Many years ago, I was working on Test of Time the Lost World mod and got the idea to create video clips for it. I had no budget to create original material and knew nothing about video editing, but still, I decided to give it a try. This was a situation when one's ambition/ego meets the limits of their ability. In these clips, I shamelessly rip scenes from different movies and pieced them together to create a different story. Very pathetic to be sure, but within the effort, I discovered my passion for storytelling and film. Unfortunately, the enormity of the project was too great, and the mod never got completed.
The Lost World (Main Scenario) (some Background information)
- The player emerges from the Stasis Chamber and starts the game with a group of people. Some of them engineers, others military types (each has its purposes). There is only one type of terrain that can be settled and all are pre-placed strategically and already have Dinosaur settlement on them (Caves, Nests etc). Some dinosaurs are weak, others are much more powerful. The player has to choose who he or she takes on carefully. Once a dinosaur settlement is taken over, the player can build that particular type of dinosaurs but a domesticated version. The idea here is to slowly expand, choosing carefully who to go up against next.
- While the player is expanding, he or she finds abandoned buildings but not from pre-meteorite times. Some of these are huge wonders, apparent tributes to civilizations since destroyed in the Great Impact. The question becomes what happened to the people and also to explain who Dinosaurs have come back to life. Eventually, the player meets a surviving human, an old holy man. This man becomes an advisor to the player, gives him useful information, advice through the Wondersplashes. Through him, the player finds out that humans had awakened from other stasis chambers centuries ago but then they had fled, the reason unclear (via wonders), the player is told that a search party has been organized by Aki (aaglo) and has departed to search for other possible survivors (the player never hears from them again).
- The player keeps on playing, expanding etc. 'X' turns later the Advisor informs the player that he has seen a dream, gives details of a great city etc. This information eventually leads the player to the spot on the main world map where there is a resource that allows for the building of a wonder and in the wondersplash the player is given a code and instructions to exit the game. The code is inputted into the Utility (LCSS) and the game is restarted and now a new scenario is found in the scenario directory called The Search for Altantis.
The Search for Atlantis (the Maze) Scenario:
- This scenario is basically a huge maze. The player starts with a group of men and has to make his way through this maze all the while fighting off dinosaurs.
- Sign posts have been left behind in some places apparently by humans who had passed through the maze before.
- This maze is extremely difficult and there is a movement strategy that needs to be maintained otherwise the player will certainly die.
- The mountain maze is first, and here the player comes upon an old frail man (resource-wonder-)
- The man tells the player that many humans came from different regions of the world founding a new city called Atlantis. The last city of humans and how it was like a paradise, free from Dinosaurs and other dangers. That a great barrier existed, preventing the dinosaurs from entering these lands. Then one day a powerful earthquake caused a huge break in the barrier. First velociraptors came through, and then over time larger more ferocious dinosaurs. Tells how he was one of the last people to make the journey to Atlantis when he and his companions were attacked and that since that day he has been forced to live in the mountains all these years. He says that he knows the mountain passes well and can help give directions to how to get to Atlantis. He then invites the player into his sanctuary, a safe haven from the dinosaurs.
- The player is given a code & instructions via the wondersplash. Player exits game enters the code and restarts game where he now finds a new scenario called: The Forsaken.
The Forsaken:
(The following story has to be put into wonderplashes)
Long ago a man with his family was traveling towards Atlantis. The group of humans he was with were attacked. In an effort to save his family, he and some of the other men stood and fought the velociraptors while the women and children escaped. They were forced to retreat to some nearby mountains with the Raptors in hot pursuit. Only he made it while the rest of the men were killed... The next day, he went in search for survivors hoping to find the women and children. He eventually came upon the remains of the group- all of them are dead he finds the body of his wife looks for his son but doesn't find him for days he collects the remains and buries them-careful to avoid being noticed by the raptors and because of them he is never able to venture too far for free of ambush he resigns himself that he has lost his family and thus stuck high up in the mountains weeks turn into months then years he is never able to leave
One day the many years later the man hears loud noises, sounds of dinosaurs fighting. He moves closer and sees raptors attacking a triceratops. The triceratops puts up a heroic defense but is hopelessly outnumbered. She eventually falls and is torn to pieces. The next day the old man goes to take the horns from the fallen triceratops when he hears some noises in a bush. He finds a baby triceratops there. It is terribly frightened, and the old man doesn't have the heart to kill it, so he instead takes it home. The Triceratops imprints on the old man as its mother. In time it grows huge and is remarkably smart. As the man gets older, he relies more and more on the triceratops.
Years have gone by and the man now is old and grey. He has not seen another human being for ages. His best friend is his Triceratops and though they are safe for now he worries about what will happen to his friend when he passes. As he gazes from his mountain hideout wondering if he will die alone in the distance he sees figures moving down in the valley. As they get closer he realizes they are human. The humans see a smoke from in the distance. As they approach they see man-made structures. They go and find a very frail old man. He is so happy to see them, and he welcomes them with tears in his eyes. He tells them of what has happened, his life and how he came to live where he does now. He tells the people he is very sick and wants them to take his triceratops. He also gives them a journal, one he has kept all these years. One of the men tell him he can make it, that they can take him too but the old man smiles this is the happiest day I have had in years he says I won't die alone takes his last breath.
The men move on, with a new addition (triceratops) to their expedition. The triceratops takes a liking to the men immediately. His keen senses help the men immensely, not to mention he is very powerful. (Wondersplash-a new code is given & instructions to exit game-enter code into utility-now player is back on the Search for Atlantis Scenario but with one new addition (the Triceratops).
On a Side Note: What the old man never knew is that his son, along with the guide and a few others had made it to Atlantis. There the boy, only 9 years old is adopted by holy man - a Buddhist Monk. He becomes a great warrior, one of the greatest in Atlantis but he never forgets the day he lost his parents.
Later once the men have entered Atlantis, they explore the city. There they hear about a great warrior trained by the legendary monk. There are tidbits given to the player hinting about the warrior eventually the player talks to him (the Monk) and finds out that this is the son of the old man now called the Barbarian King Later in the game, after the City of Atlantis, when the player is on the main Lost World Map he meets up with the Barbarian Warrior and gives him the old mans journal the warrior is overwhelmed and joins the player
BACK to the Search for Atlantis Scenario:
- Player gets through the mountain maze and comes to the river maze.
- Here the player can build crude ships. These ships can be built only by an engineer. The engineer has to collect supplies and he is the only one that can make roads. In addition, the expedition has workers which will be needed to man these ships. Each ship costs a population point. There are x amount of workers and though they are not good for fighting they are very important so if a player loses them, he is pretty much going to have to sacrifice his more combat oriented units.
- The player sets off to get through the river maze. Many sea creatures, lots of danger, however, there are a few things that might help
- Aki: Sent off on a search mission to find other survivors a long time ago but was never heard from again. If the player is lucky, he will find aaglo stranded on an island. He is instrumental in building bigger and better ships as long as you can get around the dinosaur problem on the island
- Soren: He was also part of the first expedition. He is stranded on a different island with a number of survivors from the original group. There the player can add to his ranks by recruiting more workers
- After the River Maze, the player comes to the Deserts of Doom. At the entrance is a fortress. General Genghisfarb who was part of the search party did make it to Atlantis. He was highly respected amongst the Atlantean Guard and many of his tactics were adopted. Afterwards, he requested from the Atlantean council that a fortress be placed halfway between the city and the Mountain Maze in the hopes that if anyone made it that far, they could have some respite. This fortress has 2 divisions of Atlantean Guards who will join the player assisting him on the remaining journey.
- Finally, the player finds the Great City, comes before the Gate. A resource is there Wonder-Wondersplash giving a code, instructions to exit etc.
The next scenario is the City of Atlantis
" or "
" ...
www.instagram.com
