Ferrous Moon
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Onlink Overview (Contains Spoilers)
http://www.ferrousmoon.com:80/forums/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1491		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  KaOSoFt [Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Onlink Overview (Contains Spoilers)
Hello there.

I just recently got a copy of Uplink, and I got quite interested in the game.

After some time reading Uplink's forums, I noticed about Onlink mod. I've been reading, and it looks cool, with all the (functional and aesthetic) additions and modifications, but one I'm a little bit concerned is about the storyline. I'd like to know if you guys plan to change it, or just to improve it. I liked Uplink's plot, so, while I think it could just be improved even further, I see even harder (and time consuming) to create a new one.

Could you guys please clarify Onlink's plans about Uplink storyline? Also, if you could really explain what are the current (a general overview) features or innovations of your mod, that would be lovely. Specially if you put it on the Wiki...

Thanks in advance.

PS: I'm playing 0.1.2 right now.
Author:  Miah [Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
0.2.x will be the first time that we show an extended storyline. Based on the reaction from this release, we'll be able to determine what's going to be best for the future.

That being said, here is the current plan:

Onlink is going to run a continuation the the ARC/Arunmor storyline. Being on either side, you will be able to continue playing, if you win that particular side. The format is, in essense, the fall of a giant and the rise of another. Same people? Same motive? Are they even out for the same thing? Well, you'll have to wait and see. I'm not a fan of disclosure until due time. In the next few weeks, I'm probably going to have FinalWarrior help me out on the "english" side of things. I'll be able to see what he thinks then and use that as a gauge.

That's the idea for the main storyline, however, which I still do not have all the systems I need to execute. Therefore, there's going to be another one running parallel, that which you will see in 0.2.x. This one, rather than an "epic tale," is going to probably end up in episodical (that the right word?) format, the first installment titled "A Prayer for my Daughter."

As for the innovations... well, the log is getting monstrous. Seriously. I keep running into things that I feel the need to change. So much so that I've put a lock on my list; I will not be adding anything more to it unless it's a division of a topic already there (The C++ interface was recently separated into seven other items, five or which are utilities that branch off of it. I started one of these items yesterday and finished thing morning). I'll reopen the list after beta1 release.

You're going to have to treat this one more like a new game than a new mod.
Author:  FinalWarrior [Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
Onlink is going to run a continuation the the ARC/Arunmor storyline. Being on either side, you will be able to continue playing, if you win that particular side.
Question: The ARC storyline ends with The death of the Internet. I'm assuming this has been somehow addressed?
Quote:
In the next few weeks, I'm probably going to have FinalWarrior help me out on the "english" side of things.
You people cannot believe the task(s) he's set me to. It's not that his English is bad (far from it), but what he's having me transcribe is... frustrating a tad complex for me to wrap in English, to say the least.
Quote:
I'll be able to see what he thinks then and use that as a gauge.
This is news to me. Good news, mind you. :D
Quote:
This one, rather than an "epic tale," is going to probably end up in episodical (that the right word?) format, the first installment titled "A Prayer for my Daughter."
"Episodic" is the word you're looking for.
Quote:
You're going to have to treat this one more like a new game than a new mod.
Which it basically is, considering how Uplink is no longer necessary to play Onlink (IIRC).

-- Griffinhart
Author:  KaOSoFt [Sat Oct 11, 2008 5:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
Quote:
Onlink is going to run a continuation the the ARC/Arunmor storyline. Being on either side, you will be able to continue playing, if you win that particular side.
Question: The ARC storyline ends with The death of the Internet. I'm assuming this has been somehow addressed?

-- Griffinhart
What do you mean by "addressed"? Is there something wrong with it?
Author:  Rickton [Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Well it would make it a bit hard to continue the storyline.
Author:  FinalWarrior [Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
What do you mean by "addressed"? Is there something wrong with it?
Is there a way to continue playing the original Uplink storyline after the completion of the ARC storyline that I have never known about?

-- Griffinhart
Author:  KaOSoFt [Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
Quote:
What do you mean by "addressed"? Is there something wrong with it?
Is there a way to continue playing the original Uplink storyline after the completion of the ARC storyline that I have never known about?

-- Griffinhart
Well, Deus Ex 2 supposedly continues after all three endings of Deus Ex happen. And one of those endings meant more than just Internet... they recovered quite fast, I should say.

In any case, I wish you the best in this project.

Keep going!
Author:  FinalWarrior [Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
Well, Deus Ex 2 supposedly continues after all three endings of Deus Ex happen. And one of those endings meant more than just Internet...
Deus Ex: Invisible War also doesn't take place solely on the Internet, and Up/Onlink does not have the same premises as DX and DX2. Also, DX2 is set twenty years after DX. That seems like a pert' long time to me.

-- Griffinhart
Author:  KaOSoFt [Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
Deus Ex: Invisible War also doesn't take place solely on the Internet, and Up/Onlink does not have the same premises as DX and DX2.
Well, that's what I mean. It meant MUCH more than just communications, yet they made it out, they survived the recession. Why couldn't we survive just Internet...?
Quote:
Also, DX2 is set twenty years after DX. That seems like a pert' long time to me.

-- Griffinhart
Who says this continuation wouldn't be set 20 years apart...? It's just a matter of scriptwriting. I'm not saying it's easy, nor that THAT's how is going to happen, I'm just saying the possibility is there, and it can easily be taken.

Anyway, whatever the continuation plot will be, I just expect it to be as much fun as it is now.

See you!
Author:  FinalWarrior [Sun Oct 12, 2008 2:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
Quote:
Deus Ex: Invisible War also doesn't take place solely on the Internet, and Up/Onlink does not have the same premises as DX and DX2.
Well, that's what I mean. It meant MUCH more than just communications, yet they made it out, they survived the recession. Why couldn't we survive just Internet...?
I think you're missing my point. My point is that, in DX2, the game doesn't take place solely on the Internet; i.e., the gameplay of DX2 does not, in fact, rely on the existence of the Internet. Onlink's gameplay does, because it's a game about hacking the Internet. No Internet, no hacking. No hacking, no Onlink. (Unless Miah's radically changing Onlink's gameplay or something.)
Quote:
Quote:
Also, DX2 is set twenty years after DX. That seems like a pert' long time to me.

-- Griffinhart
Who says this continuation wouldn't be set 20 years apart...? It's just a matter of scriptwriting.
Then that'd be addressing the problem of continuing the game post-ARC storyline, wouldn't it?

-- Griffinhart
Author:  Miah [Sun Oct 12, 2008 4:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Not in the way that I would like.
Quote:
Revelation : A retrospective

It would appear that the recent panic over Revelation was (as usual) totally unnecessary. The Internet has suffered a number of high profile scares since its foundation, and it has always survived. This incident was no different, and only serves to highlight the ease with which the public can be scared into thinking their lives are in danger.

A special help line was recently set up by Federal Agents for worried members of the public, and they have so far received an average of ten-thousand calls a day from people who are terrified their life records are now wide open due to this recent security scare. 'They just keep calling' said a Federal Spokesman today. 'These people honestly believe that somebody could just open up their records and change them as if they were in the public library. Its total hysteria.'

Since the collapse of the Andromeda Group, ARC has been exposed as little more than a front for their activities, and has shut down all operations. It is a wonder that nobody noticed ARC never released any products.

Arunmor Corporation yesterday launched their new Active-Virus-Guard software, titled 'Faith'. This is an extension of the tool used to defeat Revelation, and the makers claim it actively seeks out viruses and eradicates them. Sales have apparently been 'very promising'.

At the time of writing, shares in Arunmor Corporation had risen to a new high.
This is how the original Uplink closes the story, stating, at least from my viewpoint, that nothing would have been fully ruined anyway, just be a major setback.

It is this that I am going to be attacking. If the player sides with ARC, Uplink Corp suffers a massive hit to its databases, effectively wiping the record that the player was involved from existence. The player will be able to re-register and continue on as normal. The world goes on as usual. This, of course, assumes that the player wins this line. If he does not, he loses and is disavowed as normal.

On the other side, if the player sides with Arunmor, it's nearly the same thing as it is now. However, if the player fails, it's not going to end the game as a result of the destruction of the internet, but rather that the gravity of the hit and the embarrassment that one of Uplink's top agents couldn't stop it will cause Uplink to close its doors. The world continues, but the game is over, as Uplink has folded.

I never saw the conclusion to revelation as being entirely conclusive. I feel that some of you feel the same about it, so I'm going to bring some closure to the situation.

Also, while I'm at it, I should mention that the current "epic" plot will not consist of two waring factions. It's closer to seven if I add them all up. This linear storyline thing never particularly appealed to me...
Author:  FinalWarrior [Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview
Quote:
[Snip awesome]
It's like you're having nonconsensual sex with my mind, Miah! And it's secretly liking it!

:oops:

-- Griffinhart
Author:  Tycho [Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview (Contains Spoilers)
...
Author:  eddieringle [Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview (Contains Spoilers)
I'm getting a bit scared right now...
Author:  Rickton [Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Onlink Overview (Contains Spoilers)
Quote:
I'm getting a bit scared right now...
Understandable. Those sorts of feelings are scary the first time you feel them, but don't worry, soon they'll be your favorite.
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