[Development Thread] Fictionalization IV

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This mod, in the styles and tradition of Phillip Jose Farmer, Alan Moore, Robert Heinlein and many others, is based on the world of fiction. Drawing on mythology, folklore, literature and pop culture, Fictionalization IV takes human imagination’s fragments of stories and makes them into a single universe. Some of the characters in this mod, like Firefly and Hynkell, come from film, others like Charmant and Froshkonig, come from fairytale. Still others, like El Cid and Ivan are real, but still hold strong places in national legend. And if you have a favorite film, novel, comic, play, TV show or anything else you can think of that I haven’t represented in the list below, I’ll try my best to work it into the mod somehow.

Features:

All Civilization have new leaders, as well as special hero units. Each has three Heroes which operate like Wonders: special units with battlefield prowess and/or special bonuses. Civs also have special Legendary Units: special National units that are weaker than Heroes, but still give their own bonuses etc.

The mod will also have new great people names, wonders, projects, corporations, three new religions, and new events.

So Far:

New religions, corporations, civs, and leaders are all in place. A handful of the heroes and wonders are completed, and those that aren't finished are because the effects that I want aren't doable given my limited ability with SDK and python. If you're a decent programmer, I'd love the help.


Old Civilizations

America

Arabia

Aztecs

Celtia

China

Egypt

England

France

Germany

Greeks

India

Japanese

Mali

Native America

Persia

Rome

Russia

Spain

Sumeria

Vikings

Zulu


New Civilizations

Atlanteans

Freedo-Moronika

Hyborea

Shambhala

Transylvania


Heroes (definite entries in bold, others still in planning stages)


Wonders

Projects

Corporations

Religions

I think it's a fantastic idea. Adding an element of fiction into Civ would be a nice break from more "serious" mods out there, creating opportunities for innovation and humor.

One question: would you take the existing civs in the game (like England) or make new ones entirely? It might be funnier to have Moe Hailstone as dictator of Moronika instead of Germany (similarly with Adenoid Hynkel). Either way it looks to be a great mod.

Thanks!

I think it would work better if most of the civilizations were kept, with different leaders representing different governments throughout its history - which is why I listed Big Brother as an English leader instead of the leader of Oceania as a separate civilization. It might be a bit too complicated to write up about five dozen minor countries with their own leader, UU, UB, etc.

Although they could be represented by Barbarian states or minor nations; something like that. That way you could work in interesting but poorly documented fictional countries like Freedonia (from Duck Soup) or Q'umar (from The West Wing), or even the various islands from Gulliver's Travels.

You could easily keep civilizations that already exist in-game that have rich cultural history, like America, England, China, India, Egypt, Greece, and so on (Carthage, Portugal and Mongolia might miss out). And at the same time you could replace some civs with fictional ones that have rich background info. Moronika might be tough to flesh out, but Cimmeria under Conan the Barbarian might be interesting to do, or even Atlantis, which could be a combination of various depictions of the continent in the media.

But there are really few limits with what you can do. You could add fictional religions (the cult of Ayesha, Cthulhu worship, The Church of All Worlds) fictional corporations (Acme, Rearden Steel), wonders (The Diogenes Club, Camelot, the Tower of Babel) or projects (The Voyage to the Moon, The Torchwood Institute).

I've been thinking about this way too much, haven't I?

Not at all... this is how a mod starts.

i can't wait to see this done, should you do it...

good luck

I hope this goes all the way.

You have to think to much, otherwise its going to be like normal civ, this isn't! Its better.

Well if I do start it, I'd need all the feedback and additional ideas I can get. So, if you have anything you'd like to see, by all means tell me. I'm a big fan of groupthink.

These are my main inspirations.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The Wold Newton Universe

Okay. I've updated my first post with a broader outline of what I'm thinking of. Sorry about all the question marks; I'll need to fill those in once I have better research and some more help from more experienced modders than me

just a bump here

Interesting idea about the hero units. You might want to talk to cybrxkhan, who is doing something very similar for the World of Legends mod.

Also, I'd like to request Moe Hailstone as a leader of Germany (or Moronika, if you want to make a new civ).



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Nazty_Spy!

Done.

And I think I'll check out World of Legends while I'm at it.

I think I've figured out how to do Moronika and all the other tiny, silly nations of central and eastern Europe.

I initially didn't think it would work because a fictional state like Moronika is usually only meant to be a one-shot gag; a stand-in for the general political situation of the times. Sure, there's the name, but there's very little behind it.

So, I've added a new Civ: The Freedo-Moronikan Empire. Like the historical Austro-Hungarian Empire, it's made up of many different nations with very different backgrounds and ruled by a joint dictatorship run by the Moronikans (from The Stooges) and the Freedonians (from the Marx Brother's movie Duck Soup). This way I can cram in all those other tiny city-states and one-shots just by the city names: Vulgaria, Latveria, and so on.

Positively brilliant.

"And for taking pictures in Vulgaria, you are sentenced to be shot!"

I suppose you'll have to use static leaderheads for the mod, since that's really the only way to remain true to the inspirations without having to do a lot of extra (in fact, virtually impossible) work animating them. I don't think that'll matter, though.

Thanks

I was actually thinking of the Vulgaria from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but whatever. It still works.

Hey, could you get the word out on this project? I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it right now.

Wow, this really is a great idea. Here's a few suggestions of the top of my head (I'll probably think some more up soon):
Blackadder as a possible leader or hero for England and Apocalypse (Marvel Comics) as a leader for Egypt.

Also, wasn't Harun al-Rashid a real person? I understand Gilgamesh is semi-legendary, but...

You could always use Enkidu instead of Gilgamesh if that became a problem. Surely there was not really a wild man made by the gods like that...

Okey, here's some suggestions for Great People, some of them may be over-the-top or somewhat ridiculous but you may find some useful.

yenemus said:

Wow, this really is a great idea. Here's a few suggestions of the top of my head (I'll probably think some more up soon):
Blackadder as a possible leader or hero for England and Apocalypse (Marvel Comics) as a leader for Egypt.

Also, wasn't Harun al-Rashid a real person? I understand Gilgamesh is semi-legendary, but...

Click to expand...

Well, you're right. Haroun al-Raschid was a real Caliph, but I thought I could use him as Arabia's leader because I think Arabia in this mod will be heavily based on the 1001 Arabian Nights, which in turn was inspired by Raschid's Bagdad. Fiction is always based on fact, which is inspired by fiction.

And I like some of your suggestions on Great People, but I think some of them wouldn't work, and here's why.

This mod is basically taking our own world and looking at it through the prism of fiction. So if fiction says that Apu Nahasapeemapetilon runs a one-stop-shop in a backwater town, he does in this mod. So, you can't really call him a "great" merchant (although come to think of it, Mr. Burns might make a good addition). I also couldn't use anything from Star Wars, Star Trek or Lord of the Rings either; the Star Wars characters live in another galaxy, the LOTR characters live in another dimension, and the Trek guys haven't been born yet - since the game always ends in 2050.

But still, those are some good ideas.

updated the list with more great people, leaders and heroes

For some reason I like the idea of a Conan civ.

Why not Romulus and Remus as the leaders for Rome?