Summer Camp Preparation by Week!
It's Summer Camp Prep Time! I've been working on a list of stuff for this, and I'm excited to be entering Summer Camp with the semblance of a plan.
Week One Assignment One: Nourishment
Think about ways the theme of Nourishment affects your world. Do people generally have what they need? What happens when they don’t?
Nourishment isn't just nutrient paste or a sci-fi ahnd wave in the Tanitverse. It's a big part of the cultures of each world, moon, and station. There's struggle foods, delicacies, and workaday foods, all enjoyed in different ways brought about by the pressures of the locations they're from. Broadly speaking, peopel always have what they need, technology takes care of that, so it's more what they want. And one of my world building goals is to avoid pointless avarice. For example, yes, there's delicacies. But not everyone is scrambling to get them all the time. When peopel don't have food, that's when community comes into it. Starvation isn't unknown, but it's rare enough to be shocking.
Week One Assignment Two: Pledge!
I'm keeping it basic. The prompts aren't always my friend for the content of my project, so I'm aiming for Copper but hoping to break the streak with a Silver this year!
Week One Assignment Three: Fix What's There
If you found any outdated articles in your world, update the most important ones now! Do the same with your worldbuilding meta.
This is going to be ongoing all month. I need to clean up continuity and some key world building too. I got too ambitious in previous efforts and the project has gone out of scope. So I'll be on this all month. I'll post updates here as I go.
Week Two Assignment One: Review!
Look at the cultures and areas you’ll focus on for Summer Camp, and think about how their past shaped them.
This is a big one. The original scope of the setting was a shambles, strong on vibes, low on actual planning. So I need to get into things more thoroughly.
I'm sticking with the Global South as the primary source of colonials to the system, and I'm keeping the Zoanids. There's no
current alien sophonts, so to get some extra sci-fi out of the setting I need to stick with the uplift piece. The big thing I need to do though is map the system, and then map Tanit II (Kuthor) and start plotting who's where and what they're up to and where their ancestors came from.
Week Two Assignment Two: Landing Pages
Go to your world’s homepage and imagine you’re a new reader discovering the setting for the first time. What should you change to make the experience more engaging?
I need some serious updates to the landing page, and to get some imagery going because wall of text is no fun. I've already got some system iconography and company logos going on, and that's a step in the right direction, but I need to make everything more approachable.
Week Two Assignment Three: Looking Back
Find your earliest worldbuilding project. What mistakes did you make that you want to avoid? What good ideas from those early days can you integrate into your current project? Remember to take a moment to be proud of how far you've come!
I dug out a map from a 3.5e D&D campaign setting I made in the early 00's. It's not bad, but it's very generic in places and lacks a lot of details that I know now are key to both getting people's interest and promoting good immersion. The other thing is an issue I've had here too. Lack of an organized approach to things. So I'll be addressing all that. Hopefully.
Week Three Assignment One: Shake it up!
What transformations and adaptations have the people in your world gone through? What changes are going on right now… and who is trying to stop them?
Physiologically, the terrans in the Tanit System haven't undergone a lot of change since the hyperspace system mostly collapsed. That said, there's a lot of variation. There's baseline humans and baseline zoanids, then there's deep/high pressure, orbital, and zero g gene adapted variants of those. Culturally? Lots of adaptations to the local resources and the end of access to the larger hyperspace travel system. No one is trying to stop the changes on Tanit II, but some smaller, less diverse colonies can be more restrictive about a lot of things, and less restrictive about others. To their detriment.
Week Three Assignment Two: Inspo Sources!
Choose a new genre, style, or author, and take a look at their art! Write what you learned from them and what inspired you.
I checked out some sweet sci-fi art on Art Station and got some solid ideas for the aesthetics of everything from botanical labs and agricultural facilities to recreational narcotic use to firearms and personal equipment. Hit up "sci-fi", "afrofuturism" and "solarpunk" as searches. Well worth it!
Week Three Assignment Three: Read Read Read!
Read a couple of articles from the community, give them a like (and why not a sticker!), and write about what inspired you.
Done!
Week Four Assignment One: The Future
Think about current events that will impact the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?
Right now, the future is in the balance as @An relics and technology are slowly being deciphered, and an unfortunate reality is that there's some people who want power for themelves or their ideological faction, and others who are workign towards a better future for everyone. For example,
The Kamau Institute is working towards a bette rtomorrow, while the criminal and private interests they often encounter are trying to horde power for themselves. Unfortunately, capitalism is still at the root of most problems.
Week Four Assignment Two: Be Ready
Make sure everything’s ready—from your writing space to your writing schedule—before Summer Camp begins!
I am letting my inner dive leader run wild with this for this year's summer camp. My space is more organized, I have a plan for writing times, and even a snack and hydration plan. And I'm already lurking on the Discord, so good to go!
Week Four Assignment Three: Who's Helping
Who or what will help you achieve your goal? What will your sharing strategy be during Summer Camp?
For part one, it's all about sticking to the plan and family support. It's going to be good. For the latter? I'll be leaning on my Bluesky, the POCGamer Discord, Patreon, and other social media. I plan to do some live streams too. It's going to be good. Already started the outreach effort!
Hope you have a great Summer Camp!