... Hmmm... I guess it's about time, huh...?
Hello everyone! This is Nekarcos, none other than the creator of the Odyssey of The Summoner addon. This is a message about future "Nekarcos" addons, and... Well... My absence.
The TL;DR is: I'm returning and have a lot to show off. Otherwise, please read on...
Something like over 3 years ago, I went totally missing, leaving some cryptic message about how "more was to come"... But I didn't really deliver on that, did I?
The short and dirty is: Life has a lot of obligations. I... Was trapped in them. In my heart, I wanted to continue these projects-- Which I ASSURE you, I have been (we're getting to that)-- But my life has been like a violent current, pushing and pulling me everywhere, despite where I wanted to go-- That force being... ... ... Well, I'll just be blunt: Money.
I am not a wealthy person. I am hardly successful either. I am like any other person who is lost on the way to their dreams, likely only kept afloat by work they don't admire, or perhaps relatives or friends that want to see them succeed.
... Or maybe that's just me. I won't pretend to know.
Long ago, the truth is: I had to stop because I didn't foresee any kind of maintainable income from working on ToME mods. This is not to say money is what inspired my work, no. What inspires my work on ToME is the very fact that it had been my most effective creative outlet in almost over 10 years... And, even to *this* day, it *STILL* is!
ToME has clicked very well with me. In my bones, in my heart, in my mind. It is a wonderful game, and an even more wonderful thing to modify. You can present amazing situations and tell amazing stories with it. I have been enjoying the exploration into my own creative world for a long time... And, more and more, I think back to why I stopped sharing these experiences with others.
... The truth there... Is that it is usually easier to eat the batter and frosting than it is to finish the cake, hm? The reality was that I had gotten a bit lazy... And perhaps a bit offput by the judgment of others. I simply want to make things, and that urge is independent of any expectations others might hold for me.
... Just like how Odyssey of The Summoner was made.
I know this is not the most uplifting thing to hear from me after so long, so okay! Here we go! Let me tell you some exciting things:
* Yes. I *HAVE* been working on Odyssey of The Summoner this whole entire time-- Nonstop... Okay, maybe not "nonstop", but HARDLY with any kind of long pause. It wouldn't be an exagerration to say I worked on SOME small bit of stuff literally every day... Even if it's just changing one sentence in some dialogue somewhere.
* Yes, there IS an entire, unseen universe of NEW content from me lying in the wait. An unbelieveable amount, I assure you. Odyssey of The Summoner, honestly, was only supposed to be an introduction into the entire plot of a mechanic called "Therianthropy" that I wanted to experiment with and perfect. At the time of OoTS, I certainly didn't have the skill... And, even today, I still wonder if I have the skill. I have certainly turned ToME into my plaything these days, though!
* Yes, I DO intend, FERVENTLY, to release this stuff eventually, but I am unfortunately both a programmer and a creative. That means I tend to create programming works of art (or maybe complete messes). Either way, I *cannot*, even if it meant complete abandonment or death, ever think of releasing something incomplete that isn't (mostly) bug-free. What I intend to release can only be something I would describe as a masterpiece. It *cannot* be anything less!
With those things addressed, I guess here's a quick FAQ I made up myself about a few things I think people might be wondering:
Q: Where have you been?! It's been like over 3 years!
A: Life. To my greatest despair, it turns out you can't live entirely off of dreams and aspirations... Sigh.
Q: Why haven't you said anything about... ANYTHING?!
A: I did the thing where I figured it would be easier if everyone just forgot about me. I am now also doing the thing where I return, realizing how stupid and thoughtless that was to do. There are those who still want more, and I have PLENTY more... So why am I keeping them waiting...?!
Q: Do you still intend to make mods, or is this just an update about your life?
A: I have *NEVER* stopped making mods... However, I have COMPLETELY stopped releasing them... Eheheheh... This update is to say I will ATTEMPT to interact better... And maybe try to release a thing or two in timely fashion. Particularly, I decided I will join the ToME Discord so that I might be a little closer at hand.
Q: What will you be trying to release?
A: I am starting small with some new and updated Quality of Life mod packs. I intend to create a wonderful line of semi-integrated mods that feature convenient standalone mechanics... And then, my Opus Magnum: The ability for these QoL mods to MERGE together and communicate, turning into a giant robot that can fight Kaijus and shoot lasers and stuff!
Q: ... So... There's more Odyssey of The Summoner waiting?
A: I'll have some fun with that question by being VERY direct and informative:
There are currently 9 projects in development (not counting my "Quality of Life" series)-- And the finale of OoTS (called "Perfect Harmony") is the first I intend to release. Afterwards, there is "Myths of Maj'Eyal", which was presented in images in my final post on the forums. There is an "Embers of Rage" adaptation for OoTS called "The Avatar's Return" which would feature a small plot that plugs into the story and makes Avatars playable there... And, to describe my LARGEST project right now... It involves a system where you will be playing as UNIQUE characters in parties of up to THREE, like a traditional RPG. Think of Fire Drake, but if the Drakelings were fully playable and manually customizable. The idea of this project is to (on top of being a Roguelike) turn ToME into a long-term, semi-RPG story experience.
Q: How long will it be until we see the new content?
A: That's always been an unpleasant question to answer. For 2 years straight now, I have said "I will finish this mod and release it by <X>"... But then, for some reason or another, I would extend my deadline. Recently, I chose my 10000 hours mark as a SOMEWHAT significant milestone, and an excuse to break this chain of procrastination. Please shout at me a lot. Give me the energy and strength I need to finish this! I intend to try to pay attention to the Discord server, and maybe answer correspondences more. It will have to be with a new, dedicated email though ("nekarcostome@gmail.com"). Responses were flooding my real one, and it was becoming really problematic, heh...
Q: You sure do act self-important. Why should anybody care anymore?
A: I am NOT someone important... At least, not anymore. But, I have, regardless, created a small seam of importance here in the ToME community, and that is more than enough reason to conclude my unfinished business.
Q: Why come back to ToME after all this time, though?
A: The truth is, I was planning to slip away and disappear, forgotten... But a "certain voice" didn't stop calling to me... Even to today. I couldn't believe this one voice kept calling to me for so long... This one, hopeful voice. Not to sound morbid, but it felt like a hand reached out to me in the drowning tide of life, and pulled me back to where I wanted to be. They still had some belief in me, and I do not intend to squander that belief.
And, one final question... A question no one has ever asked me, but I've always wanted to answer:
Q: What brought you to ToME... And why did you start modding it?
A: A video from a YouTuber. I watched him play it, and-- As was the fad then-- He played it terribly. A combination of my indignation and intrigue brought me to buying the game on Steam and playing it for myself.
My very first character was a Cornac Alchemist. I knew nearly nothing about the game, and so, he died against Bill.
My second character was a Cornac Archer. He encountered the Eidolon glitch that rendered you unable to take damage anymore. He went on to beat The Master before I realized "No. Your Defense isn't just very good. I think you broke something"... And so, I stopped playing him for the sake of the integrity of my experience.
My third character was a Cornac Shadowblade. I found out that casting Illuminate from stealth resulted in ALWAYS casting a critical spell, and with enough power, it would one-shot everything. He eventually found Star and Moon, and I transitioned into a Light/Darkness Shadow Veil build. I then set up all of his talents to cast automatically, and he proceeded to beat the whole entire game in a literal blink of the eye.
It was at this point that, having "conquered" the game, I had begun experimenting with "fun" ways to play it. I found out about Wyrmic and thought about how cool being a "dragon" character would be, after having encountered all the different dragons in the game. I had also thought long and hard about the Summoner class, after seeing the way the AI used it (very poorly).
My next character ended up being a Yeek Summoner-- The FIRST time I didn't play a Cornac. Summoners were extremely busted, but super boring. You toss a summon around a corner and wait for the bad things to die. You never take damage, you never run out of resources, but you also never have any of the fun. That's about when I discovered the "Summon Control" talent-- And "Summoner" as a class completely changed for me. I started investing points into EVERYTHING that would make my summons last longer and become tougher. Summoner was no longer about tossing beasts at enemies... It became about "BECOMING" the beast and playing as them. However, I eventually realized how obnoxious the setup was, and occasionally, my summoner character was being hunted and killed while I was off exploring fun stuff as a minotaur or something.
At that point, I gave up on Summoner and started playing "Adventurer" characters with a bunch of "monster-like" talents. As I did this, I made two of the most precious and important characters I have ever made, whom both ended up shaping the entire "Odyssey of The Summoner" universe as you know it, whether you know how or not. Both are featured as characters in the "later" projects I'm working on. Neither of them exist in current content, though.
After having my fill with them, that was when I decided: I was a skilled game programmer, and I was looking for a new outlet to test my abilities and learn some new tricks. I had suddenly just, one day, decided "I am going to try learning Lua and modifying ToME so that I could handcraft the ToME experience I have always wanted to have". I started by giving myself a challenge: "Recreate the Hydra from the Summoner class. Make it into a playable character."
One thing lead to another and... Well... The rest is history, isn't it?
So that's that.
I think I have said a fair bit of the things I have always wanted to say over all of these years. I am inviting a lot of ire, a lot of indifference... An honestly, it is pretty arrogant of me to even think anyone still recognizes me or cares at all about this whole matter. I imagine people have moved on from now...
... But the whole point of this message is: *I*, have not.
If there's anybody out there that still cares about this project or where anything I'm making is going, it will, from now on, be here in this thread (or maybe I'll make a new thread with a much more respectable/recognizable title).
... And so, with that said... I guess we're seeing everything, once again, start from how it did before: Some random post in the forums on some random day, alluding to future content I randomly intended to release.
Anyways, let's start over again... Hopefully, this time... With a better ending.
Your coding IS a masterpiece, and utterly unique in ToME. Can't wait to see what's in store! Sympathies for the Life stuff.
