've spent a lot of time on War School, and your current map, though you haven't released anything.

Do you think you could do something on a smaller scale, in terms of making the last mission more fun? Emphasis on "smaller scale", since I do want to see a finished product at some point.

[Rman Virgil]

I'm not a particularly good campaign designer. The extent of my own changes in this thread are to make the game less annoying/frustrating to play (the "UI guy" aspect). To make a scenario more fun? That'll have to fall on someone else.

Ok.

Hmm, Rman, you've spent a lot of time on War School, and your current map, though you haven't released anything.

"Aqua Co-op SE" will be done in a couple weeks and released after stress testing by someone other than yours truly (hopefully Olrox & possibly 4nE). That's for sure. After that I go onto "Aqua Co-op EE" which will go a lot quicker because the additional work is mostly done in that both "SE" & "EE" are actually incorporating lots of stuff done for War School. In a sense a lot of what I think of as core aspects of WS will see the light of day with these 2 plus the "Heyoka A.I." - which I'll finish-up as my third project released - in that order. I'm basically breaking-up WS into "smaller pieces".

One main reason I'm not releasing WS is because I did some "down & dirty" stuff that was my way of working around & testing new GPMs that would be better done with UI / AI changes and which I'll come back to when Beta Widget / LUA is at point were I can utilize it. Another reason I don't want to release WS is because of all the new GFX - I have no patience to keep fixing-upgrading that stuff as the binary evolves. That's straight talk about what some would call me just being purely lazy and avoiding responsibility..... and I would not argue with that.

Do you think you could do something on a smaller scale, in terms of making the last mission more fun? Emphasis on "smaller scale", since I do want to see a finished product at some point.

Hehe... yea I deserve that.

I've given some thought on how to approach those last sequence of missions. It wouldn't be that hard to make some mapping and scripting changes to raise the climax to an "Epic" level, I think.
But i do wanna finish and release the 1, 2, 3 projects above (really!) before rolling up my sleeves to tackle this one.

Speaking of WS - I have noticed stuff coming up here and there the last few months that reminds me a lot of what can be found in detail in the WS thread. Interesting. Cool too.

BTW - I like's your new smilies. Have you ever thought about doing a "Rock on !" smiley ?

- RV
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