|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OSOAWEEK--ISSUE 208--7/20/98 <-------  ||  OsoaWeek  ||  Issues  ||  Book 16  ||  -------> (Cup OWis208, Created v1 (4/27/99), Revised v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = PREFACE * 5/20/99 I release Aerie Obliviana Version 1 over three weeks ago, but I just now discovered that the OsoaWeek archive is missing a very important issue! Somehow, the very huge OsoaWeek208 got lost in the shuffle--so I'm adding it now, and it'll be released on 6/7/99, in a few weeks. This issue contains writing from 3/17/98 to 7/25/98. It's focused on the creation of the system for the "Obliviana Launch", which did happen, but which did not work. But all the effort that this writing represents is not lost--as is almost always the case in Obliviana, I always use the remains of destroyed old ideas to help build new ideas. So check it out! The longest issue of OsoaWeek ever! Yeah! * * * * * Tue 3/17/98 * 11:04 PM I uploaded OsoaWeek190 to my website last night, after a hiatus of 13 issues. 13 issues equals a whole Book, but who's counting? I mean, really, no one is counting. New idea for Obliviana. Or perhaps I should say a new refinement. Whatever, Obliviana is ready to go. The official launch of the new, "true" Obliviana is July 28, 1998, the 209th day of the year, and also the release date for OsoaWeek209. I have made many grandiose promises with deadlines in the history of Obliviana. But the cool thing about the new idea is that it's not all that grandiose. In fact, it's pretty simple. NEW IDEA/REFINEMENT FOR OBLIVIANA Obliviana is a "Little World of Racetracks", consisting of 11 Racetracks on an 11-by-19 grid. Each Racetrack has an associated Revolver. Here is the list: [1] Racetrack Arctahojast Revolver: Severe Repair [2] Racetrack Voodholo Revolver: Superior [3] Racetrack Pilcansas Revolver: Fonosta [4] Racetrack Hucaway Revolver: Halfevil Graphics [5] Racetrack Moodbruc Revolver: Zope [6] Racetrack Roptoon Revolver: Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Racetrack Inhusto Revolver: Forge of Wander [8] Racetrack Fogoncs Revolver: Devastating Nightscape (prev. Primitive) [9] Racetrack Wroohoots Revolver: Super Object [10] Racetrack Twahokum Revolver: Vulpine (prev. Confounder)(Combine Vulpine & Classic?) [11] Racetrack Owltoco Revolver: Obliviana Central I need to be able to present this idea coherently, both as a concept and as a website. Both need to be as simple as possible. Obliviana is "Super Occult Amusement", a new kind of multimedia experience, produced by a single author. If in music an individual can be a singer/songwriter, and an author can write a novel, why can't a single artist create a multimedia experience? Thu 3/19/98 * 12:18 AM Obliviana... a massive thing in my mind... a very minor thing in the minds of a few other people. Now, all that Obliviana is becomes "old". It is all "old Obliviana". All of it. Old Obliviana is expansive and bewildering. But it is over with. New Obliviana is dawning, with a clean slate. Much of the material in Old Obliviana will be entered into New Obliviana. But this material will then be of New Obliviana. That is, the material is transformed from Old to New. New Obliviana... It starts off with Little World of Racetracks, built on Forge of Wander. The central Racetrack is Owltoco, and all of Old Obliviana is stored in the Obliviana Archive there. Each of the other ten Racetracks has an associated Revolver. All 11 Revolvers will be developed in their own Racetracks. This is the extent of Obliviana. Thu 3/19/98 * 9:20 PM New Obliviana. What media is it in? This is very important, since I want Obliviana to be concrete and easy to understand. Okay. Obliviana is going to exist first in HTML. 10:50 PM Correction. Obliviana is going to exist first and foremost in the imagination. Each Racetrack has a set of basic attributes. RACETRACK ATTRIBUTES [1] Number [2] Name [3] Revolver These are the very basic attributes. Some other are: [4] Colors [5] Number of Miles, first Mile, last Mile [6] Orientation on LWOR (North, South, etc.) The layout of LWOR is established. The Racetrack Names and Numbers are established. The Revolvers are established, but a few of the names are still in question. Some Colors are established. NEW LIST WITH COLORS [1] Racetrack Arctahojast Revolver: Severe Repair Colors: Red & Yellow [2] Racetrack Voodholo Revolver: Superior Color: Red & Gray [3] Racetrack Pilcansas Revolver: Fonosta Colors: Green & Blue [4] Racetrack Hucaway Revolver: Halfevil Graphics Colors: Blue & Red [5] Racetrack Moodbruc Revolver: Zope Colors: Orange & Purple [6] Racetrack Roptoon Revolver: Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall Colors: Brown & Green [7] Racetrack Inhusto Revolver: Forge of Wander Colors: Blue & Yellow [8] Racetrack Fogoncs Revolver: Devastating Nightscape Colors: Purple & Gray [9] Racetrack Wroohoots Revolver: Super Object Colors: Red & Orange [10] Racetrack Twahokum Revolver: Vulpine Colors: Brown & Gray [11] Racetrack Owltoco Revolver: Obliviana Central Colors: Blue & Gray Fri 3/20/98 * 1:10 AM This list is the essence of Obliviana, along with the image of LWOR. The next step is to present this information in HTML in a compelling, easy-to-understand way. Regarding the colors, I have to see how they all look, but I think they'll be good. I settled on eight colors, three of which are used four times, as opposed to two. These are red, blue, and gray. They correspond roughly with magenta, cyan, and white--colors I decided to exclude. Black was also excluded, since the background is black. Fri 3/20/98 * 8:22 PM "Obliviana has been established in an imaginary place called Little World of Racetracks." Sat 3/21/98 * 12:05 AM Sun 3/22/98 * 10:46 PM Didn't write anything at 12:05 AM yesterday, other than that time. I was working on a new main page for my website. Money. Money. My idea to make money is to appeal to the ego. Porno is a huge business, mostly because it caters to the libido. Ego is a basic desire, and people will pay to satisfy a basic desire. I've thought along these lines before. Ego. Fonosta is well-suited to boost egos. Now, where does this idea fit in idealogically with Obliviana? Well, first of all, making money is very important to me. It is not a matter of greed, It is a matter of making a living. And just doing Obliviana as I have been doing it is not gonna make any money for me. The whole ego thing has been a part of Obliviana for a long time. And look--right here, in writing this, I am being honest about this idea. Is honesty a problem as regards the ego? That is, if I tell people "this will boost your ego", will it make people shy away from it? Here is the problem--in order for someone to spend money, there has to be a combination of motivation and easiness. For example, if you're gonna order a CD from a website, you gotta really want that CD, and you gotta not be able to get it easier. In Obliviana, as in any company, I need for money to come in. This means that individuals and/or companies will have to hand over cash to me, write a check to me, give their credit card info to me. This is only going to happen if these people are getting something in return, something that they want or need, and with a sufficient intensity that they are willing to pay for it. What does Obliviana have to offer? Once I called Obliviana "awesome free entertainment". But I don't want Obliviana to remain just a hobby. Someone has to pay money to me. A lot of people have to pay a lot of money. I have to be selling products and/or services. I think that the mail order model is the best thing for me to follow. I have a lot of ideas for products to sell, and these products can be intricately tied to the website. Tue 3/24/98 * 8:02 PM Obliviana has been established in an imaginary place called Little World of Racetracks. www.obliviana.com Those two lines could be a classified ad in Wired Magazine for $240. 9:32 PM But, without my website being damn good, it would be money wasted. Wed 3/25/98 * 10:12 PM Updated my website last night, and again tonight. Tonight, I took out a link I had to the old main page, from Owltoco, which I had to include the E-mail address and the "rise" to LWOR. I added the E-mail to index.html and the "rise" to Owltoco. I think I want to have a daily news update type thing in Obliviana. I think It should be in Owltoco. -------- OBLIVIANA NEWS UPDATE Wed 3/25/98--I redesigned this website last night, making it a heck of a lot less confusing. This redesign is the first step toward the Official Obliviana Launch on July 28, 1998--a mere four moths and three days away! Obliviana first went online as an ezine on July 28, 1994, available on America Online and one local BBS. Exactly one year later, this website began. Thus far, I have failed to attract even the smallest audience (outside of people I know, and not too many of them are into Obliviana). But I plan on changing this pathetic situation with the impending Official Obliviana Launch! Sat 3/28/98 * 2:13 AM NEWS UPDATE Sat 3/28/98--I added the Obliviana logo, Little World of Racetracks map, and individual Racetrack graphics. Sun 3/29/98 * 12:40 PM Continuing with this list Mon 3/30/98 * 11:06 PM [1] Racetrack Arctahojast Revolver: Severe Repair Colors: Red & Yellow Severe Repair is well established. I need to convert the rest of the exiting material to Cup format, continue writing new stuff, and developing a "guidance" system to help ease people into SR. [2] Racetrack Voodholo Revolver: Superior Color: Red & Gray In Superior, I really need to work on creating a set of Storm Superiors, all of which are fully excellent. The problem with presenting the raw set of Superiors is that many of them suck. Also, there are just too many for anyone to assimilate. So, fewer but better has to be the rule here. [3] Racetrack Pilcansas Revolver: Fonosta Colors: Green & Blue Wow. A major Revolver, and I don't have a great grasp on it right now. It should be focused on "Racetrack life", imaginary real estate, etc. But it will maintain its core ideal of being a record of one's achievements. [4] Racetrack Hucaway Revolver: Halfevil Graphics Colors: Blue & Red Pelters and Yargos. Definite potential here. Oh, also Codingseeds! I had an idea for a New Phocturnan Felty T-shirt. But would that be SR or HG? Even Superiors can become Codingseed graphics--as can Baskonontanan Areas. Hmm... [5] Racetrack Moodbruc Revolver: Zope Colors: Orange & Purple I got Clossaic Zope, Text Zope, and New Zope. I gotta get New Zope on a regular schedule! [6] Racetrack Roptoon Revolver: Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall Colors: Brown & Green I'll focus first on short sound bites. [7] Racetrack Inhusto Revolver: Forge of Wander Colors: Blue & Brown The whole 209 thing. Forge of Wander sheets of paper. Hand method. [8] Racetrack Fogoncs Revolver: Devastating Nightscape Colors: Purple & Gray Gotta program a first version, Basic is fine. [9] Racetrack Wroohoots Revolver: Super Object Colors: Red & Orange Modern Sapling will probably be first. [10] Racetrack Twahokum Revolver: Vulpine Colors: Yellow & Gray Names to be determined on what were up til now called Obliviana Classic and Vamershee and Deluge of Primacy. Producing a sellable version of Classic is very important. [11] Racetrack Owltoco Revolver: Obliviana Central Colors: Blue & Gray Obliviana Archive, all that has been a part of Obliviana, minus that which is in other Revolvers (SR and SU, for example). OsoaWeek, full text of all, maybe minus SR, SU, ZP, etc. Mon 3/30/98 * 11:19 PM Each Racetrack is independent. There are a set of standard variables for all Racetracks, such as number, name, colors, etc.--but at some level standardization stops. Imaginary real estate--what you're buying is a deed, a piece of paper, a printed work. You have that paper, it's yours. Beyond that, your Fonosta is listed as "living" in that imaginary place. It is not guaranteed that Obliviana will always be on the web, but while it is, you are considered a resident of a specific Mile of a specific Racetrack. Each Racetrack will have cultural attributes. The primary influence on this area is the Racetrack's Revolver. Beyond this, I must establish cultural traits for each Racetrack. Re: listings for residents. There will be a list of residences by Racetrack Mile. Each resident will get a bit of text, where E-mail and URL info can be presented. This will hopefully allow for a community to start to develop without a lot of resource investment on my part. Folks can E-mail each other, check out each other's websites. Obliviana can be a great way to generate traffic to your website. This brings up the whole "Fonosta Registry" issue. In the past, I had conceived of allowing Fonostas to be registered for free. No more. It is the purchase of imaginary Obliviana real estate that buys you your Fonosta. Archival vs. Primary Content. This is something I just thought of. Content will have to be divided to some extent, between the confusing and massive realm of archival material, and the limited realm of Primary Content. Primary Content is new stuff, with the idea of "less and better". Basically, I want to release new material in the Revolvers not in the piecemeal, "weekly" way I have in the past, but rather, in major releases which are hyped for quite awhile beforehand. Clearly, this idea of Archival vs. Primary will be implemented in different ways in different Revolvers: [1] Racetrack Arctahojast Revolver: Severe Repair Archival: History of SR, commentary from OsoaWeek, etc. Primary: The first FOW (209 Cups worth) of SR is done. FOWs will be released all at once, not piecemeal. First: SR FOW 1, which is done, but needs to be reformatted to some extent. [2] Racetrack Voodholo Revolver: Superior Archival: Simply, the set of all Superiors. Primary: FOW sets of Storm Superiors. First: SU FOW 1, Storm Superiors, a lot of work. [3] Racetrack Pilcansas Revolver: Fonosta Archival: All that Fonosta has been. Primary: All that Fonosta is. (Very vague, I know.) First: New Fonosta format...?! [4] Racetrack Hucaway Revolver: Halfevil Graphics Archival: All Pelters, all Yargo Trees, all Codingseeds, etc. Primary: Sets of new Codingseeds, should Balbitype be here? I think so. First: First set of new Codingseeds...?! [5] Racetrack Moodbruc Revolver: Zope Archival: Classic Zope, Text Zope Primary: New Zope, perhaps multiple Yargo pages worth per release. First: Set of New Zope Yargo pages. [6] Racetrack Roptoon Revolver: Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall Archival: Set of all Obliviana sound recordings, though this is not going to be digitized. Cassette tapes? Little Frankie Nora, Train Crap & Blood, etc. Primary: Standardized format for audio clips. First: Set of audio clips...?! [7] Racetrack Inhusto Revolver: Forge of Wander Archival: All that FOW has been. Primary: All that FOW is. (Again, vague). First: FOW sheet, online guide...?! [8] Racetrack Fogoncs Revolver: Devastating Nightscape Archival: Not much, just notes. Primary: Program releases. First: Initial release of DN. [9] Racetrack Wroohoots Revolver: Super Object Archival: History of SO, scans of all SO's from the past. Primary: New SO releases. First: Modern Sapling. [10] Racetrack Twahokum Revolver: Vulpine Archival: "Czarball Special", Unreal Systems Tester, etc. Primary: Game releases. First: Vamershee release (hand made?) [11] Racetrack Owltoco Revolver: Obliviana Central Archival: All of everything in Obliviana, minus stuff in the Revolvers. Primary: News Updates, works on specific aspects of the history of Obliviana, OsoaWeek, etc. First: OsoaWeek Archive...?! 11:57 PM In each Revolver, there should be a "first Primary release". This is more important than archival stuff. I do want to get rid of all of the old site. Not in terms of content, but in terms of form. The organizational system I developed with the names and numbers and Tarbs of each page is no more. I will add a "First" category to the list above. Tue 3/31/98 * 9:03 PM Buying imaginary real estate, getting a Fonosta, becoming part of Obliviana. 9:25 PM Here's the idea. Imaginary real estate is advertised on the website. Every imaginary building is different. Deeds to these buildings are for sale. What you're buying is the piece of paper, since the real estate is imaginary--"unreal estate" if you will (I'm sure this term has been used many, many times before). The web-based representation of the imaginary real estate is on the Obliviana website. The "owner" of a specific piece of imaginary real estate can be listed if he or she chooses, along with a short block of text which can contain E-mail and URL links. Including a photo is also an option. Now, at this point, I see some potential questions. It seems that in buying imaginary real estate in Obliviana, you are buying both a product (the paper deed) and a service (listing on the website). I want to make it clear that it is the paper deed that you are buying, and not the service--the service is free to all buyers of imaginary real estate. Now, the issue of transfer does become an issue here. Being that the owner of the paper deed can sell it, it would follow that the new owner should receive the listing service. It does not follow, however, that the service should be free. I can see charging a small fee for transferring a listing to another person. Otherwise, Obliviana would be doing work without getting any money in return. Verification. How do we know that the new owner of the deed got it legitimately, or even has it at all? Obliviana could ask for a signature upon buying a deed, and then the seller could sign a note saying that the deed was legitimately sold. Note here that Obliviana is not getting a cut of the deed sale from owner to new owner--just the listing update fee, which is fair, since it does require effort. So, buying OIRE (Obliviana Imaginary Real Estate) is the cost of admission to become a part of Obliviana. What about price? Will there be varying prices? Will Obliviana buy deeds back if there is a market for them? Varying prices. It does make sense to offer this. The paper deeds should reflect the different prices--ie, the being more involved, more decoration, more handmade elements, etc. The free listing service could also be expanded for more expensive pieces of OIRE. There is an issue with this free service--namely, it cannot be guaranteed in any major way. That is, as a free service, it is not guaranteed against service outage or any other sort of interruption or suspension. It is my intention to maintain listing in perpetuity, but it cannot be guaranteed. The purchase of an OIRE deed is the purchase of a piece of artwork--with free but unguaranteed fringe benefits. Is this too complicated? Aren't people going to be buying these deeds to get listed? Perhaps a better way to go about this is to sell the listing service. It would be free for the first year or two, and then there would be a yearly fee to maintain the listing. This would help weed out listings which are no longer active, as well as compensating Obliviana for the work done to maintain the listings. It could work this way--the listing is free for a year with any purchase of $25 or more. So, if the OIRE is $25, say, the first year's listing is taken care. Then, any order in the next year for $25 or more will waive the, say, $5 annual listing fee. So, in order to remain listed in Obliviana, a player will have to spend $25 or more in that year, or pay the $5 fee to retain the listing. This will encourage people to spend money in Obliviana, and also, like I said, weed out people who are no longer active in Obliviana. Now, unlike previous version of Fonosta, to which OIRE is closely connected, there will not be a one-deed-per-person rule. Deeds may be freely purchased by anyone. Listings can contain just about anything, or can be foregone, if the buyer merely wants the deed without any involvement in the website. This brings me to the issue of Fonosta. Little World of Racetracks being an imaginary world, it follows that there will be racing going on, and this imples that there will be racers and vehicles of some sort. So, I think I will go back to the Fonosta-as-videogame-guy concept. Wed 4/1/98 * 12:13 AM April Fool's Day. I wonder what kind of wacky hijinks await me today! Anyway, multiple OIRE would mean multiple lising upkeep fees, and what's up with that? Maybe a SINGLE listing across all OIREs? No, some folks might want different listings for different things... so there can be a choice... 4/2/98 * 10:29 PM Finally got 1080 for N64. Just came out today, apparently. It's pretty good. Now, Revolver stuff is one thing, but it is the overall stuff that I am most concerned with right now. Simplicity. The setup I have now... the idea of Imaginary Real Estate... 256 Miles of road across 11 Racetracks... and average of 23.27 miles per Racetracks. Each Mile is a little world unto itself... 256 different little communities. With homes. All of which must be different in some way. Graphically depicted, at least to some extent... Building the homes of Obliviana... the next challenge! Mon 4/6/98 * 1:01 AM Cultures of the Racetracks. Dream, World of Lambs on Turnpike, egg to lamb, "I don't wanna", lamb bathing egg in coloring back, multicolor pattern bath. Imaginary Real Estate. The look of the buildings. Cultures. Mon 4/6/98 * 10:24 PM Maple Leaf Rag. Damn good song. Anyway, recent ideas: E-mailing list with clue to secret contests. IRE Deed as work of art, with raised seal, etc. Cultures. The first level of Cultures in the Racetracks comes from the presentation of the Racetracks online and in other forms. For example, the colors, typography, etc. used in the basic presentation of the Racetrack. One issue I have is Themes & Variations regarding the Racetracks. Will all Racetracks have the same themes with their own variations? States of the USA are an example: State Song, State Bird, State Flower, State Motto, etc. I think that Themes & Variations are very important to the Racetracks, but at some level each Racetrack must have a level of uniquenesswhich separates it from the other Racetracks. That is, there is a level in each Racetrack where it is its own thing, and no longer just another variation on a theme. Now, I have stated in the past that I do not want the themes/cultures of the Racetracks to be the typical set, such as: [1] Forest/Castle [2] Snow [3] Desert/Western [4] Lava/Mountain [5] Beach/Pirate [6] Ghost/Night [7] City [8] Futuristic Rather, I want the thematic elements of the Racetracks to be unique, while utilizing elements of established themes, since there is a thematic vernacular that people understand. Another aspect of this issue that I have dealt with in the past is that I want for LWOR to have an overall theme, as opposed to being a set of all types of themes. "Obliviana" means something like "that which is uniquely of the forgotten". Stuff which is so ancient and so forgotten that you wouldn't even begin to comprehend it. Something like that. The first element which will set the direction of the culture of a Racetrack is the Revolver. As well, I have noticed a North/South trend in the Racetracks. That is, the Northern Racetracks seem to have one overall theme, which is somewhat opposite of the South. Let me go over the Racetracks: [1] Racetrack Arctahojast (North) Revolver: Severe Repair Colors: Red & Yellow The North is about, at least to some extent, austerity. This Racetrack could be snow-themed (ARCTAhojast, ARCTIC). The thing is, I may want to have snow and cold be more of an overall theme, that is, present in a number of Racetracks. In terms of ornamentation, mazes and intricacy are called for here, as these symbolize SR very well. Perhaps a snowy wasteland is not the best theme here--complexity, change, the clashing of elements. Covered bridges, little towns, giant statues, other stuff... IRE: Very much varied, underground malls with apartments, treehouses, houseboats, covered bridges as homes? (I don't know where this covered bridge thing came from). Homes inside giant statues? [2] Racetrack Voodholo (North) Revolver: Superior Color: Red & Gray Ornamentation: Asymmetric, small, self-contained, to symbolize Superior. Superior is related to Severe Repair, but where Severe Repair is straightforward, full of characters, and totally interconnected, Superior is cryptic, vague, and only somewhat interconnected. Therefore, the themes in Voodholo should be more about remoteness, maybe homes dug out of cliffs... In fact, the major cultural thing in all Racetracks will be the homes, the Imaginary Real Estate. [3] Racetrack Pilcansas (North) Revolver: Fonosta Colors: Green & Blue [4] Racetrack Hucaway (North) Revolver: Halfevil Graphics Colors: Blue & Red [5] Racetrack Moodbruc (South) Revolver: Zope Colors: Orange & Purple [6] Racetrack Roptoon (South) Revolver: Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall Colors: Brown & Green [7] Racetrack Inhusto (South) Revolver: Forge of Wander Colors: Blue & Brown [8] Racetrack Fogoncs (South) Revolver: Devastating Nightscape Colors: Purple & Gray [9] Racetrack Wroohoots (North) Revolver: Super Object Colors: Red & Orange [10] Racetrack Twahokum (South) Revolver: Vulpine Colors: Yellow & Gray [11] Racetrack Owltoco (Central) Revolver: Obliviana Central Colors: Blue & Gray OVERALL Checkerboard theme is overall in LWOR. Music: Should music be a main thematic element? I was thinking of having a list of "soundtrack" albums for each Racetrack, but I would also like to produce original theme songs for each Racetrack. Totems: Like owl, clock, pinball, etc--recurring themes in the ornamentation of the Racetracks. Imaginary Real Estate: This is very much a primary cultural thing. All different types of homes. Treehouses for example--it would be good to have treehouses in just one Racetrack--this would help in establishing the cultural identity of that Racetrack. So, a set of IRE types is called for. Tue 4/7/98 * 9:24 PM Deeds. Imaginary Real Estate. I wrote down some property ideas today: [1] Treehouse [2] Covered Bridge [3] Giant Statue [4] Cave [5] Trailer Park [6] Huts [7] Skyscraper [8] Space Station? [9] Underground Mall [10] Quaint Village [11] Slum [12] Abandoned Rail Yard (Train) [13] Chain/Hanging Homes (homes hanging from chains) Properties will be segmented into Developments, each of which will contain a number of similar units. All units will be unique, however. The Deed are the physical product here, and they will each be unique works of art. I have been thinking of a number of elements which might be a part of Deed design: [1] Rubber Stamps [2] Raised Seals [3] Printed Stickers [4] Original Drawing (Zope, Trees, etc.) [5] Lamination [6] Silk Screening [7] Ink Spattering [8] Rough-Cut Edges [9] Crumpled Up and Reflattened Paper [10] Incorporation of Original Printed or Written or Drawn Obliviana material [11] Marbled Paper, Ribbon, Objects Now, I do see Deeds being extremely varied. But the Deeds in a particular Development will be similar. Since Deeds are works of art, and are handmade, I feel it will be appropriate to have different price levels. The properties represented will have qualities in line with the price. Therefore, it is conceivable that Deeds could be, roughly, as cheap as $5 and as expensive as $100 or more. Pride of Ownership. Ownership. Buying a Deed means buying a work of art. Does it also mean buying the copyright to that work of art? No. Buying a copy of the movie "Fargo" does not mean you own that movie. Deeds are each going to be unique, but they will be made up of a set of elements which will be common among Deeds. I guess a good example here would be a poet writing a poem out by hand. If you buy that, you are not buying the poem. Another example, Dave Sim's "Cerebus" comic book. He has sold original artwork pages from the book, but this does not transfer ownership of the copyright, does it? I will be scanning Deeds and presenting the scanned Deeds on the website. Now, doing the math, I can see that Deeds alone will not support me. Obliviana will have to make money in many other areas. But Deeds could be a solid foundation. 10:01 PM Okay. I want to set the Racetrack names in stone. Well, after a bit of soul-searching, I have decided to leave the names as-is and yes, set them in stone. Now, what about the Revolver names? Okay. Fonosta could be called "Fonosta Device". I'm not sure about this, though. I really do have to work more on defining Fonosta. Now, I do have to reaffirn the idea that all that Obliviana has been is in the Obliviana Archive in Obliviana Central. And that which is in the Revolvers is the extent of the new Obliviana. Content--the content as it is currently presented online. Changes are needed int he presentation, yes. But the content is pretty stable...? Each Revolver shall contain its history. For example, Vulpine will contain the history of games in Obliviana, and previous incarnations of My Core Endeavor (Nomadi, Halfevil Graphics, etc.) From OsoaWeek001: *********** 13 001 HR--Hemisinister Review 14 001 HT--Halfevil Times 15 001 MB--Assignment: Mystery Box 16 001 NJ--New Jersey ******************* What about these things? Humor and reviews and New Jersey? Yeah. Maybe these did kind of get lost in the shuffle. I have associated New Jersey with Antebellum, which is associated with Devastating Nightscape. But the connection is no longer reall applicable. Reviews? I don't know. Games? Contests? Humor. Anything But Monday--I have been keeping this separate from Obliviana, since it is not exclusively mine. Halfevil Times was my personal version of ABM. I guess... I have to wonder... if this stuff, together, warrants its own Revolver. And if so, at the expense of what other Revolver? Sat 4/11/98 * 10:35 AM I wrote some notes yesterday... *********** Treehouse--Forest Theme Seaport Treehouses--Boat/Forest Theme Cylinders--High-Tech Desert Towers--Western/Desert Museums--College/Windy? Buy Exhibits? Forceway Point Building (Primal Digs) Skyscraper... * Indoor Forest Night Place... Multilevel (think E.T. ride) * Plains, Village, Heights... * Ruins, Wrecks, etc. * hypno yesterday-- ____ Pum "Pied Pum"? "Bob Pum"? ******************* Got off work yesterday at 2:00 PM. Walked to OK Cigars on West Broadway and got a Padron 2000. Had to go to bathroom, headed for WTC. Found portapotty soon and pissed there, then headed east. Got to cool park near city hall, red statues of all circles, finished my cigar. Went to J&R Computer world, checked out Obliviana website on WebTV there for at least 15 minutes. Very cool. Then to Collectible store and then to Borders and then to E-train to Penn Station looking for Nomad Recharging pack, no luck, (carrying Nomad and 16 games the whole time), to K-Mart, Game Express, EB, Kay-Bee, Toys'R'Us, Software Etc., Wiz. Went to Comlete Strategist. Then to Penn Station again, got Krispy Kreme glazed donut, with orange soda I bought at Wiz, little stomach ache as I took E-train to Port Authority, had to wait 20 minutes or so for bus, schedule out of whack due to Good Friday, sitting Indian style, that's when I wrote those notes. 10:58 AM Still befuddled by the while "Hemisinister Review/Halfevil Times" issue. Should it be a Revolver? HR/HT is similar to Anything But Monday, but it is my own work. Revolverhood: Pro: Has been a big part of Obliviana, large archive of material, reviews good, etc. Con: No room for another Revolver. Wed 4/15/98 * 12:01 AM Walked from work to Port Authority from 6 to 8 PM. On the bus I wrote on a brown paper bag: New Jersey Yushtier Yushteer New Jersey Wild Pioneer Your Fonosta Device Vulpine Conferedacy Vulpine Confederate Pill-Kin-Sass Yushtier Tundra Homes This stuff refers to Revolvers mostly. "New Jersey Wild Pioneer" is the Revolver that would incorporate New Jersey, Hemisinister Review, and Halfevil Times. "Fonosta" will become "Your Fonosta Device" The Vulpine stuff I'm not sure about. Nw pronunciation for Pilcansas. "Homes" would be a development on the NJWP Racetrack. NJWP as Revolver would require a current Revolver to be incorporated into another Revolver. I am thinking of putting Halfevil Graphics into Devastating Nightscape. Then I would want to move DN to Hucaway, and put NJWP in Fogoncs, since NJWP is very Southern. Wed 4/15/98 * 9:52 PM One thing I want to say is, I have established many "launch" dates in the past, and I have never been able to come through with these. That is, I have never launched on the launch date. So I really want to make the upcoming launch date different--I want it to happen. Since it will be week 209 of Obliviana online, OsoaWeek209, and all that, I really have to do the launch, for real, really. Anyway, I am at the stage of finalizing the Revolvers. I did finalize the Racetrack names, but I couldn't finalize the Revolvers, because something wasn't right. "New Jersey Wild Pioneer" is the missing Revolver. It combines New Jersey, Hemisinister Review, Halfevil Times, at least part of Nihilistica, and other stuff. The only problem is that I have to eliminate one of the existing Revolvers to fit it in. NJWP is definitely Southern, like I stated above, and the only spot that is possibly open is Fogoncs, where Devastating Nightscape is now. So, I will establish this--Fogoncs is now the home of NJWP. Okay. So DN is now "floating". Looking at the rest of LWOR, there are three Revolvers which could potentially be absorbed into another Revolver: Your Fonosta Device (formaerly Fonosta), Vulpine, and Halfevil Graphics. Come to think of it, Your Fonosta Device can't dropped, so I am left with Vulpine and Halfevil Graphics as the ones which can be dropped as individual Revolvers. DN needs a new home, and it will be in the North. Vulpine is cool. I think I'll leave it alone. This leaves Halfevil Graphics. Let me get into the history of HG a little. HG was the name of my company when I was publishing minicomics. I dropped it in the era of Anything But Monday and Nomadi, but then I brought it back as a company name to publish the last issue of ABM, and I kept it until I came up with Obliviana as the name for my company. (First Obliviana Software, then Obliviana Codingseed, and finally Obliviana Super Occult Amusement, which is the name I am using today). Then recently, I needed a name for the Revolver covering my graphical works, and Halfevil Graphics seemed like a good choice, as it does have "graphics" in its name. Now, I am very likely going to drop it once again. For the third time, actually. So, where does HG go? Or more specifically, where do Pelter, Yargo, Opmarquee and Codingseed go? I see there being two possibilities. First is Devastating Nightscape, which would be expanded to cover all sorts of computer stuff. But I think the other possibility is better--putting it into Your Fonosta Device. "Device" refers to graphics, and graphics are going to be at the core of Your Fonosta Device. So, is this it? I think so. The changes: [1] "Fonosta" is renamed "Your Fonosta Device", and remains in Pilcansas. [2] Pilcansas gets a new pronunciation. It was "pill-kansas". It is now "pill-kin-sass". [3] Devastating Nightscape is moved from Fogoncs to Hucaway. [4] Halfevil Graphics is removed as a Revolver, and its contents become a part of Your Fonosta Device. [5] "New Jersey Wild Pioneer", a new Revolver, is established and placed into Fogoncs. Okay. Now I have to implement these changes. NEWS UPDATE Wed 4/15/98--Lots of Revolver changes today. Fonosta has been renamed Your Fonosta Device. Halfevil Graphics was removed as a Revolver, and becomes a part of Your Fonosta Device. Devastating Nightscape was moved to Racetrack Hucaway, where Halfevil Graphics had been. A new Revolver has been established, New Jersey Wild Pioneer, in Racetrack Fogoncs, where Devastating Nightscape moved from. Also, I added LE FastCounter to the page, but I am keeping the old counter for now as well. I also fixed a typo below--"four months" was "four moths". Four moths... hmm... interesting... Sun 4/19/98 * 10:56 PM Saw my cousin Vinnie's directorial debut, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Okay, I want to get a handle on the main Obliviana thing of building and buying imaginary real estate, and the themes of the Racetracks Mon 4/20/98 * 10:50 PM Okay. Obliviana Launch. Real danger here of this Launch ending up like all the others--nowhere near being accomplished at all. That is, I have set Launch dates in the past, and that date has come and gone without much of anything happening. The amount of time left is not a real issue--I have had plenty of time in past situations, and it didn't help. I have a little over three months right now--clearly, enough time if I'm on the right track. I think that I have to cut through to the core of the matter--selling Imaginary Real Estate. This is going to be the main driving force behing the development of Obliviana. In this matter, there are primary and secondary concerns. Creating the presentation format for Imaginary Properties, for example, is a primary concern. Working of Storm Superiors, for example, is a secondary concern. Yes, property sales will be driven by content and buzz and reputation, and content does affect buzz and reputation to some extent--but content is secondary in this regard. So--some specifics about Imaginary Real Estate (IRE). [1] All IRE exists in Little World of Racetracks, an imaginary place. [2] IRE is sold in one kind of unit--the Property. Properties are grouped into Developments of similar properties. Developments each exist in a single Racetrack segment. [3] A listing of all Properties would be organized by Racetrack, then by Development, then by Property. [4] Each Property is unique. [5] The Deed to an Imaginary Property is not imaginary at all--but rather, a real, physical thing, which you get through the mail once you purchase a property. Wed 4/22/98 * 8:41 PM Idea: Have a Development in Owltoco that is "virtual" in that the Properties do not have real Deeds. Instead, the Properties are free, but available by invitation only--except in the beginning--when the few lucky soulds who find Obliviana before it is "Launched" will get the opportunity to obtain a property in this Development. 11:00 PM I will code name this first Town (note: Town as opposed to Development) "Dank Fields". This comes from the classic Superior that starts off "Through these dank fields, did we all amble". So, the idea is that Dank Fields is a Town to test the waters. It will have the same design as the "real" Towns. Huh. Guess I need some terminology here. A "real" Town is an Imaginary Town. So what is Dank Fields? Well, Properties in Dank Fields cannot be purchased--they are given away, but only to a select few. And unlike regular Properties, these special Properties do not have physical Deeds, and cannot be transferred. That is, if you have a Property in Dank Fields, you can't sell it or give it away. You are free to buy a regular Property, of course. The idea for Dank Fields came when I was thinking about how much time and effort I was going to be spending on the Deeds. I realized that I didn't want to give Deeds away for free to anyone. So, Dank Fields is the place for all the people that I'd want to give a free Prtoperty to, without giving up a Deed. Dank Fields will also be a great testing ground for Obliviana Imaginary Real Estate in general. Now, I was thinking that along with the Deed one purchases comes two forms. One, you fill out with the Listing data and sign, and mail back to Obliviana. The other is a transfer of ownership form, for use when you sell it to somebody else. The idea is that you sign it and authorize the transfer of the Property listing. I am not overly fond of the idea of forms, but this idea does seem to be a solution to the problem Sat 4/25/98 * 11:22 PM Finally created new design for Modern Sapling. It involves an element of my Analog Pinser design. It's looking pretty good. But now back to Dank Fields. Okay. The levels of hierarchy are: Racetrack, Town, Section, Property. So, for Dank Fields, the Racetrack is Owltoco, and the Town is Dank Fields. This leaves the Sections and Proprties to create. First of all, I see Towns as being expandable. That is, there can always be new Sections. But can there be new Properties in a Section? That is, should a Section be created with a final set of Properties? I think this is a good idea. Expansions of Sections will then just be new Sections. So, I need to come up with an initial set of Sections for Dank Fields. In fact, I have to come up with the first Section first. I know I want to have a Section with huts. I was thinking of having like "Huts of America", with a hut for each State. They would be called "New Jersey Hut", "California Hut", Wisconsin Hut", etc. They would be laid out like a map of America. I like this idea, but I am not totally sure about it. It does kind of take away from the "dankness" of Dank Fields. In fact, I would like a patriotic, America-themed Town in Owltoco, but Dank Fields is separate from that. So... Shacks? Adjective Shacks... Wonderful Shack, Fanstatic Shack, Wild Shack, Great Shack, etc. Superlative Shacks. Lupersative Shack Alley. Luper Shack Alley. Shack Glen. Shack Bluff. Shack Bluff. A bunck of shacks on a cliff. Named X Shack, such as New Jersey Shack. Theme for set of Shacks? Sun 4/26/98 * 3:44 AM I got one. A theme fot the names. How many shacks should there be? This is a question with social aspects. What is a good number of neighbors for a neighborhood, a little community? Well, 2 is too little, and 100 may be too much. I have to think about the future, though--if I set a maximum of 40 or something per Section, then when we're dealing in the thousands of buyers, we're talking many hundreds of different Sections. Well, that's okay. I have to design Obliviana the right way. I can't be restricted by a potential mass market. Today (yesterday, Saturday) was a big Mike Nesmith day. This past week I've been looking for Mike Nesmith CDs, finding only vinyl till today. Last Saturday I bought the "Mike Nesmith in Elephant Parts" video at the Giants Stadium flea market for $5. I just watched it today though. Got the "Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash" CD today. Went on the "www.videoranch.com" website a few times this week. Made a tape of Nesmith-written Monkees songs today. I see Nesmith as something of a kindred spirit. Multiple-media aspirations, very talented, somewhat unfocused, unconventional, following his visions. But I look at Nesmith's level of success in his post-Monkees career, and I see... I don't know... an aimlessness... a lot of bright stars in an otherwise dark and murky sky... is it that I am thinking that even if I try my hardest and am very lucky this is all I will get? Silly thoughts, aimless thoughts, I'm trying to name the shacks of Shack Bluff. So how many? I think I'll start off with 30. Here are the 30 Shacks of Shack Bluff: [1] Avenger Shack [2] Blooming Youth Shack [3] Buckshot Shack [4] Condor Shack [5] Crazy Jane Shack [6] Dashing Wave Shack [7] Dew Drop Shack [8] Evening Star Shack [9] Forest King Shack [10] Falcon Shack [11] Good Egg Shack [12] Hiawatha Shack [13] Ivanhoe Shack [14] Kaskaskia Shack [15] Little Rebel Shack [16] Morning Star Shack [17] Mustang Shack [18] Nanjemoy Shack [19] Night Hawk Shack [20] Ocean Eagle Shack [21] Peep O'Day Shack [22] Presto Shack [23] Queen of the West Shack [24] Racer Shack [25] Scuppernong Shack [26] Thistle Shack [27] Vesta Shack [28] Will o' the Wisp Shack [29] Young America Shack [30] Yankee Doodle Shack Sun 4/26/98 * 2:13 PM Well, with the list above, I have the first set of Imaginary Real Estate. Now I have to continue development--I see no reason why Shack Bluff cannot be online in the near future. I think that I should develop the Shack Bluff page. I do see each Section having a single page, with all the properties listed. It's clear to me that more than HTML is needed here. That is, ideally I should have a database, which can call up Property data on the fly, so that a change in that data would not mean re-uploading the entire section page. But for now, I do not have the capacity for such a system. So, for now, I must develop the nature of a single property listing. Mon 4/27/98 * 12:25 AM I want to discuss the nature of the imaginary place of LWOR. There are two extremes--on the one extreme is a fully-detailed, 3-D landscape, where nothing is left to the imaginaion. The other extreme is a set of descriptions, with details left somewhat vague, left to the imagination. This issue came up when I thought about whther or not to make maps of the Towns, Sections, and Properties. Mon 4/28/98 * 9:56 PM Okay. I have to determine the nature of Properties. Let us take "Little Rebel Shack". It will have a code number, based on: Racetrack: Owltoco Town: Dank Fields Section: Shack Bluff Property: Little Rebel Shack Now, there is also the matter of a description. It could be as simple as a few words to as complex as a fully-rendered, real-time interactive 3-D model. I am philosophically much closer to the former than the latter. I played a Jaleco arcade game today called "OverRev" or something, and the forest course was quite striking to me. That is, I could see something like that working on LWOR--a 3-D racing game... with cool architecture and design... Right now, the question of level of detail is moot--since I cannot do a complex presentation, I must do a simple one. I think I may as well do a simple, all-text description for now. What parameters? Well, color is a big thing. And I think each property should have a unique element, such as a weatherwave, or a stained glass window, or a tower, or whatever. Perhaps not unique... perhaps such elements can be shared by multiple properties... I mean, I will have to develop thousands, maybe tens of thousands of properties eventually... and this will necessitate constructing them out of a set of set elements, though each will have a unique combination of such elements. For Shack Bluff, I see a set of maybe four or five colors--gray, black, white, yellow, blue. As far a Quirks (first use of term), I see Stained Glass window as one, Ornate Weathervane as another. Tue 4/29/98 * 12:41 AM Okay. Grouping of the Shacks. Tue 4/29/98 * 10:18 PM Order of Shacks on Shack Bluff, left to right: [1] Condor Shack [2] Falcon Shack [3] Ocean Eagle Shack [4] Night Hawk Shack [5] Flying Scud Shack [6] Crazy Jane Shack [7] Hiawatha Shack [8] Ivanhoe Shack [9] Peep O'Day Shack [10] Yankee Doodle Shack [11] Forest King Shack [12] Queen of the West Shack [13] Vesta Shack [14] Dashing Wave Shack--gray [15] Morning Star Shack--white [16] Young America Shack--blue [17] Will o' the Wisp Shack--yellow [18] Evening Star Shack--black [19] Little Rebel Shack--gray [20] Good Egg Shack [21] Dew Drop Shack--blue [22] Blooming Youth Shack--black [23] Nanjemoy Shack [24] Kaskaskia Shack [25] Scuppernong Shack [26] Avenger Shack [27] Buckshot Shack [28] Mustang Shack [29] Presto Shack [30] Thistle Shack Friday, May 1, 1998 * 12:35 AM Idea: Deed owners in Obliviana, listed along with the properties associated with their Deeds, all around LWOR. So the idea is that there would be multiple E-mailings of a weekly or monthly thing, with different areas and different people getting mailings, and multiple pieces to puzzles and content being E-mailed to different people, so that folks in Obliviana will have to interact and comminucate and trade and wheel and deal to get the full content or solve the puzzle or the secret contest. This is a good idea. A very good idea. So now the focus shifts--the real core of the Obliviana infrastructure is not the Properties, but these E-mailings, and the content, puzzles, and secret contents they contain... Sun 5/3/98 * 11:12 PM Weird day today. Wrote the song "Some in the Woods"--just the lyrics, and some musical ideas--I had the original inspiration and wrote lots of notes does on 3/5/98. Now it's 5/3/98. 3/5--5/3... The things that are broken up and sent to Obliviana people are called Xappens, and the pieces are Xappenshards. I came up with this yesterday. The term "Xappen" has been in Obliviana for quite some time, first as a Codingseed without any meaning, then (along with "Xappenset") as a term in one of my many attempts to codify Obliviana as an object-oriented system (in terms of organization, not computer programming). But Xappen fell by the wayside, till right now. So, I have a name for it. Xappen. Xappenshard. I'll probably also use Xappenset. Really tired. Goodnight. Tue 5/5/98 * 10:50 PM Got the new Tori Amos album at Virgin Megastore Times Square last night about 12:05 or so. There were only a few other people besides me and my wife and sister-in-law. 11:20 PM Wow. Gotta get back to Shacks and Xappenshards and stuff! Xappenshard is the focus right now. It's a great idea, but I gotta get more specific. Like, what about verification? I'd like a server function that could verify a Xappenshard as genuine, as opposed to fake, as people could easily do. Xappenshards will need code numbers. Basically, Xappens will be broken down into Shards. The total number of Shards and the sequential number of the Shard in question should be a part of the code number. For example, "005040" would mean Shard 5 out of 40. Thu 5/7/98 * 9:40 PM Just saw some of one of the last Seinfeld episodes, and it sucked. I am confused again about Obliviana. This seems to happen to me quite a lot. I have this Xappenshard idea, and it seems that all the ingredients are here... but I feel so lost... Okay. Let me get my bearings. All that Obliviana has been is in the Obliviana Archive in Owltoco. So Obliviana is now something of a blank slate. So... Imaginary Real Estate... Your Fonosta Device... Xappenshard... Bottom line, what am I selling? I am selling physical products via mail order which are connected to information online. I am not selling information. Digital content, software, fonts, whatever--I'm giving it all away! Yeah, what is the nature of giving it all away? I want to retain the rights to the material. I could restrict redistribution. That is, only I can give the material away. Something like that. People are totally accepting of having to buy physical items, but folks online resent having to pay for bits. My idea sells only physical items, but connects them to online stuff. I think this is a sound business philosophy. So, my business goal is to sell product. The type of product that I am comfortable with is handmade, high-quality, limited production items, all signed and numbered and all that. Of course, this kind of product does not work so well for a mass audience--but I am very idealistic, and I'd rather make less money and be happy with my work than make more and be unhappy with what I am doing. But I have to make a decent living. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to my ideals and still make some alright money. Fri 5/8/98 * 12:36 AM Simplicity. Imaginary Real Estate, Fonosta Device, Xappenshard. Nature of Xappenshard--this is the issue. Xappen=the complete thing. Could have eight facets, each of which is broken up into Shards. First person to get a Facet or the whole thing gets Fonosta Glyphics as a reward, secret contests also, with Glyphics and physical prizes as rewards. So... Xappenshard... this is the issue... Sat 5/9/98 * 2:15 PM Okay, I have the Xappenshard answer. Came up with it on the bus home yesterday. Xappens are presented on thir own wen pages. There is a visual overview of the Xappen, with revealed and unrevealed parts. Oblivianans send in completed parts and these parts are then revealed, and the person sending it in gets a glyph for their Fonosta Device. I want things to remain simple. So... Xappen, Xappenshard E-zine, where their are multiple versions sent out Your Fonosta Device Inaginary Real Estate Little World of Racetracks Racetracks: [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [3] Pilcansas--Your Fonosta Device [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape [5] Moodbruc--Zope [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander [8] Fogoncs--New Jersey Wild Pioneer [9] Wroohoots--Super Object [10] Twahokum--Vulpine [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central Okay. I still have to resolve the question of where Anything But Monday historical stuff should be in Weasel or Pioneer. As well, there is a lot of overlap between Weasel and Pioneer. Should there be a Xappen Revolver? Xappenworld? Xappen and Your Fonosta Device are very much connected. 3:24 PM Okay. The Obliviana Experiece. Buy your Property. Put your E-mail address and URL on your Property. Put your initial Fonosta Device on your Property. Put a picture of yourself on the Property. Get the Ezine every week. Put together Xappen stuff. Send it in. Get Fonosta Glyphs and Secret Prizes. Buy Obliviana stuff. Drink in Obliviana content. What about multiple properties? A person can certainly buy multiple properties. Should there be multiple Fonosta Devices? A person could easily buy deeds under different names, and have multiple identities in Obliviana. Or a person could have multiple Fonosta Devices, or have one which is shown at all their properties. Multiple properties. Would a person hav to pay fees to upkeep multiple Properties per year? Or, perhaps every $20 worth of purchases would give a "Property Year Credit" (PYC)which would be on account, and would be applied as needed, with credits carrying over into the next year if not used... So, if a person spends $100 on Obliviana stuff, and has one property, that property would be "paid" for for five years. Should there be a yearly fee offered for sale, if no Obliviana purchases are made? This would seem to make sense, since otherwise a person would be "forced" to make a $20 purchase to keep their Property listing for another year. If the upkeep fee is $5 per property, then a purchase of four upkeeps, for $20, would result in one Property Year Credit, and would thus be 4 for 5. Should the PYC be represented by a phycial object? I'm not sure. Pro: It goes along with my idea of charging only for physical object. Con: It would mean that folks should receive the same object, paid for with PYC's. Sun 5/10/98 * 12:14 PM A television show brought me to tears. It was an episode of "Trains Unlimited" on the History Channel, and it was about Penn Station. Built in 1910, Penn Station was an utterly awesome and fantastic building, and as I watched the show, I desperately wanted to experience it for myself. The only problem, I HAVE been to Penn Station. In fact, for over five years I was in Penn Station twice every day. So I knew what was coming in the show--the original Penn Station was demolished at some point, for some reason. But seeing footage of the original building made it inconceivable for me to comprehend how such a remarkable and legendary landmark could have been destroyed. It turns out that in the post-WWII years, train ridership fell dramatically, and the Pennsylvania Railroad, owner of Penn Station, decided to demolish Penn Station and build Madison Square Garden. Today, such a decision would not have been possible, with laws protecting historic buildings. But back then, in the 1960s, there were no such laws. I was upset in a similar way a few months back when I learned of the Western River Expedition ride that was planned for Walt Disney World in Florida. In this case, I learned about the ride and desperately wanted to experience it for myself, but in this case, even time travel wouldn't help--it was never built. I think I went over this in OsoaWeek at the time, but I'll go over it again, since I feel like it, and no one reads this stuff anyway. (Except perhaps in the future, if Obliviana becomes successful). Whatever. Anyway, Walt Disney World opened in the early 1970s with just one theme park--The Magic Kingdom--which was based on Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It was extremely similar, but not an exact replica of the original. One very popular ride in Disneyland was Pirates of the Carribean , but the folks at Disney felt that such a theme was perhaps too close to home and familiar in Florida, itself much closer to the Carribean and real pirates of history. So instead, the Disney company planned a new ride, similar in design and scope to Pirates, but to be called "Western River Expedition", and to have a wild west theme. Apparently, this attraction was very far along in its development when visitors began to complain of the absence of Pirates of the Carribean. So, the Disney people decided to scrap Wester River Expedition and build Pirates instead. So in this case, in order to experiense Western River Expedition, I'd have to employ reality travel to go to the alternate reality where Western River Expedition was actually built. In my adolescence I craved time travel and reality travel, but mostly for the power aspect of it. Now, I's still like to travel in time and reality, but mainly for sightseeing purposes. So I guess I've grown up some, but not too much. 12:48 AM There another similar thing that has me a little upset, and this is the indoor amusement park "World of Sid & Marty Krofft" that was built in Atlanta and closed after only one year. I would love to see this, also, but it would only be possible with time travel. Anyway, thinking about all this stuff, I realize that Obliviana has some similar aspects. So, instead of pining after the elusive powers of time travel and reality travel, I realize that I can build my own version of this sort of stuff with Obliviana. I am at a very vital stage of development in Obliviana, and the decision I make now will undoubtably impact its future in a very big way. My current "slogan" for Obliviana is: "Obliviana has been established in an imaginary place called Little World of Racetracks." So, I have the imaginary real estate in which to build Obliviana, much like Disney had it's real real estate, when the government of Florida granted it control over the Reedy Creek Improvement district. Little World of Racetracks is very much established--it is not the kind of thing I'm going to abandon or allow to be superceded by something else. So it's clear that Obliviana will be built in LWOR. I guess you could compare LWOR to Walt Disney World, with each of the eleven Racetracks being akin to the different lands in the different themes parks. And, like Walt Disney's original idea for EPCOT, people are actually going to live in LWOR, albeit in an imaginary way. I have been emphasizing the imaginary over the virtual. To me, virtual means a fully-delineated computer universe, where little is left to the imagination. Ultima Online is a good example of a virtual world. Though not 3-D, Ultima Online is fully-delineated. If there's a dragon, you SEE the dragon, and hear it, I assume (I have never played UO, since I'm a Macintosh person). This line between imaginary and virtual is not as easy to define when it comes to text-based MUDs, such as Gemstone III, which I have played a little. These online worlds are fully-delineated, but in a text format. So, if there's a dragon, it is described in text, but it is up to the imagination of the player to decide what it looks like, sounds like, smells like, etc. But I would still have to call such games virtual, in that the things that HAPPEN are not left up to the imagination, but are very much established by the game program. So, I conceive of Obliviana as being imaginary. This is a tricky thing, though, since I want the Obliviana experience to be an imaginary thing that is shared by a large number of people. The extremes on the sides of the Imaginary-Virtual scale are, at the virtual side, and fully-immersive, fully-realized 3-D environment, which is so well produced, and uses such high technology, that it is indistinguishable from reality, except in its content. This would involve a true implementation of "virtual reality", which has been very elusive, but which is undoubtably approaching the point where it can be made to work. On the other end of the scale is a world that is only barely hinted at. I guess a good example of this is something like Atlantis, a world whose idea most people are familiar with, but where there are very few specifics. Everyone conceives of it in his or her own vague way. In Obliviana, I am seeking something that is between that Atlantis extreme and the near-center realm of text-based MUDs. What this boils down to is the level of involvement and interaction people will have in Obliviana, as well as the level of delineation. In terms of delineation, LWOR has a map, and this is an important aspect in its presentation. This one element moves LWOR much to the right of Atlantis. Now, to the issue of avatars. Avatars are player's representations in shared worlds. When dealing with either an imaginary or a virtual world where players take on the role of an entity, the avatar is the nature of that entity. I realize that the term "avatar" has been used primarily in a virtual reality sense, I think the term can be applied more broadly, as I am doing. Little World of Racetracks implies one thing above all others--that at some point, there will be racing happening on the Racetracks. And since LWOR is a world where players have an imaginary presence, it then follows that players will have avatars that are Racers. Aha! I had wondered as to the term I would use for Obliviana avatars. I had been using "Xappens" for a while, but I think "Racers" is a far better term. In the past, I had conceived of LWOR being based on classic video games. I still see it this way, but with more emphasis on racing than in the past. "Xappens" were to be like videogame "guys"--as exemplified by Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Mario, Mappy, etc. Now, I am using "Xappen" is a different context altogether. So "Racer" is now the term for Obliviana avatars. In the past, I had conceived of a range of classic videogame activities for Racers, such as the shooting of things, collecting of dots, climbing of buildings, etc. I do not want to totally discount these things, but racing has to be the central focus, in a world of racetracks. The level of interaction is the key issue here. In terms of racing, do players race in real time, or do races take place in the imagination? In the current racing genre in videogames, fully-3-D real-time racing is the norm. When PlayStation was released a few years ago, Ridge Racer was one of the first games to come out, and it is fully-3-D and real-time. The games of today, exemplified by Sega's Super GT arcade game, are visually realized in a much more realistic fashion, though game play is very similar to earlier games. In fact, you can trace Super GT's game play all the way back to Atari's extremely primitive Night Driver of the 1970s. Anyway, right now LWOR could be a 3-D environment, except that I don't have the resources to develop such a system. The question is, should I be striving after such as system, or should I strive for a much simpler system? Though I am tempted by the thought of a Super GT level version of LWOR, I have to stick with my philosophy of the imaginary. The fact that the imaginary is within the reach of my resources and the virtual is not should not cloud the issue. I just realized a very important connection here--the old Penn Station, Western River Expedition, and the World of Sid & Marty Krofft, exist in my imagination. If I were to actually experience these places, their state in my mind would change dramatically. And maybe it is better that these things stay in my imagination, where they are built out of the stuff of imagination, using the bare data that I have on them. A very good example of this is the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. Before I went there, I know about the various attractions in the place--four rides and the Sega Virtual World arcade (I think that's the name). The rides were a boat ride, a motion-simulation theater, a Showscan talk show, and a giant-screen movie. Before I experinced these attractions firsthand, they existed in my imagination in an ideal and pristine state. Once I experienced them, their imaginary greatness crumbled, to be replaced by their unfortunate reality of suckiness. The attractions were all very much disappointing. A similar thing happened at Disneyland, except that the rides, most notably the Indiana Jones ride--did live up to my expectation. Still, their state in my mind changed once I experienced them firsthand. Another example is superhero comic books. Many times I have read preview info on new superhero teams, and inevitably, these superheros' state in my mind collapsed once I read a few of their comic books. So I guess I'm leading up to the idea that a world that is perpetually in this imaginary state would have great value--but also a few drawbacks. In an imaginary state, there is always a yearning for more information, and ultimately, full experience of the subject. But what about a world that is fully conceived of as a permanent imaginary place? I know that this philosophy is important to Obliviana, but I don't know if such a place can succeed with people without some level of payoff, or at least the promise of more info and experience. To focus more on the specifics of Obliviana, I have to address the idea of identity. In the past, I had conceived of players having only one Racer, a character that would represent the person in the imaginary world. This has many practical concerns, such as enforcement. And I do not want to become some sort of draconian policeman, having to verufy a person's identity, to prevent him or her from running multiple Racers. My thinking on the issue now is to allow one person to run as many Racers as desired. And then, each Racer would have its own Fonosta Device. I held as an ideal that a single person would be represented by a single Racer. This idea was based in the idea of bolstering a person's identity--kind of like becoming a superhero or something. The idea was that you could wear your Fonosta Device on a T-shirt and be kind of like a logo-bearing superhero. But this concept is made somewhat unworkable by excluding multiple people, clubs, or companies from running a Racer. So now, I see Racers as independent entities that can be purchased and run by any person or group of people. Thus far in my current development phase, I have been working on people buying Deeds for imaginary real estate--houses, buildings, etc. How do Racers and vehicles fit into this scheme? Aha... okay... where your Racer lives is very important... it can affect his or her racing skills... different racing skills for different places to live... I see... Racer, Vehicle, Home... I want to keep things as simple as possible. I did go down this same road in the past with the whole Octagon idea... where I had other aspects as well... like Sidekick and Tool. And there were all the different activities that I referred to earlier--such as breaking down walls, collecting dots, etc. I think that now I should discount these other activities, and focus solely on racing. Racer, Vehicle, Home. I still think that Sidekick is a good idea that may be workable in this system. So, entering a race would involve a specific Racer and Vehicle, to be sure. Sidekick could add an interesting element to the whole thing. For example, a certain Sidekick might improve performance of dirt Roads, while another would help on cobblestones. 2:19 PM So, what is the nature of acquiring and maintaining these objects--Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles, and Homes? I could certainly have all of these things available for purchase via Deeds. I have to think about this. I have another idea which is certainly related--creating characters as simple vector art--specifically, in Adobe Illustrator. Such characters could be used in several ways. The characters could be used in stories presented via a sequence of images, or in a "movie" using such technologies as Macromedia Shockwave or Flash, or Java. Such characters (as Racers and Sidekicks) and similar style artwork for other objects (ie, vehicles, backgrounds, and houses) could be used to represent LWOR objects. This new set of ideas is certainly apart from Xappenshard... but wait... Xappenshard could use the same kind of artwork... Then, what about the Revolver? Would Zope be presented in such a way? No. Zope is drawn by hand by me. Severe Repair is written, and will remain as text. This is leading to the idea of Racetrack-level stuff being separate from Revolver stuff to some extent. Right now, the only Revolvers which relate to Racetrack-level stuff specifically are Your Fonosta Device and and Obliviana Central. I could revert YFD back to Halfevil Graphics, and have all Racetrack-level stuff be handled in Obliviana Central. I want to recap exactly what I mean by "Racetrack Level Stuff". Little World of Racetracks Racers & Sidekicks Vehicles * Homes Stories featuring Racetrack-level artwork & design Things are definitely shaping up here. I still want to address the Weasel/Pioneer overlap. Anything But Monday (ABM) is very much at issue here. Though long gone, ABM contains immense potential. The problem with ABM is that it was a joint venture between me and Mike Massotto. And I am committed to Obliviana being all me. So I think that I should continue with the philosophy that ABM is not a part of Obliviana. Weasel is the descendent of my audio/video work on ABM, and Pioneer is the descendent of my print work on ABM. I think I really need to further define what these two Revolvers are all about. Form vs. content is a big issue here. Only 601 days till the year 2000, by the way. Anyway, Weasel is very much about an audio format. I have not gotten really specific about the content, though I have many ideas. For now, let me get back to the Racetrack-Level issue at hand. 3:07 PM Okay. Say you have three Houses, and a stable of Racers and Sidekicks. You may want to send a few Sidekicks to live in one of the Houses for awhile to improve their mechanical skills. Players will have to manage their stable of Racers and Sidekicks, to keep them at peak level for racing in a variety of situations. For example, if you enter a certain race, you might find out, as it approaches, that it will most likely be raining that day on that Racetrack, so you want to choose your Racer, Sidekick, and Vehicle best suited to such a racing environment. The idea here that you enter a race, and then commit a Racer, Sidekick, and vehicle, as well as something like "Race Points". Each Racer would have a set number of these points earned in a variety of ways, and the more spent, the better the Racer will do in the Race. Races will not be presented in graphical form. Rather, the outcomes will be calculated based on a number of factors. Races will be determined by the nature of the Racer, Sidekick, and Vehicle, the race conditions (track surface, weather, time of day, etc.), luck, and Race Points. Race Points will add an element of strategy to the whole thing. If another Racers spends all of their Race Points on a single Race, and you don't spend any, if you are fairly even in ability, the one who spent all the Race points will almost certainly win. But come the next Race, that Racer will have serious problems. Now, I just thought about something--what the hell happened to Jots? Man, I remember Jots being such a big part of Obliviana, and now... wow, I haven't even thought of Jots for a long time. I don't even remember exactly what the whole Jot thing was about! Well, let me focus on this whole Race angle. I think that Racers, Sidekicks, and Vehicles can be sold via Deeds. Starting off, a package containing all four object types will be made available. Oh yes... I think it was my discovery of the "hand-system" that dampened the progress of Jot, which had its latest implementation in the Forge of Wander sheet. Anyway, I think the system that I am currently describing is much better. Jot as implemented in a notebook with the eight divisions could make for a great game by itself, or it could be incorporated into Forge of Wander, as it is now. It is very interesting how I develop these ideas and then move past them. Oh well. Anyway, how the heck much is a starter-pack of four handmade Deeds gonna cost? I could move away from the idea that all you're buying is the Deed--maybe service is not such a bad thing to charge for.... Mon 5/11/98 * 8:26 PM It's been raining almost nonstop for many days. Got Diablo for Mac at work today, went up to CompUSA at 57th St. at lunch break. So... is it feasible to sell Deeds for the four object types: Racer, Sidekick, Vehicle, and Home? I do think that it's feasible, but what about the game of racing? This whole system would demand a great deal of data management. Well, I'm looking at this problem from the perspective of doing everything by hand. With some investment of time and money, I could get the system working automatically on a server. With four objects, I cannot but wonder if I might get to eight, and thus complete the Octagon structure. The reason I want to include Octagon in Obliviana is because of the very intense experience I had in Metuchen that one evening last year. I still have the teacup I drank from that night, in my Jeep. The Octagon idea I had that night was triggered by a decorative architectural element on a building. The idea was that you could get such an element for your building(s), but that that element would be one of eight, in a variety of categories. So, for example, that Octagon would allow for the addition of that decorative architectural element, but it would also allow for your character to have a certain hat, or your car to have a certain paintjob. This does not immediately fit into my current plans, and I would not give this idea so much weight if it wasn't for the utterly outstanding nature of my dusk experience there in Metuchen, NJ. So... should I try and incorporate this idea into Obliviana? Let me go back into OsoaWeeks past and find my eight elements from way back when... Here's something: *********** Sun 9/14/97 * 3:45 PM ... But I want to get into Fonosta a little more. The bottom line is... getting Obliviana Objects... each of which is a variation on the standard Object. By this, I mean that all the Obliviana Objects are of the same general type. I think that for now I will use the term Xappen to refer to all Obliviana objects, not just the little characters. From OW159: N--Incarnation E--Tool S--Buddy W--Vehicle NE--Library SE--Device SW--Battery NW--Home This set of Xappens is now outdated in several respects, but it is a good starting point. First off, Device is now something that exists above the Xappen level. All Xappens have Fonosta data which is represented by Device. ******************* MORE: *********** Thu 8/7/97 ... 11:56 PM Your Fonosta is represented by one Octagon. Cups can contain many sorts of information, including other Cups. So, looking at your Fonosta as a whole, there are eight Facets. Right now, I see them as: [1] Fonosta (this is confusing, since I am using the term Fonosta at several levels. In this context, I am referring to the humanoid "body" aspect.) [2] Vehicle [3] Buddy (I've changed this term again.) [4] Tool (Club?) [5] Home [6] Device [7] Swords (tough to define, since it is a SET of Swords...) [8] ??? Now, my idea is that each of these will have several sub-Cups within, such as Color, Substance, etc. I am thinking of a sub-Octagon within each Facet of the Main Octagon, but that would make for 64 sub-Cups. ******************* Okay. I think that Octagon would have to be something beyond the current set of four objects--Racer, Sidekick, Vehicle, and Home. I think that these four objects are all that will be needed to do racing. I also think that more objects would probably be too many. I really don't want to have to work Octagon into the system at this level. Now, what about object histories? I have considered that living in a certain section of a certain town would grant skill in some specific area for Racers and Sidekicks. How would this "experience" be recorded? And also, a history of the races a Vehicle, Racer, and Sidekick have been in should a recorded in that object. Is this getting too complex? Perhaps there shall be eight different areas of skill? This is where Octagon comes in? Wed 5/13/98 * 10:43 PM Okay. Let me work through this. Racer, Sidekick, Vehicle, Home. I think that the nature of the world I am creating is very important. How do you interact? First of all, I have made a major shift in my philosophy. I had been focusing on an online identity very much attached to an actual person. Now, I see online identities being focused on Racers. A player can have one Racer or twenty. Each Racer has its own identity. This is a big change. One problem with my current idea is moving from the simpkicity of selling one kind of Deed to selling four kinds. But Just now I had a thought--what if it's relatively difficult to get those four objects together. That is, a player of Obliviana would really have to work hard to eventually get a Racer, Sidekick, Vehicle, and Home, and then enter the Racer into a Race. Scarcity. If getting a Racer is hard, people are going to strive after it. If it's as easy as spending five bucks, Racers aren't going to mean a whole lot. Races. Races are going to be the focal point. There can't be too many Races, or they're going to lose their perceived value. With eleven Racetracks--or twelve, if I decide to go with the "shadow" course that runs throug the eight "black" squares in LWOR-- there will be, I think, a Race structure which would involve regular Races, with winners moving on to semifinals, finals, and then one Major Race, which would determine the champion for that 13-week (or maybe year) period. Racers are going to be characters that are created and named by Obliviana. I want to keep the creative stuff in the hands of Obliviana--I don't want players to be naming Racers, or making any other creative decisions about them. The same goes for Sidekicks, Vehicles, and Homes. So... what then will be the process of obtaining the four objects needed to Race? Racers are the main focus--Fonosta Devices are connected to Racers. So, if you're playing Obliviana, you're definitely going to want a Racer. In the system I'm conceiving, there may only be a few hundred new Racers available every Book (13 weeks). So what if there are thousands of people who want Racers? I want to base the getting of a Racer not on just money, but on time spent interacting with Obliviana. So in what context are people going to be spending money in Obliviana? Do you buy a Racer, or do you win one? Or should Fonosta Devices be connected to Properties? I want people to spend money on Obliviana, yes. But if the game is not well balanced, people aren't going to spend any money, because it won't be any fun. It could be that yes, you do have to buy your Racer, but supplies will be very limited. Racers will need a Home to live in. If a player lapses his or her "subscription" to Obliviana, the Racer will go into hibernation in the Home. Lots of characters. So, the idea that had been giving me trouble is not trouble anymore when scarcity is introduced. That is, if I can create a desire in people, and if it is difficult to satisfy that desire, the issue of money is not going to be a big issue. Scarcity is justified in this case, because each Racer is going to be a unique character, crafted by a talented artist (me) or artists (?). I have dealt with the issue of contrived scarcity in the bits of OsoaWeek before. Magic: The Gathering cards and Beanie Babies are examples of contrived scarcities that are somewhat suspect. That is, Wizards of the Coast are printing less of a certain kind of card to give it more perceived value. But they could very easily make more. With Beanie Babies, retirements are contrived--at least, I think so, from what I know. I am not into Beanie Babies very much, so I don't know the official position on the justification of retirements. My point here is that people seem to absolutely love collectibles based on contrived scarcity. So what I'm doing, with a scarcity that is justified, can't be all that bad. But I will have to be careful to strike a balance. If Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles and Homes are too easy or too hard to get, it'll ruin the experience. Thu 5/14/98 * 11:15 PM Making a Tori Amos tape. Smoking a fairly bad cigar. The last Seinfeld was... um... who cares... It kind of sucked, okay? But I'm no fan of the show. Screw it. Anyway... Not Virtual Reality, but IMAGINARY REALITY! Imaginary Racing, with some quite awesome roadside attractions. Imaginary Racing... no 3-D... no 2-D... no graphics at all... Not a MUD... not a role playing game... but more than just pure imagination... I mean, you could imagine racing all by youself, and I want this to be something of a communal experience... So, I've been thinking real hard about these E3 T-shirt I have to design. I'm going to E3 in Atlanta in less than two weeks, the "Electronic Entertainment Expo" it's called, I believe. So, I want to have 3 T-shirts to wear, one for each day, with ads for Obliviana on them. I don't really expect to get much of a response from the T-shirts in terms of people going to the website or any kind of interest like that--rather, I want to put the Obliviana logo and other ideas and graphics into the subconscious of a lot of people involved in electronic entertainment, so that maybe if one of these people encounters Obliviana again in some way, there will be a tiny spark of recognition. Simplicity is something I have been struggling with, for a long time. I read somewhere that in terms of publicity, you gotta present a single idea. Obliviana is so all over the place, that it has been extremely difficult for me to define Obliviana as a single idea. This is where the following idea comes from: "Imaginary Racing, with some very interesting Roadside Attractions along the way!" The Roadside Attraction are the Revolvers--all the content in Obliviana. Imaginary Racing is the focus activity. So, in this short phrase, Obliviana is very simply, if quite vaguely, defined. I do plan on featuring my other main slogan: "Obliviana has been established in an imaginary place called Little World of Racetracks." Actually, I think the new slogan needs a little bit of work, but it's almost there. Also, the phrase "semi-cyber racers". "A Semi-Cyber realm of Imaginary Racing, with some unbelievably great Roadside Attractions thrown in for good measure." Or... "A Semi-Cyber realm of Imaginary Racing, with some unbelievably cool Roadside Attractions thrown in for good measure." Maybe "Semi-Cyber" should be a slogan on its own. I'll have to check online to see of anyone has used it before. "Imaginary Racing, with some unbelievably cool Roadside Attractions thrown in for good measure." Okay, so maybe these three slogans can be the three main slogans for the T-shirts. [1] "Obliviana has been established in an imaginary place called Little World of Racetracks." [2] "Imaginary Racing, with some unbelievably cool Roadside Attractions thrown in for good measure." [3] "Semi-Cyber" Let me check on that "Semi-Cyber". Sun 5/17/98 * 12:06 PM Never checked "Semi-Cyber", but I will. I did my Obliviana T-shirts with the help of my friend Andrew. I have five altogether now. Nice quality shirts, I can now lay the roots of promotion at E3. My goals for this T-shirt thing are very minimal. In doing this, I am focing myself to conceive of Obliviana in promotional terms. As well, the Obliviana name and logo will get into a lor of people's heads, subconsciously. One problem with this T-shirt thing is that I need to develop simple, succinct answers to the questions "What is Obliviana?", "What is Severe Repair?", "What is Zope?", "What is Little World of Racetracks?", and "What's at obliviana.com?" I have to admit, I really have no idea how I'm going to answer those questions. This is a problm, since I do need to be able to present clear, simple answers to all these questions. I think that I should finalize the Revolvers. 9:08 PM [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape [5] Moodbruc--Zope [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander [8] Fogoncs--New Jersey Wild Pioneer [9] Wroohoots--Super Object [10] Twahokum--Vulpine [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central Okay. The only change is to change Your Fonosta Device at Pilcansas (3) back to Halfevil Graphics. That's it. The Revolvers are now set in stone. 10:46 PM I was at Rowe-Manse Emporium today to get some cigars and pipe tobacco. Rowe-Manse is an independent department store, next to a strip mall and and bowling alley, in Clifton, NJ. It's a pretty unique kind of store. They have a really big and involved Beanie Baby department. Today, there was a line that went outside and halfway down the side of the building--and the sign for the line said something like "Sign-up for your Princess and Erin Bears". I don't know how much you know about this Beanie Baby phenomenon, but I find it very fascinating and instructive. Beanie babies are little stuffed animals full of bean bag stuffing. They sell new for around $6 each. But somehow, certain ones that were produced just a few years ago are now trading at thousands of dollars each. The aforementioned "Erin" and "Princess" bears are still being manufuctured, or were just "retired" a few weeks ago--I'm not sure. Anyway, Each one is now selling for several hundred dollars. So I got to thinking--what is it about these damn Beanie Babies that has fired the imaginations and collecting urges of so many people? I guess right now, the fact that these shitty little toys are worth so much is what is attracting a lot of people. I mean, if Beanie Babies weren't worth anything, and someone saw a little green teddy bear with a shamrock on it (Erin), they'd probably ignore it. But since it's worth hundreds of dollars, the perceived value is much, much higher. But this phenomenon must have started before the Beanie Babies were worth so much. Looking at that line of people, I thought about Beanie Babies, and how they're object-oriented. Basically, each Beanie Baby is the quanta in this system. And they are very good quantum. I identified four aspects of identity in Beanie Babies: [1] Name--This is very important--each model of Beanie Baby has a name, such as "Peanut the Elephant" or "Seymour the Seal". [2] Animal--Each Beanie Baby is some specific kind of animal (with the exception of snowman and ghost). This taps into the animal organizational system which everyone is familiar with. [3] Color--Colors are very important with Beanie Babies. There are color variations in the same model in some cases. [4] "Beanieness"--the "Ty" tag on all Beanies (Ty being the company that produces Beanie Babies) identifies the stuffed animal as a part of the Beanie Baby system. Combine this 4-aspect identification system with "retirement", and you have a powerful foundation for this phenomenon. "Retirement" is the term used when the company decides to stop manufacturing a certain model of Beanie Baby. Anyway, I tried to apply the lessons learned here to Obliviana--and I believe that in my four basic Objects--Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles, and Homes--I have the basis of a system which can tap into the same basic impulses that have made Beanie Babies such a success. In Obliviana, there is Imaginary Racing, and there are Roadside Revolver Attractions. This is the first use of the term "Roadside Revolver Attractions". This setup unifies Obliviana, and separates it into two main areas, which I'll call Racing and Revolver to keep it simple. Racing is interactive, it is the online world. Revolver is essentially non-interactive, and deals in content. Of the two, Revolver is much farther along than Racing. I need to implement Racing without spending any real amount of money at all. I am looking to design a scalable system, which at the beginning will only need to support, say, less than ten Racers, but will be able to scale to support as many Racers as there is a demand for. Fonosta Device is the central component to identity. Fonosta Device is connected to a single Racer. So, I think it will be for the best for one person to have one Racer, but I am not going to prevent, at a system level, people from having multiple Racers. Previously, I did seek to prevent people from having more than one "identity" in Obliviana. Racers are clearly the most important Objects in Obliviana. Fonosta Device is PART of a Racer, totally connected. This is not the case with the other three Object types--Sidekick, Vehicle, and Home--Racers are connected to these, but can change these connections. Each Home will be able to support a set number of each Object type, with larger Homes being able to support more. In all cases, Racers, Sidekicks, and Vehicles will need to be based in a Home. Indivudal Races will require a Racer to choose a single Sidekick and a single Vehicle. Each of these two Objects will affect race performance. How will I implement this system? First of all, all Objects will be represented by pieces of paper. Homes will have Deeds, Vehicles will have something like "Titles", Racers will have Drivers Licences, and Sidekick will have, perhaps, "Birth Certificates". Previously, I had conceived of selling Obliviana Objects as pieces of paper, works of art, without emphasis on the service side. The "service side" is the Internet-based racing stuff. I guess a big fear of mine is not being able to provide adequate Racing service, and then people are going to demand their money back. So what exctly will the Racing service involve? [1] Creation of Objects: Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles, and Homes. [2] Maintaining and updating data on the Objects. [3] Running Races. This is a system that screams out for automation. CGI scripting, and all that. Databases. You know. Right now, I have very little expertise in this area, but I know that this system would not be out of the ordinary for such systems. I mean, MUDs abound, and they're MORE complex than Obliviana. But I do not want Obliviana to be a MUD. I want Obliviana to be IMAGINARY. This means that, for example, that a few major decisions will be made each week, through E-mail or through submitting an HTML form. Thus, the system will be much simpler than a MUD. Each player will have a set of Objects of the four types, and each Object will have a set of attributes. In general, each Racer will spend a week doing a particular thing, which will improve its capabilities in one area. Now--what about Xappenshard? Ah... I had almost forgotten about that. Xappenshard has to be involved here, very much. Things gained via Xappenshard will add to a player's Racer's abilities. But there is still some stability lacking. Specifically, what is the anchor for the set of Objects? Perhaps it can be the Fonosta Device itself. The idea of the Fonosta name as word in the English language is good--Fonosta Device could exist ABOVE all the other objects--and all the objects would be attached to that Fonosta Device. There could also be a mechanism whereby having more Objects would not means a better Fonosta--for example, if you only have one Racer, accomplshment X would result in a certain glyph. But if you had three Racers, then accomplishement X would be one-third of what it would be if you only had one. This is a good idea. Tue 5/19/98 * 10:19 PM I left here a few hours ago to get Web TV Plus. It is sold out everywhere. I rushed around like a madman, and it's a hot night, the hottest night of the Spring so far. Luckily, we got an air conditioner for our bedroom today. On the drive home, I gave a name to an idea that has been hatching in my mind for a few days. I think the idea came to me initially on Saturday, on the drive home from my friend Andrew's place in Manasquan. The idea is called "Jotterjug", and I'm not going to get into it here, since it is apart from Obliviana and it is a really good idea. So, when I see that someone else has come up with and exectued the idea, I won't have to worry that they stole it from me. Okay. I left off with Obliviana at a very important idea--that the Fonosta Device is the central Object in the whole Racing thing. You know, this development phase is really crazy. It's just so slippery. I grab onto one idea, and other ideas slip away. So where am I at? It gets really confusing. And I want Obliviana to Launch in less than two months! Yeah. Okay. So I got, um, Racing and Revolver. I gotta focus on Racing. And Xappenshard--that's an idea that almost slipped away. So--Racing--Fonosta Device--you buy the Fonosta Device, and the other objects get connected to it. The other objects are: Racer, Sidekick, Vehicle, and Home. Maybe the "Predahoary Box" would be a good physical representation of a Fonosta Device? 10:44 PM Actually, Jotterjug should be called Impglein! Anyway, I am now expanding my view of Fonosta Device. I think that it should exist above all Racing and Revolver, and be a kind of universal identity thing in Obliviana, in which a person can get Racing Glyphs, Forge of Wander Glyphs, Xappenshard Glyphs, etc. So, this frees the Racing level of Fonosta Device, meaning that Racing can go back to four Objects which you purchase. See, things are getting more complicated already. As a side note, I see making a set names available at any given time. Fonosta Names were to be chosen by players, but I think that choosing from a set of names developed by Obliviana is a much better idea, for the environment as a whole. So, the focal point of everything is the Fonosta Device. I like the idea of the "Predahoary Box" being the physical item purchased. Now, I think that perhaps Fonosta Device can be connected to Home. It really should be. Thu 5/21/98 * 10:04 PM Wow. I can't believe what I just did. There's this online auction that sells Walt Diswy World stuff, and other Disneyana. They had a painting for sale, which was of the kind hung in Contemporary Resort Hotel rooms in the 1970s. It depicts an Indian child and a bear, nose to nose. It is of the same or similar style as the sprawling mural in the Grand Canyon Concourse of the hotel. Okay. Anyway, a few months ago I was watching slides at my parents' house of several trips to WDW in the 1970s. A few were of special interest to me, and I borrowed the slides to scan in at work. Of prime interest were photos of the room we were staying in at the Contemporary, which depicted two very interesting pieces of artwork--a map of Walt Disney World, and a piece of art hung over the bed. I was much more interested in the map, which depicts several elements of the resort which were never built--the Persian, Asian, and Venesian resorts, and possibly the Western River Expedition. I scanned this in and retouched it to the point where I had a fairly good scan of it. I did not scan in the other photo, which depicted, if memory serves me, the very same picture that was up for auction. I returned the slides to my mother, and now I'm dying to see them again, because I was high bidder. Okay. Anyway, last night I bought WebTV for about $270 with tax. I'll tell you about WebTV later--it's awesome. Anyway, I try and visit this auction site every week to see if they have anything interesting. I did bid close to $100 on a satellite photo of the entire WDW property, but I lost. In fact the only thing I ever bought was a Yacht & Beach Club poster for about $20. So, on WebTV, I saw this picture, and I flipped. The posted bid was $56. By early today, I was flipping out--I had to have that picture, dammit! So, at work, I checked the site a few times, and the bid went up to $61. I clenched by teeth and sent in a maximum bid of $200, which I thought was pretty good. I figured I'd get it for between $150 and $250 dollars. Boy was I wrong. I ate a bowl of couscous as I waited for my item to come up--it was #63. I lit a cigar, and the item came up. I have IMed the auctioneer to ask what the current price was,and it was $201. Let me present you with the transcipt: *********** PinocProd : ITEMS 61-65 ANY BIDS? Obliviana : #63 $205 PinocProd : #63 HAS A RESERVE. NOW @ $210 EyesWdShut : # 65......$160.00 Obliviana : #63 $215 PinocProd : #65 HAS A RESERVE. NOW @ $161 PinocProd : #63 $220 Jctwizzer : ; #64-$45; #65-$162 Obliviana : #63 $225 PinocProd : #64 HAS A RESERVE. NOW @$47. PinocProd : #63 $230 Obliviana : #63 $235 Jctwizzer : #65 - $51 PinocProd : #63 $240 Obliviana : #63 $245 Jctwizzer : oops...#64....$51 PinocProd : #63 $250 Obliviana : #63 $255 PinocProd : #63 $260 Obliviana : #63 $265 PinocProd : #63 $270 Obliviana : #63 $275 PinocProd : #63 $280 Obliviana : #63 $285 PinocProd : #63 $290 Obliviana : #63 $295 PinocProd : #63 $300 EyesWdShut : # 65......Is at what please? Obliviana : #63 $301 PinocProd : #63 $305 Obliviana : #63 $325 PinocProd : #63 $340 Obliviana : #63 $351 PinocProd : #63 $260 PinocProd : SORRY...#63 $360 Obliviana : #63 $376 PinocProd : #63 $380 Obliviana : #63 $401 DMulli8419 : #64 $52 PinocProd : #63 $410 Obliviana : #63 $426 PinocProd : #63 $435 Obliviana : #63 $451 PinocProd : #63 $460 Obliviana : #63 $501 PinocProd : HOW YOU FEELIN FRANK? SWEATING YET? Obliviana : Yup PinocProd : NOW YOU CAN STOP. THE RESERVE WAS $500 Obliviana : Whew! Jctwizzer : #64-$55 PinocProd : NOW THEN... EyesWdShut : # 65...Please what is # 65 at? Obliviana : Relief and dread at the same time--I have to tell my wife! PinocProd : #64 $57 DMulli8419 : 64-$56 JAB2WDW : good job obliviana ******************* Well, there it is. Someone else--I think it was the person I lost to over the satellite photo--had posted a max bid of $500. I guess he or she was sure I'd fold. And I almost did--when my bid of $401 failed, I almost stopped--but I pressed onward--I REALLY wanted that picture. Anyway, it's a done deal now. $501! Wow. I told my wife I'd only go up to $300. She said she was relieved--she thought I might go up to $500! So, I think I'll help ameliorate this insane purchase by lowering my weekly spending money by $25 a week till my birthday--about 20 weeks away. It was $75, so $50 will mean a few less CDs and other lucuries per week. But the shipping is gonna be a pretty penny, I bet! Hey, I better download that web page before they update it... 10:30 PM I did it. I'll have to download the page again, with the results. I don't think I've ever seen anything that went for so much! Whew. Sat 5/23/98 * 2:19 PM Well, my wife Denice was very understanding and very nice about the whole thing. I can't wait to see the painting in person! So, today is Saturday, and on Wednesday (((4:54 PM now, I stopped mid-sentence))) I'll be in Atlanta for E3. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I'll be at E3 itself, wearing my Obliviana T-shirts. I am not going to tell anyone anything about Obliviana unless they ask. I am not ready to actively promote Obliviana yet. My website is not ready, and Obliviana is not ready. I would like to be a little more ready, though. Tue 5/26/98 * 5:18 PM * 10:15 PM CONCISE OVERVIEW OF OBLIVIANA Hey, how ya doin', this is Frank Edward Nora, Lord of Obliviana. Looks like you've made it to the Obliviana website (at www.obliviana.com), so let me tell you what it's all about. It probably won't come as much of a surprise that Obliviana is a "work in progress". Still, there's stuff on this website right now that may very well interest you: SEVERE REPAIR This is a hypertext science fiction novel, well-liked by the few who have read it. And hey, since you're reading this, you have a great opportunity to become one of the elite few who have read Severe Repair! The story is about, in very general terms, interdimensional travel and the end of the world and sex and love and all sorts of good stuff like that. ZOPE I created Zope, a cartoon character, over twelve years ago. He has all the potential to be the next big thing--except that I have been a lazy fool and haven't promoted Zope nearly enough. Hopefully this will change in the near future, especially if you check Zope out for yourself right now! OTHER STUFF SUPERIOR Strange little poems. HALFEVIL GRAPHICS Wild computer graphics. OSOAWEEK The weekly ezine of Obliviana. THE FUTURE Obliviana is all about being imaginary as opposed to being virtual. Little World of Racetracks is an IMAGINARY world, and as such, I do not aspire to having it be a real-time, networked, interactive 3-D online environment. Rather, my goal is to create an IMAGINARY online world. Little World of Racetracks is already designed, as you can see on the main page. A few months from now, on July 28, 1998, I plan on launching this imaginary world for people to participate in. So bookmark this site, and come back often, so you don't miss all the excitement of the Obliviana Launch! Okay, I know that wasn't very concise, and I left a lot of stuff out, but I have to go to bed cuz I gotta wake up early tomorrow to go to E3 in Atlanta. Goodnight. Mon 6/1/98 * 8:56 PM Back from E3, back to work, back to Obliviana. Feeling very tense right now. Took some kava kava to relax. So I wore my Obliviana T-shirts at E3. As I expected, there was no visible interest from people. My intent was to put the Obliviana name and logo into a lot of people's subconscious minds, which I'm sure I did. People were exposed to so many logos at E3... Anyway, I really haven't worked on Obliviana for over a week. So I want to get back to the Obliviana development process before I make my E3 report. First of all, the Obliviana Launch is quickly approaching. Looks like eight weeks and one day, or 57 days. Right now, I am very much focused in on the Launch version of Obliviana--that is, a lot of its parameters are set in stone: Little World of Racetracks and the Racetrack names are very much final. The Revolvers are also final or very close to final. I think that the final major thing I have to work out are Fonosta Devices, which are clearly going to be the focal point of Obliviana. A major issue is the connection between properties and Fonosta Devices. The possibilities are: [1] A Fonosta Device and a Property are one and the same, inseparable. [2] A Fonsosta Device is initially linked to a single Property, but can grow to encompass many properties. [3] A Fonosta Device is attached to a single Property, but subsequent Properties can have "sub-Fonosta Devices" which are separate but a part of the "Fonosta Device Network" for the Pime Fonosta Device. So, for example, the Prime Fonosta Device "Conifer" could have sub-Fonosta Devices such as "Conifer Loco", "Conifer Subway", "Conifer Bee", etc. [4] Fonosta Device and Property are not linked at all. Also, I view the Fonosta Name issue as follows: Fonosta Names will be developed by Obliviana exclusively. Players will choose their names from a list of available names. It makes sense here to link Fonosta Names and Property Names. This may have some drawbacks, but in general, I think this will work. I am going in this direction because I think that allowing people to choose their own names, as in previous versions of this system, would cause a deterioration in the overall feel of Obliviana. 9:28 PM So--what is it gonna be? How do Fonosta Devices relate to Properties? Let me go back to the purpose behind Fonosta Device. Fonosta Device is meant to be a record of achievements in Obliviana, which can be "drunk in" almost immediately, for one knowing the graphical language of the Glyphs. Glyphs... Jots... one and the same? Anyway, Fonosta Device as a record of a player. I originally conceived of Fonosta being very strictly attached to a single person, but I abandoned this notion when I came to see it as overly restrictive and unworkable. So, Fonosta Devices do not necessarily represent a person's entire and exclusive record in Obliviana, even though it could. Rather, Fonosta Device is meant as a flexible system, which can record achievements in a specific, time-limited endeavour, up to years worth of activity. In all of this development, I have neglected to really establish any specifics for this system. So, let me go ahead and get specific! A Fonosta Device is going to be in the FOW format, 11 units wide and 19 units high.264 x 456 pixels is full size, which is 3 and 2/3 inches by 6 and 1/3 inches. The half-size version is 132 x 228 pixels, which is 1.833 inches by 3.167 inches. It is my intention that Fonosta Devices be readable at that smaller size. Fonosta Devices will be, specifically, RGB GIF files, with web-compliant "6x6x6" colors. These files will be rasterized into Photoshop from a master file in Illustrator 7, which supports RGB. Thus, Glyphs will be mastered as vector art in Illustrator. 11:49 PM Color is going to play a big role in Fonosta Device, along with shape and size, and possibly orientation. So, Glyphs will be colored shapes with sizes and orientations. There will be two main ways of getting Glyphs--earning them in various ways, and trading Glyphs you have for new Glyphs. At any given time, a palyer will have a single, specific Fonosa Device. Whether "Deals" will be reversible or not is still in question. "Deals" were the basis of the Jot system. These were specific trades that a player could make, trading Jot(s) for new Jot(s). In general, the idea of Deals is that the approximately 2 x 3 inch space is very limited, and therefore single Glyphs are needed to represent large quantities of Glyphs. It is still in question as to whether Deals will be standard, or limited-time offers. In terms of colors, I do not want to restrict myself to a set of 11 as in the past, but rather, I want to develop the largest possible set of easily visually identifiable colors using the 6x6x6 web standard. I guess that 30 colors would be good, and with 216 to pick from, I should be able to acieve this, though I will have to check it out. With such a system, something like a light-orange oval could represent perhaps hundreds of blue ovals. In a utilitarian sense, Deals are essential, and will have to be automatic to some degree. colors could equal multiple of, say, 10. With 30 colors, that's 10 to the thirtieth power, which is very, very much overkill. In fact, with a base-ten system, the fifth color in sequence would equal 10,000 base-color Glyphs, with the seventh equalling 1,000,000. If I had a gambling type of system, such numbers could easily be achieved, through succesive doubling, or something similar. This question of gambling does bring up the issue of Fonosta Device as record, since gambling would kind of ruin any kind of recordkeeping system. Still, I want to keep Fonosta Device a flexible system, which could support gambling as well as non-gambling systems. It would, for example, be very simple to have gambling shapes and non-gambling shapes. And with base-ten color schemes, a single Fonosta Device could encompass both these types, as well as more types. A possible problem here is numbers such as 9,999, which would require 36 Jots. Still, such a 6 x 6 grid could easily fit in a Fonosta Device. Another issue here is Fonosta Device design. In the beginning, I will be able to personally design each Fonosta Device, but at some point I will have to develop either an automated system, or an interactive system, where players design their own Fonosta Devices through, for example, a Java-based design system. With the issue of Java-based design, I have to consider from the beginning whether or not to include curves in the Glyphical system. It might be better from a practical and an aesthetic standpoint to exclude curves from Glyph designs. Tue 6/2/98 * 11:05 PM I did some work on the Fonosta Device (FD) colors today. It did bring up a lot of questions, such as whether individual Glyphs should be a single color, or a single color with a different color stroke, or two colors, or two colors with a third-color stroke. Another question is the nature of the grid. I am thinking of using a set of 209 points, one at the center of each Storm. This would create a natural safe area near the border, which is good. But I also want to be flexible with positioning. Another issue is whether there should be a set of standard colors, or whether each new set of Glyphs should have its own color-progression scheme. Let me back up a little here. FD is a means of recording information in a visual way. It is a kind of language. The two main elements of the language are shape and color. I think that size and orientation should not be factors here. The size issue--should Glyphs be able to be scaled while retaining the same meaning? Scaling could solve the problem of running out of room on a FD--there could be a potential to scale down as much as needed--and size-as-differentiating-factor is not at all good. Okay--so Glyphs are scalable--size is not a factor in meaning. What about orientation? This will have to be a factor. First of all, FDs have a basic orientation--11 wide and 19 high--this does not change. As well, there is a top and a bottom, which does not change. If orientation were not a factor, then squares and diamonds (squares rotated 45 degrees) would be the same. But--okay--for aesthetic purposes, perhaps rotation should be allowed. The loss of the difference between squares and diamonds is no big deal--diamonds could be taller than they are wide. So I think that I will not make orientation a factor. Still... First of all, I think that there will be a virtually limitless supply of shapes. Rotation would help in aesthetics and in fitting Glyphs on the FD. So I am now declaring that orientation is not a differentiating factor. Now, as I talked about yesterday, curves are out. Angles are most definitely in--I want to be able to do lightning-bolt-style Glyphs! Okay--now we come to the issue of multicolor. This is a very important issue. First of all, I am going to discount multicolor fills. Multicolor is only possible, then, as strokes. So, the issue is an issue of strokes. Wed 6/3/98 * 12:38 AM Scaling and strokes create difficulties--specifically, whether or not to scale the strokes. I think in this case, scaling the strokes will be necessary, though the strokes may disappear at smallet sizes. I haven't decided yet to allow for strokes--but I think it may work. Wed 6/3/98 * 11:56 PM New idea today--FD borders. First of all, borders are needed because the Obliviana has an overall black background, and an FD also has a black background, so a border is absolutely needed. I have been thinking in terms of different types of FDs, such as: [1] Gambler--Glyphs represent winnings in gambling. [2] Trader--Glyphs may be traded or sold. [3] Decorative--Glyphs are used for decoration only and have no meaning. [4] Racer--Glyphs represent achievements earned. I see these borders being 2-color, with each edge half in one color and half in another. This idea does solve, to some degree, the problems I have had related to gambling, selling, and trading Glyphs--specifically, that if Glyphs represent achievements, it would be absurd to gamble them away, since that sort of FD is a record. So I am expanding the scope of FD, allowing for both recordkeeping and non-recordkeeping FDs. Strokes is still a major issue in question. Let me look at pros and cons: PROS [1] Allows for more variations of a single shape. There can be a whole series of red squares for example, which could represent something different from, say, cyan squares. Each of these could have borders which denote the multiple of ten. [2] Visually, strokes are appealing, and they allow for easier reading of information--especially if there is a unified sequence of multiples of ten. For example: no border=no multiple (1-9), white border =10, blue border=100, etc. Note that different shades of basic colors can be used to accomodate all colors. For example, if a green border denotes 100, it can still be used with a green Glyph--just as a different shade. NOW--I have decided to change the term GLYPH to JOT. So from now on, what I have been referring to as Glyphs will be referred to as Jots. Okay. So, a unified multiple scheme. What should they be? How many are needed? Basic colors: White, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Magenta, Cyan, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Brown. 11 colors (minus black, which is the background). 11 levels of borders would make the eleventh equal a hundred billion Jots, which is very much overkill. The only possible way that such a number would be needed is in gambling, with successive doubling or trebling or whatever. Another question: Are borders only good for indicating multiples, or could they have other meanings? Anyway, the 10 and 100 colors are going to be the most important. Red, Green, Blue, and White are the best colors for basic borders, since you could make the case that Magenta is part of the red family and cyan is part of the blue family. Yellow has limited darkness levels. Purple and Brown and Orange would be okay, but I don't know. Fri 6/5/98 * 1:01 AM BORDER. I was playing around with FD Borders and I realized that a multicolor border can not only identify what type of FD it surrounds, but it can, perhaps almost invisibly, encode information about the FD. Fonosta is based on the 11x19 Forge of Wander. A border which is made up of Storm-sized squares would consist of 64 squares. In the border, there will be two or more colors. Therefore, each of the 64 squares can represent some piece of data, which can be colored. The overall effect would be of a random pattern, most likely aesthetically pleasing--but it would forego the need for any text at all being part of the FD graphic. One question here is, how easy should the border data be to read? I think it should be readable, but not necessarily easily. DATA. I am thinking specifically of: Player ID, Date of FD establishment, and perhaps a few other things, such as a chosen variable which could be involved in betting, contests, and the like. How many colors? Well, right now, I see Player ID and Date as four-digit numbers. Date will be the Tarb, and ID will be a sequential number. I should leave some room for more digits--Tarb will hit 10000 in maybe 20 years. And I hope that someday there will be more than 10,000 users! So... encoding of decimals... base ten. I know that I don't want ten colors... so should I use binary? I don't think so---binary is hard to read. The other extreme would be having 10 spaces for each number, but there would not be enough room. Five colors could work--each decimal has two squares... but no... I'd need six colors... one extra for the "baseline" color. So... how about for colors? With three squares for each decimal. No... four squares... 123, 456, 789, 0AB. AB would be for...? This would require 16 squares for each 4-digit number. So four of these could fit in the border. Actually, I may want to leave space for 6 digits on each, and that's 48. Actually, two squares could easily encode a digital, using a base-four system. There would be 16 combinations of two instances of four colors. This could be a little tough to read, but not that bad. In this system, each 4-digit number would need only eight squares. If I could accept ten colors, then the system would be that much easier. But I think that four colors is absolutely the max. The first four squares, starting from the upper-left and moving to the right will be the four colors, to establish the code. This could easily extend the number limit from 10,000 to 16,000, since the first digit is the thousands. It could also extend 100,000 to 160,000. What about ASCII? 128 is needed... Three squares would encode 64 variations, which could easily encode all letters. But this is awfully wasteful. I would want to encode a max of 16 letters, just 26 letters, no uppercase or lowercase or numbers or punctuation at all. So... I'd need 48 squares to encode 16 characters, which is too much space. Tue 6/9/98 * 12:10 AM The Fuente cigar and the non-dairy burrito both cost $5.75 in Hoboken today. $6.10 with tax. Anyway, let's talk about Fonosta Devices. Recently in my thinking, I have been working on making Fonosta Device very flexible. But I am very wary of offering flexibility without structure--flexibility is one of those elemtns that tends to tax the attention span. So whereas Fonosta Device may indeed be flexible, I will have to present it in one particular way to start with. A Fonosta Device has two main parts--the border, and the contents. The contents consist of a black area 11 units wide and 19 units high. Inside this area is a set of Jots. The border is one unit thick and goes around the perimeter of the contents, with a total of 64 squares. The idea with Fonosta Device is that every Fonosta Device has to be identified, in a number of ways. This identification is encoded into the border. Each border consists of four colors, chosen from the set of 216 Web-compliant colors. The upper-left square in the border is color 1, the next square to the right is color 2, then color 3 and color 4. These four squares define the set of four colors, and the number associated with each. From here, the code continues in a clockwise manner around the border. Some data: [1] Time of creation. I will be using my Tarb system, which measures the number of Tarbs ( a Tarb being four hours) since OsoaWeek began on July 28, 1994. This is currently a four-digit number, but it will reach five digits in the year 2000. It won't reach six digits until 2060 or so, and not seven until 2600. Still, as far as pinpointing a time within four hours, it's a pretty efficient system. I will reserve six-digits for the Tarb. [2] Owner/Creator/Fonosta. A Fonosta is an identity. a "True Fonosta" (I just came up with this today) is a Fonosta which represents a single person who has no other True Fonostas. The idea behind this is to esatablish Fonosta as a strong, clear means of identity. There are other kinds of Fonostas, though. There can be group Fonostas, business Fonostas, in-house Obliviana Fonostas, non-player character Fonostas, example Fonostas, just-for-art Fonostas, etc. So, the first part of this code will establish the kind of Fonosta it is, and the second part will be the identity of the creator. I like the idea of a Fonosta having a four-digit code. This limits the number of Fonostas in such a system to ten-thousand or so. Since it is possible that there will be more than ten-thousand players in Obliviana, I will need to accomodate this. Well, first off, there can be a Racetrack code, since each Fonosta will be established in a certain Racetrack. This part will have two squares, for 16 variations. The are only 11 Racetracks, but I do want to keep open the possibily of a "shadow" Racetrack that passes through the "blank" Storms (squares) in LWOR. So, disregarding the Shadow Racetrack for now, this system can accomodate about 110,000 players. This still might not be enough, so I'll have to establish some kind of "levels", or "phases" or "groups". 16 of these would get the number to 1,760,000. Add another square, that's four times more, to 7,040,000. Add a fourth square and that's 28,160,000. That's one-tenth of the population of the U.S. right there. It may sound quite insane for me to be worrying about such numbers when I have had zero players thus far, but I don't want to have an unnecessary "year 2000" type problem in the future. So, if there are any free squares, I can add them to this part of the border. Eight squares is good for 7,208,960,000, which is what the population of the Earth will be in a decade or two. I think that'll do. Do I want to allow for more Racetrack codes? No. 16 is plenty. Unless... if I decide to do a "flipside" kind of deal... nah... [3] Kind. This would be the type of Fonosta it is, such as True, Business, etc. I'm not sure how many types there will be, but I'm sure it'll be within 16, or at most 64. *** Okay. So, how many squares will I need for the 6-digit Tarb, that'll be good till the year 2600? Well, each two squares can hold 16 variations, which easily holds 10 digits. Five squares can hold 1024. Seven can hold 16384. So the easy way, which could be interpreted by hand with some ease, would take up twelve squares. But the way that would require computational help would take up seven squares. Well, philosophically, I'd rather go for a system which could be worked out by hand. So... what I have is: [1] Tarb. 6 digits. 12 squares. [2] "Level". 8 squares. [3] Racetrack. 2 squares. (or 3? or 4?) [4] Fonosta ID. 4 digits. 8 squares. [5] Code Establishment. 4 squares. [6] Kind. 2, 3, or 4 squares. So, at maximum here, I have 40 squares used. That leaves 24! I did want to include a Fonosta name here. Thing is, to encode 26 letters, I'm gonna need three squares each, which encodes 32 variations. I could do a 5-square for 2 letter deal, with the fifth square modify othe other squares. This would allow for 8 letters. This could work, which longer names having an ellispsis (...) as the eighth character. Wait... that's not right... I can do eight with the 3-per system. With the five-for-two system, I could do 10 letters in 25 squares. I'm sure I could take a square out of "level"--it'd still be over a billion! 1:32 AM Yeah, sure you could cross-reference the name against a database, but it's so much better that the name is THERE, fully encoded. Fully. Yes. I am committed to having the full name encoded. This can be accomplished by establishing lower characer max, which may be a good idea in an overall sense. 10 letters, 25 in 5-for-2, 30 in 3-for-1 12 letters, 30 in 5-for-2, 36 in 3-for-1 14 letters, 35 in 5-for-2, 42 in 3-for-1 12 letters. I think this might work. I think I can find the squares. As far a digits go, three squares can define 64. So, I could go 7-for-4, with the last square modifying the two sets of three. In this way, I could do 11-for-6, with two modifying squares. So let me see... [1] Code: 4 [2] Tarb: 11 (6 digits) [3] Racetrack: 3 (32 max) [4] Fonosta ID: 7 (4 digits) [5] Name: 35 (14 character max) [6] Kind: 2 (16 max) [7] "Level". 2 (16 max)????? Well, that's 64, but I need more for level! I could do something else for level, such as establishing the upperleft square as defining the level, and having a unique 2-color square. This would accomodate 215x215 variations (minus the black) for five billion total variations. Actually, I could do something that would be a little more aesthetically pleasing. The first square could be split into four sub-squares. Each square would only concern itself with two of the three RGB values. This would result in a similar billions-level total number. Actually, it could be much simpler. All four corners could be similarly split, and then use the established 4-color code, with just two corners resulting in 7 billion. So: [1] Code: 4 [2] Tarb: 11 (6 digits) [3] Racetrack: 1 corner (256 max) [4] Fonosta ID: 7 (4 digits) [5] Name: 38 (15 character max) [6] Kind: 1 corner (256) [7] "Level". 2 corners (65536) Tue 6/9/98 * 10:50 PM I have thought of other data: [1] Fonosta Device Closing Date (if Fonosta can be closed) [2] Player Fonosta Number (sequential) [3] Overall Fonosta Number [4] Racetrack Fonosta Number [5] Level Fonosta Number I realized that some identifying data can exist in Jot form. TEXT FONOSTA DEVICE Fonosta Device has to be able to exist as text as well as graphically. On thus bus earlier, I wondered what was holding me back now from implementing Fonosta Device. Maybe nothing. Okay. Definitions. FONOSTA. A Fonosta is an identity in Obliviana. Each Fonosta has a word associated with it, as its name, no more than 15 characters long, no spaces, no hyphens, nothing but letters. Each Fonosta has a Kind. The main Kind of Fonosta is the True Fonosta. This is a Fonosta that represents an individual person, and is that person's sole True Fonosta. FONOSTA DEVICE. FD is a format for storing information about a Fonosta. It consists of Border/Info, which establishes the nature of the FD, and the contents, which consists of Jots. JOTS. Jots are named, colored shapes which represent things. They go into FDs. Wed 6/10/98 * 10:15 PM I was thinking about Fonosta as a sword stuck in the ground--an object like that being the "physical" manifestation of the Fonosta in LWOR. But there are a number of things about the sword idea which make it undesirable. First, I think it is too heavy with previously-defined meanings, and second, it does not follow at all the theme of a world of racetracks. Swords are about violence, and LWOR is not at all about violence. So, I was on the bus leaving Port Authority earlier, thinking of this question, and I started looking around to see if I could get any inspiration--and I did, almost immediately--a streetlight. It clicked immediately. Streetlights have a rich history with me (with them going out all the time when I pass by them), and they have wonderful connotations. I recall the lamp from the Narnia books as one example. Anyway, I am thinking of having the Fonosta be a streetoght thust into the ground at an angle, and a banner hanging off of it that is Your Fonosta Device. This streetlight would then be the permanent aspect of a True Fonosta. Homes, Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles--these can all change, but the Fonosta shall ever remain in one place. With this in mind, a player's attachment to a particular Racetrack is going to be even stronger than I had envisioned. The question has to come up here of moving your Fonosta. Also from today: Princess Diana guest-starred in a dream of mine last night, and I fell asleep on the bus home, and woke up in Secaucus not knowing if I was going home or going to work, for several seconds. Doing the first Fonosta sketch now. (10:24 PM) Looks good. Feels right. Now, about moving your Fonosta: It's not gonna happen. Fonostas are permanent. This permanence is part and parcel of the identity issue. Stuff on the web is so ephemeral that something permament like this will, I believe, strike a chord. So, what is the process of establishing a Fonosta going to be like? Well, first off, names are going to be created by Obliviana--so players will choose from a list of available names, which will be replenished as needed. Should names and locations be connected? I think so. So, Fonostas will be established by Obliviana, with places and names, but without Devices. When a person buys the Deed to a Fonosta, the Device will then be hung from the Fonosta, as a banner. The banner will automatically update as the Fonosta Device is updated. I see Fonostas being placed on an empty parcel of land. It's funny--earlier today or yesterday I was thinking about lamps, like a comedy bit, like, "lamps are an important part of your life--we had this family live without lamps for a day, and they saw how dark it could get without lamps". Something like that. But definitely related to this new development. Now, should there be buildings on the lots already? Maybe. Thu 6/11/98 * 9:59 PM Man, Windows 95 sucks. It is like a total parody of the Mac OS. Not Trash, but Recycling Bin! Not Aliases, but Shortcuts! Wow, real original! It's sick. Very, very sick. Anyway, back to Obliviana. So, jab your streetlight into the soil of LWOR, wild pioneer, like those astronaut dudes on the early days of MTV. Yeah, it's good. A good idea. A great idea. So why do I feel so blah? Maybe the end of the vague and the beginning of the specific is tough on me. I often talk about the theme of things being so perfect in the imagination, and then so flawed in reality. Anyway, I have to move forward. My practical need here is to make money. In this current system, it means getting people to give me money in exchange for a Fonosta. This means that the Obliviana system has to be of such a nature that peiple will be willing to spend money on it. Beyond that, Obliviana has to meet my own personal criteria for excellence. Okay. Fonostas represent people. Your Fonosta shall never move. It is a marker--where you first touched down in LWOR. As such, it cannot be changed. I had an idea that your Fonosta might start off straight and then begin to slant as you gain more and more Jots, the leaning being a symbol of prestige. Now, I think that the banner which depicts the Fonosta Device should be on a bar that is a little lower and perpendicular to the stem holding the light. I have been thinking about having other features of the Fonosta as well, but I don't want to take away from the simplicity. Now, a big issue I haven't worked too much on is Location. I have the Racetrack/Town/Section hierarchy, but what I'm really focusing on is Virtual vs. Imaginary. Basically, should LWOR be laid out in a way that could be built into a 3-D virtual world or not? Well, I think that whether or not I ever decide to go virtual, there should be a map, and things should be in specific places. So I have to decide how big LWOR is. The scale is very much determined by the Roads, which are going to be a certain width, and this will be the way that LWOR relates to the real world--a mile in LWOR will be equivalent to a mile in the real world. So what it breaks down to is the length/width of each Storm. At one mile each, LWOR would be 11 miles wide and 19 miles high. I just overlayed a piece of paper representing 11 miles by 19 miles on top of a map of the New York Metro area, and it does look pretty big, far larger than Manhattan. Remember--Obliviana is a LITTLE WORLD. Let me figure out Racetrack lengths, at least the longest and shortest right now. The straight segments are, of course, one mile. And the curved ones are .7854 miles. So, the two small Racetracks, Wroohoots and Twahokum, are each 3.1416 miles long. Yup, pi. So, at 60 mph, these would take 3 minutes and 8.5 seconds to traverse. Racetrack Inhusto, the longest Racetrack. is 38.85 miles, which would take 38 minutes and 51 minutes to traverse. The Inhusto Strip is 7 miles long by itself. (The Pilcansas Strip is five miles long). Of course, race cars go faster than 60 mph, and imaginary ones especially. 10:47 PM I decided not to go to 7-11 to get an iced coffee. Anyway, the scale of LWOR has a few practical considerations. One, I want people to be able to understand its size easily--and making each Storm one square mile gives LWOR a familiarity. Another concern is fitting everything I need in. That is, we're talking about polts of land here--I don't think that the Fonosta thing is gonna work in a skyscraper. So, with 209 square miles, we have... 5,826,585,600 square feet. 5.8 billion. And how big is a Fonosta plot of land going to be? An acre? An acre is 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. So, LWOR has 133,760 acres. But I think an acre is too big for a Fonosta plot--an acre is just about 209 (!) feet per side as a square. Fri 6/12/98 * 11:02 PM Wrote some Severe Repair last night, the Cupline with Couch and Yark and Joel, when they go to Joel's house. Looks like Mallball tomorrow with Bryan and Pete. Wore my LWOR T-shirt today. People seem confused by it. Folks just pretty much ignored it. I am in total obscurity. Sun 6/14/98 * 10:55 AM Well, I'm nearing the Launch date, just 44 days to go. I don't know where I'm at, I don't know what the heck is going on. I have the Fonosta-as-streetlight thing, and it's awesome, but... But what? Okay. People buy their Fonosta, they get a physical Fonosta Deed, they get their Fonosta shown on a page on the Obliviana website. Fonosta Device hangs from Fonosta. Fonosta Device is updated regularly. LWOR is a world. I have this thing of Imaginary vs. Virtual. But I think that in either case, I'd have to construct it in 3-D... or... I don't know. I could just write about each place... but... a virtual LWOR is tempting... For a lot of this stuff, I just don't have the resources. I need a website with all sorts of CGI scripting, databases, Java, etc. Or, in the case of a virual LWOR, I would need a entire program, which could connect to a central server. And I just don't have the resources right now to implement all this stuff. Still, for the Launch, there should be a sense of "worldness" for LWOR. Okay. The medium I have is HTML. Pages can be organized in a hierarchy of LWOR, Racetrack, Point of Interest. All content stuff, like Severe Repair, Zope, Superior, etc. will be represented by actual places and structures. Pavilions? 2:35 PM Okay. You buy Fonosta, in form of "Predahoary Box", very cool, very much worth the money, you get you Fonosta listed, with a LINK to a page YOU make. 6:25 PM I've been working on Severe Repair, doing some foundation for for Forge Two. This is new terminology. "Forge" here refers to a set of 209 Cups, as in the First Forge of SR, now online, represented by an 11-by-19 grid of icons. Anyway, did Mallball yesterday with Peter Litkey and Bryan Cassidy. Very cool. Eight layers. Probably a record. Okay. I am now working on SR again, but I really need to get the Obliviana Launch underway. LWOR as world. I will manifest this as a series of HTML pages, with a page for all of LWOR (the home page), a page for each of the 11 Racetracks, and a page for each major place on each Racetrack. All content in Obliviana will be housed in "Pavilions" or other structures. Towns are where Fonostas will be "planted". Each Town will be broken down into Sections. Now, as far as assigning Fonostas, there will be a strict adherence to the rule that there shall be a Fonosta Box for each Fonosta online. There will not be a "Shack Bluff" sort of place for people I know. Of course, I could give Fonosta Boxes away to people I know, but they cost real time and money to make, and so cannot be given away as easily as cyber-nothingness. Okay. So you buy a Fonosta. The physical item you get is worth the price. You get a listing online, with a representation of your Fonosta Device. Updates to you Fonosta Device will require a separate fee, most likely built into the price of the Fonosta for the first year or six months or whatever. At this listing will be a link to the player's Fonosta Page, which will be on the player's own site. It is possible that Obliviana will offer doing the Fonosta Page as a service, but not right away. Now, what about the Objects--Racers, Sidekicks, Homes, Vehicles, Jots, sub-FDs (sub-Fonosta Devices)? 8:24 PM I am toying with the idea of separating the low-level from the high-level functions in Obliviana. That is, the main Obliviana website being very simple, with levels of complexity existing in other layers. I guess that Fonosta Device is the common element here. Specifically, I'm talking about a "main" area which presents Fonostas only as a Fonosta Device, Name, and Place. Well, it'd be presented in a place, so that piece of data is already there. At this level, there is only the Device and the Name and the Location. Everything else is linked. I want to do this for several reasons. First of all, it'll be much easier to establish this in six weeks, as opposed to a more complex system. But also, this system would establish a very solid foundation, whereas a system with all sorts of elements would be perhaps shaky. Also, in this system, LWOR can indeed exist as an Imaginary World at the main level, with any Virtual stuff existing at a sub-level. So--specifically--what is included in the Imaginary/Main part of a Fonosta? First of all, the Racetrack/Town/Section hierarchy is fully existent at the Imaginary level. Fonostas will be created with Names and Places already established. Name and Place is connected--Fonosta Buyer will only have one thing to choose, not a whole mess of stuff like in my OW001 system (see OsoaWeek001). Now, in terms of numbers, I don't know if I'm going to have an overall number. That is, a number which establishes primacy. maybe I should, though... the 9999 limit per Racetrack seems a little arbitrary--I think that a limit should be reached when it is reached naturally. This means that the overall number is back. FORGES. I see LWOR as having "levels" called Forges. This is a solution to the problem of overcrowding. But here's the thing--Forges are a high-level thing--as far as the low-level, Imaginary LWOR goes, everyone is in the same level. Forges become necessary when it comes to actually delineating LWOR as a map. So, low-level Fonosta attributes: [1] NAME. A single word, from 1 to 15 letters long, consisting only of letters, and nothing else (except maybe hyphens? Nah!) Unlike previous versions of Fonosta Name, Names are all created by Obliviana, and do NOT have to be words from the dictionary. Something like "Coolgoose" would be possible, for example, or "Frex". [2] ESTABLISHMENT TARB. Defines the time the Fonosta was established, in Tarbs. Conventional date/time will also be used. [3] NUMBER. I'm back to an overall sequential number. Fonostas are established in sequence, with no upper limit. [4] RACETRACK. One of the 11 Racetracks. The "shadow Racetrack" will not be "inhabited". [5] TOWN. Each Racetrack will have a number of Towns, and new Towns will be built as needed. [6] NEIGHBORHOOD. I'm probably going to use this term, as opposed to "Section". A Town is broken down into Neighborhoods, and this is it for the hierarchy as far as the Imaginary Level goes. [7] FORGE. Since LWOR is potentially going to be Virtual, it will need to be mapped out. Since it is most likely going to be 11 miles wide by 19 miles long, it will only be able to fit a limited number of Fonostas, since each Fonosta takes up a parcel of land, which cannot have other parcels above or below it. So, Forges are like "parallel universes", each its own map (with some things remaining constant, such as Pavilions. In fact, the Towns should probably remain constant too. And the Neighborhoods. [8] DEVICE. The graphical image containing Jots. The sum total of a Fonosta. The only non-Imaginary information at the Imaginary level. [9] LINK. Links to a Fonosta's homepage. [10] STREETLIGHT. Each Fonosta is represented by a Streetlight, and there is the possibility that there will be variations in these, as well as variations which can be earned. 10:09 PM RECAP Okay. I think I have made a breakthrough with the Imaginary-level stuff. I can start selling Fonosta Boxes, and the basic listings will be fairly static. Only the Fonosta Device will have to be updated. Names. Gotta come up with Fonosta Names. Themes will definitely be good here. How about Vice-Presidents of the U.S.? Mon 6/15/98 * 8:03 PM I'm working on Severe Repair Forge Two (F2). I know that developing Core Obliviana is more important right now, but I have the creative desire now to work on F2, and so I shall. I do like the idea I came up with yesterday, of isolating the Imaginary Level. It does seem that Severe Repair is at odds with the rest of Obliviana somewhat. That is, when I'm into SR, I see it as being a lot more exciting and cool than the rest of Obliviana. But I know that Obliviana must manifest as a whole. 9:27 PM So, at the imaginary level, are there buildings? That's a good question. I would have to say no, at this point. 10:09 PM I started continuing Cupline Nine, "The Waterallidge Edge". Okay. So where am I at here? I have a lot of stuff to develop, and six weeks to do it. What do I need to develop? [1] Web-based interface for Imaginary Level. [2] Fonosta Device basics, Jot basics. [3] A Town and Pavilion(s) in each Ractrack, and a Neighborhood in each Town. [4] Specifics of the Fonosta Box. [5] Get a P.O. box of some sort. 11:09 PM Just put "To Vixenway" into sections. That's Cupline 14. Wow, the Wrath Sanctimony Babe letter, very sexual. "To Vixenway" is the Cupline's final name, by the way. Ah yes, the idea of focusing on Severe Repair solely... yes... it is tempting... but I have come too far. Obliviana must be Launched. VICE PRESIDENTS Adams, Agnew, Arthur, Barkley, Breckinridge, Burr, Bush, Calhoun, Clinton, Colfax, Coolidge, Cutis, Dallas, Dawes, Fairbanks, Fillmore, Ford, Garner, Gerry, Gore, Hamlin, Hendricks, Hobart, Humphrey, Jefferson, Johnson, King, Marshall, Mondale, Morton, Nixon, Quayle, Rockefeller, Roosevelt, Sherman, Stevenson, Tompkins, Truman, Tyler, Vanburen, Wallace, Wheeler, Wilson. (Note: There were three Johnsons. "Van Buren" was made into one word--I don't know if I like this.) CLOUD NOMENCLATURE Altocumulus, Altostratus, Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus, Cirrus, Cumulonimbus, Cumulus, Nimbostratus, Stratocumulus, Stratus. BEAUFORT SCALE Forceone, Calm, Forcetwo, Lightair, Forcethree, Gentlebreeze, Forcefour, Moderatebreeze, Forcefive, Freshbreeze, Forcesix, Strongbreeze, Forceseven, Moderategale, Forceeight, Freshgale, Forcenine, Stronggale, Forceten, Storm, Forceeleven, Violentstorm, Forcetwelve, Hurricane. (Note: Two-word entries were made into one word.) INTERNATIONAL RADIO ALPHABET Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, Xray, Yankee, Zulu. (Note: I took the hyphen out of "X-ray".) POSTAL STREET DESIGNATOR WORDS Alley, Annex, Arcade, Avenue, Bayou, Beach, Bend, Bluff, Bottom, Boulevard, Branch, Bridge, Brook, Burg, Bypass, Camp, Canyon, Cape, Causeway, Center, Circle, Cliffs, Club, Corner, Corners, Course, Court, Courts, Cove, Creek, Crescent, Crossing, Dale, Dam, Divide, Drive, Estates, Expressway, Extension, Fall, Falls, Ferry, Field, Fields, Flats, Ford, Forest, Forge, Fork, Forks, Fort, Freeway, Gardens, Gateway, Glen, Green, Grove, Harbor, Haven, Heights, Highway, Hill, Hills, Hollow, Inlet, Island, Islands, Isle, Junction, Key, Knolls, Lake, Lakes, Landing, Lane, Light, Loaf, Locks, Lodge, Loop, Mall, Manor, Meadows, Mill, Mills, Mission, Mount, Mountain, Neck, Orchard, Oval, Park, Parkway, Pass, Path, Pike, Pines, Place, Plain, Plains, Plaza, Point, Port, Prairie, Radial, Ranch, Rapids, Rest, Ridge, River, Road, Row, Run, Shoal, Shoals, Shore, Shores, Spring, Springs, Spur, Square, Station, Stream, Street, Summit, Terrace, Trace, Track, Trail, Trailer, Tunnel, Turnpike, Union, Valley, Viaduct, View, Village, Ville, Vista, Walk, Way, Wells. ARCHITECTURAL TERMS (p. 159) Tue 6/16/98 * 9:37 PM Racetrack Identity. NORTH: Arctahojast, Voodholo, Pilcansas, Hucaway. SOUTH: Moodbruc, Roptoon, Inhusto, Fongoncs. CENTRAL: Wroohoots, Twahokum, Owltoco. [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape [5] Moodbruc--Zope [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander [8] Fogoncs--New Jersey Wild Pioneer [9] Wroohoots--Super Object [10] Twahokum--Vulpine [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central "Wild Pioneer of New Jersey"? WPONJ? I think I may make this change. Cultures/Themes at Imaginary Level? 9:53 PM I'm going over my "Little World of Raceways" file from April of 1996. One thing that struck me is that as far as themes go, I should perhaps look to classic video games. But would this work? Do classic video games have strong enough themes? No. I need to develop the means by which I am going to develop my themes. I have already decided that they aren't going to be traditional themes, ie, pirates, wild west, space, etc.--but rather--new themes. So I guess I have to get into the whole idea of themes again. Just checked out some writing from August of last year. It set forth some criteria for themes, but not much in the way of specifics. Racetrack names, having a Native American feel. Tribal. Totems. Maybe I should start with totems. Totem list from OsoaWeek001: 83 TOTEMS Aircraft, Arrow, Bear, Bird, Blade, Boardgame, Book, Box, Braid, Breeze, Bridge, Bug, Building, Candle, Car, Cards, Castle, Cat's Cradle, Chair, Clock, Coffee, Crescent, Crowbar, Daze, Dice, Door, Dragon, Explosion, Fairie, Fence, Fire, Fish, Flora, Ghost, Graffiti, Gun, Hallway, Hammer, Hand, Highway, Ink, Joker, Magic, Map, Math, Monkey, Motorcycle, Mountain, Music, Nuclear, Optic, Origami, Patriot, Penny, Pinball, Planetarium, Predator, Railroad, Reptile, Robot, Roller Coaster, Saw, Scarecrow, Scribble, Smoke, Sphere, Spiral, Star, Sun, Tank, Thunderstorm, Tiger, Triangle, Trophy, Tubing, UFO, Unicorn, Video Arcade, Volcano, Waterfall, Web, Wings, Wood Yes... something like this might work... like "Stars" for example, with Stars being a graphical as well as a symbolic untertone... Maybe a basic graphical idea for each Racetrack... Stars... Circles... Squares... 15 QUANXACTIVE TEAMS Quanxactive 1: Team Blade Quanxactive 2: Team Chaos Quanxactive 3: Team Checkmate Quanxactive 4: Team Dragon Quanxactive 5: Team Drifter Quanxactive 6: Team Fusion Quanxactive 7: Team Ghost Quanxactive 8: Team Hound Dog Quanxactive 9: Team Inferno Quanxactive 10: Team Laser Quanxactive 11: Team Paradox Quanxactive 12: Team Predator Quanxactive 13: Team Spacefarer Quanxactive 14: Team Supreme Being Quanxactive 15: Team Unicorn Okay... On a different note, each Racetrack does need a terrain, the basic natural features. In this aspect, I am not against using established thematic environments--because really, these are based on the world around us. Evergreen Forest, Arctic Wasteland, Rocky Desert... but these are maybe TOO cliche... so maybe some kind of combination... like an arctic wasteland with black stone towers, as in a desert... 10:23 PM [1] Basic Terrain [2] Unique Terrain Feature [3] Graphical Basis [4] Major Totem(s) Okay. So the idea here is to have a very basic kind of terrain, with a unique feature. So, the basic terrains: [1] Arctic [2] Forest [3] Desert [4] Swamp [5] Mountains [6] Jungle [7] Hills Yeah... 11:50 PM I think the "Shadow" Racetrack should be called "Quogchaw". Wed 6/17/98 * 12:11 AM So, where am I at? Theming the Racetracks. That's where I'm at. Wed 6/17/98 * 10:53 PM Large iced coffee, black, gotta be one of my favorite pleasures. Racetrack themes. Very difficult for me. One thing, terrain is gonna be tough to have as Racetrack-specific, since LWOR is so intertwined. So the theming will have to be in other than this... Maybe Fonosta Names hold some clue here... I don't know. I guess maybe I should just combine traditional themes for each Racetrack. Nah. Maybe... I could... take two... of the original Totems... two each for each Racetrack... as the basic theme... Maybe... maybe... maybe... Let me orgainze the 83 Totems... GOOD (35) Clock, Saw, Arrow, Coffee, Bird, Smoke, Wood, Fence, Blade, Thunderstorm, Reptile, Explosion, Scribble, Sphere, Crescent, Crowbar, Box, Hammer, Candle, Door, Chair, Fish, Fairie, Bug, Tiger, Mountain, Spiral, Star, Triangle, Web, Bear, Monkey, Joker, Cards, Dice Well, that narrows it down a little. I do have to consider Quogchaw, the shadow Racetrack, here. Also, will there be a 13th Racetrack, much more obscure than Quogchaw? I should take this into consideration. Warolcoo? Good, but steps on Wroohoots's toes. Barolcoo? Jarolcoo? Uarolcoo? Sarolcoo? Hwarolcu? Dwarolcu? ("bcdegjklnsuxyz" are the available letter.) [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair [2] Voodholo--Superior [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape [5] Moodbruc--Zope [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander [8] Fogoncs--New Jersey Wild Pioneer [9] Wroohoots--Super Object [10] Twahokum--Vulpine [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central [12] Quogchaw [13] Barolcoo Thu 6/18/98 * 10:27 PM First of all, I think that there will onlu be 12 Racetracks, and the shadow one will be called Barolcoo. Sorry, Quogchaw! Went out and spent over-budget money on renting a crappy N64 game, Aerogauge, an obscure, bad-looking previously viewed move from 1987, and an iced coffee. Smoking a pipe right now. I'm in kind of a cigar blackout these days--I just can't afford cigars on my budget! Pipe smoking is about a hundred times cheaper. 10:46 PM I just did an initial pairing of the list: Saw & Thunderstorm Arrow & Wood Clock & Door Bird & Blade Fence & Reptile Coffee & Hammer Smoke & Sphere Explosion & Star Scribble & Crowbar Chair & Crescent Mountain & Web/Bug Monkey & Spiral Fish & Triangle Box & Dice Tiger & Candle Cards & Fairie Bear & Joker Yeah, the same old phenomenon, the concept so bright, and the execution so flawed... Anyway, I have agood start here. Let me look at the omitted Totems... NO GOOD Aircraft, Boardgame, Book, Braid, Breeze, Bridge, Building, Car, Castle, Cat's Cradle, Daze, Dragon, Fire, Flora, Ghost, Graffiti, Gun, Hallway, Hand, Highway, Ink, Magic, Map, Math, Motorcycle, Music, Nuclear, Optic, Origami, Patriot, Penny, Pinball, Planetarium, Predator, Railroad, Robot, Roller Coaster, Scarecrow, Sun, Tank, Trophy, Tubing, UFO, Unicorn, Video Arcade, Volcano, Waterfall, Wings Okay... Saw & Thunderstorm & Explosion & Star Arrow & Wood Clock & Door Bird & Blade Fence & Reptile Coffee & Hammer Smoke & Sphere Scribble & Crowbar Chair & Crescent Mountain & Web/Bug Monkey & Spiral Fish & Triangle Box & Dice Tiger & Candle Cards & Fairie Bear & Joker 11:31 PM Okay. I did a thing with graphical "line" styles, and it looks good. Also, I do want there to be two shadow Racetracks--Quonchaw and Barolcoo. I changes Quogchaw to Quonchaw. So, there are 13 Racetracks total. Okay. The line idea has to do with graphical styles of "lines", or repeating graphics along a straight baseline: [1] SAW--jagged, lightning-bolt-like [2] SCRIBBLE--random, messy [3] BOX--squares or "square wave" [4] HIGHWAY--parallel strainght lines, stripes [5] CRESCENT--crescent and water-wave [6] ARROW--arrows [7] MOUNTAIN--like a graph, resembles side-view of a mountain range [8] FENCE--cross-hatch patterns, other fence designs [9] SPHERE--circles or simple waves [10] SMOKE--wavy "parallel" lines [11] BRAID--intervoven lines, interlocking patterns [12] CASTLE--rock or brick wall-like [13] STAR--stars of various shapes [14] BLADE--series of blades, similar to arrow [15] WEB--spider-web design [16] DAZE--psychedelic patterns [17] FLORA--flowers and stuff [18] GRAFFITI--writing and letters of all sorts [19] INK--messy ink splotches [20] MATH--like Graffiti, but with numbers and math signs [21] MUSIC--musical notes, bars, etc. [22] PATRIOT--Stars and Stripes [23] RAILROAD--RR tracks, but too similar to Fence [24] TRIANGLE--too similar to Saw? [25] TIGER--tiger and other animal spots and stripes [26] COFFEE--agitated line, like in Yargo Trees and stuff Well, that's 26 ideas, and only 13 needed. Fri 6/19/98 * 12:42 AM So, I want to have one graphical Totem and one other Totem per Racetrack. That's 26 Totems altogether. 26 Cleona... ???... Sat 6/20/98 * 1:03 PM Yesterday at work I burned a CD I call "Steel Drum Ragtime of James Scott". I used MIDI files I downloaded from a Ragtime MIDI site, and I altered them so that they used a steel drum sound rather than a piano sound. It sounds awesome. I tried just about every other MIDI instrument I had available to me, but none sounded anywhere near as cool as the steel drum sound. Yesterday morning I planned on seeing two movies that night--Mulan and X-Files. I planned to take the 6:30 bus to get home in time to get to the 8:00 showing of Mulan. I got the 6:30 bus, but it got a flat tire on the ramp leaving the Port Authority. I tried to get off, but a cop told me I couldn't. Then I asked the driver again, and he said the cop would give me a ticket if I got off. Finally the driver asked the cop if I could get off--I had told the drivewr that I needed to make a phone call-- and the cop let me off. I walked one block back to the Port Authority (past a homeless shelter and hookers). I called my wife, told her I'd be late, and got on the 7:00 bus, which did, as I suspected it would, pick up the people from the bus I was on. No one else on that bus did anything--they just sat there like sheep. I'm the only one who did anything. And even though I didn't get home any faster, I was in control of things--I wasn't just letting things happen to me. Anyway, I got home, and we were still planning on going to see X-Files at 10:00. hen I told my wife about this Nintendo 64 game called "Wetrix", and she agreed that we should buy it. It was like 9:08 PM when I left--and just about all places that would sell videogames--malls, Toys'R'Us's, etc. close at 9:30. I would normally go to the Toy'R'Us on Rt. 46 near Wayne, but since the bus I took home dropped me off a block sooner than normal, I decided to take an alternate path home, so I figured I should go to an alternate Toys'R'Us. So I headed for the Toys'R'Us in Union City. I had passed it numerous times on the bus, but I had never gone there. So I get onto Rt. 3 East, and I hit all this traffic, and theres a sign for the fair at Giants Stadium, and I get upset, saying IO should have realized there would be traffic for the fair. But soon I passed an accident, and I thought that was the reason for the backup, but it was still there, so I figured it was the fair afterall. Then I pass an ever larger accident, a ways up, and then the traffic jam is gone--it wasn't the fair afterall. It's like 9:24 now or something, and I'm zooming down the highway, hoping that I might get there on time, and worrying about whether I would take the right exit. Finally, a few minutes later, I see the Toys'R'Us sign, I take the right exit, and I run in at exactly 9:30. A woman inside says to me and someone else that just walked in that we had about "five seconds" to buy stuff. I run to the videogame section, feeling really good that I had make it, and I scan the N64 games... and I scan... and I scan... and Wetrix isn't there! Every other new game, but no Wetrix! Damn! I went to the pickup counter, and asked about Wetrix, but the guy said they didn't have it. Dejected, I walked out. I made the very weird turns onto 3 West and was thinking about alternatives. Mill Creek Mall would be closed... no good... I could go to Wal-Mart, but the closest one is like 40 minutes away... I could get up real early tomorrow morning... and now I'm gonna miss X-Files too, since I had decided with my wife that we'd play the game instead of going to the movie. I had a thought, however, to go to Lyndhurst, to West Coast Video, where they rent N64 games. And though I had been there a few days earlier, I held out hope that they might have gotten it in. Also, I thought that the Shop-Rite supermarket there might have it, though I thought it was an incredible longshot. The supermarket had a video section, with some Tamagotchi-like games, that much I knew. So I went to West Coast Video and they didn't have it. I got an iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts next door, and I decided to check the supermarket, even though it was a "waste of time". I get to the door, and the sign says they close at 9:00--but there were people in there. So I hesitantly go in. I approach the video section, and as I turn the corner, there staring me right in the face is a huge display case of N64 games! My eyes widened, but in my initial scan I did not see Wetrix. Then... toward the bottom, a little bit obscured... a single copy of Wetrix! My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. But it was a locked display case, and I feared that it might be too late to get it--the pharmacy was locked up and closed nearby. So I went to the courtesy booth and asked the girl, and she said the guy would meet me there. Then I worried that they might not take American Express, and my Visa-ATM card might not have enough to cover it... But they did take American Express, and I bought it, and I came home and told my wife this incredible tale, and the game is awesome! Earlier this morning, I wrote a design document for my video game idea, "Video Devil Junior". It's based on a very old idea of mine, called "Fey Hunting". Video Devil Junior is a character I made up for the short-lived "Classictronica" classic video game price guide I did with Mike Etler of Video Game Connections. I had spoken about this idea a month or so ago, with John Dondzilla, the premier programmer of new game for the Vectrex. So maybe Video Devil Junior will be a reality! I already mentioned it Severe Repair, in "Piln of Screw Ridge". Mon 6/22/98 * 12:40 AM Just now, I lost some work I had sone, the machine crashed. Writing that would have been right here, work on the themes. I'll try and redo what I did, should be no problem. Anyway, like I said in the destroyed writing, I just saw Mulan and X-Files with my wife, both were pretty good. Now I'll go on and do the thtme work I had gotten a long way with when the crash happened. Wow. I just saved the file. 160000 exactly. And the machine is freezing up a little at times. Maybe something is wrong with it? Here's the Theme Work, no problem: THEME WORK 6/22/98 [1] Arctahojast--Severe Repair HIGHWAY--parallel strainght lines, stripes SMOKE--wavy "parallel" lines [2] Voodholo--Superior SCRIBBLE--random, messy INK--messy ink splotches [3] Pilcansas--Halfevil Graphics BOX--squares or "square wave" [4] Hucaway--Devastating Nightscape GRAFFITI--writing and letters of all sorts MATH--like Graffiti, but with numbers and math signs MUSIC--musical notes, bars, etc. [5] Moodbruc--Zope SAW--jagged, lightning-bolt-like TRIANGLE--too similar to Saw? Thunderstorm Bird [6] Roptoon--Welcome to the Weasel Village Mall CRESCENT--crescent and water-wave Fish [7] Inhusto--Forge of Wander FENCE--cross-hatch patterns, other fence designs BRAID--intervoven lines, interlocking patterns RAILROAD--RR tracks, but too similar to Fence WEB--spider-web design [8] Fogoncs--New Jersey Wild Pioneer ARROW--arrows BLADE--series of blades, similar to arrow [9] Wroohoots--Super Object STAR--stars of various shapes PATRIOT--Stars and Stripes Explosion Chair [10] Twahokum--Vulpine CASTLE--rock or brick wall-like Spiral [11] Owltoco--Obliviana Central SPHERE--circles or simple waves Wood [12] Quonchaw DAZE--psychedelic patterns FLORA--flowers and stuff Fairie [13] Barolcoo TIGER--tiger and other animal spots and stripes COFFEE--agitated line, like in Yargo Trees and stuff MOUNTAIN--like a graph, resembles side-view of a mountain range This work is prelimiary, but I think it is good and it shows that the idea of a graphical basis for the themes is workable. GOOD Clock, , , , Reptile, Crowbar,Hammer, Candle, Door, , , Bug, , Bear, Monkey, Joker, Cards, Dice NO GOOD Aircraft, Boardgame, Book, Breeze, Bridge, Building, Car, Cat's Cradle, Dragon, Fire, Ghost, Gun, Hallway, Hand, Magic, Map, Motorcycle, Nuclear, Optic, Origami, Penny, Pinball, Planetarium, Predator, Robot, Roller Coaster, Scarecrow, Sun, Tank, Trophy, Tubing, UFO, Unicorn, Video Arcade, Volcano, Waterfall, Wings Tue 6/23/98 * 10:37 PM I have just decided that "Quonchaw" shall be pronounced "CON-chaw". This is because I want to keep the name the same, spellingwise, but I like the alternate pronunciation better. "Connchaw" does not look good at all. And hey, this is English, so pronunciation weirdness is to be expected, eh? I was checking out "ListBot" before, an Internet mailing list service, which has free limited service with ads in the mail. I'm thinking of using the service. I have to continue to work on the Racetrack Themes, up there, from my last writing session. I'll work on it up there. 10:51 PM Very tought to work on, that. I've been trying for a few days now. Let me get specific about the sequence of events in the next few weeks. On July 28, I want a person to be able to go to the Obliviana website and establish a Fonosta. I also want people to be able to receive Obliviana mailings. I need to do the lowest-level development of LWOR first--the Imaginary Level. At this level, very little information exists, but it is key information. Maps (which are done, except for Quonchaw and Barolcoo), Names (done), Totems (2 or 3, in progress), and Colors (must be re-examined). At the beginning, each Racetrack will need one Town, and each town will need one Neighborhood. And in each Neighborhood will be a set of Fonostas "for sale". Now, I had planned on selling Fonosta Boxes to establish a Fonosta. But I think in the early going I am going to have to allow for free Fonosta establishment. That is, maybe even send out of free physical item as a reward for joining, initially. What is a player's activities? How does a player get involved? This is the "Major Game" aspect (new term). The Major Game (MG) is that part of Obliviana which is directly related to Fonostas and their activities in LWOR. Thus far, some MG aspects have been Xappenshard and Racing. Xappenshard is a E-mail and other text-medium-based puzzle game in which people must share information, in the form of Xappenshards. Racing involves Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles, Homes, and, of course, Races. To encourage drinking of Revolvers, there could be quizzes which test knowledge about Severe Repair, Zope, etc. The goals of MG come in two main flavors. First would be actual physical prizes that are mailed to the winner. The second would be digital prizes. These would be broken into at least two categories--Device Jots and Xappenshards. Jots are the content of Fonosta Devices, and Xappenshards are valuable pieces of information in larger puzzles. Another prize could be getting listed in some public area of Obliviana. Now, the "discussion" form of mailing lists... I think that everyone gets a copy of everyone else's message (I have no real experience in this area). If this is indeed the case, this would be a great way of establishing decision made which then cannot be faked later. Specifically, I'm talking about a system where a player must choose from a set of things, and then, at a certain time, the decision's value will be determined by an event of some sort. For example, there might be a simple lottery using the Forge of Wander, like my old "Stormlustluck" system. Players could make their choice of Storm known publicly, and then when the Storm is chosen, any benefits derived will be provable at a later time. I am thinking along the lines of people managing their own Fonostas and Fonosta Devices, with a total verification system, so that a player cannot cheat of their Fonosta Device. Every Fonosta Device will be verifiable. The other way I could do this is to simply store players' E-mail manually, but this makes little sense. In fact, all of a players actions could be sent to a discussion list. Thus, cheating would be pretty much impossible. That is, anyone with a record of the discussion mailings would be able to trace a player's decisions to see if the current information is valid. Wed 6/24/98 * 12:27 AM Yes, yes, yes, it is very clear to me. Discussion mailing list--people send messages, and then everyone gets a mailing containing all the messages. This is exactly what I need. This will allow me to run Obliviana with very little in the way of resources. The players themselves keep track of their Fonostas. Their decisions, on a weekly basis, shall be public knowledge. For example, if, say, 100 Jots of some sort are won one week, and the next week 60 are lost, everyone could figure out that the player in question has a net gain of 40 over the two weeks. So, if the player acts as if he or she made 200, they can be corrected. I think a very simple way to enforce the rules will be to invalidate any "move" which is based on false information. This could get complicated if the problem isn't found for a long time. I don't want to invalidate many weeks worth of effort because of a simple mistake. Anyway, this is what I am considering: A weekly discussion list, where moves are declared by all. There should be a limit to the number of players in each group. Players must identify themselves by their full Fonosta name, such as Fonosta Lord of Dank Fields, Owltoco. Something like that. This is it! Hooray! The answer to the central question--WHY WOULD SOMEBODY WANT TO GET INTO OBLIVIANA? Thu 6/25/98 * 10:50 PM Well, my euphoria was dash a bit last night when I found out that ListBot may not support Digest Mode in their mailing lists. At least, the free version doesn't have it. The Gold, pay version may have Digest, but they have not yet replied to my inquiry--and their FAQs are no help in this issue. In case you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about, a discussion mailing list is a group of E-mail addresses where any member can send an E-mail to all the other members at once. With my idea, it would be hugely impractical to receive hundreds of individual messages a day. Digest is the solution to this problem--multiple messages are stored and sent as a single message. I did download a Mac mailing list program, "Macjordomo", a play on words on the UNIX, etc. program "Majordomo". Do I could conceivably do this mailing list stuff on my own. I do have an alternative, though. My web service provider has a free CGI message board, and it works great. Anyone can enter their name, E-mail address, and subject--and then type a message. The problem with this is that ANYBODY can write a message. In a game environment like Obliviana, it would be too easy for someone to sabotage a competing player by pretending to be that player and making a bad move. I came up with a solution to this problem which at first seemed pretty undesirable, but the idea has grown on me. This idea is to send each player a list of weekly codes, which they would include in their move message. The codes would be mailed to the player, either through E-mail or snailmail. Then, when a player enter's his moves, he just has to include the code to verify the message. If someone else tries to impersonate the player, the cheater will not have the right code. And if a cheater was to enter a message after the real player, it could easily be invalidated, since only the first message with the right code would be considered valid. Now, as far as the number of mailing lists and/or message boards, I will start off with one. Eventually, I want each Racetrack to have its own mailing list and message board. So, right now, the means of getting these entries is not as important as the basic format of these messages. The code idea, I think, may be a good one. The code system would not really be necessary with the mailing list model, except for confusion that might arise over alternate E-mail addresses. For example, if a person changed their E-mail address, and there wasn't a code system, it might seem as if some cheating was going on. How would the code system work? It would be fairly simple. Ah! Yes! I had forgotten my great term "Trick Sojourn"! Yes! This is the term for the 13-week period, the first of the cycle starting on the 209th day of the year. So anyway, a player would receive either an E-mail or snailmail (ie, paper letter in the reality-based postal system) message which would list each week and the code for that week. This code system could be automated, and probably fairly easily. But right now, I wouldn't know exactly how to go about it. It would be somewhat labor-intensive without automation. But... there could be a code list for a whole year... or two years... or five years... A paper form of such a list would add further security to the system. The mailing list version of the system, sans codes, would be fairly secure, except if someone else managed to send E-mail from a player's account. The whole point of this message-based system is to reduce the workload for Obliviana (ie, me). My goal here is to create a game system where Obliviana does not have to process player data at all. The idea is that such a system would also create a sense of community in Obliviana. All players see what all other players are doing. What about some specifics? What exactly will the players be "Donexting" about? At first, it will be simple betting kinds of things. There will be a random drawing or some kind of event every week, and depending upon what a player chooses in his Donext, certain prizes will be awarded. As discussed above, prizes will be: [1] Jot(s) to be added to a player's Fonosta Device. [2] Xappenshards--pieces of puzzles which can be traded among players. [3] Placement--Fonosta Device and perhaps other data displayed in a prominent place in Obliviana. [4] Artifact--a physical prize that will be mailed to the player This system can be very simple or very complex. Since I see players managing their own Fonostas, it should be simple enough for the average player to manage without too much trouble. The idea here is that on the Obliviana site, there will exist only a Fonosta's name at its location in LWOR, and a link to the player's personal website, where the Fonosta Device and other Fonosta dta are presented. This is the model for a free Fonosta--in conjunction with the message list system, Obliviana will have to do very little in order for someone to play. Now, all the things a player is doing could be handled by Obliviana, for a fee. That is, Fonosta Device creation and modification, Fonosta history, etc. The Fonosta page can be on the Obliviana site, as opposed to a player's personal site. Up till a few days ago, I wanted players to purchase a Fonosta Box to get a Fonosta. Now, a Fonosta will be free, but Fonosta Box will still be available for purchase. So--what will a free Fonosta account consist of? [1] Player will choose a Fonosta from those available, and fill out a form to order it. ListBot would be good here, since it verifies the request to join the list automatically. [2] Once Obliviana receives the form data, a verification E-mail will be sent out, complete with the codes. [3] On the Obliviana website, at the location of the chosen Fonosta, the player's name, E-mail, and web link (and other data, possibly, such as city) will be posted. [4] At this point, the player will post Donexts in the message list system--which will be either a mailing list or a message board. [5] The player will manage their Fonosta totally on their own. They can create their own Fonosta Devices based on graphics and standards posted on the Obliviana site. They can create their own Fonosta page, based on templates available on Obliviana. None of this is required, but it is recommended. [6] Player will receive, via a mailing list, a weekly OsoaWeek mailing, complete with Xappenshards. Eventually, there will be Racetrack-specific editions, with different Xappenshard sets. [7] In addition, there will be either a mailing list or a message board devoted to discussions of Obliviana matters. [8] Beyond this, there will be various pay offerings from Obliviana, from mail-order artifacts to Fonosta hosting service. Whew. So the point here is that Obliviana the well-established web business structure of offering a service for free, with expanded pay service available. In my case, such a plan must also include the caveat that the free portion not cost me much of anything, since I have no capital to invest. FONOSTA PERMANENCE I had conceived of Fonostas as being permenent. But they each take up valuable space. So, it must be the case that free Fonostas will be "repossessed" after a set period of inactivity. For example, a person who signs up and then loses interest should not remain in "possession" of a Fonosta indefinitely. As well, a person can request to remove themselves from Obliviana, and the Fonosta will once again become available. One Fonosta per person will be the standard, with one Fonosta per E-mail address the absolute rule, since verifying an actual identity is not going to be possible. Fri 6/26/98 * 11:16 PM Well, ListBot wrote back, and they do not support diests yet, but they said they are looking into it. I think I will sign up with ListBot for player signup and OsoaWeek mailings. Now, the issue I am focusing on tonight is the Racetracks, and specifically, their identitites and personalities. Some thoughts on the Shadow Ractracks of Quonchaw (pronounced "CONN-chaw", don't forget) and Barolcoo. I had the whimy of having one of them be only one segment long, and when you go off one edge, you get back to the other. I do have yet to design the layout of the Shadow Racetracks, which can be very interesting because they do have "dimension doors". Anyway, I was thinking that Quonchaw and Barolcoo could be very different from one another. I already started establishing Quonchaw as a psychedelic sort of place, and I'm thinking of making Barolcoo a "vampiric" sort of dark place. Now, if there are 13 Racetracks, starting with 13 letters of the alphabet, might there be 13 more Racetracks on the "other side", using the letters"CDEGJKLNSUXYZ"? This is whimsical, but also important. This has to do with the "solidity" and "completeness" of LWOR. One thing I hate about stuff on the Web is it seems so flimsy and temporary and mutable and nebulous. I want LWOR to be the opposite of this--a strong, permanent place with very clearly defined boundaries and limitations. Let me go over the Racetrack groupings: [1] NORTHERN--Arctahojast, Voodholo, Pilcansas, and Hucaway. [2] SOUTHERN--Moodbruc, Roptoon, Inhusto, Fogoncs These two sets comprise the eight Major Racetracks. These are the one which are based on mathematics--specifically, prime number mapped onto the Forge of Wander, both forward and backward, created a pattern that is mirrored along the diagonal line defined by the upper-right and lower-left points. The North and the South are bery different. The North is more cerebral, while the South is more visceral. This North/South thing is very much a part of the real world, and is therefore very easy to identify with. North cold, South hot, etc. There are 272 road segments in LWOR, the straight ones being 1 mile long, and the curved ones being 0.7854 miles long (about 4147 feet). Out of these, 240 segments are in the Major Racetracks, and just 32 are in the Minor Racetracks. [3] CENTRAL--Owltoco. Owltoco is the Central Racetrack, home of Obliviana Central. Owltoco connects to both the North and the South, and is the only direct link between the two groups. [4] OUTSIDER--Wroohoots, Twahokum. These two Racetracks, each with four segments, exist outside the interconnected network of the North, South, and Central Racetracks. They are therefore somewhat isolated and private. [5] SHADOW--Quonchaw, Barolcoo. These two Racetracks exist in the eight "blank" Storms (squares) in LWOR. They are hidden, in that they do not appear on the standard LWOR map. The are weird and mysterious places. 11:41 PM I do intend to make Fonostas available in all of the Racetracks. I hope to give each Racetrack a unique "flavor". I believe that players will gravitate toward certain Racetracks naturally. But if there starts to be an imbalance, I will have to offer incentives to go to a Racetrack with less players. Or maybe the incentives can be built into the system. That is, with less players in a certain Racetrack, there is less competition to be the #1 Fonosta in that Racetrack. This is just one example of a built-in incentive. The idea of ranking within a Racetrack, or at least a "top ten" list, is a good idea. I want players to feel that they are part of a community. This is the goal of many, many online worlds and services. And it does conflict a bit with my ideal of videogames being a solitary experience. Not that Obliviana is a videogame per se, but it is very much influenced by the spirit of classic video games. I think that the paradigm, if I dare use that work, in Obliviana is like a classic videogame arcade, where people interact as people, and compete for high scores, and discuss game strategy, and the like--but when it comes down to playing the games, it is still a solitary experience. In terms of multiplayer games, most classic games simply allow players to alternate, competing for score, but not directly against each other. Of course, there are many examples of interactive multiplayer classic games, such as Pong and Combat, but these are focused contests between two people, or in the case of Warlords or Gauntlet, up to four people. And Racing itself implies a number of people competing. But I believe that the solo aspect is very compelling, and therefore, in Obliviana, as far as gameplay goes, it will very much be a solitary thing. Sat 6/27/98 * 12:02 AM Only two days till Banjo-Kazooie! That's a Nintendo 64 game which I tried out at E3, and which Nintendo is really promoting now. Anyway, I want to deal with Fonostas and player's connection with them. Basically, a Fonosta is a streetlight (not necessarily right next to a street) which is firmly rooted in a specific spot in LWOR. Fonostas are created with a name and a location. Once they are created, they cannot be destroyed. Seats on the New York Stock Exchange some to mind here. Up till recently, I had conceived of a player "possessing" a Fonosta forever. But I have changed my positon on this. A player's possession of a Fonosta is not permanent--though it could last for a long time. The RECORD of the players possession of the Fonosta will always be a part of that Fonosta's history, however. The idea is, very simply, that a player takes possession of a Fonosta, and as long as that player remains active in Obliviana, they will retain possession of the Fonosta. If a player gets a Fonosta and then never contacts Obliviana in any way again, after a set amount of time, that Fonosta will be "repossessed" by Obliviana, and made available again. Fonostas do not move. If a player wants to move, they will have to give up their current Fonosta and get a new one. This brings up a new wrinkle--non-Fonosta player ID. Previously, I had planned to ID a player by his or her Fonosta, which would be permanent. Now that Fonosta is NOT permanent, I will have to come up with some way if IDing players. This issue also relates to the problem of people getting more than one Fonosta. Here are the rules: [1] Obliviana is a game that you play largely for your own benefit. And whereas cheating is possible, it is like cheating at solitaire--singularly unsatisfying. [2] On the Internet, you are a disembodied voice, speaking through a machine. No one knows who you really are. You could pretend to be ten different people with ten different E-mail addresses. Such is the nature of the Internet. [3] ... Wait... maybe I'm going about this the wrong way... maybe players can get multiple Fonostas... or "outposts"? No... this is against... against the idea of the Fonosta being the player's identity. So what if the player wants to move? Why can't the streetlight move? RULES--I don't wanna just give you a set of rules that you should obey. Rather, I am going to explain to you the logic and the reasoning behind these rules. Okay... so the Fonosta Name is the player ID. So, each name is taken forever when a player signs up. Is this acceptable? Well, there will be "active" and "inactive" Fonostas. My fear is that a really cool name will be taken by someone who then drops out, thus wasting a really cool name. I do like the idea that a Fonosta will have a history, and that the Fonosta named, say, "Fever", could be claimed by someone new if it is abandoned. This means that players will need an additional Player ID. This could be a sequential number. This number, then, would be the thing that identifies a single person. Or perhaps... a player's ID could be a string of all the Fonostas they have possessed, such as "Fever Putty Nixon Dull", with "Dull" being their current Fonosta. In this case, no two strings would be the same. Even in the case of someone who joined and then dropped out... if they come back into Obliviana, they will need to get a new Fonosta... so even if two players have the same first two Fonostas, they will not be able to actively have the same Fonosta, and will therefore have different strings. This system would also tell you something about a player. Staying put would have the prestige of just having a single name. A player who flits around, moving from Fonosta to Fonosta, would have a longer name. I see moves as being possible only at the end of one Trick Sojourn and the beginning of the next. This naming system would not allow for a player who has two or more names to ID himself with just that name. Fever Putty, for example, would have to ID himself as Fever Putty, so as to differentiate himself in records from Putty. "Putty02" or "Putty2" would work in the place of "Fever Putty", since it IDs the player as the second possessor of Putty. "xPutty" or "fPutty" or something liek that would also be acceptable. Sat 6/27/98 * 8:22 PM I went to Pallisades Center today for the first time. It's an enormous mall in Nyack, NY, about a half-hour from me. They're building a Dave & Buster's there that'll be open in a few months. While gazing into a nearly-ready-to-grand-open Target, I had the idea that maybe there could be many different kinds of Obliviana "memberships". Walking back to my Jeep in the rain, which had just started, I thought about each player having two Fonosta names, thus solving the name problem. Last night I realized that "xPutty" or "Putty2" doesn't work in the described context, because there could have another player in the past with that same name. I was also thinking of Wild Pioneer of New Jersey. I want to start it very soon. I was thinking of a review system which would rate things on a positive/negative scale. I first thought of a scale from -209 to +209. Then I decided to simplify it to a -11 to +11 system. In this system, each tier could be broken down into 19 sub-ratings. Wild Pioneer has not yet begun at all. It was conceived as a successor to the osoaWeek features Halfevil Times, Hemisinister Review, New Jersey, and a few others. These featuress are themselves descended from Anything But Monday Magazine. On the drive home from the mall, I toyed with the idea of Wild Pioneer as being a review-only thing. But I quickly discarded the notion, since I did design it specifically with the Halfevil Times material in mind. "You don't have to be fron New Jersey to enjoy the amazing Wild Pioneer of New Jersey (but it wouldn't hurt)." Now there is also the issue of the two new Racetracks, Quonchaw and Barolcoo, which need Revolvers. I have a lot of work left to do on the Revolvers. A few Revolvers are still somewhat undefined. 8:59 PM Player identity. This is the big issue. I definitely want a person to be able to register with Obliviana, and then, forevermore, be confident that they will always have a unified identity in Obliviana. A lot of my consternation is coming from Fonosta Names. Each Fonosta Name is precious. They are going to be custom-designed. And the idea of a person claiming that name--for free--and then immediately dropping out of Obliviana, thus wasting the name for all time--this does not make any sense to me. I want a player to have a single name which is permanent and which can be used as long as they are in Obliviana. I also want to accomodate people dropping out, returning, moving from Racetrack to Racetrack, changing the name they're currently know by, etc. All this, and I want the system to be simple. And I want people to be based in a specific Racetrack. This may be pointing to multiple names. Player name and current Fonosta Name? 10:07 PM What impact does the "multiple roles" idea have on naming? Well, I think that whatever role a player chooses, there should still be a unified way of identifying players. The big idea in identity here is that players make public declarations--this is the record of their existence. This system is strengthened by a verification system. That is, no matter what E-mail address a message is coming from, no matter what's going on, you can be sure that the person is who he says he is. These issues of verification may seem innapropriate for a game which has exactly zero players right now. But I want to design Obliviana at the start to be rock solid through all the stages of its development. And, let us remember the idea of "Obliviana 1966" (or something like that)--which states that Obliviana should be the kind of thing that could have existed in 1966, or just about any other time, for that matter. One way I can see a 1966 Obliviana is a place where the game is run, with a public bulletin board, where people would write their moves on index cards and pin them to the board. As far as verification goes, a player could have a custom ink stamp, or custom stickers, or whatever. The code numbers I am thinking about wouldn't really work, since people could rearrange the cards and copy the numbers. But in this idea, people could also remove cards. So, the system would probably be done under supervision, with glass-encased boards, handled by offocials of the game. In this case, verification could be done via traditional methods, ie, ID card, signing, etc. The main point here is that a player needs to be able to post a message publicly which will be verifiable in the following ways: [1] It is truly from the player identified. [2] It is the first and only posting in that play period. [3] Once posted, it cannot be removed. Online, 2 and 3 are pretty easy (except for the threat of hacking). 1 is the big problem. And I don't want any draconian measures like retina-scan peripherals or anything like that--I want the system to be simple and friendly. Verification has to be strong enough that a player can be confident that his Donexts are strong enough that they will be above challenge in the future. I guess that a password-based system, which allows players to enter their Donext only after entering a name and password is possible. The code numbers make the whole thing a lot easier in one way, but more complex in another.Generating code numbers and sending them to people, who then have to manage them, is a real pain for all involved. "I am Spray of Obliviana." How do we all know it is really Spray? Also, I don't want players to be able to say, if they want to change a Donext, that the first post was a phony. They could claim that someone stole their code numbers, that they need a new set, and could they please now post a new Donext. Yeah. There goes the code system. I guess E-mail addresses are the best way to verify. 10:51 PM I signed up for Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX), a web-based game. It allows people to fully browse the site with no registration at all, and aloows people to play the game for free after a registration. 11:32 PM I mentioned HSX because its model is similar to the one I plan for Obliviana. But Obliviana is more low-tech. This is, right now, because of necessity. But could it also be because a lower-tech system is better? Obliviana is a very varied place. The kind of game I am striving to create right now is only one of many options I am planning for Obliviana. So, right now, it is probably more important to focus on player ID. Obliviana is a world with a lot of aspects. Different people will come to Obliviana to do a lot of different things. But I want there to be an overall system of identity--and this is the Fonosta Device (FD). A FD is a graphic which contains many different colored shapes on a black background. These shapes, or "Jots", are a language, which can communicate a lot about the player to other players. It is absolutely my intention for a player to establish a Fonosta Device, and keep that same Fonosta Device as long as they keep playing Obliviana. Idea here: Players could put their Donexts on their OWN websites--no--but this would allow them to cheat, change their minds, etc. Forget it. Anyway, even if a player stops playing Obliviana for years, then comes back to it, they will still have the same Fonosta Device. Now, in order for a Fonosta Device to be identified, it will need some forms of identification. I do intend to number each Fonosta Device in sequence, with myself being number 1. So, each Fonosta Device is identified by a unique number. This system is very simple and very effective. You can't run out of numbers, and even if everyone on Earth joined Obliviana, the highest Fonosta number would only be ten digits long. The problem with numbers is that they are just that--numbers. "I am not a number!" (or something to that effect) yelled Patrick McGoohan in the TV series "The Prisoner". People don't want to be known as numbers. Note here: I decided that I will adopt an upper- and lowercase system. Thus, VANBUREN/vanburen becomes VanBuren. Okay. So number are good for basic identification, but what people really need are NAMES. I have developed the idea in Obliviana for a long time that Fonostas will be identified by single words in the English language, like Shave, Shock, Darkling, Tarot, Mystery, etc. I had, at one point, intended for people to name themselves. But I now believe that it would be far better, for all concerned, for the names to come from Obliviana (ie, me). One of the benefits of this is that Fonosta Names can help to further Racetrack Identity, by creating names that fit the themes of the Racetracks. And I am no longer going to limit myself to single words. ShaveWolf, ShockLine, DarklingGhost, TarotBe, MysteryFun, etc.--these are all possible names now. Hmm... okay... I had intended for entirely formed names to be attached to Fonostas (represented as streetlights), which are themselves attached to specific plots of land in LWOR. What if I were to alter this system? What if the Fonosta Name were to be totally independent of any Fonosta Streetlight or plot of land? Hmm... I think this makes sense. Even though... I do want Fonostas to be attached to a piece of land... maybe... maybe... Okay. What I am thinking of is allowing people to create their own names, by choosing one, two, or however many words, up to the character limit of 15. I was thinking of limiting people to two word names, since I don't want valuable one-word names to be wasted. Still... Fonosta Names should have meaning. Seeing a name, you should be able to know something about someone. And players sharing single words in their multiple-word names could feel "related" in some way. I recall a Kurt Vonnegut book... what was it called?... it was made into a movie with Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn... um... "Slapstick", that's it. I read the book, but the movie sucked, if I recall correctly. Anyway, in the book, the characters develop a new system of middle names so that people could feel related to other people. Something like that. So, I think that I should do as much as possible with Fonosta Names, in terms of giving them meaning. "WalkingFlight", that's a good name. Um... maybe Obliviana (me) should create the two word names, rather than let people choose them? Wow. This is getting complicated. Getting? Obliviana has always been complicated. Okay. In OsoaWeek001, I set forth the original Fonosta Name scheme, where the player chooses a single word from the dictionary. This system put creativity in the hands of players, and it also gave absolutely no intrinsic meaning to the names. "LordOfObliviana". 15 characters. Wow. I never thought of that. Wow. That should be my Fonosta name, not "Lord". Wow. And that "establishes" the 15-character limit! Wow. There you go. Sun 6/28/98 * 3:36 AM My wife suggested the possibility of all Fonosta Names having "Of" in the middle, like "Lord of Obliviana". It could work. I just spent at least an hour buying stocks on HSX, pretty darn fun. 1:36 PM Okay. The multipart Fonosta Name idea is in. Should single word names still be in? I think so. The purpose of the Fonosta Name system is to generate a large number of names, and minimize the problem of losing names to people who sign up but don't play Obliviana. The basic rule is this: Each word that makes up a name will have a capital letter as its first letter, and the rest will be lowercase. There are no spaces between words. There is a 15-character maximum. 1:59 PM What about hyphens? I think that with this upper and lowercase system, there is no longer any need to even consider hyphens. Okay. So a person checks out the Obliviana website. They decide to start playing. They read the instructions. They type their E-mail address next to the ListBot logo, and hit JOIN. They then fill out a form at ListBot, where they enter their chosen Fonosta. They are sent a verification message by ListBot, to make sure that someone else didn't sign them up without them knowing about it. At this point, the player is on the Obliviana mailing list, and will receive a single weekly mailing, OsoaWeek, which will contain news and information about what's new and what's going on in Obliviana, a set of Xappenshards, and a digest of all player's Donexts for the week. This will be the initial setup. I will have to do the digests manually, because ListBot does not support digest mode as of yet. At the end of the ListBot signup procedure, players will read that they should check in LWOR to see if their name and other info are listed with the Fonosta they chose. This is because I do not want to have to send out a verification message. They will be told that if they do not see their name listed after a week, to E-mail Obliviana to see what's up. Players will be asked to choose an alternate Fonosta Name if the one they chose has already been chosen by someone else. Actually, for the first TS (Trick Sojourn, a period of 13 weeks), I think I can maybe not have the alternate thing, since there will be so few people responding. Or... I could have them type their name choice into the Obliviana message board. 2:25 PM I think that I do want to inform people that Obliviana is just one person--me--and that I realize that it is extremely ambitious of me to try and create an online world/game/entertainment experience. I think that if I phrase it right, ie, if I communicate honestly and accurately what I am doing, I think a lot of people will identify with me and want to help. This sort of thing will not do much good if the game part is not fun to play, but it will help get people into Obliviana. But I realize that the game itself has to be a lot of fun in order for people to want to play it. A thought has struck me, and this is that there has to be a symbolic basis for Jots. That is, Jots have to represent things. I think that the object system is a good idea here. Racers, Vehicles, Sidekicks, Homes. You have this plot of land with a streetlight on it. Now you have to get stuff. And I want to have many other classes of objects as well. Specifically, I am envisioning this object system to be detached from further gameplay for the time being. That is... I am not going to have a full racing system ready for the Obliviana Launch, but I still want to allow people to work on getting various objects and resources for the game to come. And this... this might be a good design... for their to be one game level where resources are obtained, and another level for Racing itself. And there should be different kinds of rewards. So, Donext-level gameplay provides the resources you need for the next level, which is Racing. Racing is, specifically, choosing a Racer and Sidekick and Vehicle and entering a Race. The winnings from Races can be of a different sort, or they could be of the same sort as the Donext level. Anyway, I think this is very important, this way of giving the rewards a texture and a feel. For example, a player might not feel too enthusiastic about striving after a red oval, but they might very well be excited about the prospect of getting something like a chain saw. Chain saw... okay... I have to reiterate my basic philosophy that violence is not going to be a part of Obliviana. That is, in the game universe, there are not going to be violence-based fights. Rather, players will settle disputes through racing. Vehicles will not have machineguns or missiles or mines. Smoke screens? I don't know. What about crashes? Damage? Flat tires? No. There will not be violence, crashes, damage, or anything like that. First of all, I believe that such elements are unnecessary. Second, they are horrifically cliched. Third, I do have qualms about videogame violence. My problem with videogame violence is that it is a novelty. It is titillating when first encountered, but as time goes on, players get more and more numb to it. This means that games have to get more and more violent, or risk being boring in their violence. Another problem is that while older gamers can see the silliness about violence, I have a feeling that younger gamers lack this context. I saw a little boy, maybe five years old, gleefully playing Goldeneye on N64. And it bothered me. I'm not saying that kids who play violent video games will become violent. This has been the main argument used by videogame violence opponents. The way I see it, it's not becoming violent, but perhaps becoming desensitized in witnessing or hearing about real violence. Anyway, I'm not about to go on a crusade against videogame violence. I really don't care what other game designers do. But I do have control over Obliviana, and being that I both don't want to have violence and violence is unnecessary, I think I'll keep violence out of Obliviana, 100%. Of course, there is some violence in Zope and Severe Repair, and I will not change these. It's the game universe I am concerned about. LWOR has racing as its core gameplay idea. Racing is a form of competition that can take the place of violence. And regarding crashing, I am talking about damage to the vehicle, not an impact. Of course there will be collisions. And colliding with another vehicle or object will certainly have penalties. First off, it'll take time to get back on the road and back racing. But no explosions. No bloody, dismembered characters. 2:55 PM I'm headin out to see my grandmother now. I still need to come up with the logic behind the names. I'll work on that on the road. Wed 7/1/98 * 11:35 PM Just managed to spill half a large Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee on my lap while driving. I figure that's gotta be good luck, though. Anyway, like 26 days left to the Obliviana Launch. Am I gonna fail again? No. I have the system. I have the ideas. People are going to be able to play Obliviana on July 28! I am working on the Racetrack Themes. I am working on a bunch of parameters. Let me state these parameters: [1] Shape--ie, on the LWOR map, # of miles, etc. STATUS: Fully done, except for the shapes of Quonchaw and Barolcoo [2] Name--ie, Voodholo, Pilcansas, etc. STATUS: Fully done. [3] Number--from 1 to 13, Arctahojast to Barolcoo STATUS: Fully done. [4] Totems--a set number (it will be from 1 to 4), from the OsoaWeek001 Totem list. STATUS: Most of the way there. [5] Graphical Theme--lightning bolts, circles, etc. STATUS: Most of the way there [6] Balbitype Font--each Racetrack will have a 52-character font, 26 letters, uppercase and lowercase STATUS: Most of the way there [7] Color Scheme--could be a single main color with one or more supprting colors, or two or more main colors. STATUS: Getting there [8] Towns--the first Town in each Racetrack is going to be the Capital of that Racetrack STATUS: Getting there Mon 7/8/98 * 10:59 PM Back from Shenandoah. Cool trip. New idea. Game you play. Get one Octagon per week. only a few facets will be open. Xappenshard activity opens more facets. Thu 7/9/98 * 11:10 PM I was just watching rugby on TV, Wales vs. South Africa. One of those mind-numbing TV experiences it's hard to yank yourself away from. Before that, I was playing Banjo-Kazooie on N64. It's a very good game. So anyway, I guess it figures that now, when I need to devote all my time to Core Obliviana, I'd embark on a video game project. Specificially, there's a new programming language on Mac called RealBasic. It's not as primitive as the standard Basic. But it's easy, which is good, since I am not a very experienced programmer. I've dabbled in programming, but mostly in various forms of Basic. So, the game is called, tentatively, "Threado Trucker", and is partially based on my Fey Hunting/Video Devil Junior game idea, but Threado Trucker is quite unique. Right now, I want to get back to Core Obliviana, and specifically, Octagon. I had an experience at dusk in the town of Metuchen, New Jersey--must have been over a year ago--I have it all written down in a past OsoaWeek. This experience was very special, and out of it came Octagon. That is, I came up with Octagon during the experience. Since then, Octagon has come and gone in Obliviana, and in the past few months it has been totally gone. Now, it's back. Basically, the Launch version of Obliviana involves "playing". Since I have limited resources, this game will have to be very simple. I have decided that once a player joins Obliviana and gets a Fonosta, the game element will be choosing one new Octagon per week. Octagons have eight facets, and not all of them will necessarily be open. In fact, when an Octagon is introduced, it will most likely only have one or two facets open. So this is part of the fun--when facets open up, you can see if you made a good choice with that Octagon. Let me get a little more specific here. Octagons are divided into "Models" (tentative term). Each Model will be made available for at least one week, and most likely a lot longer, but it will be "retired" at some point. At the time of retirement, the total number of that Octagon will be the total number "owned" by Fonostas, plus a few kept by Obliviana to be used as prizes, etc. in the future. 11:51 PM Dropped my pipe. Red hot embers on my leg. After about 30 seconds I poured lemon-lime seltzer water on it. I think my leg is a little burned. Okay. I gotta wake up and get moving. Damn! Got seltzer water on my Genesis! Okay. Here it is. I got to do the whole mailing list thing. Sign up for Obliviana, get a Fonosta, and then declare, each week, what you are doing. I will have to do a manual digest mailing list each week. OCTAGONS Okay. Octagons. An Octagon is a digital object. They cannot be traded. This is because it would be too easy for someone to get several Fonostas, and then give all the Octagons from all the Fonostas to one Fonostas. Anyway---maybe... Octagons are like coins... Octagon-shaped... hole in the center, piled up at the base of a Fonosta (streetlight). Octagons will be identified by a sequential number. Each new Octagon will have a number one greater than the one before it. Wow, that's getting a little too detailed, eh. Anyway, some Octagons, or all of them, might be Racetrack-specific. I'm not sure if I want Octagons to be restricted to residents of a Racetrack. No, they shouldn't be restricted, but yes--all Octagons should originate from a single Racetrack. The eight facets... one of them is surely the Jot/Glyph. Another should be the Architectural Element, since that was part of my vision in Metuchen. This Architectural Element would be applied to the Home object in Obliviana. Should the other facets follow this lead? The other major objects are Vehicle, Racer, and Sidekick. Vehicle Facets could be like fuzzy dice, fins, racing stripes, etc. Racer Facets could be like denim jackets, coonskin caps, tattoos, etc. Sidekick Facets could be like songs to sing, games to play, riddles to ask, etc. So, I have the following facets: [1] Glyph/Jot [2] Architectural Element (Home) [3] Racer Element [4] Sidekick Element [5] Vehicle Element Three more. Hmm... Well, one could relate to the Fonosta itself--the streetlight, with such things as colored light, fireflies, studs, etc. [6] Fonosta Element Also, I think the ground of the plot of land is a good thing to have a Facet. This would be like rocky landscape, grass, pavement, etc. [7] Land Element What else? I think the eighth should be something esoteric. Maybe like "forces", like wind, rain, etc.? [8] "Forces" Element. Well, I'm off to a good start! Sat 7/11/98 * 3:13 PM Well, this is the beginning of the final stretch to the Oblviana Launch. Today is "7-11 Day" and they have free 12 oz. coffee at 7-11. I went there to get two iced coffees, one for me and one for my wife. I had the two 20 oz. (non-free) cups full of ice, and I made my wife's with half-and-half, and then I was so distracted by the free coffee and the 12 oz. Slurpee for 11 cents that I forgot to put coffee in my cup of ice! So I had to use the free coffee once I got home to fill up the cup of ice with iced coffee! I figure that was good luck for today, a big day of Obliviana development. There's a Video Game Connections "NAVA" meeting tonight, but I'm gonna have to miss it because I need to work on the Obliviana Launch! So... 17 days till the Launch... 6 weekened days including today...maybe I can take a few days off of work, also... THE LAUNCH GOAL My Launch goal is pretty simple--Obliviana as something people can and will join and check out on at least a weekly basis. This, of course, in the context of my overall vision of Obliviana. I want Obliviana to be a scalable thing, which can grow smoothly and steadily. This is a tall order. So, specifically, this is what I am planning: [1] Little World of Racetracks "manifested" in HTML. Speficially, each Racetrack will have its own page, with sub-pages for Towns and Pavilions. [2] People can get Fonostas. Fonosta registration. Through ListBot, most likely. Then, weekly mailing will have player's moves and Xappenshards and OsoaWeek. [3] Okay--here it is. Players will sign up for Obliviana mailing list via ListBot. Then, players will sign up for their Fonosta name via the Obliviana message board. [4] People. This is a big thing. Need to get people into Obliviana. I can afford no method of getting people into Obliviana other than it being go excellent that it will sread via word of mouth and stories in the press. But even if I had money to promote Obliviana, it would still have to be excellent to keep people coming back. [5] My vision for Obliviana had always involved people getting into it. Up till now, Obliviana has not had people into it, and that has been a luxury of sorts for me. But now I have to move to the next level and get people involved. [6] Obliviana's primary media is the World Wide Web. I am a user of the World Wide Web myself--so what sites to I visit repeatedly, and which to I not visit anymore? Okay. "Riddler" is a good example of a site that lost my interest. It has free access, a number of different games, a "cap" system with which you can earn prizes, and a whole lot more. So why did I lose interest? It was that the site was cumbersome and slow, first off. Having to wade through an ad screen to play eac game, that was a real turn-off. Another problem was that I never even got close to winning any prizes because to do so, you'd have to spend hours on there every day. Also, a lot of games were in Java, which my machine didn't supprt when I was into Riddler, and also, WebTV does not supprt Java, so I can't play those games via WebTV. I also did not like the aesthetics. I did not feel connected to Riddler in any way. Now, "Hollywood Stock Exchange" (HSX) is a site that has maintained my interest for a while--time will tell if it continues to. I like it because it is a fun game in its stock market simulation, and it is very interesting because you get to know about all the movies currently in the works. Another big thing is that I've gotten a lot of people I know into HSX, and the good-natured competition and subject for conversation make HSX all the more compelling. "Emulation.Net" and "Macintosh Gamers Ledge" are two sites which I visit often because they very often have cool new games to download and play. "Dent in the Tori Amos Universe" (or something like that) is a Tori Amos information site, which has all the new information on Tori Amos, who I am a big fan of, along with my wife and sister-in-law. So, I think that two big factors in this issue are gratification and competition/conversation. I know that I have championed the concept of "videogame as meditation, like staring at a candle", but this is just one aspect of video games--they are also a great form of competition and basis for conversation. Another aspect here is expectation. Almost all of the sites I like have some aspect of previewing stuff that is not yet available. [7] So, here are the aspects I want in Obliviana: {a} Gratification {b} Competition {c} Basis for conversation {d} Community {e} Previews All of this pretty much points toward Octagons--the basis for all objects in Obliviana. Wait--I had not thought of Octagons as being the basis of all--hmm... maybe Octagons CAN be the basis of all Objects! [8] I have two levels of developement--ideal and short-term. I need to develop toward my eventual goal, but also toward short-term realistic goals. [9] Okay. Octagons as the sole source of Objects in the "game" level of Obliviana. Racing. Etc. For all the objects at that level-- {a} Fonosta (streetlight) {b} Land (your parcel of land in LWOR) {c} Home (building(s) on your Land) {d} Racer (character(s) that drive Vehicles) {e} Sidekicks (characters who help Racers) {f} Vehicles (various forms of transportation that race) {g} Glyph/Jot (graphical symbol in Your Fonosta Device) {h} "Force" (the as-yet undefined aspect) [10] OCTAGONS. {a} Octagons are "digital artifacts" in Obliviana, which are the "containers" of all objects in Obliviana Racing (note: this is a new term, the racing game aspect of Obliviana). {b} Octagons are organized into "Models". Each Model has a design, and each "copy" of a model is identical to all other copies. {c} Octagons are first previewed, then they are made available, then they are "retired" (to use a Beanie Baby term). So, a particular Model of Octagon is only available for a limited span of time. These points in time of introduction and discontinuation will take place on a weekly level. That is, every seven days (except for around Obliviana Day, when the span can be slightly different), Octagons will be introduced, continued, or discontinued. {d} Upon discontinuation, an Octagon Model will never be available again in exactly the same form--if it is rereleased, it will be different in some ways. I am not 100% sure about this aspect yet. Another idea is that after being retired, an Octagon will still be available, but will be much more difficult to obtain. {e} The basic rule of Octagon getting is that each player may obtain one new Octagon per week for his or her Fonosta. On the week containing the day of the player's birthday, the player may get two Octagons. There are many other potential exceptions. {f} The number of a particular model of Octagon is determined by how many players get it during its availablility. There is an effectively unlimited supply, but once an Octagon is discontinued or made harder to get, there will then be a set number of that Octagon gotten by Fonostas. {g} Octagons may not be traded. I am not 100% on this aspect yet. A big reason for this is that if players could trade Fonostas, it would be failry easy for a single player, or a group of players, to simply give their Octagons to a single Fonosta, creating an unfair advantage for that Fonosta. Since the ultimate goal of getting Octagons in the Obliviana Racing system is to enter and win races, such a trading system would be disastrous. The idea that Octagons do not "retire", but rather become much harder to obtain, goes a long way toward remedying the main problem of NOT trading, namely, a player not being able to get a very much desired retired Octagon. {h} So, I am now 100% on both Octagons remeaining available in some way and trading not being allowed. {i} Octagon permanence. Octagons can either be permanent--that is, once you get it, you always have it--or non-permanent, where they can be lost. The one specific ways of "losing" Octagons I can see is "spending" gotten Octagons to get "retired" Octagons. That is, maybe a retired Octagon will "cost" some amount of Octagons to get. For example, a retired Octagon may "cost" four Octagons, plus a player's weekly credit, to obtain. I am not 100% on this yet. {j} Each Octagon has eight Facets. Facets are numbered from 1 to 8. Each numbered Facet contains an "object" in a particular category, as detailed above. At any given time, each of an Octagon Model's facets will be either "open" or "closed". Once open, however, a Facet will always remain open. {k} Upon release, an Octagon will always have Facet 1 open--the Glyph/Jot for the Fonosta Device. Some, all, or none of the remaining 7 Facets will be open at the time of release. {l} Once a Facet is opened, and the Octagon is gotten by a player. that Facet may be either active or inactive. In the case of the Home Facet, it could be a hut, a shack, a weather vane, a stained glass window, etc. Inactive, a Facet is dormant and has no effect on a player's objects. Active, it is in "existence" on a players Land, or object on that Land. For example, a hut could be made active at any time, since it has no dependencies (except perhaps for Land requirements). A weather vane, on the other hand, requires a building upon which to place it. {m} The opening of a Facet is going to be done on in one of several ways--I'm not sure yet. Facets could be opened at my discretion, but that's not as much fun as the Xappenshard idea or the "communal effort" idea. Note that these two ideas could merge into a single idea. Xappenshard is a system where bots of information, called Xappenshards, are meted out by Obliviana. When there are different mailing lists for each Racetrack, each Racetrack will get different Xappenshards. A Xappenshard is a piece of a Xappen, which is a clue that needs to be solved. The player who first presents the right answer to the Xappen will get a prize. A solved Xappen could also open a particular Facet on a particular Octagon. "Communal effort" refers to a system by which a player can ":work on" opening a particular Facet. If enough players work on a particular Facet, it will open. I like the idea that player involvement will open Facets, as opposed to opening by fiat by me. I have had the Xappenshard idea for awhile now. I think that this idea is well suited to Facet opening, but I still want to have some kind of "communal effort" system going on. This moves into Fonosta activity territory. A very basic Fonosta activity is getting Octagons. But Obliviana Racing involves a lot of different activities, such as entering a Race and Racing. One idea I had a long time ago was of a Pac-Man-type field of dots, so huge that it would require many players weeks or months of effort to clear. This would be one example of "communal effort". Xappenshard is somthing that happens largely outside of Obliviana Racing, but which has effects within Obliviana Racing. {n} Obliviana has been established in an imaginary place called Little World of Racetracks. Welcome to Obliviana, an Internet-based game unlike any you have ever experienced! Obliviana is free--not just a limited version, but the full version, if free. There are extras available that cost money, but none of them are required to play the game. An example of an extra that costs money is the "Fonosta Box", which is a physical artifact you buy through the mail, and which represents your Fonosta. Many players like to have a Fonosta Box, but again, it is not at all required to play. Obliviana is the dream and quest of a single person--Frank Edward Nora, Lord of Obliviana. The game has been developed and introduced on a sub-shoestring budget. As a result, the game requires a little bit of help on the part of the players. Basically, you keep track of your own Fonosta, which is your "presence" in the game. In order for the game to remain stable, and for things to remain fair, and to discourage cheating, a very simple system has been developed to keep everything official--you declare your moves via E-mail. Everyone else then has access to the moves you have made, meaning that if anyone tries to cheat, it will be readily checkable by everyone involved. This also goes for honest mistakes--these too will be checkable and correctable by everyone involved. I hope you'll keep reading, because you will see that Obliviana is indeed worth your time. It is a wonderful, multi-faceted (no pun intended) universe that is a lot of fun to play, and which can introduce you to new friends with similar interest as you have. All you have to do is join the Obliviana mailing list and then post some simple information to our message board. Then, your Fonosta will bve registered and you will be a part of Obliviana! We do require some information from you in order you you to play Obliviana. And we also require that you follow a few basic rules. The primary rule is that you have one, and only one, Fonosta. Only one Fonosta per E-mail address is allowed. On the Internet, there is no way to check that you might have mutliple Fonostas under different E-mail addresses--so it is a matter of trust that you have only one Fonosta. As far as information goes, we require the following: Your real name, sex, your E-mail address, the city and state in which you reside, and your birthday. This last piece of information affects game play--if you wish, you can choose another day. We will publish this information in your Fonosta listing on the Obliviana website. The reason for this is that we want people to be able to get to know you a little bit. As well, you can put a link to your own personal web site, and also give a little biographical information about yourself. If you are reluctant to give out information, you may decide to omit certain pieces of information. We would much prefer you to omit data than to give false data. We do want people to be able to know a little bit about you, and be able to contact you via E-mail. Being that we are publishing this data for anyone to see, we do not have any control over what anyone does with this information. By joining Obliviana, you accept these terms. Obliviana is not a dating service, but if you are single and looking for someone special, you can put "single" in your personal info. In Obliviana, people are encouraged to E-mail each other with legitimate (ie, non-Spam) messages. Do not abuse this. Obliviana reserved the right to terminate any player's Fonosta at any time and for any reason. Most likely, you won't get terminated unless you are causing trouble for either Obliviana or players or both. Remember, Obliviana is run by a very small organization, and we don't have the resources to deal with troublemakers in any other way. In the future, we may indeed have an E-mail aliasing service, so that you can have an Obliviana -mail address, which can be forwarded to your real E-mail address. This would eliminate the potential problem of getting Spam as a result of being on Obliviana. 7:57 PM I could go to Garden State Plaza Mall, or not. Being that it's closing in an hour and a half, I have to choose very soon. Anyway, I think I'm making good progress. I have a very complex task in making Obliviana happen. I think I have to develop a "bare-bones" strategy for Obliviana, so that I can get it going by July 28. So, what is the bare minumum that I need? [1] All 13 Racetracks have their basic information, including colors and themes. [2] Players can join up--mailing list, message board, Fonosta listings all up and running. [3] Weekly mailing ready. What does NOT need to be ready? I think that Octagons can possibly wait, but I will have to have some kind of weekly game to keep people occupied. Remember, there are 13 weeks in the first Trick Sojourn (TS 17), so different features can be added as the weeks pass. What can the initial diversion be? Well, what, ultimately, will be the range of weekly actions that are related to getting Octagons? 9:14 PM Well, I didn't go to the mall. Need to devote as much time as possible to Obliviana. Okay. So where am I? Yes--minimum level of implementation for Launch. The Racetracks have to be very solid. They have to be fully defined. This involves both coming up with the data, and then implementing Racetrack pages online. How hard will it be for someone to find and/or get to their Fonosta listing? It should be easy to do. Racetrack / Town / Neighborhood. Yes? Okay. I'm going to list everything I have to do. [1] INFRASTRUCTURE. {a} WEBSITE. Redesign needed. Will follow new design: Home Page is LWOR. Page for each Racetrack. All Revolvers in Pavilions. Sub-Pages for Towns and Pavilions. General stuff in Pavilions in Owltoco. {b} MESSAGE BOARD. Two to start with. One to establish Fonosta, one for discussion. Can I easily do two? {c} MAILING LIST. Use ListBot. Single list. {d} SEARCH ENGINE. Useful, easy to implement. {e} TEMPLATES. For user sites, templates for their use. [2] RACETRACKS {a} FINALIZE DATA. Colors, Revolvers, Totems, etc. need to be firmly established. [3] FONOSTA {a} NAMES. Establish Naming conventions. Create initial set of Names. {b} DEVICE. Establish size, rules. Determine how Glyph/Jots will be made available to people. Device creation service? {c} GRAPHICS. Will there be any graphics associated with Fonosta at first? {d} LISTING. Develop nature of listing. For example: Name, Number, player name, player location (city, state, country, etc.), player E-mail, player web link, player birthday, player personal info. [4] OCTAGON {a} LISTING. What will be the nature of Octagon listings? {b} FACETS. Finalize list of Facets. {c} GRAPHICS. Will there be graphics associated with Octagon? I think it would be very good to have an image of each Octagon. {d} NAMING. What is the Naming convention for Octagon? 9:33 PM PLAYER DATA Should I have an age restriction? I am thinking of 18 or over, but it might be better not to even refer to the issue. Certainly, though, Obliviana has content in SR, Zope, Superior, etc. which is not meant for children. But I don't want to give the impression that Obliviana is related to pornography in any way, because it isn't. Obliviana is a game, but it is also a community. With Obliviana, I am trying to create an online world where people are real, and not hiding behind some facade. So, I am thinking of requiring people to provide: Name, sex (Mr., Ms.), E-mail, Location, and Birthday. For example: Mr. Frank Edward Nora obliviana@aol.com Nutley, NJ 10/3/67 Hmm. Is this too much data? Would requiring it be creating too much of a barrier? This information reveals that I am a 30-year-old male residing in Nutley New Jersey, whose name is Frank Edward Nora. And it provides a means of contacting me. Is it too much? How about: Frank obliviana@aol.com NJ 1967 Well... I don't know. 10:57 PM This issue may seem tangential, or rather, not as important as other issues, but I think it IS very important, as it touches on the larger issue of what Obliviana is all about, and why people should get into it. Obliviana is a game. And it's a world. And it has a very real supernatural basis in 209. People getting involed in Obliviana... why? First of all, Obliviana is fun and involving. It has to do very much with identity. Aha! This is where the personal data comes in. Identity. Your Fonosta name might be "HecticSlumber", but you also have a real name. HecticSlumber is connected to a real person. If you give data about yourself... and other people do too... you will be a real member of a group... Ah, what am I talking about? Okay--how resistant will people be to giving personal info, and how much of a problem will fake info be? I think I am going to ask for sex, name, E-mail, city, state, and birthday. I think it'll be okay. RACETRACKS Okay. I have a lot to do, and it's getting late, but I'll definitely stay up late working on this stuff. I mean, Obliviana is my dream, my vision, my life's work. This is it. This is the Launch. I have missed other Launches totally. I have wanted to "get Obliviana going" for years now. And right here, right now, is the chance I have. Opportunity is knocking. This is it. Week 209. July 28. Coming soon. There has been a luxury in limbo... Obliviana has been very much a thing that almost no one knows about... and I realize that at some level I like it this way... the purity of the vision vs. the flaws of the execution... I know that everything won't be perfect, and there will be a lot of rough edges when Obliviana "gets going". But it will very much be worth it. The system I am developing now is the foundation for all of Obliviana, now and into the future. If I compare Obliviana as it existed in OsoaWeek001 and as it exists now, a few weeks prior to OsoaWeek209, I see that all the work and failure and craziness and everything has been worth it. I now have a very strong foundation. I have the basis for the construction of my vision now and into the future. Again, I'm rambling somewhat. So, I will work on the Racetracks, finalizing the data! 11:19 PM Good time, that. Okay. Racetracks. I think I need to work on the Totems more than anything else. Sun 7/12/98 * 1:04 AM Did some theme work. Looks pretty good. FONOSTA NAMES Fonosta names are going to be constructed out of two words each. These words will be established as Name Elements. All words used in names will be Name Elements, and will potentially be usable in other names. My name, LordOfObliviana, is special, and th words "Lord" and "Obliviana" are not going to be Name Elements. There is a possibility that there can be three-word names, using "Of" in the middle. But in general, Fonosta Names are going to have two Name Elements. Name Elements are going to each be based in a Racetrack, though they will be usable in other Racetracks... no... let me rethink this. Name Elements... SOME of them will be Racetrack, Town, or Neighborhood specific. Others will be overall. I want the possibility of common words across Racetracks. Names are going to be strictly limited to 15 characters. So... Names Elements! All this stuff from "The Volume Library", published 1923. I will choose cool words from a variety of subjects ANIMALS Adder Alpaca Ape Auk (GreatAuk) Axolotl Baboon Badger Barnacle Beagle Bison Camelopard Condor Crane Dodo Eagle Falcon Flea Gull Hawk Hornet Lamprey (Eel) Lark Macaw Donkey Otter PrairieDog Puma Sable Marten Sparrow Tapir Thrush Walrus Weevil 1:57 AM I'm tired. Going to bed. 9:49 AM I'm up! And ready to work! Let me start off tackling... OCTAGON LISTINGS Octagons are going to be the desired objects in Obliviana. As such, they need to be compelling, "sexy", and full of "gratification". I am thinking of including Revolver content in Octagons. This would add to their "collectibility". This could manifest as game-level comic books, CDs, books, paintings, etc. That is, media in the game world; like a CD that a Sidekick could put on and listen to. Hmm... this sort of content could be... of a different nature? No... I was thinking of it being different from my established Revolvers, but it should absolutely be related to the established Revolvers. So... this could be the eighth Facet--Entertainment. Here is something I wrote on August 9, 1997: *********** N--Incarnation (((Racer))) E--Tool (((This is interesting--could I use it instead of Fonosta?))) S--Buddy (((Sidekick))) W--Vehicle (((same))) NE--Library (((Funny--this is similiar to the just-formed Entertainment Facet))) SE--Device (((Glyph/Jot))) SW--Battery (((This is a "set of Swords" or something, and is not related to Land or Fonosta))) NW--Home (((same))) ******************* Wow. 11 months ago. The triple parentheses are my current notes on how this list relates to my current system. OCTAGON GRAPHICS I intend to create a color graphic for each Octagon. Octagons will, of course, be octagons, and are set against a black background. I plan on using Pelter-like graphics in Octagons. Also, I think that the Octagon graphic should contain the Name and Number of the Octagon, on the Octagon itself. Maybe the graphic of an Octagon should have something of a chiseled, bevelled, embossed, 3-D look. 10:56 AM OVERVIEW One of the big problems I've had with Obliviana has been that it's been very, very complex, and very hard to comprehend--and I'm talking about myself--the creator of it! Now, however, I think I have Obliviana under control. A while ago, I decided that all of what Obliviana has been is now in the Obliviana Archive Pavilion in Owltoco. So, with this idea, Obliviana is now very much ordered: [1] Little World of Racetracks--this is the top level. It contains 13 Racetracks, and THAT'S IT. (Note--there is the potential for "Levels", which are like "parallel universes", each its own version of LWOR) [2] Racetracks--Each of the 13 Racetracks contains a set of Towns and a set of Pavilions, and THAT'S IT. [3] Pavilions--Once at the Pavilion level, things get a lot looser. Pavilions can contain all sorts of different content. Also, Pavilions are not static--they can change. For example, there will most likely be, to start with, an overall Zope Pavilion. But it may spin off a Classic Zope Pavilion, Text Zope Pavilion, etc. Pavilions are each located in a specific segment of a Racetrack. [4] Towns--(or should they be called Villages?)--Towns contain a set of Neighborhoods, and THAT'S it. [5] Neighborhoods--There are several types of Neighborhoods. Residential Neighborhoods contain a set of Fonostas, both possessed (by a player) and unpossessed. "Business" (name tentative) Neighborhoods contain forms of interactivity, most importantly Races. All Races are "sponsored" by a Town, and usually begin and end there. For example, there could be a "Dank Fields Tour", which might be the "Super Bowl" of Races, and which will start at Dank Fields, Owltoco, and then pass through every segment of every Racetrack, before finally returning to Dank Fields. "Cat Cat Crawl" could be a Race of numerous laps around Barolcoo. 11:37 AM You visit the Obliviana website as if you were visiting Little World of Racetracks. Wait a minute--you ARE visiting Little World of Racetracks! This means that each web page must be "in" a location in LWOR. As far as LWOR/Racetrack levels are concerned, maybe there should be Capitol Buildings, such as the Obliviana Capitol, the Owltoco Capitol (or Owltoco Complex), Dank Fields Town Center, etc. I have been wont to overcomplicate matters such as these, but in this case, I think this type of system is warranted. The idea is that Little World of Racetracks "exists" as a set of HTML pages on the WWW. Therefore, you ARE visiting LWOR. By placing the visitor in various places in LWOR, as opposed to having a disconnected hierarchy of locations, the sense of "placeness" is enhanced. So, upon typing "www.obliviana.com", the visitor will get to the Obliviana Capitol Building (it will be called something other than this, such as "Balbi Hall") in Dank Fields, Owltoco. At all times, the header of the page will tell you where you are. You will always be in one of the 13 Racetracks. Will you always be in a Town/Village? I had intended for Pavilions to be independent of Town/Villages, but I don't think this makes sense. So yes, you will always be in a Town, in a Racetrack. So, the home page for Obliviana will say "You are in Dank Fields, Owltoco" at the top somewhere? I think so. 12:16 PM Where are Octagons? Octagons will reside in the Racetracks Capitols, but there should be an overall list in the Obliviana Captiol. FONOSTA CHOICE I see a potential problem in that there are too many choices when choosing a Fonosta. First of all, a player has to choose a Racetrack, and there are 13 of them! I think I will ask a series of questions about Racetracks: [1] MAJOR vs. MINOR: There are 8 Major Racetracks and 5 Minor Racetracks. Major Racetracks are big, busy, and all that. Minor Racetracks are off the beaten path, harder to get to, with less going on. [2] MAJOR--NORTH AND SOUTH. Northern Racetracks are more intellectual, reserved, cold. Southern Racetracks are more visceral, wild, and hot. [3] MINOR--SHADOW, TWIN, AND CENTRAL. The Central Racetrack is Owltoco--the Center of LWOR. The Twin Racetracks of Wroohoots and Owltoco are disconnected from the rest of LWOR, and are small. The Shadow Racetracks of Quonchaw and Barolcoo exist in the "blank" spaces of LWOR and are weird, spooky places. Also, Revolvers will play a big part in Racetrack choice. I could also list something like ten cool available Names from each Racetrack on one page. This would allow people to choose a Name they like as opposed to having to choose a Racetrack first. 12:38 PM I'm going out for a little while. I've been inside for a long time, I need a little break. My goal is to be back in an hour. 4:24 PM Hey! I did real well with my goal, eh? Avanti Anisette Flavoured Cigars. Quite bizarre. Got 'em at 7-11. Okay, anyway, back to the matter at hand. NEW WEB SITE DESIGN I want to have a unified header on every page. It will first identify that you are in Obliviana, and then go on to tell you where you are in Obliviana. I see there being an "Obliviana.com" logo on the left, which will be a link to the Obliviana homepage, followed by a Town identifier, which will link to the Town homepage, followed by a Racetrack identifier, which will lead to the Racetrack homepage. Additionally, there will be the location you are currently at, and this will take you to the location homepage. Complex enough for ya? Okay. For example, the Zope Pavilion might be: ZOPE PAVILION--BOLT HAVEN--MOODBRUC--OBLIVIANA This has Obliviana on the right, which makes more sense. But does it make sense for it to be Obliviana? Wouldn't it be better as Little World of Racetracks? Another example: SHACK BLUFF--DANK FIELDS--OWLTOCO--OBLIVIANA Above each of these it would say: Location--Town--Racetrack--??? Okay. This "Anisette Flavoured Cigar" is rather extreme. Good and bad at the same time. Too bad I can't afford good cigars any more. Those Matacan bundles were an incredible value. Now I can't find them anywhere, and far inferior bundles cost twice as much. Gotta get Obliviana going so I can afford good cigars. Among other reasons. Okay. I want to step back and examine the end-user perception of the header system I am describing. I recall the first version of my website, with the first 13 issues of OsoaWeek intricately interlinked. It took a whole lot of effort on my part. But in the end, it was overkill. This new header idea could be very good, but I want to examine it. People will go to "www.obliviana.com" and see at the top: OBLIVIANA CENTRAL PAVILION--DANK FIELDS--OWLTOCO--OBLIVIANA Or something like that. That is very confusing. I could have a link to a help screen, such as "What does this header mean?" Maybe. I am also thinking of having a way of identifying the pages, such as "Page 1.3.2", meaning Page two of section three of section one. Eh... I don't think that'll be necessary. And what about the website as I have it now? Should I totally revamp it? I absolutely should, eventually. I don't think this is necessary for Launch however--I'll keep it kind of like it is now--with the existing parts of the website that do not conform to the new standard linked to from within the revamped portion. So, for example, all the existing Zope material will be linked to from within the Zope Pavilion. 4:54 PM Just shaved and fantasized about being rich. See, see how honest I am? See what a loser I am? Ah, fuck you, you know you do it just as much as me. Fantasize about being rich. Yeah. With Obliviana, I think I should fantasize about making as much money with it as I do with my real job right now. Okay. So, the header. The header is very important, because it is going to be on every single part of the Obliviana website. Racetrack, Town, Location. But at any given time, you're in a Location. At the LWOR level, Racetrack will be listed. In the Racetracks, Towns will be listed. And in Towns, Locations will be listed. BUT--There is no reason why, at least early on, ALL locations cannot be listed at the Obliviana Central page. As well, all Locations within a particular Racetrack should be listed at the Racetrack Capitol. 5:05 PM So what exacly "should" a person do upon getting to Obliviana? Well... if the person has not yet gotten a Fonosta, they can get one, or they can wait and go ahead and explore Obliviana... Um... what I am concerned with is someone getting to the homepage--whether they have a Fonosta or not--what are they going to do? I think I should provide people with some very clear links of stuff to do. 11:01 PM Hey! Nice little time gap there, eh? Well, I got caught up watching Back to the Future Part II, and then Part III came on, so I had to watch it. I am back though, ready to do more Obliviana work. PEOPLE People are pretty bad. Fickle, selfish, stupid, judgemental. Why do you think companies get this whole "evil" moniker? Cuz they have to deal with people! Of course they're evil! Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little. But I realize that dealing with people is the hardest thing. If I had a choice, I might rather not deal with people. But the idea of working on Obliviana all my life just to stick it in a truck in an attic seems pretty useless. So, people it is. I will deal with people. I will very soon be inviting people to enter the world of Obliviana. Are people possibly going to understand Obliviana? It's always hard to estimate people. People. Look at America Online. Treating people like total idiots. And maybe they're right. It seems to be working for them. And for Microsoft. Giving Obliviana a sense of "placeness" is very important. As is making people feel they are a part of something--but without sacrificing the "staring at a candle" aspect. So, people will be racing. It's very simple, really. Resource management. Getting the best of everything, to enter the race. Race Units? Could a Fonosta aspect be some kind of Race Unit, which enhances performance, but which is limited? Hmm... Octagons. The basis od all objects. I am indeed thinking of NOT customizing the Fonosta Streetlight. This would leave a space open. Maybe... maybe Tools could BE the Race Units I was talking about? Hmm... One thing is for sure--I need the header design. I absolutely, 100% need it, and it's gonna take a little while to implement. One thing I know for sure is that I will use the font ITC Newtext in the headers. I intend to use Newtext for as much typography as possible. It's a wonderful font, and I've always loved it. I should also start drawing some Octagons. Wow, and... and... and coming up with contents for the Facets! Yow. That's a tall order. Let me begin. OCTAGON FACET CONTENTS Okay. Here we go. Octagon Facets. [1] Glyph [2] Racer [3] Vehicle [4] Sidekick [5] Land [6] Building [7] Tool [8] Entertainment GLYPH--Okay, I'm calling it Glyph, not Jot. This is the graphical symbol for use in Fonosta Device. It will be created as Illustrator art, and presented rasterized in a standard size. RACER--Racers are characters. Each Racer Facet will have either a character (Primary Object), or an "Accessory" (ie, hat, mustache, bushy eyebrows, tattoo, cigar, etc.). This idea will apply to many Facets. In general, an Octagon will only have one Primary. For example, if an Octagon has a Primary Vehicle, it will not have a Primary Racer as well, but rather, a Racer Accessory. Racing will involve a player entering a Racer, Vehicle, Sidekick, and maybe Tool into a Race. The Race Performance will depend on the nature of the objects. Some elements that will be involved are: Road surface, time of day, weather, nature of track (curves, straightaways), nature of competitors, etc. Racer Names will be standardized. For example, there may be a Racer call "PrairieDog". If your Fonosta Name is AutumnShield, the Racer's full name will be PrairieDog AutumnShield. Racers will have a number of attributes--all of which will be defined, but not all of which will be revealed. This is a tentative decision--maybe all of a Racer's attributes will be revealed. One Accessory will be clothing color. This will allow for a change in the standard clothes/skin/fur/scales color. Racers are anthropomorphic and cartoonlike, as are sidekicks. Racers are also either male or female. Sidekicks may not have that defined. VEHICLE--Just like Racer, there are Primary Vehicles, and Vehicle Accessories. In general, all Accessories will have some impact on Racing; they will not be "just for show". To start off with, Vehicles, like Racers, will be described in text as opposed to being drawn. But eventually, I do want them to be presented graphically. SIDEKICK--Sidekicks are a Racer's "little buddy". They are smaller than racers, and not necessarily anthropomorphic, though they can be. Or maybe they will all be anthropomorphic. I still have to decide. Racers will not be able to enter a Race without a Sidekick. Sidekicks have attributes which affect different Race Elements. For example, when it comes to weather, either Racer or Sidekick will have an effect on weather. Not both. I am not 100% on this. LAND--Every Fonosta is on its own plot of Land. The Land and Building Facets, combined, form the nature of the Land and what's on it. I could merge Land and Building into one Facet. Some example of land would be rocky terrain, well-kept lawn, pavement, etc. Certain kinds of buildings could have Land requirements in order to be erected. BUILDING--These are structures on the Fonosta Land. Their purpose vis-a-vis racing is, at least in part, that Racers with a nice environment to live in are going to perform better. Building Accessories will be various architectural elements, such as weather vanes, stained glass windows, balconies, etc. TOOL--Tools are very much in question. These would be like hammers, screwdrivers, shovels, and the like. They might be prerequisites for erecting Buildings, but I don't like that idea. They could also be spendable unit for Racing, to add some extra kick in a Race. This would add more strategy for Racing, since too little could lose a Race, but too much might be overkill, resulting in the loss of the units. ENTERTAINMENT--This Facet is conceived of as fun stuff for Racers and Sidekicks to do. Videos, books, magazines, comic books, boardgames, videogames, etc. It is in question as to whether or not these material will be fully delineated, but I think that might be a good idea. They should be real material from the Revolvers. -------- Okay. I am making progress. But I need to develop the whole Racing system more. One thing is for sure--this system will have to depend on some kind of computer program. That is, I will feed a program a text file with data for each Racer, and it will determine the results of the Race. As far as actual real-time Racing, that will not be a part of this level of Obliviana. This is like a "simulation", as opposed to an arcade-like game. I do want arcade-style racing in Obliviana, but not at this level. The idea is that you have a Racer that has certain skills. If the player actually drives the Vehicle, thos skills will be far less important. There will be a lot of data involved in racing. Each object involved will have a history, and that history will have a big impact on Racing. So, I think that down the road I will have to implement a web-accessible database, as many online games have. It will just be too cumbersome to do it all "by hand". But my plan to start the system by people doing it themselves is certainly workable in the short term, and can fairly easily be converted into a full-fledged database system in the future. Mon 7/13/98 * 12:22 AM Yeah. Full-fledged database. Yeah. Okay. But I don't know if tha's what I want! Remember! My 1967 vision or whatever! Where Obliviana can be done in 1967! Okay. No problem. The Racing System just has to be a little simpler. Developing the Racing System is now a top priority. Tue 7/14/98 * 9:50 PM Yesterday I worked on Capital Town Names. Today I've been working on the header. I found out that WebTV has a max width of 544 pixels. 528 pixels is 4 times the width of my small FOW size. So that's a beginning. Then I thought of using animated GIFs to save space. Then I thought of a central navigation system--one text-only page which leads to all other pages. And each page would have a link back to that one. It could be based on tables, maybe? Navigation is a big deal in Obliviana. LWOR is a world, and that should have some bearing here. My "Surface O" system took placeness to an extreme--or did it? Anyway, there's no way I'm gonna have a working Surface O in the limited time I have. Right now, headers have to identify where you are, and where you can go. It's getting really close to the deadline. Can I do this? Yes I can. I'll have to cut a few corners, but I will be able to do it. I need to list the elements that are 100% needed for the Launch. [1] Players can join Obliviana, and they can play right away. Okay. In order to do this, I can... I can... I can...I have to work on the joining system, and the mailing list. JOINING SYSTEM Player joins mailing list on ListBot, fills out form. Player posts additional data to Obliviana message board. I then make the player's Fonosta listing. I could have a form to enter data--this might be a better idea, to use the Digiweb "Form Robot". This would mean that I wouldn't need the Board just yet. The problem of people choosing the same Fonosta Name at first could be handled by regular E-mail. PERSONAL DATA BLUES Back to this rather troubling issue. How much personal information is okay? Mr. Frank Edward Nora Nutley, NJ Born 10/3/67 obliviana@aol.com http://www.obliviana.com "I'm the creator of Obliviana. I enjoy videogames, pipes and cigars, Walt Disney World, Shenandoah National Park, etc." Maybe... maybe people can withhold their real name, as in: "Balbi" Nutley, NJ Born 10/3/67 obliviana@aol.com http://www.obliviana.com Ah, I don't know. This is a very tricky issue. But there are more important issues here. MAILING LIST Every week, OsoaWeek will be mailed to all members of Obliviana. It will contain a short editorial portion, Xappenshards, and all player's moves. Now wait a minute. There is no reason for the moves to be in the mailing--the moves can be published on the website. So is there really any need for the mailing list? Right now, the primary reason is to allow joining using a form, with verification. Couldn't I just start off asking folks to E-mail with the basic data? Okay. I could do that to start off with. This means that the most important thing is--Fonosta Listings and Octagon Listings and "Moves". MOVES Or, of course, "Donexts". What is the nature of a Donext? It is what you do in the game each week. How about 8 Donext units? Getting an Octagon will cost 8, with other things costing different amounts? So, to start off with, players will be able to choose one Octagon per week. If I have this system in place, even if the options are limited, then I will have succeeded in Launching Obliviana. All the stuff I want to do--I'll do if I can--but the core stuff is 100% needed. [1] Fonosta Establishment--okay. Down and dirty. I gotta get things going. Fonostas will initially be available only in Shack Bluff, Dank FIelds, Owltoco. This is the minimum requirement for Launch. I will open the possibility of "satellite" Fonostas within the game system, so that folks who join early on will not resent the lack of choice when they join. Wed 7/15/98 * 10:49 PM Designed Octagon today. Looking good. It has rhombuses, I believe, for each Facet, with a Pelter inside, darked if the Facet is closed. Anyway, another big thing, a new idea. Temporary term here is CJ (Currency Jot). This is a unit of currency in Obliviana. Basically, each players gets 8 CJs per week. Octagons that are currently available cost 8 CJs, meaning that normally, if a player gets an Octagon, they can do nothing else that week. STORMLUSTLUCK! is coming back, though most likely not with that name. Every week, a Storm will be chosen at random. It could be called comething like "Lucky Storm of the Week". No. It won't be called that. "Lucky Storm" by itself is not so bad. Anyway, one effect of the Lucky Storm is that any Fonostas based on that Storm will gain an extra 8 CJs for the coming week. Also, if a player's birthday is in a particular week, the player will get an additional 8 CJs. Other ways of spending CJs. Well, one idea I had was that when I "retire" an Octagon, that it still be available, albeit for a higher CJ cost. So I was thinking of allowing people to purchase an option to buy a particular Octagon at the current price. This option would cost 8 CJs. Gambling is also possible. This would involve betting on the Lucky Storm. possible bets would be Storm (1 in 209), Flip (1 in 11), Dire (1 in 19), Odd/Even (1 in 2, almost). All of these odds are thrown off if I keep the StormLustLuck! idea that if the Lucky Storm is 209, all bets are paid. In this case, a bet on a single Storm would not be 1 in 209, but rather, 2 in 209, unless you bet on 209, in which case you do have a 1 in 209 chance. Flip 11 and Dire 19 would also be less likely to win than any other similar bets, since the 209 option is included in that set. I have to decide how I want the odds to go. If there is too much of a player advantage, it will be a problem, as will the "house" advantage being too high. I could make the odds perfectly even, which is probably the best thing to do in terms of the game. Then again, a slight player advantage might be good for the game. I think that the 209 would have to be the player advantage. It would make a Flip 1 bet, for example, rise from 19-in-209 to 20-in-209. So, even though the odds would entitle you to 10.45 CJs, you get 11. For a Dire bet, 17.42 becomes 19. And for a single bet, 104.5 becomes 209! So, single Sotmr bets would then, over the long run, double your money! Hmmm... But, such a bet would take a very long time to bear fruit, being that you can only bet once per week. So: Single Storm returns: 2:1 Dire returns: 1.09 to 1 Flip returns: 1.05 to 1 Odd/Even returns: 1.0048 to 1 (I think) These returns are based on the idea that over the long run, you can expect this return. So, there is a relatively small player advantage in all but the Single Storm category. And I did not calculate in the lack of advantage for betting on Storm 209, Flip 11, or Dire 19. I think that Storm 209 would have to pay 418:1, because otherwise it would not pay to bet on 209, since if 209 comes up, you'd win no matter what. The question is, do I want to allow Single Storm bets, being that players will get 209 CJs, and an enormous advantage? Maybe it would be best to eliminate the Single Storm bet--then the player advantage, and the possible returns, are much more manageable. Even so--if a player bets 2 on a Dire, they will get 38 CJs back. I may need to limit Octagon purchasing to maybe two a week. I could do something like draw 5 Lucky Storms a week, resulting in lower, but easier, winnings. Maybe I should give people ten CJs per week, so they can play around with the other two while still getting Octagons. Or 12 maybe? Fri 7/17/98 * 12:35 AM Okay. Progress report. Today I worked on "Obliviana Basics", which is a set of four GIF files which depict FOW with numbers, Pelters, LWOR, and a combination of all three. It's looking pretty good. HEADERS I did idea work on Headers. The idea I cane up with is to have an aminated GIF of the Obliviana logo to the left, and data about where you are on the right. The data would be "suspended" in the overall black background. The logo would be in a square or rectangle to the left, with many different animations depicting the Obliviana logo. This could also be a link to a central navigation place (site map, whatever). I do want Headers for Launch, but even Headers are secondary to the totally needed stuff. This weekend I have to develop the sign-up procedure, totally. Tomorrow, I want to create four Octagons, which will be the First Octagons available. I also want to create both Fonosta listings and Octagon listings. My goal is that on on July 28, people will receive OsoaWeek, or Obliviana Week, or whatever it's gonna be called. In order for this to happen, people have to be in Obliviana! Well--I could define the week before as the initial sign-up period, and get a few people to sign up (ie, me, my wife, my sister-in-law). This will at least start it up. So, there is: [1] Sign Up [2] Mailing List [3] Fonosta Listings [4] Donexts [5] Etc. Okay. Another idea from today--Towns being called "Racetowns". So--this weekend--sign-up process, create Shack Bluff (it's pretty much created already), do Fonosta listings, etc. etc. etc. Goodnight. Fri 7/17/98 * 11:15 PM Got a lot done at work today. I totally revamped Octagon, which is looking pretty good now. And I pretty much fully developed the Header, which is looking very nice. I had a thought about the "StormLustLuck!" game--that the only bet would be the Single Storm bet--with various returns depending on where your Storm is compared to the Flip and Dire intersecting the Lucky Storm. I also though of smaller, consolation-type prizes, such as for being in one of the four quadrant defined by the Lucky Storm. Also, I thought of high-end stuff that could be "purchased" by big winners. RACING SYSTEM The Racing System impacts directly on the Octagon Facet system. That is, Facets will have an effect of the Racing System, and thus, the Racing System must be at least partially defined in order to create Octagon Facets. OCTAGON FACETS I have a pretty good idea of the Octagon Facets, but I need to firmly establish them. Glyph, Racer, Sidekick, Vehicle, and Building are all set in stone. The remaining Facets are somewhat in question. I think that Entertainment is also pretty solid, though it remains to be seen of the content is going to be real or imaginary. This leaves Land and Tool as the elements in question. Land is difficult is that I have to define over what kind of area the Facet applies. Land does intersect with Building a little. Tool is difficult. It could be expanded into a Miscellaneous category, with such things as clocks, typewriters, boxes, etc. So, maybe I do have all the Facets, after all. How about order? Well, Glyph is number one. Racer, Sidekick, and Vehicle make up the trinity of object that are directly involved in Racing. Land, Tool, Entertainment, and Building are indirectly involved in Racing. Sat 7/18/98 * 10:43 AM Well, almost to the Launch. Today, I plan on making Fonosta Establishment available. 1:05 PM Actually, the official date that Fonosta Establishment will begin is this coming Tuesday, July 21, 1998. Starting on this date, people will be able to Establish their Fonosta. I am working on a mailing which I will send to everyone who has had a Fonosta, as well as other people who might be interested. I am going to send this mailing out today with the list that I currently have, with additional mailings possible if I come up with more addresses. 5:16 PM Yes! I have forms! I have forms! I have the technical side of a Fonosta Establishment form under control. Now I have to work on the exact content of such a form. 6:40 PM I'm thinking of including a few interesting questions in the sign-up form, with the idea of getting to know a person better, without them having to include a lot of personal data. PERSONAL DATA In the form, I am thinking of having check boxes which will say something like "Include in your Fonosta Profile", which would be next to name, city, state, birthday, etc. The "funny" data would be like, choose what you like from the following list: Cats, Dogs, Snakes, Robots--stuff like that. E-mail address is required--other players have to be able to contact you. Will people not want to allow their E-mail to be published? Well, think of it in terms of a newsgroup--if you participate in a newsgroup, your E-mail is gonna be out there. [1] First Name [2] Last Name [3] Sex [4] E-Mail Address [5] City [6] State [7] Birthday America Online has these categories in its online profile: [1] Your Name [2] City, State, Country [3] Birthday [4] Sex [5] Marital Status [6] Hobbies [7] Computers Used [8] Occupation [9] Personal Quote So, I guess that my categories aren't so bad. It's just a matter of what's required. PROFILE Frank Edward Nora obliviana@aol.com Nutley, NJ Born 10/3/67 Married Music: Beatles, Puff Daddy, Led Zeppelin, Spice Girls, Monks... Movies: Willy Wonka, Empire Strikes Back, Repo Man What genre best describes you? Fantasy, Science Fiction, Pirates, Arctic... Substance: Cardboard, sand, mercury, glass... In general, people are: Stupid, Pathetic, Okay, Cool, Evil. Animals: Cats, Dogs, Snakes, Animals Suck... Hobbies: Sports, video games, taxidermy, etc. If you were a former Vice President of the U.S., which one would you be? If you were a losing Vice Presidential candidate from the 19th century with a somewhat silly name, who would you be? Rufus King Jared Ingersoll Daniel Rodney Nathan Sanford Nathaniel Macon Amos Ellmaker William Wilkins L. W. Tazewell T. Frelinghuysen B. Gratz Brown A. H. Colquitt Whitelaw Reid Hale Johnson FONOSTA CHOICE I am thinking of including all the abailable Fonostas in a pull-down menu, making choosing a Fonosta very easy. Another thing I want to do is have a guide on "How to Choose a Fonosta", which will list the criteria of choosing, like: [1] Racetrack--there are 13 Racetracks, each with a different overall look and feel. [2] Racetown--each Racetrack has a number of Racetowns, each of which has its own flavor. [3] Neighborhood--each Racetown has a number of neighborhoods. [4] Name--obviously, choose a name you like and are going to be happy with Of course, Shack Bluff, Dank Fields, Owltoco is the only neighborhood to start with, but I will be expanding soon. 7:44 PM I want to get the form done today. That is my goal. What about the problem of listing Fonostas in the form, as regards someone else getting the name first? Well, this is no worse than any other method of listing Fonostas. The only way I could alleviate the problem would be to have a message board for people to claim names. Okay--so it's either the message board or not. If not, I can do a first and second choice, or just have a single choice and deal with problems via E-mail. I think the message board is the right idea. 8:06 PM I was playing around with the message board, and I think it'll be okay. I do need to get across the idea that Obliviana is decidedly low-tech, since the issue of taken names would not be an issue if I had a more technologically adept site. So--the sign-up procedure is as follows: [1] Choose your Fonosta Name. [2] Go to the message board, make sure it isn't already taken, then claim it. [3] Fill out the form. [4] Wait for E-mail from Obliviana, then reply to verify all the information. [5] Now, your Fonosta is Established! 8:49 PM Right now, I want to establish that I will be working on things in order of importance. So, my first goal is to have the FOnosta Establishment procedure up and running. To do this, I will need: [1] List of available Fonostas. [2] Message Board [3] Sign-Up form [4] Fonosta Listings Of these, the list of available Fonostas and the Fonosta Listings are the two things I need to work on the most, in terms of structure. AVAILABLE FONOSTAS Available Fonostas will be listed in individual neighborhoods, but there should be a central place to see all of them. In fact, maybe the available Fonostas should NOT be seen in the Neighborhood--but--okay--I should create a Neighborhood with all its Fonostas, then "fill in" the player data. Okay. So I will be creating Shack Bluff with all the names there, and the player data filled where needed. But there should be a page which lists all available Fonostas with the following attributes: [1] Racetrack [2] Racetown [3] Neighborhood [4] Fonosta Name [5] Incentives Incentives are things you get when you sign up, and will be used to help populate areas that might be underpopulated, as well as adding flavor to Fonostas. In Shack Bluff, for instance, each Fonosta starts off with an Octagon that contains a Shack (primary Building object). I will create this page using tables. Can I just do it with five columns? Maybe. Let me work on it. Sun 7/19/98 * 1:58 PM Okay--I know what I have to do today--get the Fonosta Establishment system finished, so that I can "turn it on" tomorrow night at midnight. Right now, Fonosta Establishment is going to be a series of pages. That is, a player need only visit this sequence of pages to Establish Their Fonosta. On another issue, maybe I should release all this text as OsoaWeek208. That issue is scheduled to be released tomorrow. So I should do that. This text began on March 17, 1998--almost exactly four months ago. So--the development notes from the last four months of work leading up to the official Obliviana Launch! Okay. Well, let me get to work on Fonosta Establishment. I cannot forget that once I get this Fonosta part going, I have a whole lot more stuff to do before the official Launch on July 28! From OsoaWeek190 (the last one released): *********** 14:7:176: 12/8/97 (Book 14, Issue 7, Overall 176) 14:8:177: 12/15/97 14:9:178: 12/22/97 14:10:179: 12/29/97 14:11:180: 1/5/98 14:12:181: 1/12/98 14:13:182: 1/19/98 15:1:183: 1/26/98 15:2:184: 2/2/98 15:3:185: 2/9/98 15:4:186: 2/16/98 15:5:187: 2/23/98 15:6:188: 3/2/98 15:7:189: 3/9/98 15:8:190: 3/16/98 ******************* Wow. OsoaWeek is really messed up. That is, in like the past sevent months, I have released one issue. But since almost everyone who will read OsoaWeek is in the future, it won't matter so much that this material is in an archive. That is, people will be reading OsoaWeek from an archive. People will see that I did not release OsoaWeek every week, but I DID write in every week represented, I'm pretty sure. I will have to work on the OsoaWeek archive. I did a lot of work on it recently, but I never finished the project. 2:27 PM I was just reading from OsoaWeek Book 5. Some pretty cool stuff. Oh, I have to tell you about the bird the insect the other day. I think it was Friday morning. Anyway, I was sitting at the bus stop, and right behind the bench there is a person's lawn, but it rises up a little like a hill, from the sidewalk. So I look over, and there's this little brown bird, a sparrow or something, and it's chasing after and snapping at this black flying thing. The black thing was trying to get away, but the bird was right on its tail. They both were staying very close to the ground. So I watched, wide-eyed, trying to figure out what the smaller black thing was. The thought struck me that it was a baby bird, and the bird was its mother. But that was just a fleeting thought--I realized baby birds aren't like that. Then I kind of got a look at the black thing, and I saw it was some kind of insect. Then the black insect flew right toward me and slammed right into my shoulder. The insect bounced off, and flew up the street. The bird veered away, down another street. I stood up, wide eyed and flabbergasted, trying to figure out what had just happened. It was really weird. Yeah, so the Book 5 stuff, from September 5 and that week (the real date, not the release date of the issue). My experience in Morristown. I didn't relate everything that happened. Maybe I should go into it in more detail, since I still remember it quite well. 3:01 PM [1] First, choose your Fonosta from this list. When you're done, press here. [2] Now, make sure your Fonosta hasn't already been taken. You may want to use your browser's search engine here. If your Fonosta hasn't been claimed by anyone, scroll to the bottom of the screen and hit "add comment". Fill in your name and E-mail address, and for the subject line, put your desired Fonosta name. Leave the message area blank! Once you send the messagem click here to go to the third and final part! [3] Now, fill out this form! It's fun, it's painless, it's great! When you're done, press SEND. And that's it for now! [4] Soon, you'll receive an E-mail from Obliviana asking you to verify the information. If everything looks okay, just respond with an OK! If there's something you want to change, just let us know. We have to do this verification procedure to make sure someone else didn't sign you up without you knowing about it! [5] Once we receive your verification, your Fonosta will be officially listed, and you're ready to start playing! Hooray! 10:20 PM Well, I have the Fonosta Litsing and Message Board pages all done. Now I am working on the form. I also created an initial version of the "Go Somewhere in Obliviana" page, which is a site map accessed by hitting the upperleft Obliviana logo on every page. I tellya, it feels really weird to finally be doing this. I am definitely much farther along than I have ever been in terms of making Obliviana a reality. So, as far as the form goes, I still have to figure out the right amount of information. [1] Enter the name of the Fonosta you chose [2] Your name [3] City, State, Country [4] Birthday If you were a losing Vice Presidential candidate from the 19th century with a somewhat silly name, who would you be? Rufus King Jared Ingersoll Daniel Rodney Nathan Sanford Nathaniel Macon Amos Ellmaker William Wilkins L. W. Tazewell T. Frelinghuysen B. Gratz Brown A. H. Colquitt Whitelaw Reid Hale Johnson Tue 7/21/98 * 8:35 PM Well, the sign-up process is complete, and five people have signed up so far to establish their Fonosta! Now, I have to work on the Fonosta listings, which will take the Fonosta data and present it Wed 7/22/98 * 10:34 PM After wrangling data last night, I decided to reduce the number of data fields, by doing away with the "First Name Only?" and "State/Country Only" check boxes, and combining City, State, and Country into one field. I have not yet implemented these changes, but I will soon. A much more pressing issue is the game aspect of Obliviana. I know what I want in general, but I don't have a specific system yet. Here are some thoughts. [1] The game of Obliviana must be of a nature that it could have been released in 1968--or1938--or 1908 for that matter. This means that the core game's design must be possible to do with pre-electronic technology. Paper, writing, printing. [2] Octagons are clearly at the heart of the system. Recently, I thought that it might be good to allow players to potentially get one Octagon per week. But now, I see Octagons as harder to get, much more as objects of desire. I also think that each Octagon should have a different Facet shape. [3] So, getting Octagons is a big thing in the game. Octagons are a cornerstone of the game. A player should be able to, on the average, get a few Octagons per Trick Sojourn. So, if we're talking three, we're talking like one every four-and-a-third weeks. [4] Will there be a currency system? I think that it makes sense. But what are the other objects in the game at the Octagon level? Octagons are big, and they are objects of desire, but there should be other objects as well. Perhaps objects that fill up a FOW, so that 209 of them will add up to something? These would be gotten, for example, by losing at the gambling game. [5] This is a very important issue--Octagon level objects. Now, Racing is the ultimate reason for this system. Octagons hold the basic building blocks of creating and developing a Race Team--ie, Racers, Sidekicks, Vehicles, etc. Getting an Octagon--how? They could be gotten in several ways. [a] Purchased with CJs. [b] Won in a contest, like Xappenshard. [6] At a very basic level, a Fonosta has a set of "possessions" at any given time. In other words, a set of Objects. Time Jots. Yes. Instead of Currency Jots. Time Jots represent, basically, the passage of time. One per Tarb? 42 per week? This could work, with things just costing more than in a system of 8-per-week or whatever. [7] Tarb Jots? Or simply, Tarbs? 209 Tarbs is how long? 34.833 days. 91 days approximately per Trick Sojourn. So--2.612 sets of 209 Tarbs per TS. Octagons cost 209 Tarbs? 546 Tarbs per TS. [8] Gambling idea. I am worried about someone placing like 100 Tarbs of a single Storm, winning, and then having 20,900 Tarbs (equivalent to nine-and-a-half years of Tarbs). So maybe the gambling prizes should be more along the lines of "redemption"--where you spend real money on gambling but instead of money, win items. It would be cool if certain objects were only available as "redemption". [9] So, two game options I have now are: [a] buy Octagon, and [b] gamble. [10] Xappenshard guesses should each cost a certain amount of Tarbs, to discourage frivolous guessing. [11] Tarbs and Octagons are two definite major object types. What else shall there be? Gambling... spend Octagons... play individual Storms only... x and y values of difference from the Lucky Storm. So, something will always be gotten. I like the idea of "little objects" which must be used to fill up FOWs. Hitting the Lucky Storm should get you something... something worth 209 times the minimum bet (which will probably be ten or something). So, something worth 2090 Tarbs, or nearly a year's worth of Tarbs. (1 year=2191.50 Tarbs on average). This object would cost 2090 Tarbs to guarantee getting (ie, playing all Storms, if that were allowed). [12] What about Xappenshard prizes? Well, the problem with gambling does not exist here, so Xappenshards could award Octagons or whatever. Even Tarbs. [13] Octagons contain all the objects that relate to the "reality" of the game--Vehicles, Buildings, Racers, etc. Entertainment--perhaps this could be taken out of Octagon, and made into its own object? [14] It is clear that I require a set of Object types. Thu 7/23/98 * 10:19 PM Walked around Times Square, with part of it closed becaused of the building "collapse". Cool. Weird. At the Strand Bookstore at Broadway and 12th St., I checked my bag and my bag check card was number 119! Also, I had like a time warp. I left work at 5:30, inrentding to get the bus at 7:00. I went all around, and I got to the bus station, and I thought it was like 6:50, but my watch said 7:01 or something. Then I get home and realize I took the 8:00 bus! And one of my eyes was bloodshot, and I was sleeping on the bus, and after I woke up someone was playing their walkman loud so I put on my Sega radio from E3 and listened to a Bible show. Okay. So now, at this late hour, after walking around in the heat and humidity for a long time, now, I get to work on the game of Obliviana. The game starts in like four days. And I can't even work on it much on Monday cuz I gotta go see ori Amos on Letterman, and then the next night I'm going to see her at Madison Square Garden. Okay. The game system. The game system is based on objects. I have decided that there should be eight major object types. Octagon is one of these, and within it are eight Octagon Objects. OCTAGON OBJECTS Octagon Objects are ALL going to relate to the game world. From earlier: [1] Glyph [2] Racer [3] Vehicle [4] Sidekick [5] Land [6] Building [7] Tool [8] Entertainment Okay, Glyph is being moved to be a Major Object. Entertainment is in question. Digital Artifacts of Entertainment releases are going to be Major Objects. So, Entertainment in this capacity would be imaginary, which could be pretty cool. Primary objects would be stereo systems, TVs, video games, VCRs, computers, etc. Accessories would be software. Books, magazine, comics books, etc. are also possible. Imaginary content. Does this conflict with the real content of the Revolvers? I don't think so. The imaginary content can relate to the real content. More on Octagon Facets later. MAJOR OBJECTS Okay... [1] Octagon [2] Tarb [3] Glyph [4] "Things"--real Obliviana artifacts [5] "Cups"--digital artifacts [6] Trophy--awards for winning Races [7] "Dust"--"redemption" object for gambling [8] Xappen? [9] Pelter? [10] "Jot"--accomplishemtns outside of the system (ie, bowling a 200 game) [11] "Race Points"--use to do better in Race--could combine with Dust. (Fur, substances, etc.) Well, three too many right here, so I'm on the right track. GLYPH Glyph is an object type which is gotten in a much different way from other objects. Essentially, upon getting certain kinds of objects, a Glyph is automatically gotten. For example, getting Tarbs does not usually generate a Glyph, but when you reach, say, the 1000 mark for total Tarbs gotten, you might get a Glyph. Since object types other than Octagon have Glyphs, I decided to take Glyph out of Octagon. IDEA: Land Facet includes also ponds, lakes, waterfalls, mountains, etc. that you can build on your Land! THINGS IN QUESTION [1] 3 Octagon Facets. Tool and Entertainment are iffy. There is a vacancy. (Racer, Vehicle, Building, Sidekick, and Land are solid). [2] 5 Major Objects. (Octagon, Tarb, and Glyph are solid.) 11:59 PM Okay. Communal effort. That's one thing. The knocking over pins idea, "clearing a board" of your own? The weather. Something that affects everyone. Fonosta identity. How the Fonosta is presented. Fonosta being part of a list or something. Weekly stuff. Superhero, pro wrestler, stuff like that. Piece of land. Has underground. Has sky. Has stars above it. What about the cylinder? That which stimulates. Cool graphics, having, these things stimulate. Your light shines on 11 things. Something like a series of yellow dots scattered but in an overall line. A weekly map? Trying to do something. Okay. Land border rising up, define like a cylinder, and weather in that cylinder? Your own personal way of chipping away at.... at... carving away at... Each time more possibilities, more levels. Levels. A record of many weeks. using each week as a level. Using it. Set of levels, structure. Yeah, it should be so great that player's could JUST do it and remain interested, etc. You are a streetlight. What do you do at night. Provide light. Be there. Could you have colored light? At night. There is a night. What is going on at night? Streetlight pole is a cylinder. Your Streetlight pole is a cylinder. Yes you will have night. Yeah, choose one from a set of many each week. This is graphical. Form a continuing thing. Very good. This is the binding thing. Yes! Sat 7/25/98 * 3:26 PM That last section of writing, I wrote it after emdiating and stuff and I was really out of it. But out of that strange experience has come--CIRCUITS! Yes indeed, the latest aspect of the game of Obliviana. Oh, something funny, I smoke pipes, since I can't really afford to smoke cigars regularly anymore. And I'm running very low of pipe cleaners, so I looked over at a box of stuff to create Super Objects and stuff, and there are some craft-type pipe cleaners there, and I was eyeing them, thinking of using them as real pipe cleaners! Actually using craft store pipe cleaners as pipe cleaners? Wow. 11:21 PM Well, I did a Fonosta database, and I developed the online Fonosta listing. My head is spinning from this manifesting. I tallya, everything is so much nicer in the imagination, pre-reality. Anyway, I need to turn my attention to the new OsoaWeek, starting with issue 209. It will be E-mail based, and it will contain stuff that is not available on the website. These things that are not available will be Xappenshards and one more thing--a creative thing--a new thing. **** 7/15/98 Effext 7/14/98 Whould 7/11/98 Yesterday, I accidentally dropped some carrots on 40th Street. Spac of Time "Inertnet" 6/28/98 Fonosta Name: MidwestWhisper hyohns 6/26/98 flacor, flacoy, flavoy some intellectual 6/25/98 awailafrimt song: "Yeah I wanna fuck the bus driver" song: "Yeah I wanna fuck the bus friver" Cofo+++ 6/20/98 VDJ "darn" button 6/9/98 There are two birds out here who are gods. 5/21/98 Ameliorate Ameliorate Hove Mound? 5/19/98 Folnosta Device What about my wanderings? My zoning of the past? JOTTERJUG New Idea Location-based entertainment, a place with many marvelous scenes, characters and stuff moving around, little puppets and figurines and stuff. Players get digital cameras with which to take pictures of elements in the themed scenes. Certain elements will show up very rarely. Photos of certain things will get prizes. I see this as a kids thing, primarily. I guess I was inspired by: The Sid * Marty Krofft book, the Beanie Baby phenomenon, and the photo-taking in Pilotwings 64. This is a great idea--but would require a lot of money to get started. 5/17/98 Ben Franklin's mom: Abiah 5/14/98 Slopgan Natalie Mound Natalie Hove Mound Nathalie Hove Mound Natthalie Hove Mound (Years of Beathcat) Jetimage 5/13/98 Ylour c'mon, Years of Beathcat! Natalie Nathalie Natthalie 5/10/98 Soul of Adolph Hitler in spider, what to do create simple, vector-art based characters (in Illustrator), and present them in stories in sequential pictures, or in something like Macromedia Flash 5/9/98 New Wild Jersey Pioneer? Wild New Jersey Pioneer? House with dark ride in it... buy whysical items 4/28 & 4/29 Okay. Grouping of the Shacks. Birds--Far Left [1] Condor Shack [2] Falcon Shack [3] Ocean Eagle Shack [4] Night Hawk Shack [5] Flying Scud Shack Characters--Left [6] Crazy Jane Shack [7] Hiawatha Shack [8] Ivanhoe Shack [9] Peep O'Day Shack [10] Yankee Doodle Shack [11] Forest King Shack [12] Queen of the West Shack [13] Vesta Shack Two Word--Middle [14] Dashing Wave Shack--gray [15] Morning Star Shack--white [16] Young America Shack--blue [17] Will o' the Wisp Shack--yellow [18] Evening Star Shack--black [19] Little Rebel Shack--gray [20] Good Egg Shack [21] Dew Drop Shack--blue [22] Blooming Youth Shack--black Weird Words--Right [23] Nanjemoy Shack [24] Kaskaskia Shack [25] Scuppernong Shack One Word--Far Right [26] Avenger Shack [27] Buckshot Shack [28] Mustang Shack [29] Presto Shack [30] Thistle Shack ------ Frest (forest) List 4/26/98 (Civil War ships, captured or destroyed for violation of blockade) Avenger Shack Blooming Youth Shack Buckshot Shack Crazy Jane Shack Condor Shack Dashing Wave Shack Dew Drop Shack Evening Star Shack Forest King Shack Falcon Shack Good Egg Shack Gold Leaf Shack Hiawatha Shack Ivanhoe Shack Jupiter Shack Kaskaskia Shack Little Rebel Shack Morning Star Shack Mustang Shack Nanjemoy Shack Night Hawk Shack Ocean Eagle Shack Peep O'Day Shack Presto Shack Queen of the West Shack Racer Shack Scuppernong Shack Springbok Shack Stingray Shack Sylphide Shack Thistle Shack Uncle Mose Shack Vesta Shack Will o' the Wisp Shack Young America Shack Young Racer Shack Young Republic Shack Yankee Doodle Shack Zeland Shack ---------- totallo Jotallo Motallo etc. "Shadow" Racetrack passes through all eight empty Storms? Properties based on Presidents, Elements Arctahojast White Dragons (Quanxactive) ------------------------- 7/18/98 The First Fonosta Names LordOfObliviana DeepNotice LittleRebel DewDrop ForestKing GoodCondor GoodEgg YoungAmerica CrazyAvenger CrazyCondor WispMustang FlyingScud ScudYouth BloomingYouth BuckshotThistle DashingPresto Hiawatha Jane WaveEvening StarPeep Falcon Egg Ivanhoe Kaskaskia WestMorning Star Nanjemoy Night Hawk Ocean Eagle Day Queen of the Racer Scuppernong VestaDoodle Will Yankee Octagon 001: Nashcarbling, Carbnashling, Nashcarble ---------- LordOfObliviana DeepNotice DewDrop LittleRebel CrazyAvenger ScudYouth DashingPresto FalconVixen LeafEnchantress FrolicHawk EagleTeaser FoamBlazer WatchfulCondor PeepDoodle ForestWave ThistleKing SpunkyTerrapin DriftRanger TimeBanshee LoneWanderer NightRambler ChaosReindeer EveningJane FlashVesta RevengeQueen TropicStag YoungAmerica SylphidMorning RippleSwift FlyingOcean Star West Yankee Siren Triumph Southerner Surprise Sea Science Mustang Rapid Adventure --------- Petrel Blooming Buckshot Good Egg Hiawatha Ivanhoe Kaskaskia Nanjemoy O'Day of the Scuppernong Will Wisp Gold Jupiter Springbok Stingray Sylphide Uncle Mose Young Republic Wind -------- ChaosReindeer CrazyAvenger DashingPresto DeepNotice DewDrop DriftRanger EagleTeaser EveningJane FalconVixen FlashVesta FlyingOcean FoamBlazer ForestWave FrolicHawk LeafEnchantress LittleRebel LoneWanderer LordOfObliviana NightRambler PeepDoodle RevengeQueen RippleSwift ScudYouth SpunkyTerrapin SylphidMorning ThistleKing TimeBanshee TropicStag WatchfulCondor YoungAmerica -------- 7/19/98 Sample Fonostas used in test Board MorningKiller CarpetSparrow LookWeaver PoolFool -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----