[MUD-Dev] Re: BUILDERS: Ferries

[Chris Gray]

[Mike S:]

:FWIW, various authors including Tolkein, Eddings, and O.S. Card have talked
:about how they started with a map, and built their histories and peoples
:(and eventually stories) on top of it.  I think this makes a lot of sense.
:Eddings also said in a recent article that it took him almost two years to
:do all that for the Belgariad/Mallorean stories, but now he has the process
:down to about six weeks. :-)

This makes good sense to me. My vague thoughts have been to let a fractal
terrain generator build a world for me (for simplicity I favor the standard
rectangular torus, wrapping at the edges). Thus, there is very little
info to store - it can all be recomputed. Given that world (you're allowed
to go through as many initial seeds as you like until you find one you
like), I would then imagine the ecology of the regions - steppes, forest,
swamp, desert, etc. (perhaps with more aid from software). Given that,
I would then decide what types of primitive races would arise, and where.

At that point, history can start. Pick one that gains civilization first
(the "old ones"?), and plot how they expand from their area. What happens
when they encounter other species? Fiddle with the terrain to make for
more interesting sequences. Let you imagination and your "simulation" run
for a while, until you have a pleasing mixture. Then, based on your basic
plot, start adding more detail - name the races, pick sites for cities
(usually based on nearby terrain, etc.) and name then. Go to more detail
and name some past leaders, philosophers, military leaders, etc. You
need a fair amount of detail for the "present time" of your world.

For me, this would be easier than creating a present world or history from
scratch - having the terrain generated for me would "seed" my imagination
in a consistent way. A problem I have with many fantasy books is that the
story isn't consistent with the supposed terrain. Small things I won't
notice, but when east and west get mixed up, and whole regions are in
the wrong place, I notice, and it detracts from the story for me.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA