Wee. It's good to be back. I estimate about one-half of you have no idea who I am, one quarter are pretty sure you know, and the last quarter have recognised me immediately and, in some cases, gone off to sharpen their knives.
Anyway, I've been a busy little bee during my leave of absence - well, I've tried to be, anyway - and I come back here bearing some news that makes me rather chuffed and should make Steve, at the very least, slightly less suspicious of Australians bearing promises.
A fair while back, Mr. Levinson, whom you should ALL know, contracted me to fulfill a little idea of his, a concept project if you will: To rearrange, reorder and recreate the Marathon series into a nonlinear, chronological scenario. Some might call it foolish and/or a waste of time, but Steve provided ample incentive and I was certainly not one to refuse what was on offer.:)
Unfortunately, for various reasons, I spent much of the first part of this year avoiding doing this task, mostly because I am a pathetic, lazy SOB. But only a month or two ago our kind resident Ernie sent me an email which galvanised me into swift action, and now...
Phase Two Of Marathon: Nonlinear Is Complete.
Well, basically. Ingue Ferroque is still causing me problems, but with luck they should be resolved this week. ANYWAY, what does this mean? It means that all of the requisite Bungie levels have been placed in some semblance of order, all terminal tweaks complete, along with one little of my own to do the Durandal/Tycho choice, and all textures exported and fully functional.
I could just release now. That would be boring, though, and probably not matching Steve's grand vision. So what I need is a metaphorical email show of hands of who'd like to be involved in the bringing of Nonlinear to Phase Three: That is, the overhaul and enlarging of the timelines to make the Tycho timeline flow properly, the addition of dream sequences to segue between timelines, Rubicon-style, the general overhaul of everything to better take advantage of the new technology available to us today, and maybe even new textures...
This is a significant step, as it involves a substantial amount of new content creation(duh), and I am not willing to take it alone. For one thing, free time is a rapidly diminishing quantity for me, and I will no longer be willing or able to spend any significant time on Marathon post-october. So, this is a call: Mapmakers, artists, writers, artists, BETA TESTERS. I don't care if you're terrible, if you've never done it before. WE CAN TEACH YOU. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY. You'll most likely be given a small, specific task and then another, and another, like breadcrumbs, so that the project does not balloon into impossibility. See? Easy! Simple way to work with the great Bungie Mythos and make your name live forever in a small corner of the internet.
One, all, email me if you're interested. I have 100 megabytes of space now. Oh, sweet 100 megabytes.
The Only Service With A Smile,
Scifiteki
PS I have a little thing for MaraFF to celebrate my official return and the completion of Phase II. Ernie, you should be checking your email. No, NOW. :)
PPS I have more phases than you do, Forrest. :P
