Yep, in my usual style, I've once again come up with what I believe to be a really cool RPG that I'd like to make, but because I want Forgotten Kings to get done so badly, I probably won't get around to.

"The Flatland Chronicles".

Anyone here ever read Edwin A. Abbott's classic novel, "Flatland"? It's a truly remarkable book that, through a series of logical comparisons to a 2-dimensional world called Flatland and a 1-dimensional world called Lineland, comes up with some remarkable theories of what life in 4 dimensions would have to be like (and, consequently, is the primary reason why I get so annoyed when people say the 4th dimension is time, because THE 4TH DIMENSION IS NOT TIME). In addition to all of this, though, it also spends a great deal of time, in the first half of the book, detailing the way of life of Flatlanders, from their history to their architecture to their familial relations. Granted, much of this is meant as a parody of British society in Victorian times, and granted, much of it is horribly chauvenistic...

...but what really got my creative juices flowing was an unofficial sequel to Flatland by Dionys Burger (SP?) called "Sphereland". Written 80 years later in 1960, Sphereland adds Einsteinian theories to the chronicles of Flatland, and proceeds to explain all the physical details of Flatland, including what it would look like from 3D space, what the atmosphere is like outside of the "disc" upon which most of the story takes place (i.e. space, for the Flatlanders), etc. (Consequently, it also basically proves that a 4th dimension MUST exist, which is truly amazing.)

And Sphereland also does quite a bit to counteract the chauvenism of the original Flatland, detailing the evolution of Flatland society about 80 years later as well.

So, between my recent obsession with these books and my recent work on Forgotten Kings, I put 2 and 2 together, and came up with an idea to top all ideas.

An RPG that takes place in Flatland, and eventually involves breaking out of Flatland and into our world.

And, of course, the Flatland segments would have to be done in a first-person perspective (imagine an FPS, only with your point of view being a single horizontal line across the center of the screen), perhaps with an option for an overhead-view perspective in case the first-person perspective becomes too difficult to work with (though representing Flatland in an overhead perspective would make things FAR TOO EASY).

I haven't thought of a story yet, but if anyone would be interesting in devoting the time to making an insane game like this, I'll be glad to help put one together -- after all, my work on Forgotten Kings right now is mostly just programming and mapping, so I'd welcome the chance to do something with my creativity in the interim. (:

And even if you don't think this would make a good game, I DO highly recommend reading these books. You can get Flatland and Sphereland bundled together for a fairly cheap price from Amazon.com, and each book has a foreword by Isaac Asimov, which is just plain cool. (:

Anyhoo, on other news fronts, I should be free to work on Forgotten Kings again soon (I've been rather busy lately, but that should all be coming to an end soon enough as things dull down more and more), and the Bridget Trilogy should be ready to upload sometime next week.

Toodles!!
-Tom

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http://forgottenkings.tripod.com/ http://wyrdwad.diaryland.com/

*Fear* my ability to respond to a post before it has been made! :)

-GMW-

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and I read this right after a debate of spacetime with my friends.

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It is not wrong to not understand, for we are all ignorant, but neither is understanding pointless.

check the Hamster Republic site for Lineality.

I dunno. Flatland's more suited for a text adventure game.

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I like tits.