Okay, quite a while ago, I had introduced
this thread to the board, a massive cumulation of ideas (more or less personalized theories) based on Alternative World and maybe some plot devices to bridge the gap to beyond it. Â Still a good read, though I locked it off because I feel no further need for the direction it headed, which kind of came to a dead end anyway. Â
Now, to better explain myself, you have to understand that when I get into something, I get into it
deep. Â If I don't, then for one reason or another I don't feel like there's anything I can do to extend its reality. Â The reasons for this will vary. Â
Example, I love the BTTF movies. Â My favorite live action movies of all time. Â Wonderfully acted, light humor (not quite comedic and enough to be fun), and a twinge on science fiction that I so crave. Â (There's a reason I kicked ass through DC and AC Circuit analysis this semester; I love electronics
) Â However, at the end of BTTF3, the Doc makes a wonderful closing statement that wraps of everything. Â (Interestingly, if you think about it, Marty lost probably almost a month of his life in what was only 2 days in his real time.) Â I wouldn't dare touch it.
More close to home example: I like the Wanderers. Â Not as powerful as the original OAV, but still fun and El-Hazardy. Â However, it pretty much runs its course. Â Makoto arrives, stuff happens, Makoto is blasted away and everyone is shown to have some connection with him, Makoto comes back to Rune, happy ending. Â I wouldn't dare touch it.
Yet... at the end of the original OAV of El-Hazard, there's an obvious time gap between Ifurita leaving and him getting back to Ifurita. Â Granted, this
effectively makes it full circle, like Wanderers. Â However... somewhere within me, it feels "full circle" like the math problems that have someone travel all over the place, arrive back at where they started, and ask the fabled question -- "What was the Average Velocity?" Â Zero. Â Because the person effectively had a net distance of zero. Â And yet... I always hated to have to answer it that way. Â Because it simply ignored the fact that said person was traveling many miles in all directions, living experiences, eating lunch, whatever it happened to be.
Honestly, this is what I always get out of the end of the OAV... it's a beautiful ending, and everything is beginning-to-end. Â And yet ... the "Average Velocity" feels like zero. Â We knew Makoto would end up back where he started; in Ifurita's hands. Â And we know things as far as up to when Ifurita goes into the Eye of God and Makoto promises he'll find a way to return himself to her somehow, someday.
I can't honestly explain the draw to El-Hazard [that came from the OAV only really Â
]. Â There's just something about every one of those people... maybe it had something to do with the period of life it was introduced, a time when I was greatly depressed... long story short, it not only brought me OUT of depression, but somehow these characters somewhere tweaked my life and interests to a point I'm actually hopeful and positive. Â But enough of that, you'll think I'm trying to sell you the boxset. Â
I love rambling, I dance around the point...
Okay, so now you got it I hope. Â For some reason, that time gap in OAV1, to me, begs to be filled. Â And it has, a thousand ways from every fan's perspective. Â I'm not just here to discuss the concept, but rather I'm here to talk about
my approach, and for a little input as I go I suppose.
My hobby (and will never, I promise, be my job) is computer game programming. Â Big deal, so what? Â A properly managed game project can be more than just an "electronic diversion". Â It can, at least to a degree, be a way to immerse someone into an alternate person's existence. Â There's a strange feeling to be able to "create" a "world" and then lay out the rules. Â Something that none of us are allowed to do in this one. Â (And to bring it around, that's why I wouldn't want to do it by the ruling of a boss who tells me what I can and can't do. Â
)
So even a halfwit has gathered I want to make a completely custom El-Hazard game, right? Â But what
would such a thing be like? Â I've mulled it over a thousand times in my head, and taken inspiration from when I worked on the EHPC project...
El-Hazard for the Sega Saturn was an interesting game. Â It basically gave you a twisted combination between OAV and Wanderers and let you control Makoto (who is
always the center of the universe
) Â Your actions determined how things turn out, everywhere from the common "Makoto gets Rune" Wanderers-esque ending to Jinnai taking over the world!
The last time I posed a discussion of this sort (in the thread linked previously), I had asked to see what people thought I ought to persue; a story continuation (post-AW), a hybrid (like EHPC), or something completely new (like Wanderers or the manga like to start anew.) Â Generally, the concensus was to go for "post-AW". Â It would earn me the most credability I believe someone had noted.
Alright, so we've laid this out I'm basically bringing controllable fanfiction to life, most probably based on OAV-thread. Â Now to get to the heart of the matter. Â More or less, I have a few questions that I'd like to see how the general populace feels about 'em.
1) This one's more potentially a curiosity; what do you think the general acceptance would be if I based concepts on others' fanfiction? Â I'd never copy any of them directly (they often conflict with my own perceived reality, plus like book to movie, some things just don't work on-screen the way they do in text), but many of them are quite good, now that I've read a few. Â Also, even if it was the
fragment of a concept, I'm all for giving credit to original creators.
2) While the general concensus was to keep on the post-AW track... I can't lie, after OAV1, after Hayashi pretty much said "OAV1 is all there is, nothing else El-Hazard is real to me", there seemed to be scripts that, while they generally held EH concepts in place and probably had the heart in the right place, seemed "off". Â It's like some of them didn't have "respect" for certain concepts. Â For the life of me... I never swallowed "more than one Ifurita" well. Â You make Ifurita the great fabled destroyer of civilization, and then suddenly find that it was rather a commonplace device apparently. Â This complicates a lot of my initial visions, among other things. Â To put it bluntly, I don't care for it. Â I can see one nation with their big, bad Eye of God, another with their Ifurita ("Northern Capital", what appears to be where Roshtaria now lies, and "Forbidden Island", which I speculate was a warring country, therefore "forbidden" like traveling from the US to Iraq would generally be.) Â It's "okay", but it doesn't settle completely well.
Number 2 is the big one, since it's my latest major thought. Â While I have plenty of storylines I've written and rewritten among all my idle moments in these past few months that would be placed post-AW... I just hate running into a corner with something that I know would've worked had the meddling problems of OAV2 and AW come into play, the things that I think quite a few fans collectively find problematic. Â But not to complicate this TOO much, I'm asking for direction. Â To make it simple, I'm only really concidering too paths for this:
A) Just deal with it
B) "Rewrite" OAV2 and AW to make it more "favorable". Â I know this would kill to actually make Pioneer, whom we're all supposed to take as fact, actually worth editing. Â But I'd like serious concideration on this. Â I'm not saying throw EVERYTHING out... but would it be too much to maybe rework some of the basics? Â I mean, hey, Jinnai finds a place way out there and accidently and unwittingly activates some old weapons. Â Okay. Â But Makoto and co. find another Ifurita, ruining the mystique of the "great destroyer"? Â No. Â
I'm not exactly sure on handling AW, so I'd like anyone to list anything that bothered them about OAV2 or AW's plotlines. Â Provided you think I should go this route.
Finally, to end this post, if anyone wants to know exactly where my capabilites even lie for presentation, short and sweet... (you don't have to read on if you're just interested in the story components, although I think this is important)
When I was working on this more or less on my own (before I decided I really need a lot more public interaction), I had done some work towards a means.
While all projects I've ever done under my hobby were almost 100% using my own skill, there was a desire for something more free than a 2D engine (which, since I started doing this at like age 10, was all that was possible.) Â 2D engines have their place... but I don't like restricting something of this range to 2D.
I buckled under the desire to do what I had once criticized another group for doing in the past during another era; using someone else's engine to fulfill their own fandom creation. Â Their project was carved out of a DOOM engine port, the infamous 3D shooter's engine of which ID software released to the public quite a while ago. Â Reborn by hundreds of different developers with different ideas of enhancements, this became a great time to pick up a simple-yet-powerful 3D engine for free.
Since I waited until now to actually decide I might go for it, I got the cream of the crop to work with; a powerful, tight, 3D accelerated engine with custom lighting dynamics and some other way cool stuff. Â What I did with it up to now could best be summarized with this video:
http://www.el-hazardonline-dl.net/ctest3short.mpgConcidering this used to just be a status bar, a guy with a gun, and some monsters... You will note that my "special touch" as an experienced programmer has made this look nothing like DOOM. Â
The crappy quality video actually documented a few months work on models, textures, and personal engine enhancements such as non-palettized textures and custom camera focuses.
BUT STILL... my ego doesn't like this. Â And I think with my two semesters of college math, I
just might be able to tackle
true 3D maths on my own (plus use my major programming wit to be able to hopefully take advantage of wonderful 3D acceleration and special effects.) Â Writing my own engine also grants me virtually unlimited control over its control system, which I may desire. Â Plus I have the ability to understand every little heartbeat one of my own "children" makes, as opposed to only vaguely knowing an "adopted child", where I discover many of the problems as I go. Â
Two or three additional planned projects which have nothing to do with this:
A) A Gameboy Advance port of EHPC. Â (Why? Â I'm crazy I guess. Â Plus it makes it available to Mac'ies via emulation.) Â This hopefully will be done in only a couple weeks at the most since most of my code has been proven to function identically on GBA. Â (Yay!)
B) A Wanderers-themed simple platformer game. Â (Why? Â Because me and my brother thought it might be fun.)
C) [Optional, I may not feel like this one] A platformer game designed to introduce the OAV and possibly some of the later series to general audiences who I can't coax to buy the boxset. Â Just an idea.
... as soon as I finish those two or three, I'll take a short stint into manual coding of 3D space. Â If I can't seem to make headway, then I'll just deal with my knowledge theft that is a carved out DOOM engine.
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