Work-in-Progress Spotlight
November 17th, 2008 by Scud

Mirage Island

By Turty

For this week’s Work in Progress Spotlight we shall see a sneak preview at Turty‘s new project, ‘Mirage Island’. As the name suggests the scenairo will place a heavy emphasis on the magical and mysterious, the big twist here being the island is just an artifical simulation of the world created for the entertainment of this world’s sculptor and creator. The creator has ultimate control of his minature world, apart from the individuals trapped inside his sick game, this new and fresh approach to a story within the realms of AoK is what I find most interesting about this scenario. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the cult television show ‘The Prisoner’. (I am not a number, I am a free man!)

The player begins as an unamed arrival to this mysterious world, the archipelago which goes by the name of the ‘Latean Island’. Building on the characterization and to make the player attached to the protagonist they must learn about this land as the scenario progresses. Looking into the gloom, the new arrival sees a city arise from the ground infront of him, complete with life and character. However, the citizens of the city are unaware of their sudden appearance, yet they can remember nothing before the unnamed individual arrived. The unnamed protagonist stays to investigate, until one day the ruling oligarchs vanish – the panicked and nervous locals send out a scouting party to find out what happens, and it just so happens the new arrival is part of this forlorn hope into the mysterious land to find the truth.

I managed to ask Turty a few questions about his opinions on the designing community and the process of making his project:

You are a relatively new designer in the community with only one project released in The Blacksmith, do you feel you have to prove anything to anyone?

Turty: If I had control, I would like this project to be my defining project, since I have yet to develop any name for myself, unless you count “The Laziest Designer in AoKH”. Like many others, I try to disregard my previous work when creating anything past that because I can see the flaws now that were invisible to me at the time of its birth. I don’t hate what I’ve created (like a certain someone who I won’t point out). I’d like to fix the fixation in peoples’ minds that I haven’t done anything (and hopefully, in the process, do something =P).

Some have remarked that the design style of this project is reminiscent of ‘When The Wheel Breaks’, what do you make of the fact that Ingo’s work is still often used as a benchmark within the design community?

Turty: From a general standpoint, Ingo still remains the part of the cream of the crop, but what’s probably the major reason his work is a benchmark is due to his lifespan of creating games in AoK. He didn’t just stop by, load a bunch of stuff to a server, have people honor his work, and then leave. He also learned more about advancements of AoK through the years. Don’t believe me? Compare Gyda’s Challenge to Ulio, and you would notice a distinct difference between the quality of the two. Better yet, compare Ulio to WTWB (yes, I enjoyed WTWB more than Ulio) and you would notice a difference between quality. He’s not a god, though, like many of his disciple think. If he was, Gyda’s Challenge wouldn’t exist, and I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who didn’t like that campaign. So, it’s fine that he’s a benchmark and very well deserves it, but I’m more than certain that there are others in his class.

Your scenario has an interesting plot and original concept, but do you find it hard to do it justice with gameplay mechanics that will keep the player entertained?

Turty: I don’t find it very difficult, as I don’t self-grade criteria on a curve with each other. As long as people don’t expect everything from a scenario to be breathtaking (as what sometimes happens with modding), you could say that I am not having any trouble with gameplay elements.

You plan to use music in your scenario. How did you go about finding tracks that suit your scenario, did you start with the music and build the mood and scenario off that or is it the other way around?

Turty: I merely just started with designing a map for the sake of designing. Actually, what gave me a lot of inspiration was a screenshot. If I recall correctly, it was one by oliver that was an entry to a screenshot competition with a city theme. I loved how it looked and just tried recreating it in my own way. That eventually turned into the gateway of my scenario. Basing games off of music isn’t nearly as flexible as basing music off of games, but I do respect having music give inspiration for a game. If I could (but I don’t have the talent), I would always create my own music. I have a budget of $0 for anything that involves creating a scenario for a game that is more than 9 to 10 years old and would only be seen by about 100 people. Thus, all of the music I will be using will be from other games or was free at the time of me finding it. Music is extremely important to any game in my opinion, as I find myself playing certain games just to listen to the music.

Now for some screenshots, which I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for: