General discussion

I think between assuming each region has hundreds of its own reagents, differences in alchemical practice, good old-fashioned "it's magic" handwaving, and chalking some differences up to story/gameplay segregation, this is not something you need to worry about, at least in this stage of Arum. Down the road, it may be worthwhile to harmonize some themes, but most of Arum is still in the spitballing stage. Also, keep in mind that the explanation of magic in Arum as a transformative, extradimensional stuff means that the world can be extremely dynamic.

ermm wondered if theres set year system or smthing, if there is, games should follow it so after game is completed u can pretty much decide to make game after events of completed one or before or inbetween them, just wondering o.o

@Akira: There isn't, on the extremely simple reason that unless there are enough MADE GAMES for it to make any difference, there is no need to make one.

So far, simply stating "X game happens Y time before Z game" is enough.

I see. ty for answering, would rlly like to see this world develop more and more as its awsome idea imo

Saw this before on other forums, this does seem like a cool idea!

I already have an idea or two that would be fun to do for this. My setting isn't very specific, and rather small scale, so it could fit it almost anywhere at this point! I'm not going to start any Arum setting games for a while though. I wanna finish my main Ace project first (knowing me, that will be a while!)

Heh, and one of my ideas would be like a few billion years before most Arum games would be, so I really don't have to worry about space being taken!

Oh, and the thought of other planets...hmmm, hmm, hmmmmmm! I think "Stargates" are in order! Arum, the RM UNIVERSE. Nothing wrong with going to other galaxies! (you see, this is why I never get anything done!)

So if I understand this thread correctly... It's a prebuilt world that anyone is welcome to build their stories in... Right?

How is this project going? Not much activity, have any games been created fully yet? Are there many ongoing stories? When a creator creates their story, do they pack it up and upload it to their fans, or do they give it to you and you put it together? How does player start point work?

@Shablo5: Pre-built in PLACES, yes. There's never going to be EVERYTHING already inside.

So far, 3 projects (I hope I'm not missing any) have been completed and quite a few others are (or should be) in progress. The Country reference map has quite a few submissions, and if even half on those games get finished (unlikely, but no harm in dreaming) we're not doing bad.

That said, making games is slow business and we're not accepting demos as "official" to add stuff in. There will probably be an official update soon-ish to include new information from the Arum contest too.

As for gaming mechanics, that's up to the developer. We have absolutely no rules or requirements about gameplay or structure, only some rules about content style (no world destroying, no uber characters/empires taking over the whole world, etc).

tl;dr: the arum world is active, just in a busy, quiet sort of way.

@Indrah Yes, but where do we download the world? Like, if I created a game in your world, do I send you my game and you have some centralized RTP/NonRTP game that you add it to? Or would I bundle it up and post it on my own topic. That's what i'm asking.

From what I understand, and I could be way off, there's like 3 completed games in your world. My question is... Are they all accessible by downloading one package, opening up the game and selecting which one from a menu / warp list? Or what? Where would I go to enjoy these games you've created and how do they work together?

@Shablo5: Each individual game in Arum is just that, an individual game. They are just set in the same world. They are connected setting wise, in some ways, but the games themselves are not linked (well, unless someone makes a sequel or something that lets you use clear data somehow)

Anyway, I was thinking about other Planets (I'm sorry, can't control myself!) Would it be okay for someone to just make up a whole new planet for their project? I mean, it probably sounds pointless, but connecting them would be fun. (like, one of the races in this region of the main Arum planet isn't actually native to this planet, nor were they evolved that way due to magic and stuff, they are from another planet! Go to their homeworld!) Errr...well, it sounds pretty silly now that I brought it up. Oh well. I'm just being silly and awkward.

@Shablo: Each game has their own project page and download and they will be linked from the main Arum thread.GAMES won't be packed together in signle releases (unelss some devs decide hey want to make a pack, but that's not the purpuse of the setting).

On the other hand, donated maps and the tutorial info WILL be packed and released. But those do not include actual GAMES, just information (in the tutorial) about the games and the world, and the donated maps (for more info read the OP).

@Probotectore: Planets...Let me say frist adn foremost we don't really support modern and future settings: reason beign to ahve a "future/modern" timeline it requires the "medieval" time (wich is the Arum setting overall) to have ended or progressed in CERTAIN WAYS, and this can limit creativity a lot. For example, to hve a modern setting like real life, we'd have to assume magic does not exist (or is secret) and that already cramps the world a lot. THe future all the more so. You COULD perhaps make a modern/future game in the setting if it was restricted to a small area and purpesefully did not create conflict with past times, but it's neither the Arum focus or easy to do.

Thats for PLANETS as in SPACE TRAVEL. If we're talking DIMENSIONS, you can do whatever. It's already stablished in the lore that magics comes from tapping into dimensions, so it's free reign there.

@Indrah: Okay, I understand. But...in fiction, the lines between magic and science are often blurred. They often do the exact same thing, just in different ways. Like, instantaneous teleportation! In fantasy, it's magic. In sci-fi, it's technology. A modern setting doesn't HAVE to be like real life. Maybe cars run on magical energy? People use fossil fuels in real life, which are kinda fuels developed from dead organisms. Doesn't that sound like some bizarre necromancy? I'm just sayin', modern technology and conveniences can easily be MAGICAL if you just think outside the box...So...why not space travel? Maybe we could have magic portals. Maybe spaceships could be made with magic? And powered by magic? Maybe there's some kind of dragon that can fly through space!?

I'm sorry, I ramble about my weird ideas too much. From the first RPG Maker, I've always wanted to mix stuff around! Like, why not mix medieval fantasy with modern stuff and sci-fi!? If that doesn't have a place in Arum, that's fine. After all, I need to take a break from my "cyborgs versus dinosaurs" ideas sometimes. (just an example! not saying I do that...even though I do...)

So...well...planets as dimensions is already free reign huh? Makes me think of all the different Planes in Magic the Gathering. (but, like, more varied than that, almost every plane has to have humans, there are almost no guns, and between all those different worlds, the technology level can't break past a certain threshold...not counting the Borg-like race and the countless "artifact creatures" tee hee hee)

Ah, that's unfortunate. I assumed stupidly that somehow like, you'd not have interchangable stories, but you'd be able to go explore someone elses story, and maybe go back to where yours left off. Wouldn't that be neat? To be in your kingdom/country, and take an airship and see another country in need of help? It is essentially multiple games in one, all in one big world, but still, that's what I assumed this was.

Oh well, cool concept regardless!

Perhaps a better question might be how one goes about creating their game topic. If the idea behind this is to have the story fit within the constraits of Arum's world, without creating stories that would contradict the setting or other stories before it, wouldn't the game first need to be approved? If you allow people to just create these games, using the donated maps or whatnot, and posting a topic, without first being approved, the idea behind this could easily fall into left field.

@Amerk: Considering I accept the game country submissions and will update the affiliated game link, I'll make sure no foul play on the projects. Besides, there's so little set in stone yet, the regulkations for games are extremely loose, you'd probably have a hard time stumbling across a problem.

The "correct" method would simply be to drop me a line when your project thread is approved and I'll add it to the list. If the premise of the game seems like it'd cause trouble, we'd talk to the game dev.

That said, I'll be doing a mass mailing soon to run a check on how many countries are still in use soon, and that should also yield an updated list of affiliated games here. I'll try to do that as soon as the Arum contest results come out (as well as update the tutorial project).

tl;dr: Considering we run what countries get in the map and not or require changes, it's not really hard to see what could be against the rules.

I finally managed to read through all of this and just realized that I was the one who originally went through the old IRC logs to compile that Technology paragraph, back on the old forums, haha. I didn't realize this was the same world that was being discussed/planned back then. I still think this is an awesome idea, I think I might have to see if I can actually come up with something for it. Might actually help me come up with something more solid to construct into a game than what I'm working on currently.

News!

-The Set the Setting contest has ended and the results are out!





-Sent the confimation of activity PMs to everyone who submitted a country in the reference map. We stand at 29 countries, 19 developers, and 3 completed games so far.

-Updated list of games and developers in the OP.

I offer my services for the greater good!

(Mapping that is, maybe tidbits of music too)

That's great RyanA. Just make up towns or ask some developers if they need some help mapping. (You can check the country reference thread to see who's working on what).

So we can just map up any towns/maps or anything and donate them to the stock? If so, how do they all fit together?

Another question: if your story is set in another country, do you have to use the maps of that country?

If you dont' have a GAME to go with the maps but they're good and you want to donate them anyway, just speak to some country owner to specify where to place them.

As it already says in the mapping submission info, maps must be in rtp style so they don't clash.

No, you don't HAVE to use the same maps if you don't want to. They're simply a bonus you can use.