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The State of Residual Decay

For public discussion of "Savage Land" and other Red Nemesis projects.

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Subject: The State of Residual Decay

Post Posted: 03 Aug 2012, 19:41

2023 Update


So this original thread was ten years old, and given the state of some updates after the announcement of Savage Land and the release of the first demo (with more content pending) I will take it upon myself to address some things and edit some older statements made when circumstances were different.

Since last this notice was made I have expanded Red Nemesis with some new talent, people that have helped me immensely. Alcapowned and Steadz in particular have saved me from putting together just a compilation of vanilla fare and helped me to shape a more focused, productive campaign. I've also received a great deal of aid, big and small, by people like ebd and the other members of the team (Aspide, Fashahhh, Jackrabbit, ect).

I'll also be opening this Notice for discussion as it has been locked for ten years, if anyone wanted to comment on things that were said here that might not fit into the larger discussions about Savage Land.

Here is the old Notice, with edits:

The State of Residual Decay

Some of you already know what is going down, and a few of you out there have continued to work with me these last few years when others have come and gone. The only constant member since the project first started in 2005 has been myself, and like a frontman that sees bandmates come and go I must say I have enjoyed working with all of you. Some of the best, most talented people in the Unreal community have come around at some point and helped me work on this and I assure most all of you that the fingerprints of the work given will see the light of day. For some of you, like Seed, Darthweasel, DerDak2Rot, Carthage, Frieza, and other mappers I can name who have contributed mappage at some point...your levels are still here and will appear. For people like Seed, who never got a chance to release something for this community, I feel a special obligation to reveal your stuff to the world and make sure it is done the justice I know it deserves. Coders like UArchitect, who has helped various people over the years realize some outrageous episodes, like EXU....the stuff you've done is invaluable to me and this project and I want to make it clear that even if things function and play differently than what we all originally envisioned in the end, your contributions have helped me better understand what this project really meant and what direction it needed to go. The audio work done by Zynthetic, and his general partnership throughout the project...Zyn, you were with me from the beginning and stuck around longer than anyone else. Your voice will be heard as well. Before anyone else, I consider Zynthetic the longest running partner I had as long as I've been tinkering with this thing, much like Hourences was during Xidia.

In recent years, people like Raven and Jet have helped pick up the slack and allowed me to mold the project into what it is today. They're continued presence (as well as others who help when they could) have helped push this thing that much closer to the finish line. But for everyone else, what must be said now is what has been changed.

So, you may ask, what will this project look like now after all the noise and waiting?


1. Residual Decay will be released episodically. That is the biggest change, and one that will certainly turn heads. You might be wondering when you will get to play the first episode. This forum section will be re-revealed to the public to coincide with the release of Savage Land. The main aim of the episodes is to present a state of affairs concerning locations, situations, and characters that will lead up to the last episode. The first episode may surprise everyone with its vanilla tone and stock presentation, but I felt it important that it be released this way. I wanted the first impression to be something that everyone could enjoy on their preferred platform, be it alone with friends.
*2023 EDIT: Savage Land will likely be episodic, yes, but the amendment to these previous statements is now that the WHOLE project is and will only be Savage Land.


2. The Time Travel concept has been dropped. There was too much going on, story-wise. This will change a lot of the initial style choices people might remember from the days of the first promo pix, but honestly...time-travel stories just tax me. They really do. They tax me and they tax players. The whole reason I took it upon myself to incorporate in the first place was to close gaps between various community packs that are counted in the Jones series mythos and also to form links between the Unreal games themselves. But in the end, it just made things harder, never easier. As I became a better storyteller I no longer needed the time travel gimmick to make these things work, and honestly it's a relief. I'm much happier with the direction the project takes now, as it has closer ties to plotlines I wanted to explore ever since I started making Unreal maps.
*2023 EDIT: To expand, dropping the narrative of RD was essential to breaking through the roadblocks that kept the project stagnant for so long.


3. The Last Episode will incorporate Battle For Na Pali and feature a Na Pali in the 2240s. This is ten years before Unreal 2 and twenty after Seven Bullets, which is roughly thirty years after Unreal. This might come as a surprise to many, who previously believed that RD followed just weeks after Seven Bullets. It also may seem convoluted to have a timeline imposed, but when I felt it important to apply context and in truth, the episodes themselves will no longer be so story heavy. So for those who had ideas of what was intended years and years ago, instead you will be seeing the final chapter realized twenty years after that chapter of the Jones Saga. The first Episode will kick this period off at roughly a few years after Seven Bullets, giving us a Na Pali described in the fan fiction The One Who Survives. Each episode will occur sometime between the series starting point (Xidia) and this endpoint but not necessarily in chronological order. I want each Episode to work on its own.
*2023 EDIT: As can be read on the other threads, the concept for what was originally a "last episode" is now the whole project. We scrapped everything else. All previous episode ideas have been dissolved or salvaged.


4. The first and final chapter will take entirely on Na Pali The Planet trotting aspect that would have made RD more like Unreal 2 has been dropped, and some planet sections that would have served other worlds when the project was bound to the time travel plot will instead be used for earlier episodes. I thought of every game that did this kind of thing and all the times I remember it I remember it just being weaker overall because there was no central thread. I decided this around the time I played Metal Gear Solid 4 and my reaction was more or less, "well this is fucking stupid..."

*2023 EDIT: see above

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