This is topic Advent Rising in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by ShadowPuppet (Member # 8239) on :
 
hello Mr. Card long time fan newbie to the site

first I'll start by saying the ender series are the best books ever and you've been my favorite author for some time now

so naturally when I caught wind of your involvement with the game advent rising I had to have it

now after playing it I just wanted to give appreciation to the little things in the game that carried your personal touch

in one of the first conversations when a charecter uses the term "buggers" while talking about the aliens you've just encountered

whether this was intentional or not it made me smile

and my favorite was the mission in which you have to destroy an ansible to disrupt alien communication...brilliant

little things like that are what made the game worth it and keep me excited for the possibility of two more games in the series

anyway, no matter how little your involvement might have been in the actual story

I'm glad your fingerprint is there

and I will leave you with two ideas

#1: perhaps a continued story in book form of the advent rising plot, the inclusion of an ansible leads me to believe this is somehow contained in the enderverse, perhaps in the distant future...

#2: since you must have the connections...how about a Ender's Game video game? running around the battle school, leading kids into battle room fights, actually being ender...a boy can dream

well I hope you get the chance to read this and once again thank you for the excellent work in all of your novels and in this video game

Shalom
 
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
 
I wasn't the one who put in the ansible - I think Donald Mustard was tipping his hat to the Ender series when he did that.

It's definitely not linked to the Ender universe, however. It has its own mythos. "Ansible" was a term that didn't originate with me (Ursula K. LeGuin coined it, I believe) and it's available, as word and concept, for anyone to use.

As for a novel - I've just made an agreement with Majesco, the rights holder of the game, and TOR to write the novel version of the story of Advent Rising. I'll be turning it in before Christmas for release probably next year. Of course, the ink isn't on the contracts yet, so something might still go awry - but I expect smooth sailing.
 
Posted by Just another Dharma bum (Member # 6879) on :
 
Thanks for the review, I saw trailers of the game and I really want to get it, but right now gas is taking up all the money I earned as a little league umpire [Frown]

Time to get a real job!!
 
Posted by TrainOfThought (Member # 8252) on :
 
Any take on the poor reviews for the game itself? The online mags are giving it a beating gameplay wise and target the explanation for the protagonist's psychic powers as weak.

I haven't played the game myself, and I may be falling prey to poor critique, but I want to know if you've played it Mr. Card and if you like what they've done with your script.
 
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
 
Can't say what they're experiencing. I don't own an Xbox. I'm waiting for the PC version, myself.
 
Posted by TheDisgruntledPostman (Member # 7200) on :
 
Mr.Card, mabye you should get an xbox, and xbox live, it would be amazing just having the pleasure playing with you.
 
Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :
 
OSC + XBOX Live = Less Books.

Say no to XBOX!
 
Posted by Pathos Bill (Member # 8144) on :
 
I was at lunch with Donald when you called to give him the news - we danced a merry jig around the table after that and gave the employees at Happy Sumo quite a show. This is such exciting news!
 
Posted by Feiwaltan (Member # 7912) on :
 
i have played the game and it is by far one the best games out there even with its flaws, the only thing that happens time to time, but still an enjoyable experience. i nearely beat the game in one play, strait seven hours and only turned it off to go to sleep. the game did not have enough time to get polish, i will go on and assume that the PC virsion will be fine, no because the pc has more power.
 
Posted by Pathos Bill (Member # 8144) on :
 
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Fei. The PC version will be much more bug-free (an extra month of polish never hurts!) and should be on shelves soon.
 
Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
 
OSC, I thought you said you'd never do another novelization of another person's story after The Abyss. Am I misremembering?
 
Posted by tehryu (Member # 8269) on :
 
Hey shadow, I want to thank you for starting this thread, I actually started an account here in order to compliment the game and request a novelization of Advent Rising (and the other two).

Omega, in Mr. Card's defense, he has been involved with the project for.. what? 2 years now? and wrote most of the script. It may not be his storyline, but it IS his story too. Personally, I can't wait to see Giddeon's relationship with Ethan get fleshed out.

*spoiler alert*

Is it me or at the end Giddeon doesn't have as hard of a time crushing his brother to death as you'd think he would? Sure he was mutated and brainwashed but it never occurs to him that it may only be temporary and instead of restraining him or incapacitating him in some way he kills him. This tells me Giddeon's jealousy of Ethan (which wasn't really evident from Giddeon's actions, you just assume its there because everyone compares the two and looks down on Giddeon) was alot stronger and was possibly a hot anger under the surface.
He sure got over Olivia fast. (i know there was a montage with him and Marin getting to know eachother before Olivia died, that only adds to my conclusion)
What I'm really getting at here is that one of the two last humans is a flawed and deeply hurt man... and I couldn't be happier that there will be a forum (novel) to explore it further.

*A note to Mr. Card: Its not Civ, but you'll have a good time. the flick targeting will undoubtably be less... awkward with a mouse.
Are you going to stick with the series? I know you stated that the man behind the story didn't really need you (which i doubt). If you are going to stick around for it I imagine you'll be writing the novelizations for the next two as well, what are the chances of those coming out BEFORE the games?
I'll be honest, the gameplay was alright (dumb as dirt AI. this would have been fine 4 years ago but with the... ADVENT [get it?] of halo and half-life 2, shooters need more than wave after wave of guys and fancy powers) but this was the best crafted storyline in a game I've played since Xenogears (PS1). That having been said, I am far more excited to be reading this trilogy than playing it (unless the gameplay and level design are strengthened, which i hope happens. There's alot of potential here) and I can't think of a better man to write the story.

PS, sorry for all the tangents.
 
Posted by Pathos Bill (Member # 8144) on :
 
tehryu --

You make some good points. The frustrating thing about telling a story through the video game medium is that your narrative is inextricably woven into the technology being developed by a team of hardworking programmers. So if, for instance, your scene of Gideon dealing with the death of a loved-one happens to take place in a level that includes a cool anti-grav speederbike; and said bike functionality isn't completed in time for an Alpha milestone, then the scene gets chopped as well. With a small dev team and a publisher antsy to get the game on the shelf, story is often the first victim. Our hope is that the core of the story holds together well enough to move the audience and convince the money-people to give it more priority for the next game in the trilogy.

Of course, having a novel written by a world-renown author on the shelves can't hurt!

Here are some possible review quotes that we could put on the dust jacket to REALLY move this title (in the spirit of my favorite topic on this forum):


It's like a game you can read!


I used a cheat-code and found the denouement!


A moving story with captivating characters and a decent framerate!
 
Posted by tehryu (Member # 8269) on :
 
The dust jacket could redeem the xbox game too:

THIS title page won't freeze! (did anyone else get that? the majesco logo skipped. THE LOGO)

OSC makes the guns in the book seem different!

and lastly:
You won't need HD to make our planets seem beautiful!


I hope its clear through all my complaining I enjoyed the game alot. It just hurts when the game does not match the story in terms of quality. Compounded by the sheer amount of potential the system they came up with has. I really think that majesco made the team put it out faster than they wanted to, and it shows. I hope the PC version does the story justice and has those kinks worked out.
 
Posted by ShadowPuppet (Member # 8239) on :
 
"Hey shadow, I want to thank you for starting this thread, I actually started an account here in order to compliment the game and request a novelization of Advent Rising (and the other two)."~tehryu

you're welcome...

oh and that's the reason I started an account here to

...I beat you to it
I win
 
Posted by tehryu (Member # 8269) on :
 
pwned!
 
Posted by The New Revolution (Member # 8283) on :
 
i loved the game, mostly for the artistic way in which it was done....i just loved the way you were put right into it...not exactly action but the flying at the beggining with no boring tutorial crap was great

the game play may suffer, but i couldnt care less. The story was great, the levels creative, and getting all the powers and using them gives you a real sense of accomplishment and just plain power. Everyone hear should get this game and the novel, because its just that great. I also didnthear a reply to the question about an Ender's Game game. I think that would be a great idea and would buy two copies, just because i am that much of a fanboy.


(P.S., i beat you both to this post two days ago, but no one replied:[)
 
Posted by tehryu (Member # 8269) on :
 
An Ender's Game game? Sim battle school would be... interesting. Maybe make it an MMO but it would be really hard to make consistantly fun. sure, there's the battle room and practices and the game room but there's also a ton of classes to go to and assignments to turn in, that kind of thing. It would be a fun little PC game (because activities are so limited) but a multi-platform blockbuster, it wouldn't be.

Of course, add in tactical and command school with real-time communication with your officers and a chain of command... you could get promoted in time and move up the ladder. Actually, that would be really really fun on the PC.
 
Posted by Feiwaltan (Member # 7912) on :
 
*spoiler alert*

hey thryu, you are aware that you have two choices to either save your brother or your soon to wife. and in the last scene you cant say for sure that he kills his brother or his soon to be wife for sure becasue what happens to him next. just thought i ought to let you know.
 
Posted by ShadowPuppet (Member # 8239) on :
 
quote:
(P.S., i beat you both to this post two days ago, but no one replied:[) [/QB]
check your dates again buddy I started this thread ten days before yours [Smile]

not that that's important...

I just...

...I still pwned
 
Posted by tehryu (Member # 8269) on :
 
touche' fei. I forgot about the choice (naturally i saved the girl) but you saw...

*PS IF NO ONE HAS FIGURED THIS OUT YET, THIS THREAD IS %100 SPOILERS FROM NOW ON*

Ahem, anyways you saw (in my case) the brother's limbs crumple in on himself and him being turned into a ball of human flesh. True, perhaps that's just was part of the new unnamed power that was developed and you have to break every bone in someone's body before sending them into some weird rift, but i think that's a pretty strong case supporting fratricide.

in conclusion: yay novel!
 
Posted by Blackthorne (Member # 8295) on :
 
(First Post--HOORAH!!!)

The game script was mostly written by Orson Scott Card. If I remember right, in an interview with an IGN editor he said that he wrote the script for the more intense dialogue at the beginning of the game. I'm not sure exactly who finished it off, but might have been written by someone on the developement or just another script writer. Still, the novel version should be awesome, and I can't wait to read it.

*Spoiler*
Anyway, if you noticed at the very beginning scene in the game, there are four humans floating around a bright light. I was curious to know if anyone has any ideas about how these will influence future games/novels in the story. According to a comment made by the enemy in the seeker spaceship level, the seekers have been killing off humans for quite some time, so it wouldn't be suprising if there are humans who have "unleashed" their hidden abilities.

About the brother/fiance decision, I'm pretty sure that their story ends at the end of Advent Rising. They become giant teleports, and I don't know anyone who has ever become a teleport and lived to tell about it. The choice would also be hard to implement in a sequel ("Profile Name _________" "Who you saved in Advent Rising __________").

*End Spoilers*
Overall, the game was very awesome. The framerate could have been better at some points, but it didn't hurt too bad when it happened (thank goodness for lock-on targeting). My favorite dialogue segment in the story is between Giddeon and the Aralean, when Giddeon first learns to move objects with his mind. "The power of the stars can be used...at your disposal." "You mean it's some kind of weapon?" "Interesting that you would infer that." Pure awesome.
 
Posted by Feiwaltan (Member # 7912) on :
 
Mr. Card, is the novel for Advent Rising coming out? If so could please let us know what the expected date of release is? Also will there be a sequel to the game? I know that the game did not do as well as mejesco had hoped.
 


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