Making-of Exiled Jack (spoilers)
Spoilers: The following text contains spoilers about the Exiled Jack story, and may also contain spoilers about the game itself, which inspired me to write it.
The following text...
At the very beginning, I want to say why I delayed writing another story for so long - it was because of Jack. I told myself that I would see how long it would take for Jack to receive 10 hearts , so I waited. In a year, Jack received 3 likes and I am not surprised that during this time a lot of cool topics were created in the Creative Corner section and Jack was not an outstanding work at all, but a short story. After this time, I realized that I wanted to write something much more than just receive any hearts. This is a breakthrough for this thread.
I know that I am not great at writing in English, so I also wanted to match the character with my skills, which are not free from spelling and grammar errors. Jack had to be an outcast, an ignoramus, a barbarian thinking only of survival, fighting and, of course, revenge - he could hardly write. I was even determined to make a few mistakes on purpose just to make the character more credible.
But why was Exiled Jack even made? Do you remember Building Contest: Tiny Homes Edition? The grand prize was 6 months of server and although I wasn’t counting on this prize, I knew if I won it, I want to use it well and create more than just a server open to everyone. I would create a lot of buildings on my server that players could destroy and loot, I would like to organize events and create a unique experience for everyone.
I thought that the Exiled Lands could be invaded by the armies of Babylon, surround the New Asagarth with siege, build a great pyramid in the desert and wall around the safe zone, as if the army actually caught newcomers to work in the mine (It is possible that someday I will describe the ideas that were supposed to be happening on the server in the form of short stories). Exiled Jack was supposed to be a series of notebooks that I would add to the server, the photos next to the notes show the exact places where those logs would go and I actually wanted to leave Jack’s equipment in the chest for players to find. Of course it ended with a runner up prize, but I wrote the story so I could publish it.
Will you be shocked when I say that Jack’s story is not a fantasy, but a science fiction? Suggested by a certain NPC to talk to in the Exiled Lands, which suggests that not all characters and events in the game make sense or proper chronology, and I took advantage of this disorder. Jack has so much to do with his father as if they were really one person, at some point he go back in time. However, I didn’t want to impose science fiction on anyone, so I turned a few photos on the notes so that father and son would have eye patch on two different sides. I wanted to explain the whole story so that the father deceived his son that he was himself - it was not difficult because the children often repeat their parents’ mistakes. After all, the story could have been an ordinary fantasy and science fiction story, at the same time. The reader chooses for himself whether he believes in Jack’s time travel or not.
For me, Jack is a victim and a real villain of this story is the environment / people around that oppressed Jack for his father’s actions. This is how I wanted to highlight the hate that is present not only on the Internet, but also unnecessary aggression on a daily basis, on the roads, in the media and so on. I believe that the main catalyst for this is not understanding each other, if we were to try to understand each other more, we could cooperate instead of drifting apart.
Showing / explaining / expressing yourself to others what and why you are doing something, why it is important to you, is needed for understanding to arise.
I will write another Making-of (about the Lost Sisters) soon and reveal further plans for my stories.
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