 Rell-too    revision 0.18   2011-01-02
 --------------------------------------

 Hello, and welcome the the chain letter age, which is written
by a succession of volunteers. 

 Each contributor takes a week or so, to so SOMETHING with the age.
What this "something" is doesn't matter and it's the dictatorship of
the last person to have a turn that goes; it can be a change to the 
story of the age, or just a suggestion or idea, a new object, or an
old one improved, some scripting, a sound sample, a puzzle draft;
truly whatever. You could even take out something added by an earlier
contributor, which is why you, should you choose to participate,
should keep a backup of your work, so that, if someone does this
with one of your additions, you can put it back in, when it's your
turn again, if you really want it there. (The polite way to remove
something would be to give it page number 999 and explain in one's
history entry why it doesn't work - this gives the originator a
chance to adapt his work, or remove it himself.)

 This is how we do this:

 -  Everybody who want to have a go, announce their interest in the
   "Chain letter age" thread at the Guild of writers forum.
   www.guildofwriters.com

 -  They will receive the project files, in turn, as listed. New
    contributors will be added to the end of the list.

 -  When we get to the end of the list, we start again, from the top.

 We keep going until everybody are terminally bored with the whole thing.


 When it's your turn, I (Jojon) will PM you a link to the project files.
When you are done and have outlined your changes in the history text file
(as brief as you can get, without leaving out any important details), you
return them to me (there are upload solutions that should suit anybody).
I will then export and release your new version of the age and store your
revision along with all the preceeding ones, in case something goes badly
wrong and, at some point, we have to revert.
Then I will pass the project on to the next contributor.

I reserve the full right to cut out things deemed, for any reason, unsuitable.
You are free to challenge any such decision in the forum thread.
You can stand a turn, if you like, but then please don't delay in saying so.


 Contributors so far are:

 - Jojon:  The spider in the web. I collect what you have done and pass the
          baton to the next relay runner.

 - Corvus:  The first visitor to this age and an agewriter with little
           experience.

 - Perlenstern:  The second visitor in this age. Blendering since 3 month
                and hope to learn with you and from you. I'm more a builder
                than a scripter.

 - Robert the rebuilder:  Visitor # 3.  I'm a jack of all trades, but a
                         master of none - although I do fake it pretty well.

 - Justintime9:  The fourth visitor. I've been learning blender since the
                GoW Guild pub was released in MOUL. I've been slowly learning
                all of the aspects of age creation and specialize in Modeling
                and Lightmapping. 

 - Ametist:  The fifth visitor. I'm an agebuilder with preference for the
             organic life in the ages.

 - Junee:

 - Rize:   An aspiring Writer who can at least somewhat program in Python
          without messing up (badly). Things have a tendency to combust,
          break, or otherwise fail in a spectacular fashion when I'm around
          (Blender, PlasmaShop, and my 512 MB RAM computer (when running
          WinXP) among them)

 - Core43:



Rell-too Synopsis (alter as much as you want):
----------------------------------------------

 For now, the age has been given the tounge-in-cheek name "Rell-Too",
since it blatantly rips off ye-olde ridicolously-tall-pinnacle concept.
For extra silliness, it adds a slight twist.
Fog limits the view.
Maybe a better name lurks in somebody's head.

 Currently there is no story to the age. It consists of three (within
range of sight) hollow pillars, whose top bits literally looks like screws
Tower no.2 has lost its "hat", which has taken a bite out of
the side of the pinnacle as it crashed down.


Astronomy:
		The age has a spectacular day/night cycle of a mere
		six minutes. We seem to be at the equator, telling by
		the large red sun passing directly overhead. No other
		celestial objects have been seen - the sky never seem to
		become dark enough, maybe because of the
		light-scattering/emitting properties of the mineral that
		appear to be part of it (see also Geology/crystals).


Geology:
	"Base rock"
		The towers seem to be consist of a single tough
		material composition, which is grey in inert state,
		revealed during excavations, but gets a spotty tan 
		and black pattern where exposed to air and humidity
		over time.
		Pending research.

	Crystals (catalogued by Perlenstern)
		There are clear bluish, lumiescent crystals growing
		here and there, some floating in empty air!
		The growth suggests the mineral is somehow abundant
		in the very atmosphere and prone to crystallise,
		hopefully it is still safe to breathe.
		One of the many strange phenomena seen, is a bridge-like
		object made from thin sheets of the mineral, that forms
		now and then and collapses shortly after becoming thick
		enough to carry the weight of a human or two, probably
		seeded by the free-floating crystals. What gives cause
		to the fixed matrix it seems to follows, is unknown.
		Initial research has been conducted by Corvus, who has
		yet to present any results.
		Perhaps the odd "clouds" that connects tower one and two
		are also related. These soar, although they are dense enough
		that you sink less than an inch into them, stepping on them.


Flora:
	Seemingly plain grass (catalogued by Justintime)
		Looks like the usual green stuff. It grows around the
		edges of the pond Justin dug. Speculation is that this
		grass is not indigenous, but may have been brough to the
		age under the soles of our shoes - maybe we need to take
		better care roaming the ages...
		Pending research.

	GlowPlants (catalogued by Core43)
		Slick green ocotopus-like things that hangs from sunlit
		cliff overhangs and "holds" a glowing egg-shaped purple
		sac of some kind. Possibly not a plant at all, but a
		creature in pupal stage? 
		Something to do with the crystals?
		Pending research.



Fauna:
	Rockeaters (catalogued by Ametist)
		Dog-sized snail-like creatures with both a tubular 
		internal shell and a heavy protective one on their 
		backs. They have a single eye at the end of a 
		funnel-shaped stalk.
		The rockeaters appear to consume and metabolise the
		very rock they live on. So far we have not seen any
		burrows, so guesses are they eat only surface rock,
		possibly extracting something permeating it.
		With the recent influx of flying predators the
		number of visible specimens has dropped dramatically. 
		Supposedly those that have not been eaten have gone
		into hiding. One rockeater have constructed a nest
		of gravel and can be seen there, protecting leathery
		eggs.
		Initial reasearch has been conducted by Ametist and
		Corvus, but little has yet been published, pretty
		much only what is outlined above.
		See also: "Hunters"

	Hunters (catalogued by Ametist)
		Horse-sized flying predators with the body shape of
		a peanut. These seem to feed on rockeaters, judging
		by their massive beaks and the decline in rockeater
		population since their appearance but have so far 
		shown no interest in visiting explorers, still,	try
		to avoid going to Rell-Too without letting anybody
		know where you've gone.
		The predator and its prey may share a common ancestor;
		they both have nearly identical eyestalks, albeit
		the hunters have several, whereas a rockeater have
		just the one. In addition the hunter appears to have
		no legs, but a foot-pad, like that of a snail - hard 
		to tell, at a distance. 
		Initial resaerch by Ametist suggests that there may
		be a rather vicious feeding cycle, with Hunters
		depleting the local rockeater supply and then either
		going into a hibernative state or migrating until
		the population has recovered.
		See also: "Rockeaters"



History:
		A few manmade structures have been around since 
		before our arrival.
		Nothing else is known at this time.


Intrigue:

	Explorers:
		We have been visiting the age and undertaken some 
		research and engineering projects.
		Notable is the nexus book near the link-in spot,
		the hut where explorers can stay overnight and the
		laboratory.


	Natives/earlier visitors:
		There were pieces of technology	present before we
		arrived, some of which has been restored to partial
		or full functionality by able explorers.
		Writing of some sort has been found - the nine
		glyphs, grouped by threes, are assumed to make up 
		some sort of numeral system

	Other concurrent visitors:
		An unknown individual calling himself James has hid
		a journal in the sleeping hut. He apparently explores
		the age together with a coworker named Alison, on
		behalf of an unknown entity. None of us have so 
		far bumped into any of the two.
		 - James has perished and Alison has discovered his
                journal, into which she has added an epiteth. She
                walled him into the side of the crevice at the
                southern base of spiral 1, but his remains have
                recently become exposed.


History:
--------
(Legend: + new, - removed, * altered)


v0.18 2010-12-22  editor: Robert The Rebuilder
---------------------------------------------
+Added niche in crevasse on tower 1 and debris 
+Added animated skeleton
+Added entries in visitors' journal and James' journal
*Changed camera region near crack to use camera closer to skeleton
*Moved the panic region up from under the crevasse

v0.17 2010-05-29 editor: Corvus
------------------------------
+Added plants in and around the pond. Turned on the water and added a drain.
+Added geostate settings to the alcscript of the waveset
*Tried to fix the sink-in issues at the cable car.
+Added a railing to the path that leads to the air vent room.
+Added benches and a carpet to the hidden room.

Other minor changes:
+Placeholder starfield added, for future inclusion in the day/night cycle.
 PyPRP LayerSDLanim support is still needed to make it all come together.
 For the nonce the fog darkens during night, by means of python and some
 materials have had NoMist unticked to "inherit" the fog colour.
*The control mechanism for the air throttle in Tower one has been
 replaced with one that uses the windmill oneshot from the cleft and
 cleft wind audio is used as a placeholder in the same place.
*Rearranged Layers in Blender. Which types of object goes into which
 layer, can be gleaned from the picture: "RellToo_LayersGuide.jpg"
*Some region meshes have been simplified.


v0.16 2010-03-28 editor: Jojon
------------------------------
+Access to the lower cave in tower 2 is now through an
 extension of the upper one, via a door with a combination lock.
-Removed journal reference to the old, temporary access route. 
*Replaced the closed Nexus linking book, with an open one, which
 Core43 provided.
 

v0.15 2010-01-13 editor: Core43
--------------------------------
I added a stone table and a few strange-looking plants to the the ceiling
of a cave on tower 2.


v0.14 2009-12-12 editor: Justintime9
--------------------------------
I added a pond to tower one by building a pipe to the bottom. (where
there's water).  I also added a grassy stencil in the water (to show that
plants can grow with the water).


v0.13 2009-12-02 editor: Rize
--------------------------------
+Nexus Linking Book has been added by the Link-In Point 
 (I can't model open books, so its closed for now. Feel free to make it open) 
-The causeway can no longer bear weight and has collapsed. 
 (only the small part attached to Tower 3 remains)
*The crystals float 
 (Some kind of magnetic field? Is this what keeps the towers up?)
*New Linking Image has been made 
 (tried to make a video, but it didn't work. Maybe later...)



v0.12 2009-11-08 editor: ametist
--------------------------------
I have added some new animals, predators of the RockEaters.
Part of Tower3 is 'smoothed'.see 'Synopsis'
Tried to make a GUI but failed... I also tried to stencil Tower3 with some gravel,
but the light or something makes it invisible.
Ill try again next time.



V0.11  2009-10-24   editor: Robert The Rebuilder
------------------------------------------------
I rigged the elevator to move only if the air vent below is open.  See
the other file, ElevatorLogicNotes.txt, for more details.
Note: Sorry about the pink, Perlenstern.  I'd like to attenuate it based on
time of day, but that will have to wait until we get material
animations in PyPRP.
EDIT: This release also has a new revision of the font: "Corvus-24.p2f"


V0.10  2009-09-28   editor: Perlenstern
---------------------------------------
I build a new nice way from tower 1 to tower 3. It is a very dangerous way on clouds.I removed the wood plank from the metal bridge, so that this bridge is a fake way again.Now you have to find the elevator, find the clouds and then you can walk to tower 3.
I want to change the pink to a more discreet color....but I don't find a way to do that.

V0.9  2009-08-13  editor: Corvus
--------------------------------
 I built a lab in the cave made by Justin. I'm not pleased with my glass texture on the flasks, but I wasn't able to make it better. I had to turn the crystals shadeless to avoid the glass look all pink (but that's still the case when looking at them from the side), maybe I can improve this when Jojon found out how the light selection and parameters work.
For the same reason I'm a bit unhappy with the book niche. With the new lighting the hatch is very easy to spot whereas before it was more disguised. And the banana doesn't look very fresh any more...


v0.8  2009-07-26  editor: Jojon
-------------------------------
 Made the interior of tower one unaffected by the global lighting.
Didn't get it right - will have to come back, once I've figured out
how the parameters and selection of lights work and also add
exterior-interior transition zones. Although it may no longer
have a place in Rell-too, I added a rough build of the balcony
far down tower two and cut a hole in the ground for interim
access to it. No way of getting back up, mind...


v0.7  2009-07-07  editor: Junee
-------------------------------
 We're not alone! In the month or so that Rell-too has been empty 
someone named James has left a journal of sorts talking about his 
experiences here with Alison. Apparently being so close to the 
sun can give you a nasty burn if you're not careful...


v0.6  2009-05-24  editor: Ametist
---------------------------------
 Life discovered! I added four 'RockEaters' and placed them on the 
third tower. To get them there I added a plank over the gap in the bridge
there. One can hear them slowly chew and digest the rock, thereby making
the sharp-edged rock smooth!
 They are animated with IPO. I also wrote an entry in the 'VisitorsBook'.


v0.5  2009-05-17  editor: Justintime9
-------------------------------------
 I added a small cave, it's entrance is at the bottom of Perlenstern's 
ladder. The cave is lit by perlenstern's crystals, which glow to give 
it it's light source. It's cameras are two regular cameras, and 
a fixed camera. 
(Jojon's note: Justin has also added a dummy avatar under the cave. 
 Do use it, whenever you need to measure things up.)


v0.4  2009-05-10   editor: Robert the rebuilder
-----------------------------------------------
 I added time-of-day lighting and a sky dome with two cloud
layers. This uses the SDL file which is now included in the package.
The "fake background" and the fog need to change color with the day
cycle.  While it is possible to alter the fog (via Python script), we
currently do not have plLayerSDLAnimations that would change the
background material.  I also added a panic link region at the bottom
of the crevase near the entrance to the elevator cave.  I also added a
camera region above the cave entrance to signal to the visitor that's
where they need to go.  [Oh - I moved the spawn point out of the
elevator cave - too easy!]


v0.3  2009-05-03  editor: Perlenstern
-------------------------------------
 Added some small crystals. If you follow the crystals you find a new
ladder on Tower2 and a bridge to Tower3. At the moment this bridge is
broken, so that you can't reach the new hut with a big and a middle
crystal on Tower3.



v0.2  2009-04-22  editor: Corvus
--------------------------------
 I added a cablecar which allows you to ride to the second rock pillar.
There's a small cave now with a bed to rest on, and you'll find a niche
with a book where you can write down your notes.



v0.1  2009-04-13  editor: Jojon
-------------------------------
 Everything at this point is very basic and serves mostly as placeholders.
The basic screw model, made long ago from what used to be a perfectly smooth
spline object, has been butchered into probably far too few polygons and
given a single texture via a more-or-less one-piece UV-map -- this
doesn't work too well, but the screw part tiles rather well, so one might
want to think twice before ripping into it with too much gusto.
 The elevator has some basic scripting, which makes it rideable.
SDL variables and conditions will have to be added at some point.
Animation of cloth bits can not be done at this stage, because bone
animation has not been implemented in pyprp yet. There will be need for
new avatar animations, for the operation of the  lift and cablecar.
Some cameras and footstep regions have been roughly placed.
The exterior and interior of tower one has been separated into two objects,
so that you can easily select one and hide it.
(HIDE: "H" key - Alt+H to unhide all)