User blog:DeadRaiser/Back at it Again

Hello there, everyone! For those who don't know me and aren't in the wiki Discord server, I'm DeadRaiser and I'm one of the old members of the wiki during its start. The last time I was a regular editor on this site was sometime back between 2013 and 2014, so it's been quite sometime since I've made any significant contribution or visit. As this is going to be a longer blog post, and my first one since 2013, I'm going to divide it into sections so that you guys can read what you're most interested in.

Why the sudden appearance?
The other day, Magma-Man messaged me on Steam about his Zombies Archives project and was surprised to not only see him reach out to me, but to also tell me about the Discord server here. Other than some occassional check-ins over the years, I haven't been a regular on the site since 2014, so my knowledge of the state of the site was limited. After hopping on the Discord, I saw the Greedy and ZH115 were still kicking and keeping the site going alongside a bunch of new faces. Talking to them made me realize how much I missed the community and passion on the site and seeing the newer members filled me with joy. So, I figured, why not come back to the site? I never lost my love for Zombies and have always had some new ideas on the back burner which made the idea of giving the site another shot all the more tempting.

Permanent or temporary?
Now the question becomes how long will this endeavour be? Will this be a temporary thing or a more permanent one? For starters, I cannot guarantee that I will be staying on the site forever, obviously. So, I'm going to define "permanent" as being moderately active on the site for the next few years. As I am much older than I was when I first came to the site, my going-ons in reality are obviously going to take precedence above anything that goes on here, but this isn't going to really be an issue. As of now, I'm in my third year of college, so managing my time is going to be of utmost importance and squeezing in time to be on site will be challenging for a while. My goal is to have my stay be more permanent than temporary, making edits 3-5 days a week for the next year. This should give me enough wiggle room to help me adjust this into my already busy schedule.

Admin again?
Short answer, no. While I used to be an admin and bureaucrat on the site from 2012-2014(?), I do not feel there is any reason that makes it necessary for me to be one again. The only thing that I can think of is deleting and protecting my own pages whenever I see fit, but even that's not a good enough reason. ZH, Greedy, the re-instated MM, and the other admins are more than capable of handling the site. Having me on board again would just be bloated to be honest. In the end, it's up to them to decide what happens whenever, but I don't need them nor really want admin rights again. I'm perfectly candid being a normal returning member to the site.

Plans and ideas
With my circumstances out of the way, I figured it fitting to discuss what I'm going to be doing now on the site.

Article re-works/remakes
A lot of what I'm going to dedicate myself to, at least early on, will be to doing major re-works of my older ideas and articles on the site. I'll keep as much of my old stuff up as "legacy" content, as I always like going back to see what my old work was like. The first major focus will be to a complete revival of Remember When... (Revamped). This isn't going to be a revamp or the revamp, rather it will be completing the revamp and making it the center for my fanon universe. The original storyline will be moved to one of the aforementioned "legacy" pages. I still have not determined what I will do with the old "sequel" storylines, so those can be considered on ice for now.

Other old content of mine, like Time Monster, heavily relied on collaborative work with users that are no longer on the site. As such, the state of these is touch to determine and I will likely not touch them for the sake of respecting the other person's work. To me, these are "dead" articles and, without the other collaborator's involvement, cannot be completed otherwise.

Proposals
More on the "legacy" content, I want to have this to be a prototype for a possible model that can be used around the site to separate what was made pre-2014 and post-2014. One reason for this is to declutter the website with old articles while also making it a little easier for members to make new ones (we've all had the headache of making an article only to find someone else had already used the same name.) Of course, the usage of this format/idea is up to personal discretion and is best left that way until I finished setting it up for myself. As for old content made by users no longer present on the site, this will be a group decision should there be a consensus on whether or not most of us like the "legacy" idea. This will take sometime for me to get straightened out so suggestions are welcome while I work on this. In the future, once other people have formed their opinions and, possibly, experimented with the format, a vote can be held on other pages on the site.

Another idea I wanted to propose, even back in the old days, was a new collaboration system. From what I remember, we experimented with a page where people could post potential collaborative ideas and come together to work on them. As one could guess, the system we used to use didn't work out because not enough people knew or paid attention to the page. If there's enough interest in collaborative works, I was thinking that we could revive this but tie it closer to the Community Togetherness page that we already have. This proposal is less thought out than my first one, but it's just something I wanted to get an opinion on.

New content
With my return to the site, looking back on old content isn't going to be the only thing I will be doing. New content from me will come to the wiki one way or another. I cannot give details as to what these new articles will be (mainly because I haven't worked on anything completely new yet,) but there will be a variety of ideas. Expect new storylines, one-off maps, and everything from a grounded reality to absurd fantasy non-sense. Of course, this means I'm going to be working heavily with making my own images and assets to make everything that is not from existing canon material completely my own.

Custom Zombies
Back in 2013, I dabbled with making some Custom Zombies maps for World at War. While I got a decent start with understanding Treyarch's modtools and made several test maps, nothing really solid came out of the groundwork before I took my five-year hiatus. I did, however, continue to mess with custom maps up until 2016, at which point I had made significant progress on a few maps based on community ideas. Alas, as it is now 2019, these versions are outdated, broken, and incomplete. This isn't a bad thing as it gives me a clean slate to start working on custom maps again and what better place to find ideas than our own wiki. There will be two categories for the maps I will be working on: A lot of these maps will require the creation of custom scripts, assets, and porting that will make them difficult to create quickly. This will be even harder if I am working on multiple maps at once, so if anyone is willing/wants to learn modtools for World at War and Black Ops III, I'd be more than happy to have you tag along and help me with this stuff. As I will be making maps in both games, two different sets of modtools will need to be learned (I'm only familiar with WaW's) so there won't be maps being released for a good while. Also, which maps get released for which game will be determined during planning, but I hope to make the map for one game then port it over to the other so that it can be enjoyed on both.
 * Legacy - Yes, we're going back to the legacy thing again. These maps will be based on the oldest maps on the site who's original creator(s) have since departed. These will be made more to honor the past of NZP and, unless determined otherwise, will likely only be released through the Discord to the community. The lack of having the original creator(s) here will also mean some liberties will need to be taken based on the information left on the original pages.
 * Old School - Old school maps (name tentative) are, essentially, the same thing as Legacy, but with one key addition: the original creators for the maps are still here. This means that I can work closely with these individuals to get questions answered and changes approved by the author themselves. These maps will be released through the Discord and, with the creators' consent, on Zombie modding forums like Zombie Modding and UGX.
 * Modern - Modern maps will be based on newer articles on the site, regardless if the creator is an old or new member. This is to give everyone their due and to continue with revitalizing the community. These maps, being much newer and possibly worked on in tandem with the article, means that both the article and map can be virtually identical and create a new dynamic for content creation on the site. As with Old School maps, these maps will be released on the Discord and other modding websites, so long as permission is given.

Other news and tidbits
As I mentioned before, I am in my third year of college now studying Game Design and Creative Writing. Due to the fact that I am pursuing a double major, I have a lot on plate and it's only going to get more intense the closer I get to graduation. Other than that, I've been working on some articles, books, and poetry collections that I plan on getting published in the near future, so be on the look out for an announcement when that stuff launches. Any other information about what I'm doing or if you just want to talk to me, you can find me on the Discord or send me a message on my Wall. Take care everyone!

  Dead Raiser   Talk    Contribs    My Home Wiki     09:41,9/22/2019