Timewaster's Guide Archive

I disagree. THere are several ways to incorporate it. One is to use it like Force mind tricks in games like Jedi Outcast. Thats if you're going for an action/fps style game like JO was. If you instead make it an RPG, you could use it in conversations. NWN2 had some good examples with their "conversation" skills (Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate).

We considered conversations falling under specialized missions and a definite part of the gaming experience. Many developers just sprinkle in conversations to move the story along etc. but we feel (at least most of us) that conversations can and should be a very large part of the gaming experience. We consider them missions because manipulating emotions can have both positive and negative permanent outcomes. You could compromise your position as a mistborn trying to overthrow the Lord Ruler, cause the NPC to attack/ignore you, progress the storyline or even unlock secret content.

<<Continued>>
Using an Xbox 360 controller as a reference, you could map Atium to Y, Directional movement to LS, Kick/Punch to X, Coinshot to A, Knives to B. The right stick would handle which way the character is turned as well as the direction of the push and pulls. You would then break down Steel and Iron to moveable/immoveable objects mapped to left and right triggers/buttons. There would be few moveable objects to keep things easy and immoveable objects would not be seen, using ray casting collision detection instead.

So when I want to fly through the air, I would pull the right trigger and push the right stick in the direction I want to go, which would actually, ray cast in the opposite direction at an angle relative to the amount the stick is moved between 0 and 45 degrees. Since I am ray casting, it would only push if it collided with anything within a certain range. So if I was facing off the side of a building and jumped off of it trying to push on immovable objects in front of me, nothing would work until I was close to the ground or got nearer to another building.

Pushing and pulling on objects would be similar, in that the directional stick controls the area I am pulling/pushing, however if I pull on an object and then push, it would push on the last object I pulled to lessen the confusion.

Now, after stating all of this I must also note that we are only entertaining the idea of a Mistborn video game at this time and while we have started the process of modeling characters and the game world, we pretty much concentrate on our other projects that keep us in business. Who knows what the future holds, there’s always another secret.

<<Finished>>

This one keeps popping up from time to time so I thought I would give my 2 cents.

My game development team and I have discussed at length the possibilities of Mistborn in video game form, which has been an interesting conversation to say the least. There are so many hurdles in game development the way it is, trying to make one based upon a popular book series can be a difficult endeavor.

Wheel of Time failed miserably, however there were many underlying factors. First, the release coincided with HUGELY popular FPS game titles in Unreal and Quake. Second, most people were expecting to relive the books but instead were transported 150 years before the books started. Third, there were just too many inaccuracies compared to the books. One thing we know, Robert Jordan fans know those books in and out and any discrepancy stuck out like a sore thumb. Despite the failings of the game, many gaming websites consider it a very good albeit underrated title.

Refocusing on Mistborn, there are three primary concerns with regards to the book in video game form.

First, but possibly least important, is what genre to develop the game under. The ultimate goal of the video game is to tell the story, which can be done in any of the game genres using cut scenes, quests, etc. In our opinion, Action-Adventure>Shooter>3rd Person Perspective was the logical choice, very similar to Assassins Creed.

Second, the decision needs to be made whether the game should follow the book, or just take place in the game world. Do you play Zelda for Hyrule or to solve puzzles as Link and rescue the princess? The great thing about Mistborn is that the storyline lends itself extremely well to mission/quest based levels. 90% of the game would be about starting the house wars, whether by eavesdropping/emotionally manipulating subjects to gather intel or breaking into the houses to cause discord. We don’t hear about all of Kelsier’s actions, so this would leave room to add missions to increase gameplay time.

Third, the most important concern is obviously the controls. Without proper controls, the game would be difficult or unplayable and draw the player out of the game world. I bought 8 copies of Mistborn for the rest of the team mainly so they could get a sense for how gameplay should feel. Those of us that have finished the books have discussed controls and have come up with a partial solution but continue discussions while we await input from the rest.

<<Continued>>

First off I want to apologize in advance for my mood, I just got off my 8th 5 hour flight in the last 2 weeks and am sitting in a terminal with poor amenitites for the digital traveler. Stupid layovers. I would also like to preface my tantrum by once again asserting that I was really only musing about the story that surely exists, even if only in fantasy.

Kelsier would not have had much if any trace metals. You get trace metals from what you would ingest and being a prisoner he probably didn't even have access to metal utensils, more likely a stick and a flat stone or a community trough. We know he would not have a store of metal because either you burn the metals, expunge the metals through the digestive tract or you get sick. If it were just metal anywhere in your body, Allomancers would have earrings galore or metal balls embedded in their skin. So either he stumbled upon some metals, ate some rocks which might not even have one of the base metals or used what little trace metals he may have had in his stomach at the time which undoubtedly would not have lasted long at all.

Kelsier might not have had access to atium at all. It was hard to come by, considering that he got one from Mare because he had not found one. While there are valid explanations as to how he acquired atium, they would all be a little too convenient. If he took from another worker, you would wonder how the worker found one so soon after having to turn in their atium to live another week. If he stole it from storage, you would wonder why it was so easy to get; prisoners would just steal a couple and turn those in if they didn't find more. If he just dug up another in the pits, you would wonder why he went the whole week without finding one and then got one from Mare.

Even if he was able to find atium and the other metals, he was not prepared to use them and would most likely flared and burned them up in the first fight he came across. He didn't have years to train like Vin, he had hours.

If it were as easy as killing each guard one after another, why then would he not have escaped much earlier with Mare still alive? They left Mare alive when they put her in despite the fact that they knew she was an allomancer. They assumed she was only a Tineye, but she could have easily been a Mistborn too. The pits were more prison than mine, so they must have had things in place to make sure an allomancer was not able to leave easily even if they did find a source of metal. They probably forced allomancers to burn that one metal every day that wiped out the rest of their metals in their stomachs, much like they did when they captured Vin.

Needless to say, given all the facts, I find it difficult to believe that there isn't a much bigger story that could be told. Kelsier somehow found enough metals to defeat 'many men', which was emphasized in text. He escaped from a prison that held allomancers, so they must have some precautions in place to make it difficult for one man burning trace metals to escape. Sometime after escaping, he took Gemmel as a master to train him to use his allomantic abilities, which despite the fact that he possibly killed many men using said abilities, still needed to be pushed off the wall. And Vin who had years of self training, appeared to be a quick learner by Kelsier's estimation, even though Kelsier himself would have had hours.

Who knows, maybe I just like Kelsier too much, but to me it seems that there is alot of info that could almost be a prequel in and of itself.

I am reading Mistborn 1 again (for the 6th time) and decided that rather than just pondering the text and continue reading as usual, I would voice my 'question' which may or may not have been answered previously. Please move or merge as necessary.

That night, Kelsier had Snapped, coming into his powers as a Mistborn. The next night, men had died.

Many Men.

I assume that since Kelsier was a prisoner in the Pits of Hathsin, outside of atium and minute traces in his own body, he would not have access to any allomantic metals. Unless he discussed allomancy at great length with Mare, he would have had to have been a very quick learner to take one day to master the confusing affects of atium. Even with the one second glimpse into the future, to take on 'many men' would have been a tall feat without the use of pewter, iron or steel.

Therefore, I am lead to believe that there may be much more to the story or a very simple answer, both of which Brandon could possibly divulge here or within a short prequel.

You may ask yourself "Where was his question? I didn't see a question mark anywhere in his post." and I would respond "It was in the last sentence."

I ran across Brandon's work at just the right time. I was tired of all the cookie-cutter fantasy works put out on the shelf; ones that if you changed the character names, you had probably already read the book.

I walked into a Borders and literally went through each book (in the fantasy section), looking at the cover, reading reviews, etc. trying to find one that was interesting and new. I grabbed Elantris several times and put it back on the shelf only to come back to it later. After a couple hours, I finally decided to buy it.

When I got home, I sat down in my chair preparing to read the first chapter, go to bed and try to force myself to finish the book over the next day(s). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do so. I got hooked from chapter one and finished the book before going to bed. The entire book was a cliffhanger. You would get interested in what Roaden was doing, the chapter would end and then the next chapter would be about Sarene. You'd get interested in what she was doing and it would end on a cliffhanger only to have the next chapter be about Hrathen. It is truly a stand-alone novel.

I woke up the next morning and picked up a copy of Mistborn. I couldn't believe that it could be better than Elantris and that it was going to be a trilogy. I immediately went to Brandon's website and found the Warbreaker download. I was able to read the book as the chapters were written, give my input and actually feel involved in the process.

So, I had finished Elantris, Mistborn and Warbreaker, but there wasn't anything else out there other than the first couple chapters of Scribbler. This was a dark time for this reader. I actually had to work, pay attention to the family etc.

One day I noticed the Mistborn 2 was out, so I went down to Borders to buy a copy. When I was there, I saw a sign that Brandon was going to be doing a book signing the next day. I couldn't believe it. I rushed home and read the book trying to gather as many questions as possible for the next day. When I arrived at the signing, the only question I asked was 'When Scribbler was going to come out'. Stupid me. Anyway, while others were asking questions, I talked with David Farland's wife for about a half an hour to get the perspective from the spouse of an author.

This is the first author that I have gotten this excited over. I have done a bunch of fan art, only one of which I have posted at the moment and am in the process of putting some of the characters (Vin, Kelsier, Eland, Joel, Melody) into 3D space.

As of this post, I have purchased hardcover copies of Elantris, Mistborn 1 and Mistborn 2 for twelve of my friends and family. As soon as I heard the news about Brandon doing WoT 12, I let them know and they are ecstatic.

Long story short: Elantris probably had a 'Bargain Price' sticker on it which was peeling back a little, exposing the glue side which caught on my hand forcing me to look in it's general direction.

I bought Elantris, Mistborn and Mistborn 2, all hardcover for my sister and brother. Although they are combination birthday/christmas gifts.