Обсуждение:Universalis 1

Idle talk here %) EvilCat 10:31, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Neon: Ok thanks Cat for pointing this out. Thinking about new scene now... Why do you use '%' in the way you do? (Neonwhite 10:33, 19 April 2009 (UTC))

It's actually an emoticon, a cheerful smile. the '%' symbol indicates funny eyes and nose. EvilCat 10:51, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Keeping records

If there is something that bothers you in the way I keep records, please, feel free to correct or point it out here. EvilCat 13:09, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

NeonWhite: Liking it. Keep up the good work! Neonwhite 19:25, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Scenes

The thing to remember is that a "scene" in the game isn't necessarily equal to a scene in a movie. That's something I had to grapple with myself.

Where a movie scene is a distinct narrative unit defined by the needs of the story, a Universalis scene is a distinct game unit, defined by the needs of the coin pool. The player who framed the scene may choose to end it for narrative reasons as well, at which point he will probably pay the 1 coin for a "fade-to-black" and cap off the scene. But my motive this time was purely mercenary, and if I'd won the bid I would have simply paid to pick up exactly where we'd left off.

The thing is, we had no pre-existing elements I felt would have been good to introduce to that scene -- either for their own sake, or to spark a complication -- and I would have run myself out of coins inventing a new element and doing anything interesting with it. And all the take-overs and complications I wanted to use the introduced elements for would have taken me more than 5 coins.

And, yeah, the coin supply will get less tight when we start using more complications, but introducing complications with entirely new elements pretty much just offsets the cost of introducing those new elements, while giving charity coins to the target player. Until we get a good library of pre-existing facts we can drag into complications, I expect refreshment is going to provide our primary source of income.

Anyway... based on that theory... I'm looking at this as a re-building scene for me. I still need more coins, so I'm going to pass.

EvilCat's turn.

EvilCat

You're probably right. I think that cinematic scenes can be accomplished with some tenets, but it's unnecessary. By the way, Universalis uses so much cinematic/theatrical terms it would be easy to translate it to Russian - unlike most other RPGs. *sigh* Too bad it's just an indie.

EvilCat 15:28, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

NeonWhite

Giacomo, can you clarify what your pass means? Was that in relation to ending scene 3 or after my framing of scene 4 or after Cat's turn in scene 4?

Also, probably easiest if we sign and time stamp our posts here, so that we know who is talking...

Neonwhite 17:55, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

EvilCat

By the way (again), I don't mind early Complications and, actually, like them. It feels gamey and is an elegant way to replenish coins. I won't force complications on anyone, though. Even to me their mechanics seems a bit... well, complicated. %)

EvilCat 19:14, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

NeonWhite

Ok, I have ended Scene 4. Not sure how to do the editing on the sidebar properly, so I'll leave it to Cat to clean-up.

Neonwhite 08:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

EvilCat

Actually, I thought that you'll reply in a usual free manner, and then I'll compose everything in sidebars and such. Anyway, you did everything right, I just added a transparent line to separate blocks.

EvilCat 09:33, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Pictures

Sometimes I draw pictures for the games I play, and this time I have this urge too. But considering vague nature of Universalis, I have doubts... For example, the dog creature. By drawing it I will coinlessly determine its appearance in a way I like. Or Will - we didn't determine his age, and so a picture will influence you judgment. What say you? EvilCat 15:28, 19 April 2009 (UTC)