Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Bai-la kaifa, Desert Dudes,

Are any of your many Fremen warriors familiar with DEUS EX? First Person RPG based on the UNREAL engine, tons of choices, many consequences? Well, for those who are, did you know that someone tried to adapt DUNE as a mod for DEUS EX? I was thinking how cool it was, because I felt that DEUS EX would be an awesome template for DUNE's story and characters. It would allow the player free reign to approach the story however he/she wishes. Unfortunately, the mod must have died, and the mod's site doesn't seem to exist anymore. The oddest thing, however, is that the Landsraad sit (I'm sure a bunch here in Jacurutu know it well) has a screenshot section which features DUNE stuff rendered in the DEUS EX engine! Does this mean that the Landsraad had been monitoring the progress of the mod, or that they were DEUS EX fans as well?

Could any of you, Reverend Fathers, enlighten me, please?

Allow me to respond to my own question, and elaborate further (I should have done it sooner, but I've been busy with college stuff. Serves me right). Here is a Moby Games link explaining the game which DUNE was supposed to be adapted into a mod for.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/deus-ex

The game's intro gives an idea about what it's about. It's very much inspired by all kinds of conspiracy literature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKp0DP1O4bs

And here are the links which may have been involved in it: one has DUNE inspired DEUS EX visuals, the other contains news about the completion of DUNE weapons for the mod.

http://landsraad.multiply.com/photos/al ... une_Stuff#

http://www.deusex-machina.com/showarchi ... &year=2001

Now, even though DEUS EX has some flaws, like stiff animation and easily dupable AI (well, if you know how to crouch and keep to the shadows), the game is awesome for its RPG elements. For example, in the first level, you could choose to either kill your enemies, knock them unconcious, or just slip by them without confrontation. You could even choose to save a comrade who has been taken hostage, or just leave him (which will affect, if not completely, your relationship with him). There are mutliple outcomes to each of your actions, and there are usually repercussions afterwards.

One of the famous aspects of the DEUS EX were the three endings, which, upon completion, contained philosophical quotes from Voltaire, Milton and Kahul Gibran, about authority and morality.

Even though it might be hard to pull off a sandworm in DEUS EX's engine, I think it would have been awesome to adapt DUNE through DEUS EX. One of the reasons why, is that it could enable to player to either stay true to the course of events described in Frank Herbert's book, or alter the course of events which would result in a new series of repercussions. Let's say in the game, in the Arakeen palace, you could choose to spy on Yueh, and stop him from betraying the Atreides, or just ignore him and allow the betrayal to occur. There's a list of countless possibilities for story branching and non-linearity in a DUNE/DX game, not to mention for the game's endings.

I was thinking what if the player (as Paul) had the ability to choose a path that did not involve theocratic rule over the Known Universe. You can still do it, but what other decisions could Paul have made instead? Here are some I thought of:

-Paul exterminates the worms and the Spice melange, thus plunging the Universe into a Dark Age where the Fremen, the Guild, and other Spice addicts die from withdrawal.

-Paul infiltrates the Guild Heighliners, and applies pressure so that the Guild, CHOAM, and everybody else, stay far away from Arrakis. The Guild will still receive the amounts of Spice they require for Space travel, but transportation to Arrakis is forbidden.

-Paul marries Irulan, but becomes a benevolent leader in the manner of Duke Leto instead of a theocratic Emperor.

-The ending which happens in the canon DUNE universe.

It would be cool if in each ending, quotations would appear, written by Ancient Greek or Arabic philosophers, and by Muslim or Buddhist theologians. I know the mod is no longer being made, but that's how I partly imagine it to be like.

As to what happened to the mod, could it be that the Herbert Estate helped shut it down (I have no proof), or that the developers didn't have enough team members or resources to complete it (more likely)?

Lastly, here's a look at a DEUS EX mod that was unbelievably ambitious and successful, that I imagine the DUNE mod to attain a scope similar to that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feTT8erNInc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fuck.. Christian Slater told me drugs were "out".

I don't know what the fuck to do now.

since when has Slater been an arbiter of public norms ?

the only reason he had any kind of career at all is because River OD'd
on the sidewalk in front of Depp's bar ... you'd think he'd be supportive
of drug use, esp. drug use that bolsters his own career ...

Freakzilla wrote:Fuck.. Christian Slater told me drugs were "out".

I don't know what the fuck to do now.

SandRider wrote:since when has Slater been an arbiter of public norms ?

the only reason he had any kind of career at all is because River OD'd
on the sidewalk in front of Depp's bar ... you'd think he'd be supportive
of drug use, esp. drug use that bolsters his own career ...

I don't know how Christian Slater came into this, or what drug use has to do with the topic (unless Freakzilla is suggesting that I was on drugs while writing this topic, or that the subject of the topic itself sounds like the result of drug use). I was only reporting an attempted DUNE mod for DEUS EX that somehow fell apart, and I thought it was of some interest because it counts as DUNE media. I was also trying to speculate as to what the mod would have been like, even though it may be difficult to describe it to a non-DEUS EX fan (or non-old gamers in general).

In DEUS EX, there are numerous abilities which the player uses through the F# number keys, such as speed, EMP drones, stronger muscles or fist fibers, nightvision and invisibility. It makes wonder how the Bene Gesserit abilities could be pulled off in the place of DEUS EX's augmentations, such as the Weirding Way or the Voice.

DEUS EX also allows the player the ability to spare the lives of their enemies instead of killing them. I doubt that the Fremen would like it if Paul spare his enemies instead of taking their water. The stealth gameplay, though not as advanced as TENCHU: STEALTH ASSASSINS, makes me feel like a Fremen when I sneak up on my enemies.

By the way, the heroe's eyes are curiously Blue-Within-Blue, just like a Fremen (except his eye color is the result of nanotechnology instead of Spice saturation).

Here's an example of the game's stealth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWUKQxA9 ... 52853469DF

EDIT: Good comeback at Freakzilla, SandRider. I admire your clever responses.

Lil too much 'Christmas spirit', my bad.

SandChigger wrote:"Hate the nog, but love the thinner!"

Freakzilla wrote:Lil too much 'Christmas spirit', my bad.

Why did you guys choose my topic to have your Spice beer Christmas party? You just don't care, do you?

Oh, what the Hell. It's Christmas Eve! Round up the Spice beer and Spice eggnog! Let's drink and be merry like many Fremen warriors! Freakzilla, play the balliset and sing some of Gurney's songs! SandChigger, bring the Water of Life jello-shots so that we may test who is the REAL Kwisatz Haderach of Jacurutu!

Merry Christmas, my Orthodox Herbertarian Brethren.

Freak doesn't have a baliset. I do.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 592&type=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'll take the jello shot test, though.

(hic)

I'm having tequila in my coffee. Will I still be safe to drive by mid-afternoon?! Am I now...?!


(I'm kidding, am I not?)

Now that Christmas is over, does anyone have anything say about the topic?

Any Jacurutu feydakin who knows about DX1, or has reservations about DUNE being adapted into a FPSRPG as a modification to an 11 year old computer game?

This is how the main combat works in the game. It indicates the abilities and skills that can be utilized when jumping in guns-ablazing against a horde of enemies head-on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPRStQso ... re=related

You still haven't realized most aren't interested?

Jodorowsky's Acolyte wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:Fuck.. Christian Slater told me drugs were "out".

I don't know what the fuck to do now.

SandRider wrote:since when has Slater been an arbiter of public norms ?

the only reason he had any kind of career at all is because River OD'd
on the sidewalk in front of Depp's bar ... you'd think he'd be supportive
of drug use, esp. drug use that bolsters his own career ...

I don't know how Christian Slater came into this, or what drug use has to do with the topic .....


EDIT: Good comeback at Freakzilla, SandRider. I admire your clever responses.

thank you ... I exist only to amuse myself ....

I don't know why Freak posted the Slater-drugs thing, it most likely had something to do with something within your post
(which I did not read) BUT, once the Slater-drugs topic was broached, for me it became just another opportunity to drop
in my comment on the subject, the gist of which (in various forms) is that the Death of River Phoenix of a drug over-dose
in October of 1993 on the sidewalk in front of The Viper Room, Johnny Depp's Hollywood nightclub, is the best thing that
ever happened to Slater's career .... in the following months, he was offered ALL the roles originally intended for River ...
not that Slater actually capitalized on this unique & unearned godsend, altho it can hardly be thought to be Slater's own
fault, given his tremendous lack of talent ...

as to the actual thread topic, altho I wouldn't put it as bluntly as Serkanner to you, because I have appreciated your
contributions to the board in the past & would not want to be the cause of a case of butt-hurt, but I think in general
this particular crowd is not the target audience for this project ... Dune fans tho they may be ...

in my own case, I have a strange little relationship with "new" PC games, dating from the time of my back surgeries,
long hours confined to the house & prescription narcotics ... my youngest son set up a big monitor for the little laptop
I had used at work, and install three games, the original Call of Duty, Postal2 & Grand Theft Auto 3 ....

I really enjoyed the CoD, altho I got real fucking tired of being killed all the time and the fact that the movement
was so goddamn fast ... so I went online & found the cheat codes to make me invincible & slow those fucking
Nazis down so I could really waste them .... I liked driving the cars and just the walking around beating random
folks on the head with a baseball bat in GTA, and I really liked the open-endedness of Postal2 ...

that lead me to the "mods" & such, and eventually to the Poser/DAZ3D stuff ... altho, what I really wanted to do
was to be able to create "characters" in Poser and put them in Postal ... I suppose that's possible, but there is
too much of that stuff to work with and learn for it to be enjoyable as a "hobby" ...

so, from my point of view, having stepped into the "modding world" for awhile & having a look around, the idea
of modding any game for Dune leads to the response of : good luck with that...

440 words to say the same as I have ...

http://www.wordcounttool.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sandrider, you're an awesome guy. I think you're one of the most mild mannered and wise members of Jacurutu. I also like how you put your posts into verse/stanza form, It's as if every single post you make is a poetic statement.

As for the part about the modding, I'm not really a modder. I just was hoping that there was still traces of information left of this failed DUNE mod for DEUS EX among the DUNE fan communities, based off that link I shared for the Landsraad site. I know that gaming is not a big thing in Jacurutu (though I did enjoy a discussion awhile back on DUNE 2: THE BUILDING OF A DYNASTY), but I was fascinated about the prospect of someone combining one of my favorite PC games with one my favorite novels, that I thought it might have been of some interest to the Orthodox Herbertarian Command Center. I do wonder, however, who posted those DEUS EX/DUNE screenshots at the Landsraad site, and if the administrator of that site might know who posted them (even though the site feels more like an archive, but an awesome one nonetheless).

Thanks for being a fair diplomat, Sandrider, and for liking my praise for your comments.

Oh dear Lord, I hope Freakzilla didn't take me literally, and eat the Water of Life jello-shots. If he is the Kwisatz Haderach, I'm scared to see what his superhuman abilities and visions for the future are like when he gets out of his messianic trance...

The water of life just makes Freak fart more.

He is the most interesting man in the universe.

Serkanner wrote:440 words to say the same as I have ...

http://www.wordcounttool.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

shit, I can do ALOT better than that ...

thanks for the link, tho ... it will be useful for a number of things ....

Omphalos wrote:The water of life just makes Freak fart more.

He is the most interesting man in the universe.

fuckin' sig worthy ....

Or at the very least, worth Twitting back at Byron the Myron on @DuneNovels.

Excuse me!

Jodorowsky's Acolyte wrote:Sandrider, you're an awesome guy. I think you're one of the most mild mannered and wise members of Jacurutu. I also like how you put your posts into verse/stanza form, It's as if every single post you make is a poetic statement.

Also you have nice skin and I like your hair.

Nekhrun wrote:

Jodorowsky's Acolyte wrote:Sandrider, you're an awesome guy. I think you're one of the most mild mannered and wise members of Jacurutu. I also like how you put your posts into verse/stanza form, It's as if every single post you make is a poetic statement.

Also you have nice skin and I like your hair.

I like your hat.

y'all ain't said nothing about my eyes ....

I love how they glow red, even at midday.