http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=240720&stc=1&d=1264105069
Dear Friends,

If you want a scenario filled with Airships, Analytical Engines, Land Ships, Ironclads, Automota, Time Machines, Forgotten Worlds, Interplanetary Romance and more then this scenario is for you.

Our current focus is a scenario called "Lost Worlds". This is based on a Map created by Balthasar:
http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/2810/lostworldsmapqa9.jpg


There are various 'side' projects on-going as well including:


Earth Map - a scenario on an Earth Map with competing nation states and indigenous powers - think Age of Imperialism with plenty of steampunk flavour.


http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/7316/hollowearthlist.jpg room for everything from Verne to Lovecraft. Not to mention Agartha and a steampunk Area 51. Did we mention Alice vs. Pellucidar?


http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/874/sceptreorbsmoonfleetlis.jpg
an interplanetary romance meets the edisonade


http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/2379/dclist.jpg
explore a steampunk Africa (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=439413)


http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5282/kekulelist.jpg
Intrigued? Can't decide what's up in the picture? wondering what's steampunk about it? Search using the scenario title & chemistry as terms for another clue.





P R O G R E S S U P D A T E S

THE LOST WORLDS

Era 1: beta status
Era 2: under construction.
Era 3: planned
Era 4: planned

*All eras complete
*Map (including terrain) complete
*Interface complete
*Resources complete (beta)
*Units Unit list complete; Units needed (see list (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=302186)).
*PediaIcons in production
*Civilopedia barely started. Want to help? We Need YOU!
*Buildings complete
*Techs complete
*Wonders complete
*"spaceship" (Time Machine) barely started
*Playtesting & Debugging underway on alpha version.

DARK CONTINENT
(steampunk Africa)

discussion thread opened
map designed & at refinement stage
factions pretty well defined but still getting worked out
everything else conceptual/blue sky







Other Places Of Interest
Technology Thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=246289

Civilizations Thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=246288

Unit Lines Thread
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8580110&postcount=262
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8814488&postcount=264

Yay! Can`t wait :)

Wow... a steampunk forum :)

I'll be looking for this one :)

thanks guys. I hope you will both find time to contribute some ideas. Have a read of some of the other threads and post some comments.

Thanks again.

Hey, would it be possible to have some sort of short introduction (a link perhaps) about the mod you're making? I personally have no idea of what is this mod going to be based on. A series of books? A movie? A tabletop game? Your own imagination? :)

I think I know what kind of mod this will be, but I have no idea of the background...

It's based on my own imagination but I wouldn't say it was original in anyway.

I am drawing influences from lots of different places such as actual history of the Victorian Era (mainly from a British perspective since I am British); from the Flashman series of books (even though I have only ever part read one of them); GURPS Steampunk: an RPG from Steve Jackson games; Jules Verne (I bought Civ Chronicles so I could get my hands on the Jules Verne scenario that came out the Civ 2 Fantastic Worlds). Oh and anything that comes up in Google. I am also drawing inspiration and ideas from fellow civfanatics so anyone is free to post ideas.

I do have some boundaries though. There will be no magic in my scenario but there will be some weird, alternative science. There might be among other things Martians, Captain Nemo, Lost Worlds and secret societies.

In a while I will draw up the background stories for each civ and post this in the Civilisations of the World thread.

Read Phillip Pullmans "His Dark Materials" saga, it's a alternate-reality-hopping sort of thing. Gyropters (helicopters), Amyronics (Electrics), and several other things are mentioned in them.

They're also great reads ;) My favourite books ever.

Huh.. I`ll have to look for those.. Thanks :)

They're heavily shifted towards the anti-religious spectrum, and they're like a modern re-write of Paradise Lost. I love them :D

Just found this subsubforum (I'm not used to looking into the Project Development subforum). I'm definitely interested in being of assistance to this project. I'll try to be aware of developments, but at first I may need some reminders (PM) to look over here. I see that you guys are onto many of the same sites I tracked down in my quest for tech icons. I'll try to get some of the icons I'm working on (well over 100 in some raw state) that I previewed for King Arthur done and posted, to whet people's appetites. I've got quite few images for weird units, some of which I see you've also discovered.

If you don't already know about them there are two movies from the early 1960's worth looking at for Steampunk ideas: Master of the World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_World_%281961_film%29) (Vincent Price as a Verne protagonist/villain with a cool Airship) & First Men In The Moon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Men_In_The_Moon) (A Wells scientist gets there & deals with Selenites animated by Harryhausen)

Blue Monkey. Check your PMs ;)

Selenites - you may just have discovered my secret 31st civ in this scenario.

Actually, my secret 31st civ were Martians but Moon men will be more appropriate since I'm replacing the space race victory with a Journey to the Moon and Back victory. Selenites plan put a halt to man's ambitions to travel to the moon but their experimental space craft has crash landed 'somewhere' on Earth. Can they repair their craft and its destructive cargo in time?

If you have a chance watch that movie. The Selenites are insectoid, with a queen, and worker drones, and all that. They use some kind of crystal technology too.

Might I also suggest the Girl Genius Webcomic (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/)? The tag line for the title says it all: "Adventure, Romance and Mad Science" What more could you ask for?

It has all kinds of crazy contraptions and frankensteinish monsters (which are called constructs and are animated via wierd science, not magic), electro-mechanical-clockwork-steam robots called Clanks and other crasy stuff.

Ok guys, does a Steampunk Interface (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260440) get me into the discussion?

It sure does get you a bravo!

Does anyone have a copy of Balthasar's interface graphics? The poor guy lost it when the file server was hacked and he doesn't have his original files.

I do, but it is integrated with other interface files, so it may be incomplete :sad:

That's cool. I'm sure if you can rescue even some of it he would be grateful for that as would I. Would you be able to upload it to the file database?

I could do that, yeah :)

Well, by the looks of it, I have all files, with maybe one or two "small" files which could be missing.

I've also included some rare "collectors items" ;)

EDIT: Uploading

EDIT2: ARHGH! Just ended up accidently deleting a load of stuff in .rar manager, and then deleting my Text folder for the mod from the recycle bin! Luckily, none of the interface graphics have gone though, so the damage is minimal...

That's great. I'll look out for the those rare items.

Finished uploading :D

I'm working on a more organized batch of SP/Victorian tech icons. I don't intend to upload the old ones until I can do a "full" set integrating them. On the other hand, if they are really needed I can upload them for now.

That sounds great Blue Monkey. Please just upload them when you are ready

Long Live the King! Long. .uh. .Prosper Virote_Considon!
Seriously, thanks guys for rescuing the Steampunk interface from oblivion. I have repaired the original in the download database, and all is well.
I was pleasantly surprised and pleased by the "collector's items" tucked away in the folder, and even found a Gimp file that I had mistakenly left in the PlayerSetup file! How embarrassing; like leaving a clamp in the patient (it's been removed from the new download). All I'm missing now (that I care about) are my cobblestone roads and Autumn Trees. I'm not complaining. Again a thousand thanks and may you both be rewarded with virgins!

I can't wait. the suspense is killing me.

I can't wait. the suspense is killing me.

And you ain't seen nothin' yet.

between knowin' nothin' and seein' nothin' I'm holding my breath for a progress intimation that can allow me another breath.

between knowin' nothin' and seein' nothin' I'm holding my breath for a progress intimation that can allow me another breath.I'd refer you to Edison for 90% of your answer; and that other 10%, well... "Genius takes time". ;)

Do what I do - :coffee:

I'd refer you to Edison for 90% of your answer; and that other 10%, well... "Genius takes time". ;)

Do what I do - :coffee:

:agree: :coffee:

If you want a peek inside the factory, here's a clue:
Very occasionally graphics in my posts are hyperlinks. ;)

FYI: A progress update can now (and will henceforth) be found in Post #1 of this thread for all of the Steampunk Mod Projects now underway.

Job Posting: Wanted - Civilopedia description writers for the Lost Worlds Mod.
Must be willing to research and write about everything in this Mod. An appreciation of the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, A. Conan Doyle and of the "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" as well as the actual history of England in the 19th century a definite plus to anyone who wants to tackle this job, although "learning on the job" is allowed, and even encouraged. Lots of source material available. Apply within.

If you don't do it, we will...

There's room for more than one contributor of descriptions, of course - what's wanted is a head writer, one might even say an editor.

Uh-uh. I'm the head writer, and editor. I want drones: witless, mindless, parrots who will write only what I tell them to. I will re-write everything. Writers will be severely reprimanded when they misspell anything, and ridiculed for bad grammar. Acceptable contributions will be barely acknowledged, in order that no one consider his- or herself too "valuable". Other than that, it could be fun.

Yes Master. What hump?

Uh-uh. I'm the head writer, and editor. I want drones: witless, mindless, parrots who will write only what I tell them to. I will re-write everything. Writers will be severely reprimanded when they misspell anything, and ridiculed for bad grammar. Acceptable contributions will be barely acknowledged, in order that no one consider his- or herself too "valuable". Other than that, it could be fun.I believe you have, for quite some time, been pseudonymously employed at The Weekly (http://theweekly.co.uk/).

Hello, I have been following the growth of this mod with anticipation, it looks to be a work of genius. I would like to volunteer my modest talents to help write the civilopedia if the directors will have me. I have been a fan of Jules Verne since I was a boy, have read The Martian Trilogy and the first Tarzan novel, H.G. Wells the Time Machine and War of the Worlds, and the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, I also have been reading a Steampunk anthology collection recently but have not finished it. If I can help with the writing in anyway please feel free to contact me. Good luck with the mod it looks great.:)

I'll PM you about it. Glad to have your interest; besides, we can use anyone who thinks we're geniuses. God knows, no one in my real life thinks so.

Genius? Yadda, yadda, shoulders of giants, yadda, yadda. Besides, how could we possibly refuse the help of (cough, cough) "The Doctor". :p

Lol, glad to be of service.

The "La Société Diabolique Secrète" I believe is grammatically incorrect in French: adjectives that deal with good or evil are placed before nouns (Thus, bonjour, not "jourbon"). So thus, "La Société Diabolique Secrète" should be "La Diabolique Société Secrète". Apologies if this came too late.

Oh great. Now I've gotta change this (http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5292/sdlogo3yr8.jpg)?? I need a ruling. Is there a native speaker of the french language among us?

There is no "too late" here. There is only "just in time".

Oh great. Now I've gotta change this (http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5292/sdlogo3yr8.jpg)?? I need a ruling. Is there a native speaker of the french language among us?

There is no "too late" here. There is only "just in time".Steph is the one to contact.

Oh great. Now I've gotta change this (http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5292/sdlogo3yr8.jpg)??
There is no "too late" here. There is only "just in time".

You don't have to change it; it could be an in-joke to people who could speak French.


Placement before the noun
Certain adjectives are placed before the noun, some which you can memorize with the acronym "BAGS":

Beauty
Age
Good and bad
Size (except for grand with people - see 3, below)

These descriptors - and a few others - are considered inherent qualities of the noun.

This came from this French teaching site (http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/adjectives_4.htm), so I'm assuming the administrator knows native Francophones...

Well, diabolical could refer to the secrets rather than the society that holds them. ;)

There's obviously a diabolically secret reason for spelling it that way. Something connected to Numerology or other such nonsense. Personally, I blame those online translators.

There's obviously a diabolically secret reason for spelling it that way. Something connected to Numerology or other such nonsense. Personally, I blame those online translators.The Priory of Sion creating more red herrings. :p

Or that our bad guys are just dyslexic....what? you've never met a dyslexic frenchman? Morte! ...er, Merde!

Arrrgh! you found me tuo

I can't wait till this scenario is finished! (P.S. I find it amusing how Pythonism is one of the "Things that Man was not meant to Know.)

I can't wait till this scenario is finished! (P.S. I find it amusing how Pythonism is one of the "Things that Man was not meant to Know.)

See? Now it's occasional comments like that that remind me that we're not just doing this for ourselves. Where did that quote come from?

See? Now it's occasional comments like that that remind me that we're not just doing this for ourselves. Where did that quote come from?That's the TATTMWNMTK category from my tech icon collection, amongst other places. I see the quote ascribed often to David Cronenberg, but I think it goes back at least to HPL if not earlier.

Exactly how much progress has been done in the last eight months?

Exactly how much progress has been done in the last eight months?
Exactly how much of all the posts are you willing to read?

You could be forgiven for not immediately seeing our progress, but rest assured that the game is, as they say, afoot. Much of the work this spring was done without discussion, and with very few public posts, so there isn't the paper trail one would expect, but here's a behind-the-scenes look at our year to date:

Steampunk Lost Worlds Progress Report
August 7, 1829

An Update as to the progress of the collective endeavour known as the Lost Worlds Mod.


We began the year getting the unit request thread in order, and deciding which of them were priority units. Balthasar had to take some personal time off in the spring, so nothing happened for awhile, then we got into doing the Wonder splashes and Blue Monkey came up with a wonderful template for the time machine, which he has begun (also) working on. After everyone did some playtesting, it was decided to add another Civ to Britain, (originally 5 civs, but that got immediately unmanageable) and one, maybe two to Barsoom (the Lotharians and the Firstborn). The new Civ in Britain is The Black Coats, Leader: John Devil. This has begun to be integrated into the biq. We still don't have a John Devil Leaderhead yet. Varlin Saliptor had expressed interest in making a Fu Manchu leaderhead, but we haven't heard from him since.

Lots of News on the Unit Front. In addition to the Peeler & Bobby, made by Balam-Agab, and the awesome Tardis made by Vuldacon, we now have a plethora of new units made by Wyrmshadow, including a shiny new Nautilus. A little bird tells us that we may have a custom housekeeper and maybe an Alice by fall. Wyrm made us a Cavorite Sphere model, and we're currently looking for someone to animate it. In the last few days, inspired by some top notch recoloring being done in the forum, we've been discussing ways that existing units might be recolored for the mod.

In summary, the Lost Worlds mod is on track, albeit moving at a slower rate than we'd probably prefer. At present, while we wait on unit makers, some of us are using this time to do graphics (such as the time machine), and Bal & King Arthur will be working on unit lines together next week. At present, we expect that a playtestable beta (ceta?) could be available by September, but we're truly optimists, and that has to be taken into account, always.


Of course if you see anything in there that you could assist with, feel free to let us know. I hope this makes you feel better.

Are you guys aware of the very Steampunk Dr. Grordbort (http://www.wetanz.com/rayguns/) line of rayguns and other associated items made and sold by Weta Workshops, the New Zealand company that did the Lord of the Rings.

I don't know much about it, but I saw the rayguns and a statue of Dr. Grordbort at the Weta Workshops mini museum last year before I left NZ.

Not sure if this will be useful for the Mod or not, but thought you guys might be interested anyway. Perhaps the Character Dr. Grordbort could be used in the Mod, if some unit makers sign up to make all the stuff you guys still need. I think he is supposed to have gone to the moon to fight aliens with his rayguns. There might be a comic they produce, can't remember.

Keep up the good work guys!

Nick


EDIT: Doing a google image search brings up lots of pics too. Like this:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1059/967490704_255aabe9f7.jpg?v=0

So I guess a beta scenario will be available by the end of the year?

So I guess a beta scenario will be available by the end of the year?

Yes, if everything goes as planned. Blue Monkey just delivered the completed Wonder Splashes and they're eye-popping!

Yes, if everything goes as planned. Blue Monkey just delivered the completed Wonder Splashes and they're eye-popping!I think there are a couple left to do that I had put off until the nameplate issues were resolved. Wycliffe Tower, for example. Balthasar, please double check & give me an updated "need to do" list.

I was wondering if you knew the Mission: Red Planet, a French board game (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/18258/mission-red-planet) where your objective is to colonize Mars with a strong Steampunk artistic direction.

If you need some addition art inspiration for some PCX or for some units (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/595536/mission-red-planet?size=original), it's interesting to check out. Plus, it's a nice game.

@Quinzy:

Read Phillip Pullmans "His Dark Materials" saga, it's a alternate-reality-hopping sort of thing. Gyropters (helicopters), Amyronics (Electrics), and several other things are mentioned in them.

They're also great reads ;) My favourite books ever.

Anbarics, not Amyronics = Electronics:rolleyes:

*sighs*

Yes, I love those books too... and they sum up the current problem with the Irish Church pretty well!!!

@ KingArthur:

This sounds cool, ever read Philip Reeve's 'Mortal Engines' quartet? Its basically far-future, post-apocalyptic steampunk, might give some ideas for units/techs:)

I'm pretty new to modding, so I can't offer great units or anything, but I could do tech icons and stuff... and I produce music in my spare time so if you want a soundtrack I'm your man!

I haven't read them but I'll take a look now. We have pretty much worked out the unit and tech lines - you can read them in the other threads. As for tech icons we pretty much got that covered but we don't have any music - it would be nice to have a soundtrack and some diplo music for the different culture groups.

I haven't read them but I'll take a look now. We have pretty much worked out the unit and tech lines - you can read them in the other threads. As for tech icons we pretty much got that covered but we don't have any music - it would be nice to have a soundtrack and some diplo music for the different culture groups.

well, I'd love to help with music. Need to keep my hand in anyway, and as I'm devoting a lot of time to college work I might find it easier to motivate myself to compose if I have a set task:)

well, I'd love to help with music. Need to keep my hand in anyway, and as I'm devoting a lot of time to college work I might find it easier to motivate myself to compose if I have a set task:)

Y'know Sam, it turns out that I'm a keyboard player and composer myself - alas, without the fancy midi equipment that would allow me to share my stuff here - and it's not like I haven't been thinking about music for this mod. I've written a theme motif that I call "Cat & Mouse":

283402

Forgive me if this doesn't count out right - my sheet music writing skills are rusty - but, what I usually do with this is play the main motif with a walking Em bass and use an Am/blues break as a chorus...if that makes any sense to you...

Anyway, playing this main motif on harpsichord will give you an idea of why I think it might make the start of a good theme for a Victorian Steampunk scenario, perhaps.

Y'know Sam, it turns out that I'm a keyboard player and composer myself - alas, without the fancy midi equipment that would allow me to share my stuff here - and it's not like I haven't been thinking about music for this mod. I've written a theme motif that I call "Cat & Mouse":

283402

Forgive me if this doesn't count out right - my sheet music writing skills are rusty - but, what I usually do with this is play the main motif with a walking Em bass and use an Am/blues break as a chorus...if that makes any sense to you...

Anyway, playing this main motif on harpsichord will give you an idea of why I think it might make the start of a good theme for a Victorian Steampunk scenario, perhaps.

I like it! You think you're bad? I'm a guitarist by vocation, composeing and recording entirely using freeware, with midi-controllable synths but sans midi controller, meaning i have to programme each note into the sequencer by hand... it once took me 3 hrs to record 3mns worth of music becuase I had to programme 5 different soft synths...:crazyeye:

This is the continuation of a discussion started in the Fun Stuff thread. I'm moving the discussion here to return that thread to on-topic "stuff", and so that I can find this discussion in the future:

Do we really think a main c&c thread will help? I'm not convinced.

What I think we should be doing is getting something tangible out there. Don't we have enough assembled already to make a fantastically good release? That would be the best advert for our endeavours and hopefully inspire folks to help make something great even better..

I agree, I've been saying that. All of the essential elements of the Lost Worlds mod are, by necessity, posted online already, save for the PediaIcons and Civilopedia text files (and Sound files, which are a different matter I'll discuss in a moment) which I would happily surrender to KA, if and whenever he requests it. But I can support a Lost Worlds thread or sub-forum within this forum for reasons I cite below.

But even such a thing might give me a kick in the pants to try to get some of the units done a bit quicker.

That would be worth a new thread. To some extent, we've been waiting on your efforts Tom- well, not you specifically, but on the units you're working on. I had offered to try to make a version of Lost Worlds without the inclusion of Barsoom; that idea that was unanimously shot down. But how to make a decent Barsoom without Thoats and Great White Apes and Worker Tharks?

It's apparent, Tom, that you've become a full member of this steampunk team by effort and default; because you've volunteered the difficult and essential task of making those units. You alone, apparently. You will be rewarded by seeing your units featured prominently in the Lost Worlds Mod and in a future stand-alone Barsoom mod. At least I hope you see that as "reward".... But I also hope you realize how much of this is now keyed to your effort in this regard. Pressure? Welcome to the club.

Even if it's premature for a main forum thread, maybe we ought to have one in this subforum.

And I really understand your point, Blue. You have your Hollow World and Sceptre & Orbs mod ideas that deserve a chance to live and breathe here as well. I would support a separate sub-forum for Lost Worlds within this forum for that reason, if no other.

And I also understand the frustration that everyone feels that this isn't finished yet. It's been like an event-horizon: the closer we get to completion, the more time seems to stand still. I'd remind everyone of just how far we've come in the last few years, from a 'blank page' to our present situation of near completion. Considering the ridiculous goals we naively set for ourselves, that's amazingly good.

As far as Lost Worlds is concerned, we have the following tasks before us, as I see it, before we're done:

1. Final Units - as discussed above, and in the Units Request Thread. Balaam-Agab has gone off the air on me again, and isn't responding to my PM's, but I have the Alice files that he sent me (with some base files missing) if anyone wants to take a stab at putting that unit together...

2. A separate tech tree for Barsoom and other civs? Buildings, wonders, for them? We haven't really discussed this yet. I'd also like to re-do the resources, as I'm not satisfied that we've got them right yet.

3. Sound files: now that we have Vernian Process' permission to use their music, those files we use will need to be converted into the proper format. I hope to contribute to the soundtrack myself, at some point, and think we should encourage other musicians, like Sr Sam Vimes, to contribute their work as well. Variety is spice.

4. Assembly: My computer is a pure mess. My cat managed to wipe all of my bookmarks and unfinished files this morning by stepping on my power strip. This doesn't bode well for me to have such a key role until I can get this beastly machine replaced, and everything ported onto a new hard drive. Too bad we don't have any good computer guys from the Cincinnati area in our group.

5. Beta: when we finally have a beta, I don't think we'll have any problem finding testers among those who have been following these threads faithfully. Moosezilla for sure; I'd like Tony Boscia, Civinator, and Plotinus to all have a look at it as well, as a preference.

The floor is wide open for discussion & dissent....

This is the continuation of a discussion started in the Fun Stuff thread. I'm moving the discussion here to return that thread to on-topic "stuff", and so that I can find this discussion in the future:Neither "fun stuff" nor "welcome" suit the present discussion. How a bout a "getting to beta" thread? A moderator can move/copy posts into a new thread, so the previous discussion can be gathered. ;)

As far as Lost Worlds is concerned, we have the following tasks before us, as I see it, before we're done:

1. Final Units - as discussed above, and in the Units Request Thread. Balaam-Agab has gone off the air on me again, and isn't responding to my PM's, but I have the Alice files that he sent me (with some base files missing) if anyone wants to take a stab at putting that unit together...

2. A separate tech tree for Barsoom and other civs? Buildings, wonders, for them? We haven't really discussed this yet. I'd also like to re-do the resources, as I'm not satisfied that we've got them right yet.

3. Sound files: now that we have Vernian Process' permission to use their music, those files we use will need to be converted into the proper format. I hope to contribute to the soundtrack myself, at some point, and think we should encourage other musicians, like Sr Sam Vimes, to contribute their work as well. Variety is spice.

3. Assembly: My computer is a pure mess. My cat managed to wipe all of my bookmarks and unfinished files this morning by stepping on my power strip. This doesn't bode well for me to have such a key role until I can get this beastly machine replaced, and everything ported onto a new hard drive. Too bad we don't have any good computer guys from the Cincinnati area in our group.

4. Beta: when we finally have a beta, I don't think we'll have any problem finding testers among those who have been following these threads faithfully. Moosezilla for sure; I'd like Tony Boscia, Civinator, and Plotinus to all have a look at it as well, as a preference.

The floor is wide open for discussion & dissent....


If there is no functional Alice, then this is necessary. If there is one that can be a place holder then this doesn't prevent a demo/beta.
Separate tech tree is nice, but not necessary for an early demo. Playtest may better reveal what's needed. Same goes for resources. So this item is not a complete roadblock.
Music - not needed at all for a beta.
Missing files? That's a killer.

Neither "fun stuff" nor "welcome" suit the present discussion. How a bout a "getting to beta" thread? A moderator can move/copy posts into a new thread, so the previous discussion can be gathered. ;)


If there is no functional Alice, then this is necessary. If there is one that can be a place holder then this doesn't prevent a demo/beta.
Separate tech tree is nice, but not necessary for an early demo. Playtest may better reveal what's needed. Same goes for resources. So this item is not a complete roadblock.
Music - not needed at all for a beta.
Missing files? That's a killer.



I agree with all of that. As for missing files, we still have the BIQ and files I saved online last summer to work with. The Master Units Post (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8580110&postcount=262) can serve as a guide to update it to current specs.

Alright, I opened a beta thread. Go, go, go!

3. Sound files: now that we have Vernian Process' permission to use their music, those files we use will need to be converted into the proper format. I hope to contribute to the soundtrack myself, at some point, and think we should encourage other musicians, like Sr Sam Vimes, to contribute their work as well. Variety is spice.


aww... thanks:)

I'll beta test if you like, and I can help with unique tech trees or anyhting else like that that doesn't require genius-level modding ;)

anything I can do to help, PLEASE let me know!!!

Alright, I opened a beta thread. Go, go, go!:nono: No one said the appropriate time has arrived. There is only discussion about whether or not there should be such a thread.

You've made your point. Sorry, I got carried away.

All the threads in the steampunk subforum are temporarily closed while we reorganize. Expect a reopening of a new, organized improved version soon.

The steampunk forum is reorganized & reopened.

Check the directory (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=416072) if you're not sure where to find things. Make any general posts (not related to a specific scenario) here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=246285).

While quite understanding of difficulties I notice that "Worlds" is really singular until more mod/scenario are "listed" in the locked directory. Perhaps a listing w/ a "dormant" tag can be done? Three such would be Sceptre & Orbs, Tibetan Plateau and London. This way it shows that other developments are possible... (not to be distracting I hope.).

You're entirely right. Threads about scenarios that I've been brainstorming are in preparation. The Lost Worlds thread opens with a lot of info that was in several of the old threads. The same thing is needed for these scenarios. & there's a lot of material in the previous discussions. Especially for Sceptre & Orbs. Some of that material includes recapping contributions by oh, say Moosezilla. It shouldn't be too much longer before those threads appear. At that time the scenarios will be added to the lists both in the OP of this thread & the directory thread.

Just to whet people's appetites - not for discussion until their threads open - here's a brief list:

Hollow Earth - based on Verne, Bulwer-Lytton, Burroughs, Poe, d'Alveydre & a few others.
Sceptre & Orbs - A Planetary Romance
Dark Continent - Exploring Africa in a Steampunk alternate history
Kekulé - if you want more of a teaser think about what kind of map would have such a name - look it up.
An unnamed Prof. Challenger style adventure on an isolated cryptozoic plateau


Those are very roughly arranged by how far along their design is. It's up to King Arthur & Balthasar to add their contributions about other possible scenarios.

To recap then: the Steampunk scenarios under my direction are:

Lost Worlds - already discussed
BARSOOM - based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories
Steampunk London - same tech tree and Wonders, new map, some new civs.


I do have Workshop threads for the last two over at Storm Over Civ (http://www.stormoverciv.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=125).

I also can't let an opportunity to acknowledge Moosezilla's creative contributions pass. You've been in our threads since the start, Moose; archives don't lie.

Sorry this is a little off topic but, I was wondering Balthasar, why have some threads on Storm Over Civ and some here? I've been wondering this for a while when I see people reference that some material is on that site and some here. It always seems stange to me to spread things over two sites. I haven't used that site much. Is there a lot of stuff on there that isn't here? I mean in general, not just steampunk stuff.

I basically just didn't want to clog this site up with unfinished stuff. I had alot of semi-worked on scenario ideas on my desktop and needed a place to stash some files and perhaps discuss the rest. I got the idea to put up a little workshop of my own when Vuldacon invited me over to his SOS forum one day to check out his latest iteration of EFZI. There's very some interesting stuff over there (besides mine) to check out, but, like mine, most of the forums there are for stuff that's in-development.

By comparison to most of those forums, when King Arthur started this Forum, it wasn't about his specific ideas or plans, it was about getting ideas from everyone, and I think that's been the secret of this forum's success. One of the reasons we've reorganized it lately is that, in the heat of working on the Lost Worlds Mod, understandably some of the other worthy mod ideas we'd discussed had languished. There's still work to be done on LW, but now that it's nearing completion (despite blowing up twice, being wiped, mutilated, reconfigured, and un-debugged), we figured it's time to make room for those ideas to have their days in the sun. I look forward to working on them.

So, yeah, I have a studio at SOS, but I prefer to hang out here.....

FWIW, When you do decide to go BETA with this, I would be happy to sign up for some testing. I don't know anything about graphics though, so I am not much use as far as making things for it. :( If nothing else, I want to try this just to see how all those units I see Vuldacon using in his EFZI2 get used, and the attempt at haivng multiple maps worked into one is very interesting. It's things like this that make me wish they had done more with Civ 2: Test of Time, or Call to Power; both of those games had multiple tier maps and they worked fine. I am especially wondering how the AI will handle needing certain resources to get to various areas of the map. This scenario looks to be very, very fun. :lol:

FWIW, When you do decide to go BETA with this, I would be happy to sign up for some testing. I don't know anything about graphics though, so I am not much use as far as making things for it. :( If nothing else, I want to try this just to see how all those units I see Vuldacon using in his EFZI2 get used, and the attempt at haivng multiple maps worked into one is very interesting. It's things like this that make me wish they had done more with Civ 2: Test of Time, or Call to Power; both of those games had multiple tier maps and they worked fine. I am especially wondering how the AI will handle needing certain resources to get to various areas of the map. This scenario looks to be very, very fun. :lol:Thanks for the interest, Sasebo. Multi-tier maps would sure make things like Hollow Earth a lot easier.

I know, and the fact that they did it in Civ 2, but never used it in Civ 3 was very disappointing. Though I think it might have been due to different companies being involved. I hate it when the bean counters get in the way and mangle a franchise. :(

It was more likely a memory issue, back then.

It was more likely a memory issue, back then.

Yeah, they didn't remember how cool it was to have different maps to play in the same game. :lol:

But you have a point, Supa. My guess is that the ability to do that, as well as Wonder Movies, is somewhere in the game's programming; we just have to figure out how to make them work. I can't imagine that they handed the game to a programmer with the instruction: "make it do less".

I can't imagine that they handed the game to a programmer with the instruction: "make it do less".OTOH there must be features - beyond those unfinished but embedded - that programmers & other parts of the team were not given time/resources to implement.

OTOH there must be features - beyond those unfinished but embedded - that programmers & other parts of the team were not given time/resources to implement.

Well, yes, of course. I'm not as down on the C3 creation team as a lot of others seem to be. I have a lot of respect for those people who had to set the first bar. My point really is that our job, on the other hand, is customization, and part of the fun of it is figuring ways around the programming.

Before my Great Crash I had a little bookmark library of Tricks and Tips I'd collected over time - from Civinator's 'Resource' Cities to Tom's Charmed Buildings. These are, literally, the tricks of our trade. I need to get more involved in the Wiki, so that these things are properly compiled.

But I also think there are still plenty of undiscovered horizons: for instance, I'd like to have a flc and a bik, each sized to the proportions of a Wonder Splash. I'd bet I could get one of them to work in-game...

OP updated.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5282/kekulelist.jpg
Intrigued? Can't decide what's up in the picture? wondering what's steampunk about it? Search using the scenario title & chemistry as terms for another clue.
[/LIST]

I thought Kekulé was a subtle nod to the moon crater, hinting at a Moon Conquest Scenario. I'm clueless about the picture and how it relates to the chemist.

I'll take a shot. Benzene rings leading (conceptually at least) to Ring Worlds!

Not saying anything, but it's pretty likely a steampunk mega-engineer would name his creation after an inspiring genius. :mischief:

Aw, don't be so mysterious.