Do Epic Games have any plots?

Discuss classic and favorite computer or console games here.
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Mitsukara
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Post by Mitsukara »

Castle of the Winds (as Galaxieretter mentioned) had a plot! Somewhat Norse mythology based, all about how you were the heir to this legendary castle that the evil lord of Muspelheim, the fire giant Surt, had taken over, and how you had to learn about your roots and reclaim your heritage from him by fighting through dungeons of his minions, lead in the first game by his lieutenant the hill giant Hrungnir, until finally you reached the castle and fought Surt himself at the very bottom.

...of course, Castle of the Winds was also pretty much a one-man project (of the roguelike RPG genre) by Rick Saada (or "Saadasoft") that was only licensed by, and sold through, Epic Megagames. But I've always loved it and wanted an excuse to bring it up ^.^

ZZT also had a plot! It consisted of "You are trapped in the _____ of ZZT. Find the purple keys to escape!"
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DaVince
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Post by DaVince »

Oh, man. I love Castle of the Winds. It's so simple, yet challenging, and you don't have to worry about remembering 100,000 hotkeys.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Now you complain, but at the same time you try to dissable the cheats in your mods, or try to make cheating harder! Wink
Not try, succeed. And I'm only going with the prevailing mood.
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Toomuchsparetime
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Post by Toomuchsparetime »

Games with gaps in the "world" lead you to explore more, imagine more, write moar fanfic to fill those gaps... Which is fun. But that doesn't necessaeily mean "more story = less fun". Take games with TOO MUCH (back)story, for example Loom. So much backstory merely hinted at through characters, settings, and fantasy conventions.
Or Half-Life 2. Half Life ends with the defeat of a boss who was populating earth with his alien minions. THAT setting was easy to understand - it's basically "Doom" but in New Mexico instead of on Mars.
But HL2 begins nearly two decades later, with the protagonist returning to an Earth ravaged by alien minions. Snippets of evidence of the happenings that took place between the games (such as brief mentions by characters, newspaper clippings, destroyed settlements, dystopian cities) are hinted at only briefly since there isn't time - or gamer attention span - to be given an in-depth history lesson. I had to look up half the stuff on the Combine Overwiki just to get the full picture, and even then there's still ample room for game-consistent Garry's Mod fanfic. :P
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Gary's Mod? I've not heard of that game, even in adverts. Is it like Keen modding? That would take a lot of work.
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Toomuchsparetime
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Post by Toomuchsparetime »

It's a "sandbox" for Half Life, Team Fortress 2, and other games that run on the Source Engine. Many people use it to make machinima animations and comics starring their favourite HL2 characters, and original characters that can be made using the various editors out there for everything from ragdoll skins to maps. Most people just download custom modifications from the Garrysmod website, where people upload their creations for just that purpose.

It's no 3D Studio Max - the whole approach is like "playing God" in a regular game. You manipulate the objects with a thing called "the physics gun" which allows you to grab stuff and move/rotate it from any distance, as long as you can see it. There are other tools that allow you to change characters' facial expressions, colours, body part sizes (yes, stop giggling), and as well as being able to fly and pass through solid objects, you can "LET THERE BE..." any object, character or item from the games into existence.

The hardest aspect of it is that it's too distracting. I start organising some scenes for a comic and end up just playing with the tools, fragging zombies and so forth. :3

My current fave Gmod comic is this one: www.lifewithlamarr.com
But it might not be relevant to your interests if you've never played Half-Life 2.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

So it's like that thing you used to make This is Strife with Duke 3D (And all those cute little keens?)
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Post by Toomuchsparetime »

That wasn't me who made those Strifes, but I presume it was a similar setup.

Actually it's easier to compare it to playing with dollies. :o

But that sounds totally un-masculine and if you put it that way you'd lose 90% of your potential customers.
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Action figures. You mean ACTION FIGURES.
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tulip
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Post by tulip »

Now that's really the same innit?
Give your barbie doll a rifle and it becomes an action figure.
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Galaxieretter
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Post by Galaxieretter »

You need to make them out of harder plastic and make them a little smaller.

GI Jane. :P
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Also, the waist needs to be larger, you know, realistic. But times move on I hear that men are moving into the anorexic demographic, becoming more worried about their appearance. When GI Joe gets a manicure, I'm moving my family out of western civilization.

(Oh and did anyone hear? Barbie's cousin is homeless.)
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Genius314
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Post by Genius314 »

Levellass wrote:When GI Joe gets a manicure, I'm moving my family out of western civilization.
So you'd move to Eastern civilization? Which for you, being in NZ, would technically be more like northwest, right?
*brain explodes*
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Levellass
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Post by Levellass »

Om shanti shanti om!
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