Dream: Twilight Horizons
by the skullkitty (9th May, 2007 @ 3:52 pm)Anyone who’s spent even a little time in Furrabian Nights institution The Golden Tether will probably have at some point run into the Duns’ka; the so-called “slayer Mafia” RP group, lead by the infamous Qix. It was with some amusement one day while lolling about at the Café that I noticed Twilight Horizons — the “temporary home” of the Duns’ka — had been uploaded next to the Tether. My interest was piqued, and — trembling at the thought of what I might find inside this Mafiosi den — I girded my loins and stepped into…
… a bar. At least, that sure is what it looked like; just like every other bar in Furcadia. The patches seem to be a bit of a mish-mash, but there was a certain familiarity to the scenery thanks to the Mint Mink’s universal patch, which contains various objects regulars to the old version TGT will recognise. I have to admit now that I’m a sucker for dreams made with a dark neutral (black/grey) accented by one or two predominant highlights. It’s done to death, but nevertheless I think there’s a reason for that and at the very least it prevents those dreadful, headache-inducing rainbow realms.
I was, however, not just a little bit amused to see that not even this fearsome group’s ominous headquarters was immune to the apparent mandatory requirement that every single dream in FurN have a pole dancing stage. Stripping aside, the dream uses the technique of ‘two height’ walls; a simple trick which serves to give it a sense of scale even in the smallest rooms (just watch the wall shadows).
There are very few public rooms in TH and even though I was deathly fascinated by the oubliette in what one can only assume is Qix’s ‘office’, there seemed to be no way for an outsider like yours truly to access any other parts of the dream… if they exist (I swear I’ve seen screenshots). You’d have to be pretty dense not to realise this dream doesn’t sell itself as being aimed at casual public RP, but does this then mean it can’t be reviewed? Well, as you can probably guess I think that it can; mostly because to me Twilight Horizons seems almost… schizophrenic. The whole place is set up as some secret group’s super-secret hideout, yet oddly it contains two of the Big Three Public Dream Stock Rooms (the third — a chapel — was thankfully nowhere to be found). It’s almost as if the dream is half-heartedly trying to attract a large crowd of wannabes in the ‘public’ areas all oozing for their chance to be let into the back rooms. I really dig the idea of small-scale, RP-themed dreams but my advice for anyone attempting to set one up? Think carefully about what would actually go into whatever location you’re mapping out and stick to that; don’t just randomly throw in room simply because every other dream uses them (I mean… a bar?).
That small issue aside, the rest of the patching is spartan but acceptable, and doesn’t suffer from the kind of random unnecessary clutter and out-of-place items that plague a lot of dreams. Because the patches are taken from several different artists there is some stylistic clashing which annoys me to no end but is realistically almost unavoidable. There are a few Duns’ka-specific items thrown in, and unfortunately it’s these which provide the main negative points in the dream’s visuals; the rendering of the banners is disappointingly flat and the north-west hangings suffer from very unfortunate and distracting clipping errors. This is particularly annoying in the smallish ‘office’ room where the banners take up a lot of real-estate and should theoretically inspire a sense of majesty and ownership. Those flaming brazier/pillar things turn up again, too; I’m somewhat of the opinion that they really should have been left back in Diablo.
Overall, Twilight Horizons probably isn’t really a destination for us wandering randoms just looking for a pretty place to sit. But it is an interesting study in the design of a private RP dream, which makes it worth a look for the aspiring Dreamweavers out there.
Overall Assessment
- Pros: Elegant use of space, purposeful rooms, thematic patching.
- Cons: Interesting private-RP concept let down somewhat by the inclusion of ‘public dream’ elements.
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I’ve always been rather fond of the Duns’ka’s dreams. Even though bars are definitely overdone, their “rough tough mafia running a bar” appearance (as well as the fact that their continuity seems to be very active, what with the ever-changing dreams) makes me want to be a part of it — so whichever tactic they’re using to entice new members (if they’re going for that at all) works on at least me. I’ve sat many a time in their dreams on an alt and debated for awhile on posting at them before deciding I was too chickenshit to try. Something about them screams “way better at roleplaying than you” to me.
Definitely agree that bars are overdone, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be done well. And by all means, if you’ve got a backstory to your bar as opposed to just… having a bar (or, worse, ostensibly having something different altogether that suspiciously looks like a bar), then that’s good as well.
Wow, I’m not sure weather to be mad at you for the somewhat harsh[if truthful comments] or to thank you for all the kind words. Twilight Horizons was my brain baby, and thank God you never saw the first few incarnations of it. When I made the dream I thought it was going to be semi public and sometimes it was, we RPed with a few people who came into the bar and such and sadly enough, the stage was never used, nor was the meeting room. The ‘garden’ that is shown in one screenshot was a public upload center, where you were supposed to upload on the ying-yang signs. And yes, there is, or was, much, much more beyond what the casual veiwer could see. Including member rooms, an infirmary, even a library and secret passages. And I have always prefered the two walls, not for granduer alone but because it gives me more room for little decorative touches, although, as you can see, I was lazy with some of the patches and patch placement. In any case, I’m currently working on, what I would hope to be a much better, all public fighting dream, which we’ll be uploading as soon as our Bot gets finished. If you would like to see this new dream and reveiw it then by all means, please do contact me, feedback is always welcome.