Greetings Everyone, My name is Raymond Jacobs, Founder of EDIGames, we are currently developing our first commercial game, Morning's Wrath, and we decided to offer a cash prize of $50.00 to the person who can design the best 'Classic Adventure Puzzle' or 'RPG Quest' type idea for our upcoming game. An example of a very simple classic adventure puzzle is... You must distract the gourmet chef, so you can take the cooking knife, so you can cut a rope with it. An example of a very simple RPG Quest is... You need to journey to the land of the dead to rescue a lost soul from charon, along the way fighting hordes of stuff. Needless to say, the entries submited should be far more complex and far more detailed and applicable to the game theme. About a half-page of writing should be sufficant. The Rules : This contest is in no way affiliated with GameDev.net (so don't bother them about problems you might have) All entries must be submitted by electronic mail, at Raymond@EDIGames.com All entries become the sole property of EDIGames, this includes copyright and all other applicable rights. Any entry submitted that is judged to contain copyrighted material (proper names, etc) will be disqualified. An entrant can submit more than one entry. Each entry should have: -The entrant's full name -The email address that should be used to contact the entrant upon winning -The entry in whatever form seems best to the entrant Final judgment of the winner is reserved by the staff of EDIGames. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age. All applicants must be a citizen of the continental US or Canada. If it is determined a winner is not eligible for the prize, the next runner up will be chosen, and so on and so forth. If no suitable winner can be found, or no entries are submitted, the contest will become null and void. Members of EDIGames or it’s affiliates are not eligible to participate in this contest. EDIGames is not responsible for difficulties due to internet connectivity, forum issues, internet email or any other communication mediums. One contest winner will be chosen by MW team members on February 1st. The winning entry will be chosen based on: -Detail (proper names, visual descriptions) -Applicability (ease of integration and validity to the story/game world) -Interest (how much 'fun' the puzzle/quest will be to solve/do) The winner will be notified by the supplied email that s/he has won, and further information (address, etc) will be requested to mail the prize check. The Material : Material for the game can be found on this forum, in the form of past thread posts, or on our website(s) listed above. Addition content is in this thread *look below* Additional informational materials regarding the game can be requested via email or on this thread, but will not necessarily be provided. Any questions, or rule addition suggestions should be made to this thread. Have at it, and may the best designer win :-) [Edited by - EDI on January 6, 2005 9:06:00 AM]

Additional Materials:

I have posted some additional materials that I think you will find helpful:

The coarse map of all playable areas:



6 screen shots of the lost region

The first castle level (the great hall, etc)


Second Castle Level


Third Castle Level


[Edited by - EDI on January 3, 2005 5:53:34 PM]

anyone considering this?

We would rather the prize go to a game dev community member, since it's our home :-)
which is why we have only posted it on this forum.

Yeah the requirements might be a little high, however, I dont think that should stop anyone, it takes me three hours at work to make ~50.00 (after taxes) surely if your creative it wont take 3 hours to think of a single puzzle :)

then again, maybe I am wrong, however, at the moment we have no entrants *last time I checked* so it is still anyone's game (no pun intended).

Hope we get some people to participate, it would be nice to reward a community member for thier entry.

Hi,

This should maybe go in the help wanted forum, not sure :)

Anyway, I'm not American, neither I'm Canadian. I don't need money. Can I still apply just for fun? If I can then I (or others) may need more informations about the game itself - maybe you'll consider that it would be silly to have the king killed during the action :)

Regards,

Sure =)

the two goals of this contest is to bring in some community material for our game, and the other is to award somone at gamedev.net for it.

the only reason for country restrictions is I am not positive of the legality for such things in certain other countries.

As for more information concerning the game, I will post the backstory soon.

Okay, here we go.

This is the First part of the story,

this is the back-story, none of this takes place in the game.

the game is primarily concerned with the revenge of the ashidians and the doings of princess morning to save the kingdom after the death of the king and queen.

So, use this only as supporting material, do not make puzzles based on these concepts, I will have the second part posted soon.

Chronicles
Of the
Leowyn Kingdom

By
Zachary Todd & Raymond Jacobs
Copyright 2001-2005 Ethereal Darkness Interactive

The rise of the Angwhim-Nahmdren

Long after the times of the raging mountains of fire, when the seas rose and fell on a whim an rocks became sand, after the times when the very foundations of the earth quaked with the energy of change, thus rose, the Angwhim-Nahmdren (First People and Greatest Nation) the first peoples of the earth whom for centuries ruled the eastern continent with a power to rival all others. All peoples of this land were made to respect and fear “The Ancient Father” a man of terrible power, immortal and first born as it was said. It was also said that he had the power to change the seasons, and so cause terrible hardship on those who would oppose him. So for centuries uncountable the Angwhim-Nahmdren lived in fear and tyranny, that is until one man rose who would not be ruled, this man, Garran Leowyn, a poor slave miner of Rhyadnum (an ore used to create Machliorum, which is an ancient fuel source now long forgotten) worked day and night, like his fathers before him for no other reason than to please The Ancient Father. Over the course of his young life Garran gathered followers whom in secret plotted to leave this place of slavery. After years of planning, Garran and his followers managed to build four sturdy ships with which to flee the land of the Angwhim-Nahmdren, it was on a chilly day of early spring that they set out, no tool would touch earth that day from Garran, only wind upon the sail and paddled through the water, with hope in their hearts they set off, west on the Prowbreaker sea.

Perils on the Prowbreaker Sea
&
The fall of the east

A mighty storm began and the ships were tossed like autumn leaves upon the waves. It was clear that this was the work of The Ancient Father, he had learned of their treachery and was writing their doom, snow fell, and hail threatened to peel the skin off their bones, it seemed as if their insurrection would end there, on the angry sea in a mass unmarked grave. On the fourth day of the second week a ray of hope shone through, the clouds parted and through the dark could be seen a start, brilliant it shone and it was marked as an omen of hope, Garran sailed towards the star and as he did the storms lessened the air grew warmer and their fear subsided. While in the lands of the east the ancient father was enraged with their defiance, and as such he conjured a storm to end all storms and so encased the eastern lands in ice and snow, as they will stay until the fires of change rise up and crack ice and melt snow and spread their ruin across the land in preparation for a new age yet unforeseen.

The western shores of a new kingdom

After two months of sailing in fair weather and strong winds land was spotted, and was a land more beautiful than they had ever seen, greener and warmer than their former land even in summer, so with the zeal of victory Garran and his followers brought their ships ashore. They came upon miles of sandy beach and after gathering provisions, they set off west still following their star by night. They crossed many lands, some dry some wet but all beautiful, but it wasn’t until they came upon the yet nameless green plains did they stop, it was these lands that they loved most, for they were filled with soft grass and mirrored pools fed by underground springs, with rolling hills and small mountains where now no miner delved. It was in these lands where they would make their home, and they would name it Summerfound for it was in the days of summer that they found this land. It was widely agreed that their bringer of freedom should be their rightful leader, and so they crowned him king, and they all became members of the Leowyn kingdom. On the plain next to a great mountain is where they decided to build their village, Angirah (First House) it was called, and was composed of small huts thatched with dried grasses from the plain. Work soon began on building their stronghold it was to be named Iridine (Castle of Strength), the ground was cleared, stone was cut and the walls rose to the sky.

The passing of the first king
&
The Great Discovery

Though all had come to fruition and the days of darkness had passed, Garran could not be satisfied, the star shone still, bright in the night sky and he would say that it called to him. Now very old Garran passed his crown to his son Freden and took a detachment of men and journeyed west in search of what lay beyond. Freden, second king of the Leowyn kingdom, accepted the kingship with great honor, he was loved by the Leowyn people and so, things went on as they had while work on Iridine continued. It was in the fall of 38th year (according to Leowyn reckoning) that a curious system of caves had been discovered on the building site; the cave mouth had been covered by centuries of dirt and was only found by chance of digging. The king was told of these caves and that they contained in them “devices of a non natural origin” after hearing this, the king visited the caves as well. Upon entering the narrow mouth of the cave the darkness immediately gave way to a large cavernous chamber, dotted with crystalline forms, all glowing with a blue aura, in the center of this chamber stood a structure carved from stone, it appeared to be a water well, but one of this scale and grandeur had never been seen before, sitting on a stone base a cylindrical tube of stones rose up from the ground, beside it knelt two carven figures of human-like horned beasts both bearing a large iron rod that ran across the well clearly meant to lower a bucket or some similar device. A strikingly notable feature of the well was that its mouth was capped, this was commonly done for a number of reasons, if a well had run dry, or to protect children or animals from falling in, and occasionally if a well had become tainted.

The age of magic is born

Work continued on the castle, but instructions were given not to disturb the cave’s entrance. The king had a structure built atop the entrance and it was there that he began to study the caves and the secrets they contained. Freden’s first task was to remove the stone lid from the well that covered whatever secrets it was hiding, this was done with the greatest of care, and upon breaking the seal a scent of freshness poured into the cave the likes of which none had ever felt before, clearly it must have been a product of the well. After examining the mouth of the well Freden noted that he could see no bottom, an initial lowering of a bucket took 6 stadia of rope and still no bottom was reached, he soon took to the tossing of rocks, but still no splash or crash could be heard. It was clear to Freden that whatever was contained in this well was very deep, and he marveled at the construction of such a well, he spent hours staring at the well contemplating how the people who built it used it. Bewildered, he took to examining the characters and devices on the rim of the well. The rim which had been nearly entirely overlooked had a thick layer of dust upon it; this dust layer could not be explained given that the stone lid had been in contact with it in a very tight manner. However, after the layer of dust was thoroughly removed it become clear that a piece of the rim could be removed, with great care he lifted the stone slab and moved it aside, this revealed a polished gold plaque, it was surrounded with characters from an ancient language that Freden could not understand and in it’s center carved with great accuracy, a depression of a hand. Freden placed his palm upon the depression and immediately was transported elsewhere, he was standing in front of a pedestal, with a similar plaque, about ten paces from the plaque lay a stream, it was deep blue and glowed with an aura that showed it was not water, or at the very least it was not water in it’s pure form, but rather mixed with some mineral or essence. And thus the Leowyn people discovered mana.

The awakening of the Ashidians

Not long after this discovery, and the discovery of its uses, people began to flee to the east seeking refuge; they spoke of a cruel people who wielded bright metal. The lesser people called these men scourges, and in the Leowyn tongue, Ashidians. Soon the Leowyns found the Ashidians on their doorstep, and negotiations began. The Ashidians claimed ownership to these lands (and more importantly the well that was on them) because they were the first people of the lands, this claim however could not be verified, and even so the Leowyns had not come this far to be rooted up and cast back across the sea, and so negotiations led to harsh words and words to weapons. Freden however, was confident that the power the well afforded him would be all the protection his people would need, Freden was now a very competent wielder of magic as well were his most trusted captains, on the night after the negotiations the two armies faced off.
There was the ring of metal, the deep moan of horns, the cries of the wounded, the burn of magic, and the silence of the dead. After all was said and done, the Leowyns had decimated the Northern Ashidian Army. But Freden would not stop there, he would not wait for his enemies to muster an even bigger force, instead he mustered an army of his own, containing other free peoples, such as the Litanians to the north and the Maronnans to the south, and with the Leowyns as the forefront they marched west to put an end to the Ashidians, they took with them a great many flasks filled with mana along with all other provisions they would need. The capital city of Ghnah-Rund was taken, and all were slain, the cruelty of the eastern peoples succeeded that of the Ashidians and it would see as if their great power had consumed their reason. After a year of combat, the Ashidian lands lay empty, every citizen found was slain, man, woman, and child, it would seem that their task was done.

The perils of the well

As would later be learned, the mana from this well was tainted, and eventually brought about the undoing of Freden, but it saved the Leowyn kingdom from the scourges of the west. Over the course of his studies of the mana well Freden noted a caustic property of liquefied mana in large quantities, anything tossed into the mana stream would quickly be dissolved, no matter what it’s composition, this was only found in large quantities of mana, small glass bottles could be filled that would not corrode for many years, the dissolved particles then became part of the mana, changing it’s composition and potency slightly, it was from this that he theorized how mana could become tainted, his theory explained that mana could come in contact with certain minerals such as chlorine and ores such as lead that remained latent in the vaporized mana, lead laden mana, as is suspected of the mana in this well is commonly referred to has ‘heavy mana’, since while it does give an uplifting sensation as all mana does, the mana seems to feel heavier upon a person, this is supposedly due to the lead content, also given the toxicity factor of lead in living things it is what causes the final demise of an irrecoverable victim of mana poisoning. The most interesting phenomenon that came from dissolving objects in mana however was the dissolving of objects with extreme age or emotional lineage to them, these objects seemed to have a purifying effect on the mana, it was theorized that if enough of these objects could be found then the mana stream could be permanently purified and safely used. Eventually Freden suffered the madness of mana poisoning, and through the fear of apparitions of his own contrivance (or so they seemed) he took his own life by casting himself into the mana stream. It was after this tragic event that the mana well was sealed, their foes had been fought and the dangers of the well were now understood, so it was counseled by the wise that it should lay dormant until a proper way is found to purify it, however before it was sealed, many bottles of mana were filled and purified for emergency use, and for the study of the wise.

The simple ways of a war-less world

And so for hundreds of years the well remained sealed, and the ways of magic were forgotten by all but a few, history became legend and the ways of war were nearly lost to the Leowyns who now only drew swords in ceremonies or in civil matters. All folk of the Leowyn kingdoms were happy and could now concentrate on the finer things, of food and drink, of science and study and of love and contentment. Every year, a vigil is held to honor those who fell in the battles long ago, in this time, the King and Queen journey west with the royal entourage to ensure that things are still quiet in the barren lands.