| abstract
| - Those Splicers be crazy. They scrawled all kinds of weird crap all over the walls in Rapture. Probably, the MMORPG will have a recurring Contest for that kind of Assets, destined to be plaster all over the Wilds of Rapture. (and they can change all the time, giving Players another possibly amusing thing to notice). There is yet another City task (for Player) -- whitewashing such messages in the Border area adjacent to the New City. Crazy Splicers keep putting up new ones. They are not only an eyesore, but contrary to the image of 'order' the City is trying to create. --- --- --- It is a shame that game wasnt more like the one shown in the original trailers and endless interviews (the ones they got the awards for - funny, they havent returned those awards, have they?). They then made left turns several times as the game mutated (and delays increased), and they probably then had to rushed thru to finish it, as their budget of time and money ran out. Limitations - if you dont know what you want, they will get you in the end. The best ending they could actually have had (after all that conflicting quantum BS pseudo-science/fantasy) would have been for Booker to wake from his bizaare fever dream (brought on by bad patent medicine he was taking for a toothache) and to then swear off drinking ever again. Booker needed Dorothy's ruby slippers. --- --- --- Ryan had a Death Penalty for all Clowns. Rooted no doubt in a traumatic incident in his childhood, being confronted horrifically by a sinister Clown. So you will find no 'Clown' Splicers in Rapture. There are heavy fines and possibly jailtime for making Balloon Animals .... Of course, once Ryan is 'dead', the Player Creators might have a field day with this. --- --- --- New things being learned all the time. New tools, tactics, actions, cooperation/coordinations. Content would grow ioffering new things to see constantly (lack of content is a misfortune of the existing MMORPG players). Player to be suprised constantly, often with the variety of results for situations (in details and combination) and the reactions to players actions. An amusement factor with the unexpected constantly happening. More varying situations including factors/circumstance that are not instantly apparent (player skills can sometimes help ascertain sooner). Resources the Player has to employ can vary significantly (versatility/reliability is a more important attribute than pure efficiency in the Real World). "Always have a Plan 'B'..." Splicers/opponents can have more motives and goals (besides the simplistic 'see Player, attack Player' we get endlessly) which the player may use to their advantage. Players situation continues to change - things come into view and Player may/may not interact with and then they go out of view and are gone - chance lost (or if followed up quickly might be seen again) (Pirates! as an example). Setbacks lead to more interesting situations, where Players creativity can be employed. (it is not just the usual 'You are Dead. Respawning in Town'). Players have some choice of what they want to deal with.... Player has alot of options and possible approaches available, and isnt run through things as if they were on a conveyor belt. Players can decide if/when they want to descend into 'the heart of darkness' or wander about a somewhat safer 'worked over' area which is a bit closer to Civilization. Either way Players should be able to "find something interesting under every rock". --- --- --- --- --- Frankenstein was the name of the creator - and you NEED the creator before you get the "Frankenstein's Monster". Genetic research became a popular and profitable technology in Rapture and there were many who learned the techniques (and some, who didnt quite learn). With the insanity in the City and all the years to develop interesting things, there would be many a 'monster' or other suprising 'mad scientist' products for the games adventurers to encounter (even 'dabblers' can turn up something pretty awful).. - A thing with the body of a crab and the head of an insurance salesman ("Sleeper" reference)- Creepy vermin of all kinds, as well as amorphous blobs hiding here and there. - Odd diseases - Freakish 'experimental' Plasmids and Gene Toics in use - Weird plants are always fun to have to encounter (some may even be quite tasty). - Yet more 'borgy' goodness with ADAM tech and mechanical strangeness combined. - Lots of opportunities for Player Asset Creators to creat things (and if all else fails and its just too weird or too un-loree/un-canon then could be employed in those weird Splicer dreams). - Heh, even recorded video of some of the 'experiments' done in Fontaine Futuristics before they knew what they were doing. - Jacobs Ladders and Van de Graaff generators always make for nice special effects. --- --- --- --- --- Impetus to use Plasmids and Tonic had to be more than just utility (job related) or consumer convenience. The expense varied (enough that common types were 'give-aways' for promotionals). Hints of Splicing for 'the high' was shown (BS2 and the Novel). Would it not have to be more than other existing 'recreational' drugs which were NOT illegal in Rapture (Smuggled in or produced locally - Note - another Smuggler class of item to add to the list) for them to bother (or was it 'trendy'...). Was the effect(s) that much better or cheaper? Were 'designer' ADAM drugs 'cooked up' by the bootleggers specifically for this purpose ? Genetic manipulation to stimulate brain chemicals directly could be quite powerful (and potentially do monumental damage). Is it possible that the insanity was a good part caused by fried brains thru this kind of use (instead of some of the lame things the adveertizements showed?) How much of the result was Fontaine intentionally making the effects worse to further his plans? --- --- --- Parallel development to the 'Suburbanization' of Rapture. Farms as a business niche. Entrepreneurs selling 'farms' to people getting tired of Citylife ('bought the farm' wasnt ONLY a euphemism for dying...) Tunnel technology "Ryan Cutters" efficiently fracturing rock with intense heat/temperature differential (cutting cost of building the large volume/space required). Certain areas in Rapture had the right kind/formations of seabed rock - solid volcanic lava flows from the old volcano... Large continuous beds of rock (at the right depth) to build a network of tunnels and small caverns). Tunnels largely being self-supporting, requiring minimal structural additions and expense (mainly water sealing). Mirrored interior surfaces make it look bigger (good efficient electric lighting). Heated using the standard hot water network originating in the Southern Geothermal fields (Hephaestus, etc..) Excess oxygen - requiring techniques to generate/bring in carbon dioxide for continued plant growth (possibly pairing it with some industry which generates CO2, or tying into the Cities air circulation system). Meanwhile, back at the Ranch.... - animals raised also - a secondary operation to provide the vegetation food they would eat (cut out the middleman). Animals are CO2 producers and O2 consumers Fish farms fed with farm produced grains, etc.. (they also consume oxygen). Algae recycling methods would be more efficient than terrestrial plants. --- --- --- --- Little Sisters dont like injections - bad bad needle thingees are baaad... Lollipops to administer behavior modifying drugs (employed also with conditioning adjustment procedures) Pretty toys with chemical emanations, pheromones, chemical triggers, whatnot, Their Little Sleepy-Time beds with auto-suggestion audio tapes playing thru the night ? TV shows with submiminal messages (reinforcing various conditionings). My Little Pony with hidden subliminals "I must collect Angels or the Pony will DIE!!!" .... We never really get to see how ADAM is 'recovered' from the Little Sisters, but it no doubt requires some handling by Lamb's personel (Clowns are scary, so I dont think their delusionsl visions of these 'handlers' will look like clowns ... Big Teddy Bears ?). Feeding Time - LS have to eat more than Capt Salty's Chips and Hop-Up Cola (Oh great, 'wired' Little Sisters...) How to get them to eat their vegetables ?? Perhaps they get sufficient 'nutrition' when collecting 'Angels', but during a slow period they still need to get it from somewhere. Just another part of the conditioning ?? I suppose if you can get them to suck the blood from ripe corpses, then getting them to eat broccoli isnt much of a problem. --- --- --- Activation key when you are in trigger area of the climbable object ("Press Space to Climb" when at ladder).... They only allowed climbing rocks/steep terrain spots in a simple limited way (many places in the scenery I would have liked to climb and would have accepted greatly slower movement or inability to use weapons etc...) In the MMORPG there would be more obstacles than in the BS Solo games (which were pretty much 2D runner games). Some maze-like puzzles climbing up/jumping down (the radio towers in FC3 were interesting and the idea could be greatly expanded upon). Combinatoric building blocks of such obstacles to greatly vary the 'maze'. Generalized mechanism that makes more things climbable (without special climb spots in the terrain) -- scrambling up slopes, etc... Probably would need more flexible ability to do something while climbing Climbing risks 'falling' and 'injuring'. Skill based, Equipment based modifiers. Possible use of 'Climbables' for defensive (for and against player) potentially in combat situations (ie - barriers very useful against Splicer Zerg Rush). --- --- --- Patent Laws == Lawyers + Proving == Middlemen + Manipulation == Parasite Fodder All the 'Surface' ideas were available without restriction and such information continues to be brought in even after the City was 'isolated'. Ideas that were beneficial like Otis Elevator brakes that prevent failing elevators plunging 20 floors and killing everyone in them. Royalties likely werent paid for use of such things. Various scientific/technical journals (generated in Rapture) usually were sparse on actual details of how things were done, which protected the original developer who would want to produce/sell goods. It was understood that any idea could be taken by someone else and improved and if it could be made practically into a better product it would be accepted. Even with reverse engineering there is often a lot of expense to duplicate someone else product. "Ideas are cheap - a dime a dozen", there is still alot of skill required to turn them into something practical. --- --- --- Hmmm. Yes, that might explain more than a few things. --- --- --- Objectivism doesnt automatically make anyone a Saint. There likely would be some/many vicious/ruthless people who wound up there (like Fontaine). How many criminals might be dodging the law and other criminals who headed to Rapture as a sanctuary. The vetting of 20000-40000 people could not be perfect and many could slip past inspection. Ryan's Constables would have other crimes to deal with beside the Smuggling problem (again, if there are 'No Laws in Rapture' then what exactly do these Constables enforce ??????????). The Crucible of the Chaos (sounds like good title for a documentary about Raptures late history) did not wipe out all the 'criminal types' (it is actually likely their 'culture'/proclivities was a suvival trait in 'Ruined Rapture'). Noir scenarios for Gumshoes and New Constables (Art Deco landscape... it fits like a shoe). Pre and Post-Fall. New Rapture will have its 'Constables' (with Player participation role-playing and missions) and Old Rapture 'Flashbacks' (also with possible Player interactive) Of course with the 'Winnowing of the Chaff' the people of New Rapture would be more likely to enforce their own 'Laws', but it is a society of 'Personal Responsibility' much as Ryan had wanted it to be. An interesting 'idea' plot (rumor?) might be a shadow group of criminals behind the whole 'Lamb' thing - seeking to toss her into the chum bucket once she did their work for them... Links to the 'Mafia' on the Surface ?? Fertile ground for Player generated ideas/game involvement. --- --- --- Memorable game events for Players when something spectacular suddenly happens as a result of something more mundane/ordinary activity. Usually there is a table of special events to match specific types of interaction which is invoked rarely (like 1 in 100). Some such systems being "open ended" where if a further random hits a threshold additional magnitudes of effect would result. The results usually are choreographed (special Animation Assets...) to match the specific interaction and situation. Logic/programming is needed to interpret the situation to decide what things are to happen (how it fits into the ambient setting). But this is the kind of thing where imagination is key for development and I would want this aspect of the game to be able to be added to via Player Created Asset (done by players qualified game mechanics programmer level of competancy - though suggestions and ideas could be composed by lesser mortals and sub assets like special effects/sounds/amusing reaction verbage of NPCs could be farmed out (collaboration) to 'Creators' of many ability levels. With a complex game world, there would be lots of tables for specific interactions. lots of logic. Getting a consistent coverage of all activities might take a while (there WILL be Players who will do this). Added with time the game could continuously keep getting 'new things' the Players never saw before (suprise and novelty...) --- --- --- Practicalities make it such that Players will be out doing what they are interested in, whether it is out in 'the Ruins' Adventuring or at their 'Team' bases rebuilding or organizing their stuff. So there often would NOT be huge numbers of Player in one place standing around or doing 'city' things. So to give the feeling of being a City, the NPCs would have to fillin. First, they would have to be a magnitude more numerous (compared to the still piddley numbers we saw in the 'busy' parts of Columbia) and then be TWO magnitudes more diversely active (rather than most games where NPCs stand around mostly like mannequins). Real people live their lives, have a schedule, jobs, activities, move about doing similar 'natural' things to what the Players do. We want a feeling that the NPCs live lives.More mundane shopkeepers and ordinary folk 'making a living' would be the base layer of the City's happenings (and a reason for an 'economy' beyond simple survival bartering). The design of having the players 'Team' NPCs carry out tasks while the Player is NOT online would helps organize a good chunk of relevant activity. A day-night schedule and various random/scheduled events effecting the City's people would make things less routine. Ultima Online 'the Bank' - started as where most people kept a majority of their possessions (still true even with housing which for far too long remained insecure) - a place where people went just to see what was going on or to meet up with people to go do things, to buy and sell. or just talk. So many people would hang around that the game company had to adjust the Servers to add more capacity in the very small space. Other games have had less centralized 'banks' (progressive player levels which had their own 'towns' thus spreading players out across the large maps) and having a whole lot less activities available for players to do, losing the need for people to congregate. We want a central place like that in this MMORPG, where players WILL go to see what the latest happenings are and where they can interface with other players. Various activities to 'bring them in' - to give them a reason to frequent the place. Having one center will help and fortunately New Raptures City Hall area will likely fit that need. To make it 'work' the inter-player communications need to be far better than in most MMORPGs (In Ultima Online, all talk was typed, but you saw it over the players avatars head, so you could 'listen' in on countless conversations). Other activities for the 'center' could be as a 'lobby' for 'pick up' mission scenarios and other routine services which will bring people to that area. Things that bring people together, so that they can create their 'own game' of social interactions is important (and a shame if a game omits). Being a more 'interactive object' friendly Game System and with greater possibilities of "Using things as never intended" the 'center' would be available as a place of amusement and exposure of new ideas to players of what they can do with things in the game (Ultima Online in the 'Early Days' had this fun aspect that later dolts at the company nerfed away -- a shame). --- --- --- Unfortunately not that many people had their own private Jet Postal Station (though there could be buzzer alerts/annunciators for station based mailboxs (auto sorter stations). Might have been neat for most/many residences to have a smaller direct delivery pneumo 'in-house' for letters (larger packages would have to be picked up/hand delivered, or a Jet Postal Notice (punch card??) to enter into your nearest Pneumo Kiosk to have the large item forwarded to you there). Upscale Residences would have this as a 'feature'. Saw mailboxes outside of doors in Mercury Suites - even the 'Best and Brightest' didnt seem to have their own Pneumo Machine and their mail had to be hand delivered to their box (which they had to open their front door to retrieve). In game e-mails (equivalent) would have their place to facilitate lots of other activities (a perfect interaction for the 'off-line' tablet/smartphone part of the game. Remember other meduia can be tied to these 'messages' offering a much expanded utility and interest generation. --- --- --- Schrodingers Cat we see frozen in Dionysus Park is the old one (Eleanor may have remembered it from when she lived there). The New one was the test subject Eleanor used to test and correct the Vita-Chamber process Delta would emerge from. (The Delta Project test failures were getting messy, as she slowly worked out the bugs). Theoretically, you could use a Vita-Chamber as a cloning machine, but as it takes a body mass of ADAM Stem Cells to work, it is rather expensive (no wonder it took Eleanor so long...). Vita-Chambers wont be used as a 'Resurrection' machine in the MMORPG, only as a potentially expensive repair system for the near dead (and the game is oriented for that not happening frequently). Good thing bad results are to be alot less fatal and likely a much more interesting experience. --- --- --- --- --- --- Why would a real musician come to Rapture for artistic reasons? As by post WW2, there was alot of freedom for music (perhaps less for lyrics). Why would any performer come to such a limited venue as Rapture. - Feared WW3 (end of world) - the music will go on ? - Maybe came from an oppressed place like the Soviet Bloc - Booked by an Agent who didnt mention it was a One-Way Trip ? - Someone running AWAY from fame ? (idea that could be used at least once) Did Rapture have 'Rock' before "Rock" on the Surface ?? (no there wont be endless people dressed like Elvis walking about the City - except in som Splicer Nightmaree). --- --- --- --- - Bad-Language- Violence- Smoking/drinking (and eating seems to get the care-bears all twitchy these days too)- Lewd/suggestive behavior - Mind games and frightful sarcasm (including stuff that isnt "politically correct")- Unhealthy addictive gameplay --- --- --- Real birds and butterflies flit about in this latest addition to our City's Zoo Flowering plants from various regions of the world brought to you for your pleasure. The famous Blue Irridescent Butterfly went missing, but there are hundred more species to see. Special environmental system was employed to transport these natural wonders from around the World. ADAM enhanced wonder you wont believe... --- --- That would have to be Pre-1958 which was when Porter was 'unavailable' because he was locked up in Persephone on Wahl's falsified charge of Treason. (was Porter ever part of Sinclairs Brain Trust ?? ) First computer in Rapture was a commercial (Surface) electronic-tube-based type in Rapture Univerity.Biological ciruitry using Sea Slug brain/nerve (and some human) tissue, being processed/mutated/shaped with ADAM ( which is how Tenenbaum got involved with promise of better calculating tools for her work). This enabled complex computational functions and interfaces to various biological mechnisms (like 'eyes' for mini-cameras and miniture semi-inteligent controllers ). Computer Circuitry and its power requirements shrank significantly (computers of the era filled very large rooms and used great quantities of electric power and cooling, and the dumbist smartphone could run circles around their processing capacity). --- --- --- Some one on the Wiki Website mentioned for the Splicers using 'Teleport', you actually can see footsteps in water and things getting knocked over by the 'invisible' Splicer as they move, instead of any real Teleport happening. Using the brain jamming effects Ive previously mentioned, that makes it much easier to de-fantasy-ize. So the question is what kind of flim-flam illusion was Fontaine peddling ? Since it didnt actually quite do what 'Teleport' is supposed to do ? A party trick? An illusion of moving place to place with less fatigue ? If it does hide the user while moving its more a stealth/obscurement ability as its primary purpose. That could be the reason it never worked as a Consumer Product - it was basically a scam used as a publicity stunt/gimmick. --- --- Medical Center (BS1) dentist office - Painless Dental - foggy room, grab tonic, turn around and Splicer right there behind you) Bathroom at Triton theater in BS2 (same, tonic trigger, guy suddenly right behind you) A few 'playing dead' Splicers here and there We can have these fun situations 'in spades' in the MMORPG (and do things you didnt see in the Solo games) Lots more interactive terrain/objects too to make use of. We want to sometimes keep the Players 'on their toes' to keep their game experience from becoming boring. There should be 'safe' places where things usually dont 'jump out at you', but then others (like in The Wild) where players should know that unexpected things might happen. A whole flotilla of these mini-choreographed scenes could be created to be randomly (and infrequently) encountered. Quest imbedded situations would be easier to script (less generalized, than what the Auto-Generator program would require). --- --- --- To actually get this MMORPG done there may have to be a collaboration between one of the Big Game Engine Companies (who have alot of expertise the Game publishers DO NOT HAVE) and one of the game creator companies -- to have enough funds to undertake what is really a quite monumental task. Likely the game producing company would have some exclusive deal for using the 'product' for some period before competitors would be allowed to buy the system (the payoff for the Game Engine company) As mentioned before, the Tools required to allow Players to efficiently create all kinds of game assets is a substantial task (but it IS possible that NON-game uses could help expand the payback for teh required expeditures). --- --- - The terrain is more complex requiring additional motions.- You would see yourself maneuver from the first person point-of-view (activating too many fancy moves is problematic, may have to be automatic/adaptive).- You can see your Team NPCs' moves (and other Players you are near)- Splicers certainly could be more versatile.- Player Created moves... (animation sequences - lots of refining by those players with expertise and eye for proper motions.)- Skill based for the intentionals (versus clumsy/unfortunate moves which will be just as 'fancy'). Alot of scripting/logic is part of implementing this, as the 'moves' are limited/restricted by terrain and actions of any 'active'/non-passive objects. (It is alot of work to make just static cutscenes, and an on-the-fly implementation of this kind of thing is far more difficult to make work.) --- --- One of the interesting things in the 'tween BS1 and BS2, webgame, "Something in the Sea", was all the examples of 'era' paperwork and esoterica from the time period. A resumption of the age of paper in Rapture (Ryan said there were no 'Laws', but he didnt say anything about paperwork. We saw literally tons of old paper stuff strewn about Rapture (many potential decades of TP for the Chaos-era Splicer population....) That kelp based paper really held up pretty good in Rapture's dank environment. In-Game created (auto-generation) using form letters and typeset tools and formatters (always more via player assets). Lots of 'City' functions which will generate paperwork. Alot of old stuff from the 'time before' and new paper within New Rapture - Research activities, gathering 'history', discovery of clues for quests/missions... A basic 'prop' of the disrupted Rapture environment. 'Junk Mail' from players' businesses. (another Tablet/Smartphone friendly Asset) --- --- File:AEconcept222xxxxyyyy.jpg Pictured, would be an early test version of the MK1 system (later versions would be much more streamlined). Establishing the first train lines sped up Rapture's construction significantly, allowing bulk materials and workers to be moved to fixed points with much less overhead than submarines.Bugs in the train system were worked out, and the Atlantic Express grew as each new section of the City was built. "My rails only connect the oldest parts of Rapture now" - Prentis Mill --- is evidence that the Train Map we see in BS2 is only a small part of the City. --- --- Endless required looting from unlikely trivial places (why so much money in garbage cans ??). BS:Infinite seemed to have this to an even greater degree --- serves to push you thru their scenery (which they may have worried many players would largely ignore) and also acted as filler for the already low 'average play-thru time'. How far could you get in that game without being forced to endlessly scrounge in garbage cans (particularly in the harder modes) ? --- --- - Methane not just poisonous, but explosive fun too. - Brackish air in sections completely sealed up (bacteria and oxidizing of material can absorb free oxygen) - Get those vents working (you may have to trace airflow blockage back towards sources in the Air Network) - Open the Bulkhead valves (many pressure triggered seals were automatically closed) - Air sensor devices of various sorts (standard equipment for the well-prepared explorer). - Not sure if there are any Canaries left in Rapture (No, mutant pidgeons dont really work). - Note - Fires use up oxygen and may be problematic in areas with no air circulation/renewal. - Fortunately the air system in Rapture (being a critical system from the start) was well-built. - Greenery is recommended for all residences as a way to freshen the air, as well as for a bit of color amongst the drab grey walls and faded wallpaper. --- --- --- --- --- . . . .
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