Hi Thomas,
When I created Sarah Goode, I didn't want to make up an eleven year old
Carry Hotter that entered Hogwarts in her first year and graduated seven
years later.
I chose an American teenager who had graduated from the Salem school of
Witchcraft who was visiting the castle during the summer.
After I finished the game I wanted to explore the character further, so I
wrote a novel based on her and added extra quests that needed to be
accomplished in the castle.
Then I went back and looked at the game and found ways to make the game more
like the novel.
It has taken me longer than I realized to make the changes in the game,
including the Hogwarts grounds and part of the village next to it.
But I have enjoyed doing the changes, and that's the bottom line, I enjoy
playing the new version to the detriment of getting it finished.
When released the novel will be included in the download of the game, but it
will be sort of like a walk through, spoiling all the surprises.
Phil
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Ward" <[email protected]>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 4:14 AM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Mapping, item collecting and puzzles in games
Hi Darren,
Oh, there is nothing wrong with inspiration in of itself. The problem
Dark and I are talking about here is taking story x and simply
replacing names of people, places, and things and sticking new labels
on them. In a case like that it is not an original idea inspired by an
existing one, but merely a case of renaming everything to keep from
being busted for copyright infringement.
For example, what if I created a character named Panama Jack, gave him
a hat and whip, and a girl friendnamed Marianne Summers. Now, right
off the top of your head you probably would have guessed I'm thinking
of Indiana Jones and Marianne Ravenwood under new aliases, and you'd
be absolutely correct. What's the problem with that?
Well, the problem is I didn't spend any time on developing my own
characters. All I did is create a cookie cutter copy of Indiana Jones
and Marianne Ravenwood and slapped them in some kind of treasure hunt.
It would be more interesting in my opinion to sit down and develop a
new cast of characters with their own personalities, own back story,
and values different from those that the author was inspired by.
Instead of an Indiana Jones type character we can give our Panama Jack
character a more unique back story. What if Jack was born and raised
in Australia, served in the military, and went to college for
archeology in the U.S. before obtaining a teaching position at some
ivy league university. Since his training in the special forces maybe
he packs a pistol and of course is an expert at hand to hand fighting.
This would establish his qualifications for the story. All we then
need to do is fill in the enemies who might be in a power struggle for
some kind of ancient artifacts.
Bottom line, the more information I layer on my character the less and
less he is a duplicate of Indiana Jones. The original idea might have
been an Indiana Jones character, but fleshing out my own character
would make a more interesting and unique storyline over all.
Cheers!
---
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