Other Creativity

What can I say? It doesn't fit above, put it here. Also the location of board rules/info.
Prinsessa
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Prinsessa »

elemtilas wrote:I fixed a busted old euphonium the other day.
I had to google that. I had to play one of those big tubas for a year in fourth grade because obligatory school orchestra — it was almost bigger than me!
k1234567890y wrote:
Ahzoh wrote:I haven't been working on my RPG ever since my computer broke...
although this is nowhere serious compared to a life-threatening situation or a financial crisis, I still want to say, poor Ahzoh...hope you get a new computer soon...
It could be for some people whose livelihood depend on income from IT stuff if they can't afford a new computer if it breaks, tho. :c

I hope you can get it fixed, Ahzoh.
k1234567890y wrote:I do some drawings, and have tried to write something(I hope I can write stories about my characters who live or come to my conworlds, and maybe you can also write stories of my conworlds)...although I don't do them much recently...
Well, I hope you'll feel like sharing something some day. c:
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

My lone creative pursuit outside of conlanging lately has been in creating a stand-alone Magic set. I have some mechanics mapped out, a general idea of the plane on which it will take place and a few random characters who will exist there. But, it needs a lot of work yet.

If there's any interest I'll share some of what I have, but its a bit of a niche interest I'd think.
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Prinsessa
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Prinsessa »

Do you mean MTG? That'd be fun to see.
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

Prinsessa wrote:Do you mean MTG? That'd be fun to see.
I do indeed mean Magic: the Gathering.

Sorry in advance to anyone trying to parse the following who has no earthly idea what Magic: the Gathering is all about. If you're legitimately curious, I will try to break things down into non-Magicese if you ask!

Here's some examples of cards that may not be final versions, but I think they give you a decent idea of all of the mechanics at play, and some images of the Expansion symbol and new mana symbols:
Spoiler:
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(It looks like Photobucket shrunk that image a bit, so if you are completely unable to read those cards, I can post them individually to get around the file size limit.)
The set takes place on the plane of N'Dirhi and focuses on the planeswalker Ibanur. Ibanur is a pre-mending planeswalker who has been moving about the planes of the multiverse almost as long as Urza has. Eventually he stumbled upon a barren plane that was devoid of all life and was essentially just a rock floating through the Blind Eternities. So, he settled upon it and used his vast stores of magic to create a plane worth living on. At it's center he crafted a giant sea covered in lotus flowers. It was from this first piece of land that he created through which all of his mana (and subsequent magic of creation) flowed. It is for this reason, that all of the creatures and other magical creations on the entire plane were the same "color" (here I mean the same color of mana). All things on N'Dirhi were "gold" or in the more common parlance, five-colored.

When he had made his plane exactly as he wanted it, he realized that other planeswalkers might stumble across his little haven and disturb it, or worse. As a safe guard, he created a giant arch (a gateway if you will) in the Lotus Sea. He intended to create a spell that would suppress his memory of having created the plane, allow him to reincarnate indefinitely as long as the Gateway remains intact, and lastly seal the plane from any planewsalker entering it, or leaving. There was a catch though, in order to close the Great Gate, he would have to give up his planeswalker's "spark" (the special bit of magic that allows a planeswalker to wander among the planes). When all of his preparations were complete, he removed his Spark and set it into the Gate sealing himself inside, and all other planeswalkers out.

Flash forward hundreds or perhaps thousands of reincarnation cycles later. (And most importantly, after the Mending has taken place.)

Ibanur ends up in some manner of situation or another that puts him in great physical peril. (I haven't figured out what that might be yet.) This situation is so stressful, that it causes the empty hole where his spark once dwelled to re-ignite! Ibanur is once again a planeswalker and finds himself on another plane with all of his memories restored. He immediately planeswalks back, but with his powers severely reduced since he is now a post-Mending planeswalker, he finds himself unable to recreate the magic he had used so many years ago!

With the Great Gate having been opened, and Ibanur once again a planeswalker, many things on N'Dirhi begin to change...

There's more, but I think I can get to most of the details as I layout some of the mechanics and explain the two mana symbols in the pic above.
  • The set will focus on a new keyword called Spectrum which makes any card it appears on function as if it were all mana colors at once. Any card that uses all 5 mana colors in its cost, or has Spectrum, will feature that rainbow-esque pattern and purple piping on the card frame.
  • A race of creatures called Fragments exist on the plane that can break apart into smaller creatures when they die using the Fracture keyword.
  • Imbue is a mechanic that specifies a number of colored mana symbols (usually one, but up to all five) that if you used all of the mana colors in the Imbue cost to cast the spell in question then it is considered "Imbued" and some bonus or another occurs.
  • Purple mana (the Lotus symbol on the purple background on the left in the above image) will be used as a cost that can be paid with any type of colored mana. It will exist mainly on cards like Wishbringer that allow any player to play an ability. However, since lots of cards in the set will produce colorless mana in higher than usual quantities, this will also force players to save some colored mana in reserve for various spells
  • The yellow mana symbol above is far less solidified and will serve as a symbol representing Desert mana. Basically, the outskirts of the lush and formerly rather tropical plane begin to become more and more desert-like over the course of the gate being closed as an unforeseen side-effect from the plane being cut off as it had been.
Another consequence of Ibanur's re-awakening as a planeswalker and the gate's unlocking, was that the all-colored nature of all of the creatures on N'Dirhi "fractured" as well, causing creatures to, for the first time, become associated with the colors of mana flowing through the habitats in which they lived (lions became white creatures from living on the plains, forest creatures became green, fish associated with blue mana, etc.). However, any creature with Fracture is still, at its core, multi-colored so it will still break into all-colored fragments.

The set will have some distinctly Ancient Egyptian/Arabic flavor to it due to the encroaching deserts and such, but also due to the somewhat "Nile-like" nature of the giant sea in the middle of the plane that makes life in the surrounding deserts possible. You only get a small taste of it through the Jackal card above, but there will be a host of "Vitreous" fragment creatures embodying ibises, asps, etc.

I'm thinking that any pyramids that exist in the set will be of the step variety to break away just a little.

Thoughts, questions? Should I just assume that only like two of you have read this far?
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Lambuzhao
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Lambuzhao »

Loosely, egyptaically connected to the previous post.

This isn't my creation, nor my foot, but...

http://www.ratemyink.com/?action=ssp&pid=37833

Hieratic Ink!

If there was more of this, the world would be a happier place.

I could kiss that foot!

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Prinsessa
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Prinsessa »

@Thrice Xandvii:
Oh! Those are actual cards, right? I thought you meant making your own cards entirely. Still interesitng tho!

@Lambuzhao:
Noice!
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

I did make those cards. With the exception of Sliver Queen, which is a reprint for the set. About 95% of the 257ish cards will be created entirely by me and a few of my friends who have been contributing ideas.
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Prinsessa »

Thrice Xandvii wrote:I did make those cards. With the exception of Sliver Queen, which is a reprint for the set. About 95% of the 257ish cards will be created entirely by me and a few of my friends who have been contributing ideas.
But did you make the pictures as well or are those from real cards? Because that's mostly what makes them look so official.
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

The artwork was chosen from among pieces I found on the internet to lend to their officiality for display purposes. Where artists can be found, I've given them attribution.

But, to my knowledge only one of those images has ever been used on an actual card before (Sliver Queen which I already mentioned). I compose the cards based on a collection of card frames and fonts that I've collected over the years and a knowledge of the verbiage on cards to put together each card from all of its parts to make a finished product. Each card can take up to a half hour to put together, plus time spent on messing with the art in terms of cropping and color editing in some cases.

And all of that negates the time I spent making the new mana symbols and expansion symbols that are used.

You'd probably be surprised how hard it is to design mechanics for a cohesive set with good story background and in a way that fits pretty seamlessly with what Wizards of the Coast (Magic's publisher) would actually make. I have a ton of work to do still, and a lot of playtesting before I have a finished product my friends and I will be able to play with. But, when you get right down to it, it's a labor of love. I've played this game since around '95 when I was in my early teens.

Also, it's super hard to find good artwork online that fits the narrow themes the cards have. I have absolutely no confidence that I will be capable of creating cards that look that good for all of the cards in the set, simply because some things won't be easy to find. But, if I had to actually create all the art, this project would take a decade or more!
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Prinsessa
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Prinsessa »

That's what collaborations are for! Present your set to some cool artist interested in MTG and perhaps they might want to contribute. Little by little, card by card. Probably several different artists. Who knows?

Good work, anyhow! A serious version of what I did as a kid a few times (creating cards of my own, tho usually I made up a new game for it as well rather than applying it to MTG rules).
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

Once I have more cards done and the creative aspect of "flavoring" them appropriately completed so I know what art is actually needed, I might look around to see if I can get some free art commissioned for them from other Magic enthusiasts. The key point would be FREE.
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by k1234567890y »

Two supposedly more recent pics of mine:
Spoiler:
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I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Thrice Xandvii
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Thrice Xandvii »

Aren't those the same picture... Just one has the hair edited out? Also, what do you mean by "supposedly more recent," why aren't you sure if they are?
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k1234567890y
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by k1234567890y »

Thrice Xandvii wrote:Aren't those the same picture... Just one has the hair edited out? Also, what do you mean by "supposedly more recent," why aren't you sure if they are?
yes...only the hair is changed...and I think they were drawn in September.
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: Other Creativity

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Neat. What are they for, if anything? Conworld or story stuff? Or just random drawring practice? Any significance to the bracelet(?) that's being held? Would be fun to see you adding some personal twist to the classic manga style, anyhow. Perhaps influenced by local art from wherever you're from? I like mixed styles...

---

I'll spam some more submarine stuff because I finally got the water looking somewhat reasonable the other day.

There's more proper foam that doesn't perfectly follow the smooth shape of the waves and more particles (they also spray upwards this time, not just down into the water) and caustics (I didn't know there was a name for this until like two days ago!) and stuff.

The GIF quality breaks the detail of the caustics in the water but it's been preserved okay on the surface at least (tho I guess technically that's not caustics but more like foam and reflections of other sorts, but I'm using the same texture for it). Two solid days of messing around with the shader and stuff...

Accomplished the foam and caustics by using two textures. Everything until now in the shader had been done without textures, so it was a neat addition.

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I'll probably play some more with the foam texture but it's nice to finally see it coming together and really looking okay. Shaders are fundamentally simple, but achieving this has been trickier and I've learned a lot since my initial dabblings before I was able to do this.

The particles are not done in the shader, BTW, but with a particle system that I invoke whenever the surface is broken.

The textures:
Spoiler:
Foam:

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Caustics:

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A static screenshot showing the caustics and some rays of light properly without GIF restrictions:
Spoiler:
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k1234567890y
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by k1234567890y »

Prinsessa wrote:Neat. What are they for, if anything? Conworld or story stuff? Or just random drawring practice? Any significance to the bracelet(?) that's being held? Would be fun to see you adding some personal twist to the classic manga style, anyhow. Perhaps influenced by local art from wherever you're from? I like mixed styles...
I was drawing Japanese Buddhist nuns, you can just see them as random ones currently, I may or may not use them in my stories, and anyone is free to use them.

By the way, I do make drawings for my conworld and story stuffs, however, I want to write stories that happen in my conworld(s), and I do have drawn pics for some characters of my conworld(s)...and I frequently put characters who are autistic, good-looking, physically attractive girls that like girls in my conworlds, or conworlds or stories I take part in...for example, I do have put such a character in Teles...
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by alynnidalar »

Prinsessa wrote: -snipping cool water physics stuff-
That looks really nice. It fits with the overall art style of the various other bits and pieces of this that you've shown us, it's a nice balance between realism and stylization. Kinda has a "chunky" look that I like.
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Re: Other Creativity

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alynnidalar wrote:
Prinsessa wrote: -snipping cool water physics stuff-
That looks really nice. It fits with the overall art style of the various other bits and pieces of this that you've shown us, it's a nice balance between realism and stylization. Kinda has a "chunky" look that I like.
Thanks! And yeah, I was actually jokingly saying to gf yesterday that since the current sprites are possibly temporary anyway, that maybe I should base the sprite style on the style of the water so that I don't have to fight the shader by making the water fit exactly with the sprites, and actually base the rest of the style off of the water. [:P] Definitely feeling a little inspired by that "chunkiness" as you say at least. But maybe I'll experiment and try to make the foam a little smoother too.
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by vampireshark »

Latest stuff:
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(They're all supposed to be the same height, but of variable width ranging from 130 mm for the 50 to 148 mm for the 200.)
And I'll dance with you in Vienna,
I'll be wearing a river's disguise;
The hyacinth wild on my shoulder,
My mouth on the dew of your thigh...

Looking for subjects to appear on banknotes. Inquire within.
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Re: Other Creativity

Post by Egerius »

You should be the next guy who designs the Euro banknotes.
Languages of Rodentèrra: Buonavallese, Saselvan Argemontese; Wīlandisċ Taulkeisch; More on the road.
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