|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:36 pm
I am creating a world, oh yes. My advice to anyone creating a world is, ensure that you put shedloads of time into it because otherwise it AINT gonna work.
In my personal opinion, I think fantasy worlds that have too much in the way of "magic" being the explanation for most of the way it works have a hard time grabbing a reader's attention. In a game, it doesn't really matter and nobody cares, however I would like to see more realism in games.
For example:
* Midgar in FFVII could never work as a real structure.
* Continents (Bhujerba - FFXII, Skies of Arcadia, The Granstream Saga) cannot float unless there is a "magical" explanation for it.
* A fleet of boats along with a dirty great big raft with a house built on it (Raftfleet and The Dahak on Suikoden V) would NOT be able to take on large armed ships and win.
Alright, so all three of those examples are from games; I'm not about to spend a ridiculous amount of time listing everything I've read as well. You get the point though right?
I am designing my world so that:
* The techtonic plate system works and mountains are formed in lines as they do in our world.
* The ocean currents and wind currents work so that the areas of the world I want to be hot, cold, wet or dry would work literally.
* That rivers run from mountains.
And there's more where those came from...
Yes there ARE some magical explanations for some things, but the world as a whole obeys the rules geology and physics.
Well...?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:18 pm
I've never really worried that much about creating the world(s) in which my characters live. To be perfectly honest, if it weren't for the maps that SK's made for some of the stories that we've done together I don't think that there would be any maps in any of my stories.
I have several characters that do wander so it's not like my characters just "magically" get places, I just don't map it out in advance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:41 am
It's worlds that could never exist physically without magic that bother me. If I could ask someone who creates worlds like that exactly HOW the world works, I'd expect "uhh, magic?" to be the answer, and it's not enlightening at all.
I'm mapping every single continent in my world, and there's roughly 7 of them. One of them will take 4 sheets of A2, another will take 2 sheets of A2, and all of the others fit on to single A2 sheets. It's time consuming, and quite a pain in the arse, but well worth the while. I feel it makes a world much more intriguing, and it also opens up so many more publication opportunities in the future.
One suggestion a friend made to me was that me world is expansive enough for people to want to do tabletop role-playing campaigns in it. I'm not a fan of tabletop role-playing myself, but if people wanted to use my world for that after I've been published then, why not!? It'd be more money that I could put to good use - and not just for myself (I want to help my church grow and give to charity and such as well).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 5:09 am
wow, this whole world creation thing is very intriuging
|
|
|
|
|
|
B-rad the Vampiric Shadow
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:03 am
I should hope so as well!
It takes an awful lot of time and effort in order to do such things if one is serious about it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:12 am
i just might create one, but no sure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
B-rad the Vampiric Shadow
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 7:53 am
I agree that fantasy worlds should still follow natural laws of physis and geology. Magic in fantasy has a certain place that can, as Mel said, be abused. I generally look at magic almost like a science or art - meaning that it pertains more to sentient beings who wield it rather than just being a force of nature unto itself, like gravity or magnetism. Magic with a rational explanation is more gripping. The floating continent example Mel gave could be used. Saying that a continent is floating because of magic is rather meaningless, but saying a continent is floating because of a failed experiment of some mad wizard a thousand years ago may be more enlightening as well as opening possible points of plot exploration. Am I hitting the point here at all or just ranting like a maniac?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:17 am
No, what you say makes sense.
In my world, I think of magic in a kind of scientific way as well. Magic in itself in what I have created has it's own existence of sorts, but it acts as a catalyst in some ways. For example, if magic can be drawn from other planes/dimensions, the reactions are between that plane and the wielder. However, the existence of magic in my world can also be construed as something completely different. If I explained what I meant exactly, then it opens me up to plagiarism.
I suppose what I am trying to say is that magic exists in a completely separate plane of existence where no being from other planes could really exist. I've been thinking of it almost like magic itself is sentient (maybe I'm just confusing the issue here, I don't know). Tell you what, I'll add this in a separate thread ABOUT magic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:32 pm
I've created a world once, together with my friends. There were better at writing then I was, therefore they gave me the job of illustrator. This is some concept art I made:  I know this looks very simplistic, but this is not an existing place. As you can see I was just practicing on landscapes. I think the water worked out pretty fine. I also made whole maps of the world, but I seem to have lost those. But anyway... if you need some help to get a better overview, I'm here to illustate it for you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:06 pm
I love world-building... one of the first things I like to do in a fantasy setting is draw a map, so I know what my characters will have to cross, see, endure, etc. as they travel or whatever. I have notebooks full of town maps, country maps, the whole nine yards. *g*
Eyalan, I love that pic you posted--that's a very fine piece of work!
Jasta
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:21 pm
What is "a world"? I'm clueless here. xD rofl
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:02 am
Hi Calimouse,
My understanding of world building (and thus of world) is when you set a story of your own creation in a place of your own creation, rather than setting it in current times or any historical milieu on our planet. However, there's a certain aspect of world-building when you take existing times and places and make them into an AU (alternate universe): for instance, if Richard the Lion-Heart had not died in the Holy Land, what might have happened? Or if *insert name of war here* had ended differently... that's AU.
But if you start from scratch with a map, a language, a culture, clothing, food, cultural norms and religious ideals, etc., then you are building your own world in which to move your characters.
Hope that helps?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:58 pm
JastaElf Hi Calimouse,
My understanding of world building (and thus of world) is when you set a story of your own creation in a place of your own creation, rather than setting it in current times or any historical milieu on our planet. However, there's a certain aspect of world-building when you take existing times and places and make them into an AU (alternate universe): for instance, if Richard the Lion-Heart had not died in the Holy Land, what might have happened? Or if *insert name of war here* had ended differently... that's AU.
But if you start from scratch with a map, a language, a culture, clothing, food, cultural norms and religious ideals, etc., then you are building your own world in which to move your characters.
Hope that helps?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:35 am
They could role-play, sure! You can world-build for anything: art, writing, RP, board gaming, or just daydreaming. smile The point of it is, you make your own world. And then you do stuff with it! It can be very addictive; I like flags and heraldry, for instance, and so have designed all that for my worlds--so when I describe a badge the soldiers in a particular army wear to show their allegiance, I know what it looks like because I have a picture too. *g*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 11:38 am
Yeah I agree. I'm designing every continent in my world and creating a language for an ancient civilisation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
