What Happened?

[Bearcat]

What happened to the AC-Fiction forum? It used to be a thriving place with lots of threads, but now it seems barren and deserted. Where did all the writers (and readers) go?

[Senethro]

Easy, its an old game.

If you want to see new life in the long term you have several options including...
1. Voting at Firaxis.com polls to remake smac. (may actually work. SMAC is leading the poll by about 22% ahead of next contender)
2. Contribute whatever skills you have to a SMAC recreation mod for Civ4 I'm suggesting to various people. Perhaps that, if sucessful would ensnare a new generation of SMACers.

[Mark123jansen]

I even found a very hopefull quote in the Ask Sid section of Firaxis.com

Question: Do you think there will be a follow up to Alpha Centauri? I just restarted playing it - after having been able to NOT play for a few years - and here we go again; all-nighters when my alarm clock tells me to go to work or get some sleep.
Sid: We get lots of requests from fans asking us to make another Alpha Centauri…and we’ve been talking about it quite a bit lately. So…it’s definitely a possibility down the road. Go get those Spartans!

[binTravkin]

Wanted to vote too, but that poll didn't work or at least didn't show me the results..

[Bearcat]

It's just sad to see such a good thing come to an end.

[binTravkin]

It's just sad to see such a good thing come to an end.

Don't worry, it's natural fiction exceeds itself, you can't talk endlessly about the same thing, can you?

I think if SMAC 2 ever comes out and offers some new storyline, we could get this flocking again.

[DarkCloud]

I wold think that the best way to invigorate interest in this forum would be to get one of the old collaborative tales (Chiron Chronicle, Spartan Chronicles), restarted or to begin you own.

Many of the creative people who wrote for those tales branched out writing other tales quite frequently.

Recruit people, hey, it might work.

As a side note thoug- in the Civ III stories section we are currently experiencing the same dearth- one of the problems is lack of feedback. Writing is being done, but few are reading.
--
As for binTravkin's comments above, I cannot state that I am that convinced- there is a near infinite number of tales that can be told aboult Alpha Centauri- just look at the amount of fiction about world war ii.

Good Luck!

-dc
(former AlphaFictionPhanatic...Now retired)

[Hydro]

I agree with DC. The SMAX storyline is just a beginning, and it can unfold in any number of ways. In that way it is infinite and only limited by a potential author’s imagination.

The only potential problem is that the central themes have likely been touched upon: the brutality of Yang’s People’s Utopia, Sparta’s disciplined cruelty, Gaian tree hugging, Morganite greed – you get the point. Where I’ve found the most fun is in exploring, many times by accident, darkness in the ‘good’ factions and enlightenment in the ‘bad’ factions. It is a different point of view, and one that is interesting.

Personally I also like thinking about how a faction works, or how technology or Planet affects society. I’ll see if I can dig up a few short stories to illustrate.

Hydro

[dacole]

I have to say your stories are always interesting and fun to read. Not sure if I agree with the potrayal of the university though I agree that he would believe (as I believe) that science is the true savior of humanity but I'm not sure if he would be that ruthless. Also not sure if I'd give Lal as much credit as you do especially in the Talent and the Raw deal.

One thing I have been thinking about exploring is the effect of religion in the "non-religous factions" I can see Zak and Yang not having any religion in there factions at all but what is to keep Morgan, and especially Lal from having various religous segments in there society and how would that effect there internal politics and there relation to the other factions? Still letting my story ideas gestiate but will hopefully have something eventualy.

[Hydro]

Lal is often portayed as a simpering idiot, or hyprocrite, or just a little dull. But, I always thought there must be a reason for all those PK talents and that good 'ol Pravin must be at the heart of it. The Talent and the Raw Deal was a stab at exploring that idea.

As to Zak, I take his personality as 'erratic' per the SMAC guide. Sometimes I take that to an extreme and he is unstable (a good excuse for the AI's irrational behavior, btw). Also, I've always thought that people and societies change a lot over the decades, especially when the stresses of an alien planet and a pure fight for survival are introduced to the mix. Plus, Zak could have just had a bad day...

Religion is also a very powerful aspect of any society. Even Yangs People's Utopia can be thought of as having a religion - the State. One can even say that his vision wraps his philosophy around his goals for society, and that of religion - a pure, abject materialism unencombered by emperical or mystical elements, or conventional morality. Each faction would have its own take, of course. All of this is great fodder, so think away!

[Hydro]

bT - I, for one, and not looking forward to a new storyline if SMAX II ever becomes reality. To some extent this is fear of change, but it is more a profound skepticism that any changes will ruin what is good in SMAX: a compelling set of characters, drama, tension, and a backdrop for the elements of the game.

In particular I am doubtful the same energy could be developed in a mod of Civ IV. But, I’ll give the MODers credit and will try hard not to be a complete wet blanket! Their creativity may be a new vision that Firaxis may lack, or may even help inspire Firaxis when/if they create a SMAX II.

As to ‘talking endlessly’, I’ve found that the narrative is frequently driven by conflict (of various flavors), and that can come from any number of sources. Finding a source for this conflict is limited only to the imagination of an author, particularly when the field is wide open after the Unity disaster. Some folks nibble at the edges but stay within the bounds established by known information (like I do), and others bend and break the ‘rules’ in their effort to expand the vision of SMAC (like going into space, grad epics such as the Wizard of Chiron, or even the venerable Spartan Chronicles).

Hydro

[Darsnan]

Good to see you poking your head back into these forums again, Hydro!

Originally posted by Hydro
bT - I, for one, and not looking forward to a new storyline if SMAX II ever becomes reality. To some extent this is fear of change, but it is more a profound skepticism that any changes will ruin what is good in SMAX: a compelling set of characters, drama, tension, and a backdrop for the elements of the game.

A very hard balance to find, or duplicate.

Originally posted by Hydro
In particular I am doubtful the same energy could be developed in a mod of Civ IV. But, I’ll give the MODers credit and will try hard not to be a complete wet blanket! Their creativity may be a new vision that Firaxis may lack, or may even help inspire Firaxis when/if they create a SMAX II.

The angle I have been taking in my discussions with bT about a possible Civ4---> SMACX Mod is that our goal is to duplicate SMACX right down to the last fungus covered rock (or as close as we can get to it). The two really primary thoughts that are driving me in this direction are as follows:

1. If you try and build a SMAC2 (i.e. different Factions, different storyline, etc.) out of Civ4 why you'll never make everyone happy, thus eliminating potential help on the project.
2. A Civ4---> SMACX mod would be the simplest, quickest, and easiest way to build a mod. Considering that there are probably significant hurdles for our community in accomplishing just this, then it makes sense to go with what we know as far as the game itself is concerned.

However, what I am hoping we can do with a mod, which may interest writers such as yourself, is that bT and I have also been discussing whether or not we could get other files imprinted onto a newly created game. So say you wanted to replace the Interludes with a different storyline, why you could edit the file that contains these pop-ups, and this would also be imprinted onto a game you created! Or for a scenario you created that you wanted a tailored opening screen, why this would then be imprinted onto a game as well! Thus instead of writing a story, you could write an interactive adventure if you so chose!

Originally posted by Hydro
As to ‘talking endlessly’, I’ve found that the narrative is frequently driven by conflict (of various flavors), and that can come from any number of sources. Finding a source for this conflict is limited only to the imagination of an author, particularly when the field is wide open after the Unity disaster. Some folks nibble at the edges but stay within the bounds established by known information (like I do), and others bend and break the ‘rules’ in their effort to expand the vision of SMAC (like going into space, grad epics such as the Wizard of Chiron, or even the venerable Spartan Chronicles).

Hydro

Well, I probably belong to the latter group, what with my Beta Lyrae SP Challenge . Different conflicts, different adventures, different mysteries. I've also done several other SP Challenge games in the farflung future, focusing around an invasion of human controlled space by the resurgent Progenitor factions. Someday I'll get to work on this some more .....

D

[Hydro]

D – I’m always around, but the spare time I have is generally spent (outside work and home improvement projects) in my PBEMs (2 fiction PBEMs – PBEM 11 and 13 - currently running). I’ve been more than a bit tardy in getting them posted, though.

I have to say that I did have a hard time getting subsumed into the Democracy game. I’m not sure why, but maybe it is because I’m a control freak or that I like the writing part more than the sharpened daggers and treachery. Others are much more competitive in a blood-makes-grass-grow sort of way and would probably pay money to be excused from the vagaries of fiction. To each his/her own!

Hydro