[Way With Worlds appears at Seventh Sanctum at at MuseHack]
For the next few columns I’ll be looking at specific things that you need to do and define when building your setting. This should not be taken as the only things that you have to do, but instead a list of basics, with advice and ideas on how you can develop them best. I’m sure you’ll have your own ways to do things, that I may miss things, or that your writing may have some unique needs.
But it’s a place to start. In fact, on the subject of “starting,” the first thing we’re going to look at is literally the First Thing: The Origin of your setting. (more…)
Well with the site rewritten, the numbers back, a new year starting, and some time off I decided to write a brand new, in-depth generator to finally solidify the mojo that’s come back. So I chose something that seemed both easy and popular, the Magical Legend Pony Namer, which seemed simple and fun, and of course played into the most unexpected fandom ever to dominate the internet and the insanely long-lived collector enthusiasm.
Actually it works pretty well, but what was stunning – and indeed obsession-making – is it taught me about language patterns I’d missed. This is actually going to help out in future generators. Without boring you (because I could go on) here’s what I learned, mostly thanks to the incredibly extensive online resources I found.
Lesson One. There’s a continuity between descriptive terms and objects – but it’s not that some objects can also define things (like the word “silver”) but objects at times define objects (the words “Pasta Salad” have an object defining another object). So there’s a little more complexity than I realized here, and I think future (and revised) generators will be better for noticing this.
Lesson Two. Names have a level of formality about the – or a lack. The level of formality affects how you associate names, words, titles, and concepts and the difference between a formal name and a nickname. This is reasonably easy to classify, actually.
So I learned something. I just didn’t expect to. I’ll now leave you to the names.
– Steven Savage
Hello everyone, and here’s the latest update.
Thanks to everyone who took the poll on my plans to add some content and community to the Sanctum. Before I get to that however I do want to address the issue of removing the option to decide how many entries to generate. A lot of people wanted it back.
I had waffled on this because removing the option didn’t seem to make much impact and it kept things simple. But in the poll, someone gave a me case of why they needed to modify how many entries they got. That was the real convincer for me. So I’ve mulled over some ways to work that into the current layout, and I think I have an idea, so I’m going to work to put the choose-your-amount option back in, though I think I’ll have it default to maximum.
That kind of feedback is really helpful. I need to know how people use the site. So in the future if you want a change or have a new idea, spell it out in detail, it helps a lot!
So now what the poll told me!
First of all, people are in general behind adding a content/blog/library section. But it’s not everyone’s primary interest – more of a secondary (20% of people were neutral, 8% didn’t like it or really disliked it, 55% were for “pretty good” and 17% were really enthused). That tells me that it’s a decent idea, and one I’ll do for various advantages, but its appeal is mostly secondary to the larger audience. Right now I plan to add one, but I probably won’t trick it out with any bells or whistles right now – though as I’m going to be doing some really weird stuff to make it work, that may be secondary.
Secondly, I got some good suggestions from the polls period – and not just on the number selections. So I think I’ll do some of these now and them! Also frankly it’s kind of fun.
Third, yes, I am going to be making more generators. Now that I got the site rewritten and have my mojo back, I plan to add new ones over time. I’ve got about one to three I want to do now more for fun – and one silly one turned out to be a fascinating exploration of language structure I want to finish.
Fourth, I got other good ideas for the site I may give a shot, mostly usability tweaks. Stay tuned 😉
Finally, for those asking for a mobile version of the site, the site is optimized to work across devices, though a vertical cell phone profile is a bit hinky. I am looking into making it into an app (though the generators based on other media wouldn’t be there), but that’s more later 2014 if I try it – a friend is experimenting with such things and we may team up.
– Steven Savage
Hello everyone! So let’s see how we’re doing at Seventh Sanctum!
- I’ve got some rough plans for the next few months, we’ll see how they work out after a little polishing and planning. I’m not planning anything as big as the rewrite for the next year because that took a lot out of me.
- As you saw, Way With Worlds is back! I plan to revisit the entire column line to rewrite, expand, or in a few cases just leave some old ones alone. Think of it as Way With Worlds updated – as I have a lot to add from my experiences!
- Didn’t see a lot of enthusiasm for a blog, but let me note that it will be basically running as part of the site but not take over the site – I don’t want to turn the site into a blog, so much as have one that belongs to the site if you get my drift. The purpose is the tools first and foremost – but it’d be nice to have content and people commenting on it and interacting. I’m still assuming adding a blog in Q1 or so – and a little feedback would help (even if it’s “really, don’t”).
- Do have a few more formatting tweaks I may try, so stay tuned!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
(This was originally posted at Ongoing Worlds. And yes, it’s a Seventh Sanctum column that’s not an update. A trend? We’ll see!)
Look Back In Randomness . . .
In 1999 at a gathering of anime and Mystery Science Theater Fans, I commented how some anime attacks sounded randomly generated by computer. Suddenly it struck me that it would be easy to write a program to do that, as I’d written code to do superhero names and names in the vein of Elfquest characters. A few notes later I had enough ideas to try and I made an Anime Power Generator.
Then I began thinking of other options. And more random generators emerged. Then I put them on my web site. Then they took over the website.
Then what is known today as Seventh Sanctum was born. Eventually it encompassed over 150 generators. I just kept making these things for 14 years.
So in 2013 I realized that perhaps I had to update the years old design, and go modern. Fortunately Bootstrap provided me the framework I needed, and I proudly updated it in a mobile, adaptable, and honestly easier to read and simpler design.
This is when Dave contacted me. He and I knew each other from when I interviewed him at MuseHack. He noted that I had many random generators for people to use in writing, art, and of course RPGs. But what is the role of randomizers in RPGs anyway?
I’d never thought of it. I just sort of assumed it was obvious or instinctive.
Dave had challenged me, in short, to put into words what was rarely expressed. I was up for the challenge – frankly I wanted to see my own thoughts in more solid form.
So, you run an RPG or play one, or are starting one. How can randomness help you in something that’s so often the result of planning, phrasing, and writing? Many, many ways . . . (more…)
Thanks for the continuous feedback folks. So a few updates
- First, you may notice a color change at Seventh Sanctum – the Blue Is Back. Frankly, a lot of people sort of missed it. So hey, if it’s part of the brand, there you go.
- Several people would like options to choose results back. I’m considering a few possibilities and debating if it’s worth restoring. But the feedback is appreciated.
- I’m considering a slight layout change with the comments to leave less blank space – but it actually makes the layouts trickier in some cases. Live and learn.
- Finally – and I really would like feedback on this – I’m considering how to add more content and interactive features. A message board seems a bit excessive and basic, the Disqus comments are nice, a mailing list may be fun, but I’ve wondered what about some direct content with a blog/posting element? It doesn’t even have to be me writing for it but could give a place for a lot of us to post ideas, creativity, theories, advice, and more. I’ve got a rough idea of how I can embed a blog into the site without overstraining it, but it’s pretty basic right now.
Let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
OK so the site launch looks successful. Only two things have come up:
- Some people want to see the blue return. So I’d like to know what you think.
- Depending on the scale the view can get a bit crowded. I can tweak this over time, but my goal was to optimize use of space and device scaling. So if anyone has specific suggestions (make this better padded, etc.) I can prototype them to see if they work.
But we appear to be good! Thanks everyone!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
If Seventh Sanctum looks a bit different that’s because it is. After months of waiting, it’s out! The updated, Bootstrap-driven version!
So, hopefully you’ve seen it, but if by some rare happenstance you saw this entry on my home site, go check it out!
Now, I’ve tested it, I’ve integrated feedback, but there still could be errors and issues. So be sure to send me feedback!
So some features you should see:
- First of all, you’ve got a more modern, streamlined look. The old site was a bit retro and frankly the text was just a bit too small.
- Secondly, this should scale on mobile and smaller devices. So try it out on phone, tablet, and so on.
- Third, I streamlined the generators. The choice-of-amount really didn’t bring much to the site because people would just have to click again to generate more – and that’s usually what a visitor would want. The new layout should be a bit tighter.
So try it out and let me know if you have any questions or find any problems!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Sorry for a bit of a delay here folks, got a bit under the weather and had a convention to go to. Not an ideal combination, but had a blast – and got to meet some Sanctum-users there.
So first of all, I did some updates to the Seventh Sanctum test site, Page of Generators. I’d like you to try it again to make sure the updates work.
And after that? A launch this month. Quite looking forward to it.
Still having talks about how to do community building, but a lot of the “old gang” are busy right now. But it’s not forgotten. I’m always open to suggestions of course – the more I think of it, the Disqus links really do have their limits. I may think this over during the holidays when I have some spare time – and yeah, I’m taking some time off.
Redoing the site has given me new generator ideas and I think it’s time to get some out after I got the site updated. Actually the modification of the site has let me really re-examine some of my code so I think I’ll have an easier time of implementing things. Lately a lot of my ideas have been about concept/fusion generators.
Was wondering if anyone has ideas about building a challenge community. Yes I know they’d like the contests back, but also I want to think about writers.
OK, so back at it, I’ve got some work to-do, so check the beta and let me know!
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Thanks for the feedback people sent in – and it turns out a few genertors DID have a formatting bug. Any generator with a single dropdown-box control was apparently prone to a formatting malfunction. I think I’ve corrected it at this time. Be sure to take a look at the beta site, http://www.pageofgenerators.com/.
So now the next question is when to launch and I’m targeting November. I just have to figure out when because things are a bit busy – and the holiday season makes it both easier and harder to do.
Now with this out of the way – unless someone finds anything else (do let me know) – my next concern more before/in the new year will be a community. Disqus is fun and all for one-offs, but right now I’m debating a mailing list, a message board, and http://elgg.org/ which I saw at Trilobyte studios. The Disqus comments are nice, but also have their issues and aren’t as intimate (I’m not planning to get rid of them).
Oh and new generators? Yeah, I seriously have to revive some of my ideas it’s been ages since I did one – and the new framework makes them easier to do – and easier since I just reviewed a lot of code.
So thanks to everyone for the feedback and help.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
