Attention Institute Personnel!
At the top of the month we launched our new series, The Way of Worldbuilding.
And we described the initial few episodes as a kind of extended prologue.
We would cover some of the worldbuilding basics and then decide what kind of world we’d
be creating to serve alongside our series as a case study.
Last week the polls opened, and by now we have our answer.
The prologue is over, and The Orion Arm, our science fiction setting, will be the case
study for the Way of Worldbuilding.
Over the next 2 months or so, we’ll be sticking to the reduced schedule we’re currently
operating under.
Now that we actually know what kind of setting it is we’re making, there is a ton we need
to do and a lot of stuff we can finally pull the trigger on.
Not the least of which is figuring out what we’re gonna call this setting.
I saw a lot of comments from people concerned that there might be some confusion between
our new setting and Orion’s Arm, another worldbuilding project.
Not to worry, The Orion Arm might be the part of the galaxy our setting takes place within,
but it's not the name of the universe itself.
Right now we’re thinking of just calling it Dawn of Victory 2289 again, but who knows,
maybe we’ll think of something better.
Hopefully we’ll have figured that out by December though.
We’re aiming to get our secondary channel, you know, the place where we’re actually
releasing all the lore and stuff, up and running by then.
So if you want to keep on top specifically of the content we’re creating for this science
fiction universe, you’ll find a link in the description.
Additionally in December the Templin Institute will be back to our regular release schedule
with our usual content.
The next episode of the Way of Worldbuilding will be also released somewhere in this window,
and it’s going to cover all the essential elements that make our universe what it is.
We’ve been calling these the “pillars” of a world, and this video will be a much
more in-depth explanation/rant/manifesto talking about all the ideas I have for this setting.
Is it more like Alien or Mass Effect, what’s the role of geopolitics and ideology, how
many spaceships are there?
All that high-level stuff.
We’re hoping to end future episodes of the Way of Worldbuilding with a Q&A session about
whatever topic it is we discussed, so for this next episode, if you have any high level
questions about the themes, inspiration or foundational elements of our Orion Arm, Dawn
of Victory setting, whatever we’re calling it, let me know in the comments.
So that’s what you can expect and I hope everyone is excited to see where the Orion
Arm goes.
But I also just want to talk to the people who might feel disappointed by the results
of that poll.
Which you’d assume would be about half of those who voted.
And quick sidenote, thank you to everyone who voted, the turnout was pretty incredible.
But if you were disappointed that Tyrell or Taangali didn’t win, I’m sorry, that sucks.
We try to involve our community whenever feasible but that doesn’t change the fact that not
everyone’s choice can win.
I also saw a lot of comments from people saying that the result of the vote didn’t come
as a huge surprise.
Those alternate worlds involving starships and interstellar empires tend to perform best
on this channel, so the Orion Arm was likely always going to have an advantage.
We spent months developing each of these settings so that no matter which won we’d be able
to hit the ground running, but like you, I had a feeling of which way the wind was going
to blow.
So why even have the poll then?
There’s a few reasons.
The first and most basic is that I could have been wrong.
I am zero for two in predicting the winner of Stellaris Invicta, until that poll goes
live, who knows what’s gonna happen.
I had three ideas, and I wanted to see what people would think of each one.
But the second reason has to do with another poll we posted about a week before that official
one went live.
Without having seen any of the settings, knowing nothing about them aside from each genre,
here is how people voted.
So as much as I was interested in the results of that official poll, I was also paying attention
to the change between these two.
I was hoping we’d see the results narrow a bit, and while Tangaali just barely managed
to hold onto its core supporters, I think Tyrrell surprised a lot of people.
So here’s what that means for this series.
The Orion Arm winning means that our case study will be rooted in science fiction, but
I want the Way of Worldbuilding itself, the guides we produce, to be able to cover any
genre.
We won’t shy away from discussing topics more closely associated with fantasy.
And when we do, we might try to find some way to incorporate the world of Tyrrell or
even Taangali as examples.
We are a niche YouTube Channel with limited resources so what exactly we can do is something
we’ll need to figure out, but at the very least know that we’ll be looking for ways
to keep those worlds around.
But I’ll end things here by pointing out that at its core, the Way of Worldbuilding
is meant to be a guide showing you my process.
If you’re still passionately disappointed that Tyrrell or Taangali didn’t win, ask
yourself this, am I really so much of a worldbuilding genius that only I can come up with these
awesome ideas?
Yes, yes I am.
So that’s why you should follow along.
While it might be tempting to start work on your page-long argument over why this vote
was pointless or the wrong setting won, the best you can hope for is a place in a folder
where we screenshot all the dumbest comments people leave.
And while I don’t want to take away from the accomplishment of ending up in that folder,
would you rather be a page into developing the outline of your own setting?
Something that might one day leave my version of Tyrrell or Taanglai in the dust?
Some members of our community are already doing this, the poll hadn’t even ended before
a group of worldbuilders started working on their own version of Tyrrell.
That is the point of this series, and I didn’t expect examples like this to pop up so soon.
In the future we are going to provide some resources for people and groups looking to
do this sort of thing and come up with some ways to share their work.
For now though, check out our Discord server, whether you’re looking to find a group of
people developing a shared setting, or you want to talk about your own personal world,
I’m sure you’ll find somewhere there willing to talk with you about it.
So until next time, thank you to everyone who cast their vote, win or lose, and we’ll
see you in the Orion Arm and beyond.