"Eye of the Beholder" SP Game

[Darsnan]

A few thoughts that hit me while squinting at this one for hours— half written with datalinks in mind, though not attempting to be dry enough, and not terse at all.

A lot of what you say about herbivores and Progs makes sense. Same with the brachiation between to Usurpers and Caretakers. Perhaps taking into relevenace the fact that hippopatami (especially males in rut) have been observed eating carcasses could help to explain the Usurpers prevalence towards war (i.e. that their genome is tending towards an omniverous state)?

The individual pictured below, to whom I’ll refer as “he” for convenience, may or may not not be as dominant a leader as Lular H'minee. He (let’s call him, in Caretaker naming style, Selar S’plorr- "Lular H'minee" sounds a little like "lunar home" to me, so "stellar explorer" for this one...) wears no ornamentation, consistent with the style of his faction, and his tusks are the same size, and even whiter- but his coloration is generally paler, with more highlights. This could be a sign that he is challenged less often, or more- it depends on how Progenitor coloration changes when they’re excited, if it does at all, and how long they stay flushed, and too many factors to asess or even know exist.

This is good. As far as the back ground is concerned: perhaps put some vegetation or jungle to represent the factions closeness with their natural evironment? Its also very interesting what you say about coloration changes: I was actually planning on writing that into the Prog Interludes.

I hope the sky is blue on this planet, because that’s the color I’ve put in a number of the diplomacy landscapes, sometimes having gone to a little trouble to do so…

Blue is fine - don't worry about it, as I think its a very minor nuance most people aren't going to think too deeply about.

Can’t wait for you to get home and react to this, D. I’m gonna go play with Illuminatus in the meanwhile.

No rest for the grammar nazi, eh?

I'm *strongly* urging you to go with my name, though. Whether Maari is a experiment or what, it's a faction of people with bionically-enhanced intellects- and it's a catchy name.

OK, we'll run with this for now.

As far as the Morganite name is concerned: how about Anton Vlagosz? Just something I picked out of a hat so to speak. I'm also trying to come up with a good name for the Drone leader that is Hindu or Bangladeshi: either way, I think we need to replace the existing name, so I am open on this.

Playtesting update: first trial-run had its moments (as well as some "what the heck was I thinking" moments as well....). I'm going to take the "best of" from this run and incorporate it into the next iteration and see how that plays this afternoon/ evening. If that goes well then I'll probably take a few days, then playtest again to ensure that the results are repeatable, then publish. So right now we're still on schedule for posting at the end of next week. FYI in case there was anything else you were thinking of adding to this scenario.

D

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

A lot of what you say about herbivores and Progs makes sense. Same with the brachiation between to Usurpers and Caretakers. Perhaps taking into relevenace the fact that hippopatami (especially males in rut) have been observed eating carcasses could help to explain the Usurpers prevalence towards war (i.e. that their genome is tending towards an omniverous state)?

Deer on an island off the New England coast have been seen eating minnows that washed up. Jane Goodall reports observing her son's rabbits eating spiders. We've all seen dogs eating grass. The largest land predator ever was a sort of giant killer goat. Species switch all the time as they evolve.

Progs may or may not be herbivores, but I'm sure their evolutionary forebears were.

This is good. As far as the back ground is concerned: perhaps put some vegetation or jungle to represent the factions closeness with their natural evironment?

Hmmm, maybe some vines along the wall, unless you're trying to politely imply that my wall sucks. As I said before, a landscape would be problematic. Perhaps a window, or easier, stick in a narrow upright band of forest along the left edge to imply that the structure is open on that side, or a combination of the two, a window intruding into the frame on the left side. I'll look into putting a wedge of ceiling in the upper right corner.

I'd be interested in your thoughts, soonest before I get into it far enough that I don't want to change direction.

Blue is fine - don't worry about it, as I think its a very minor nuance most people aren't going to think too deeply about.

Sure. But WE have to be detail-oriented. I want it to be good- make that great...

No rest for the grammar nazi, eh?

Never.

BTW, its "the faction's closeness", not "the factions closeness". It's possessive.

As far as the Morganite name is concerned: how about Anton Vlagosz? Just something I picked out of a hat so to speak. I'm also trying to come up with a good name for the Drone leader that is Hindu or Bangladeshi: either way, I think we need to replace the existing name, so I am open on this.

I like Heinrik Morgenthau, -he's not famous enough anymore to worry about that- but the last name is too "Morgan Jr. from Europe", so yes.

An east Indian name would be fantastic; making him nearly anything but Mexican would clean up any racist implications to having a Mexican lead the common laborer faction- though that is how I came to think of Chavez.

So I found Chakravartee Chaturbhuj, first name meaning "a sovereign king", second meaning "strong, broad shouldered". I don't know if that second is ever a last name, and it's awful alliterative, even though Cesar Chavez is, too. We could make it his middle name and tack on Patel, the Jones of India.

Much better than Ernesto Perez...

He's not that dark, which makes him from Northern India, BTW.

right now we're still on schedule for posting at the end of next week. FYI in case there was anything else you were thinking of adding to this scenario.

Got anything in mind?

[Darsnan]

Hmmm, maybe some vines along the wall, unless you're trying to politely imply that my wall sucks. As I said before, a landscape would be problematic. Perhaps a window, or easier, stick in a narrow upright band of forest along the left edge to imply that the structure is open on that side, or a combination of the two, a window intruding into the frame on the left side.

I think that will work very well. I also thought of possibly changing the clothing to pastels, in order to signify her fertile receptiveness to possible suitors (i.e. she's using her sex appeal to her advantage, the same way a human female would in a diplomatic environment), cuz like have you ever seen a more sexy Prog in your life?

Sure. But WE have to be detail-oriented. I want it to be good- make that great...

Well, in the long run this graphic is intended for use on multiple planets/ multiple environments/ multiple atmospheres. As such we can only pick one color for the background, and blue is probably the best color IMO.

An east Indian name would be fantastic. So I found Chakravartee Chaturbhuj, first name meaning "a sovereign king", second meaning "strong, broad shouldered".

Chakravartee Chaturbhuj it is!

Got anything in mind?

Not for EotB. I did include some wish-list stuff in the PM I sent you the other day, but as I said this is more wish-list than anything else.

D

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

I think that will work very well.

Great. I'm on it.

I also thought of possibly changing the clothing to pastels,

Problematic, the way the burlap muumuu is lit, but I'll look into it.

I'll post a .jpg of what I come up with for the portrait when I'm done. Let me know when you're ready for/have to have what final pcx upgrades I've got waiting- I may save everyone some time that way.

in order to signify her fertile receptiveness to possible suitors (i.e. she's using her sex appeal to her advantage, the same way a human female would in a diplomatic environment), cuz like have you ever seen a more sexy Prog in your life?

No. No, I haven't.

Well, in the long run this graphic is intended for use on multiple planets/ multiple environments/ multiple atmospheres. As such we can only pick one color for the background, and blue is probably the best color IMO.

Good point. I always intended these faction graphics as all-purpose alternates. I hear and obey.

Chakravartee Chaturbhuj it is!

See that's a thing I need to change in the pcx, (also Morgenthau/Vlagosz) and I wouldn't want to waste everyone's time over it (of course, I've altered Chakravartee's portrait, too)- but to the extent other people use these in the future, I wanna lock that down, as names have power and help people get a handle on who the leader is.

Not Patel, then?

I did include some wish-list stuff in the PM I sent you the other day

I've got some ideas. I'll need to know more about what the planet looks like, beyond what I can tell looking at the texture file. Also, I guess I need to download and install the last iteration of BL- having a look around should give me tons of notions.



First, I've got two SMAC factions left to reimagine, and five for SMACX. (Maybe four- I'm not as interested in doing Progenitors again- unless maybe, I dunno, Usurpers+? Twice as nasty, not even out for power, just hate everyone and want the universe cleared for their faction?) I guess I should start a new thread in Creation- I hope you'll want to collaborate the way we have here. You know you'll be using them before too long...

I'm gonna poke though your EotB SMAC version files for any helpful details to get me started. I'm thinking about someone who actually looks like a hippie for the alt Gaians. I'd like to do a Swiss woman for the Peacekeepers, but that would be whitening things again... I wouldn't begin to know how to find a Polynesian hippie to compensate...

[Darsnan]

See that's a thing I need to change in the pcx, (also Morgenthau/Vlagosz) and I wouldn't want to waste everyone's time over it (of course, I've altered Chakravartee's portrait, too)- but to the extent other people use these in the future, I wanna lock that down, as names have power and help people get a handle on who the leader is.

Not Patel, then?

It is not that much of an issue for me. I think you make the call, and we run with it If in the future I want to change the names, then I can do it at that time (as you said, names have power, and by giving a name to a faction I can infer certain things to players).

I've got some ideas. I'll need to know more about what the planet looks like, beyond what I can tell looking at the texture file. Also, I guess I need to download and install the last iteration of BL- having a look around should give me tons of notions.

From my perspective currently we have 3 options for terrain graphics: the default shocking pink, drab smac, and wgabrie's frothy gold fungus. Why don't you see if you can come up with something different? Maybe an off-green purple (I don't suppose you ever played Deadlock? It had several different graphics packs to represent different environments, with one having a sort of purplish vegetation), or whatever strikes your fancy (you've been pretty good at nailing things on the head with graphics so far).

First, I've got two SMAC factions left to reimagine, and five for SMACX. (Maybe four- I'm not as interested in doing Progenitors again- unless maybe, I dunno, Usurpers+? Twice as nasty, not even out for power, just hate everyone and want the universe cleared for their faction?)

I can run with the Jud'aa Maar pic as is, as I think it closely represents the faction I was discussing with you quite well. I'd say at worst make the other Prog pic your lowest priority.

I guess I should start a new thread in Creation- I hope you'll want to collaborate the way we have here. You know you'll be using them before too long...

Yes, yes I will.

I'm gonna poke though your EotB SMAC version files for any helpful details to get me started. I'm thinking about someone who actually looks like a hippie for the alt Gaians. I'd like to do a Swiss woman for the Peacekeepers, but that would be whitening things again... I wouldn't begin to know how to find a Polynesian hippie to compensate...

re the PK's: Maybe someone who has an Australian Aboriginal background? Or an Aztec Indian background?

D

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

It is not that much of an issue for me. I think you make the call, and we run with it

Not Patel then. I'd like for it to sound right, even for any hypothetical Indians who might see it, but best to keep things simple.

If in the future I want to change the names, then I can do it at that time (as you said, names have power, and by giving a name to a faction I can infer certain things to players).

Yes, exactly. You can call Maari Sid if you need to.

Also, you imply. The players infer.

Why don't you see if you can come up with something different? Maybe an off-green purple (I don't suppose you ever played Deadlock?

Oh hell yeah. Love it.

It had several different graphics packs to represent different environments, with one having a sort of purplish vegetation), or whatever strikes your fancy (you've been pretty good at nailing things on the head with graphics so far).

I'll have to have another look at the texture file.

I can run with the Jud'aa Maar pic as is, as I think it closely represents the faction I was discussing with you quite well. I'd say at worst make the other Prog pic your lowest priority

Yes, yes I will. They already were.

What's this about using the Usurpers? Where? I thought I was done here...

re the PK's: Maybe someone who has an Australian Aboriginal background? Or an Aztec Indian background?

Those aren't bad ideas. I should go have a look at all the Time covers you suggested for various factions, too, but you know, old white guys. I love old white guys, mind you, but...


***
Below is a .bmp of Selar S'plorr with a window in her cabin. I did what I could to pastel the muumuu (it's decidedly lighter all over and has a bit more color in the highlights)- if you have any more ideas about changing it, they're most easily implemented before I turn off the computer whenever bedtime ends up being tonight- I saved the select of the garment and would save over an hour reselecting it.

(Do you suppose Progs, or just caretaker-types, or just the [female-type gender], unless the latter two are the same thing, grow those green collars/grayish muumuus? Like, there's evidence those rill horns are somehow present with the ribbing in the rill, as well as faintly against Lular's collar, and indeed, I didn't eradicate all those signs with Selar. If you squint, you can see signs that they're there under the [fabric?]. Could they be growing a web-thingy from under the rill? And they're not horns, but hornlike ribbing- maybe doubled in their ancestors as a sort of neck guard? Progs might even be capable of turning them up-and-pointed-out when in immediate danger/really pissed, too...)

I also backed off the color saturation of the wall a hair, which looks much better when its zoomed, but not so different at 100%. The jungle background is easily changed/manipulated anytime- a thought for the future, too- 'cause it's a nice, easy square...

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

A few speculations about Maarifa’s life.

Though ugly crap still goes down way too much, Africa has become more stable and prosperous in the future. Not rich, but- many countries actually have a not-tiny middle class.

Maari is a product of Tanzania’s. Her formal education was actually mostly medical- she’s an MD, but she went into research, specializing in prosthetics; specifically, electronic devices to help brain-damaged patients function. You can see where that’s heading, I’m sure. She used them on herself. Not because of an injury, but because she wanted to change.

Some of that ugliness went down in her teens, you see. A revolution, I think. One of those wonderful African-style random violence ones. She got molestered, possibly also saw a relative or five hacked to bits- prosaic stuff like that. It made her want to be a different person, someone who could never be victimized like that, and someone who, being not-her, felt clean.

That all makes her sound like less healthy a person than she is now- it was a long time ago- but then again, she wired a buncha stuff into her brain, and she still likes it that way.

She’d always been good with gadgets and computers, you see, and now she’s fantastic.

She’s been hardened by the trauma of her youth. But as long as she can get and keep control of her environment and feel safe, she’s golden.

…That’s all I got for now. Hope it’s useful to you.

***

I’ve thought of a way to maybe add color to the highlights on the muumuu without it taking the rest of my life. If it don’t buck me too much, I might have another version of Selar up tonight. If not, well, I realized I could copy-and save just the muumuu.

--And sure enough, while ‘Polly was having her nightly server crap-up I did the attached. Up close, it’s a pretty LSD sorta pastel, but I hereby declare this to be what gets Progenitors hot…--

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

A thought about Anton Vlagosz.

CEO Morgan is Donald Trump, right? Bold, egotisical, colorful, thinks big, and is a massive, massive butthole.

Vlagosz, on the other hand, is a banker. Dry as dust, and only cares about the balance sheet. Not imaginative like Morgan, but not a huge tool like him, either. He'd cut your throat if he thought there was a nickle in your pocket, but he wouldn't annoy you out of your mind first...

[Darsnan]

Oh hell yeah. Love it.

You still play? I gave my disks away ages ago. It was a very fun game - I enjoyed playing the Re'Lu mind-trick on unsuspecting colonies, then clobber them with my very-green (pun-intended!) troops. I also really loved the combat model, as you could tell which troops to attack which improvements, and then watch it play out. Premise was pretty weak, though (you and the other races get dumped on a planet and have to duke it out for supremacy - just doesn't sound right to me).

What's this about using the Usurpers? Where? I thought I was done here...

For Beta Lyrae there will be 2 Prog factions as well. The Autochthone are one. The others I described briefly in my PM to you. I can use the Maar pic for the other faction, as it is close enough to what I envision for them.

Below is a .bmp of Selar S'plorr with a window in her cabin. I did what I could to pastel the muumuu (it's decidedly lighter all over and has a bit more color in the highlights)- if you have any more ideas about changing it, they're most easily implemented before I turn off the computer whenever bedtime ends up being tonight- I saved the select of the garment and would save over an hour reselecting it.

Question: what is the background supposed to be? From my perspective it should lend itself (or infer) to the ideals of the faction, which in this case is a sort of ultra-green faction dedicated to living in harmony with a planet. Is there a way to easily accentuate this aspect more? If not, then lets run with this as is.


D

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

You still play? I gave my disks away ages ago. It was a very fun game - I enjoyed playing the Re'Lu mind-trick on unsuspecting colonies, then clobber them with my very-green (pun-intended!) troops. I also really loved the combat model, as you could tell which troops to attack which improvements, and then watch it play out. Premise was pretty weak, though (you and the other races get dumped on a planet and have to duke it out for supremacy - just doesn't sound right to me).

I was playing a couple of months ago, before I got into AC graphics modding. I'm a builder there, too, so I liked playing Uva Mosk, or Humans with all racial abilitiies turned on, so I could do the Shaman Dance and randomly produce extra terrain bonuses.

Only took me about a month to get a little bored, though. It's not got AC's dept.

For Beta Lyrae there will be 2 Prog factions as well. The Autochthone are one. The others I described briefly in my PM to you. I can use the Maar pic for the other faction, as it is close enough to what I envision for them.

I don't think it registered on me that you were talking about more than one Prog faction. BL being the extensive mod it is, I probably ought to customize you something anyway, just for the sake of being different, and to complete my set of alternates.

Question: what is the background supposed to be? From my perspective it should lend itself (or infer) to the ideals of the faction, which in this case is a sort of ultra-green faction dedicated to living in harmony with a planet. Is there a way to easily accentuate this aspect more? If not, then lets run with this as is.

It's treetops, with the lightest green at the top a bit of grassy fields, I think. It's a tiny detail from a much larger shot, and I had to blur it so it would look right in the frame behind Selar, framed in the blurry wall as it is. I'll search jungle again and look for a shot of the interior of a forest or something with a little sky in the frame, and reduce it as much as is feasable, which ought to make it look more like something even though it's blurry.

As I said, what's in the window is totally easy to change. Should only take twenty minutes or so. One of the nice things about collaborating is that I have no sense of perspective after I've spent so much time on minute details, so this is good feedback.

[Darsnan]

what's in the window is totally easy to change. Should only take twenty minutes or so.

Was just thinking - would it be easier to just make the whole background the same as whats in the window, to give it that outdoorsy feel? I think that would convey the closeness to nature better. FYI if that makes this easier for you.

D

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

Was just thinking - would it be easier to just make the whole background the same as whats in the window, to give it that outdoorsy feel? I think that would convey the closeness to nature better. FYI if that makes this easier for you.

No, just the window is infinitely easier. Not passionately in love with the logs, are you?

***

I reckon that this one looks like it's something.

I held out for a painting to swipe a detail from this time, which should help, too.

Note that I'd already put more pink in the muumuu since I posted last night's version.

***

Huh. I can't get anything to upload right now. I thought it was the file, but after the first time I tried, uploads of everything else are failing, too. I'll try again in a few hours. -This server trouble is just a teeny bit annoying.-

[AhHA! Eight hours later, SUCCESS!]

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

Just a note about Chakravartee

(I spelled his name from memory. No refunds.)

The worship of Shiva (and Kali) is primarily found in the north of India. This, along with the presence of most of the Sikhs and Moslems- and the friction that goes along with that, probably accounts for the arguably more volatile nature of the northerners.

Too, they are lighter because they have more of the blood of conquerors from further north in them.

It's also entirely possible that Chakra IS one of the Sikhs and Moslems, though not statistically the way to bet. But if he is, then likely belligerent all the moreso.

I'd say all this informs Chakra's personality, wouldn't you?

[Buster Crabbe's Uncle]

D,

Have you gotten either of my PM replies? I hit "post", but I just noticed that there's a sent folder and mine is empty.

My email is [afraid the spambots wil figure out the (at) trick- just PM me and I'll cough it up].

The reply of last week is lost forever if you didn't get it, but the quick reply box's antics gave me incentive to compose offline tonight, so that I can save. The PM set-up here sucks.

I love this forum, but I'm starting to think we need Cesar Chavez...

[Darsnan]

D,

Have you gotten either of my PM replies? I hit "post", but I just noticed that there's a sent folder and mine is empty.

PM sent in reply to your last night PM.

Concerning the updated EotB scenario: I am setting Thursday evening as the release date. FYI in case you want to submit anything else before then.

D