Project Progress: Warlock

So this week I did something I always love to do: I got back into an old project! Heroes of Azeroth: Warlock, to be specific. You can look it up on the Project List page.
More than just being an exciting project again, it's given me hope that not all of my old projects will be abandoned. Especially ones that have a lot of promise, such as Corridor (see bottom of post), Raoul's Voyage, and especially Final Quest.

Perhaps what inspired me to continue with this project was a walk down memory lane a week or two ago. For the past two years, I struggled with a bug on WarCraft III where it wouldn't show my older maps as available to play on the game. Last week it was finally revealed to me on a support site that the reason it was malfunctioning was because my maps were "buried too deep" in folders on my hard drive. This made total sense, because when I got back from Brazil I organized the maps according to category, date created, etc... apparently they were simply too organized; the path of the directory was too long for the game to detect.

A shot of the Demon Summoning Circle. The two warlocks shown are dressed in red in the real version.

Once this problem was fixed, all of my old games from as early as 2003 became available to play! I had fun reminiscing through the amateur-made maps of my younger brother Redge and I, as we (as a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old) struggled to master the World Editor and its functions.

Among the most notable maps were Jail of the Teletubbies, Bob's Day in the Forest, Lawnmower and Agutro the Ogre. I also developed quite a talent in making cinematics as well, the best of which was He's Flying! and The Odyssey. When I was finished with those, I began to look at the maps I've made not so long ago. Warlock was one of these, and to this moment I can't remember why I ever stopped working on it. There were a couple of random bugs, but after fixing these I found myself enjoying adding brand new elements I had planned to add earlier. Now progress on Warlock is in full-swing, and hopefully I'll be able to finish it in a few weeks.

For those of you who have no idea what WarCraft is, let me just say that there is something special about making your own level on the game from scratch. The entire story was laid out by the professionals, but they left all the tools they used just for users like my brother and me to craft our own adventures. I have always loved map editors, from the very early and primitive Tides of Darkness editor to the Heroes of Might and Magic trilogy and even Age of Empires. Working on creating something is the closest one can get to feeling like the creator of one's own world, and I have high hopes for all my projects in this way.

Speaking of, I was able to play a game of Corridor this past week, and my excitement for it has been rekindled ever so slightly as well. Certain rules have been ironed out, and progress on the game has been furthered if not by materials, then by the ideas behind the game. As always, I will keep my Latest sidepanel up-to-date, as well as my Project List. Wish me luck!