At the risk of having people look at me wierd, I\'ll post some of the Bands I like, maybe list a song or too.  

Pink Floyd | Welcome to the Machine
Metallica | Fade to black (anything Pre Black album)
Pantera | CFH
Hypocrisy | Slave to the Parasites
Emperor | Inno a satana
Death | Pull the Plug
Dimmu Borgir | arcane lifeforce mysteria
Insomnium | the elder
Ministry | Theives
Amorphis | My kantele
Danzig | Without light I am
Opeth | Moonlapse vertigo
Immortal | Beyond the north waves
Rotting Christ | The first field of battle
In Flames | Dead god in me
Ozzy (Old stuff) | Bark at the moon
Static-X | Push it
Iron Maiden | The prophecy
Tiamat | The ar
Satyricon | mother north
Perfect circle | pet
Tool | Somber
Cannibal Corpse | Unleashing the bloodthirsty
Dragon Lord | rapture



I like some techno, but don\'t know any artists worth mentioning, also enjoy classical guitar from time to time. Forgot a few, plus edits. and another edit. That\'s a good mix of the stuff I listen to fairly regularly. Great for inspiration and mood.

Anyone ever tell you those \"cutters\" look like a stylized katar? I\'ve heard they where used by the maharajas when hunting large cats. Ironic don\'t you think?

I think I\'ve heard it stated that the game is \"pre-alpha\" three to four times. From a development standpoint, that\'s typically an in-house testbed, pretty close to a tech demo. PS has been in development for how many years? It\'s expected to take some time since you\'re dealing with unreliable staff (the floaters), the reliable staff (who\'ve got time constraints and real life to deal with), and the skill level that ranges from those that wouldn\'t know a hole in the wall if they stuck there head in it, to the talented would be professionals.

That said, PS is still a fully released piece of software. Free software, so really you can\'t complain either way unless you want to get your hands dirty and help out, but still it\'s open access. I\'d bet you maybe 10% at most are interested in reporting bugs or helping development. 90% are wanting to play a free online game. Doesn\'t matter either way as long as there\'s sufficient feedback from the 10% who do care.

In the end, the reason PS is not user friendly is because of the design choices by the devs to not expend resources on that part of the game. (Nothing to do with being \"pre-alpha\") May be a conscious decision, because the devs already know how things work and don\'t care, or an unconscious decision do to a lack of experience. There\'s been ample time to develop tools, manuals, and that sort of thing. In a professional environment, all that would have been designed an implemented by any stage of public use. That all goes back to what I said earlier about it\'s development. Some are probably classically trained potentially holding degrees, others home taught, et cetera. You get the picture. Some are 18 and some 30, some learned the skills, other have talent.

Some people are resourceful, and will find a way. Others will search the forum, ask in IRC, or go OOC in chat in game to find out. Some may attempt to RP it, but doubt it\'s all that common.

Maps don\'t help or kill roleplay either way. Every RPG I\'ve played has had maps of some sort (for the most part, I don\'t seem to recall Zork having maps though). Maps don\'t seem to interfere with any of the current MMORPGs I\'ve played. I think it\'s cool to implement a skill in game to create maps, but with that you\'ll have other issues to address. Maps are needed by the people whom are new, and less needed by the ones who\'ve been around. You\'ll have a skill to make an item, and a new character who can\'t afford to buy the item. Can\'t even afford a map to find the sewers, lol. Other side of things, have players who\'re nice enough to just give out such maps, then you\'re back to everyone having a map to begin with and you\'ve not gained much. (Barring things like skill level used to create the map affecting the level of detail the map contains, or some method to make the maps unique to the cartographers, etc.)

Think that about covers my random thoughts for the evening.

I pictured them as more amphibious than reptilian, but I\'m probably just misguided. Their description states \"skin is similar to reptiles, being slimy and cold...\" however that\'s just as easily used to describe an amphibian who are more apt to \"breath underwater\". As for wings, there are species of fish that can glide for short distances, though I don\'t think Klyros were ever meant to be one or the other.

There is no denying that Klyros and dragons share some resemblance on a rudimentary level, but so do many other creatures. I think that was Bnm85s point that there is such animosity towards dragons, yet the Klyros share many traits and are embraced. I could be wrong. Dragons are an iconic part of fantasy settings, but no less than dwarves and elves for example. Might as well get rid of those too.

You can\'t open your debate on how undragon like Klyros are, with \"There are so many different concepts of \"dragon\" out there\".  That just supports the argument that they share a likeness with one of the many visions of dragons. And yes, there are in fact multiple versions of dragons or relations to dragons that have humanoid form. Some include shapeshifting to the form of a human entirely, others to a humanoid form with a strong resemblance to their original form. Yet in others there are entire races, like the draconians of Dragonlance.

The mention of gargoyles is interesting, since they bear almost no similarities to dragons at all. They\'re not reptilian, which is a defining feature of most all dragons. Some may or may not have wings, and where grotesque in nature. They were horrible looking waterspouts, some thought warded away evil. The name itself comes from gargouille, which means throat. Even when used in a broader fashion, the gargoyle is still usually a stone construct.

At any rate, the concept at the root of the Klyros or the Enkis is definitely not an original one. You could search the internet and find hundreds of versions of cat people, or something resembling Klyros. The best you can do is name them something unique, give them their own culture, and identity and go from there. In the end, you\'ve still got a cat person, etc.

I\'ve got quite a few gnomon dvds, love that stuff. Prefer the analog dvds, and there\'s still quite a few on my wishlist. In fact, I finished up the dragon after watching one of Neville Pages dvds and it inspired me to just paint in the rest and mess around with it.

I only wish I could do this sort of thing for a living. What I do is far more sterile and uncreative. It pays the bills though.

Zbrush is used for modling in conjunction with quite a few other applications. Mostly used for refinement of base models, but it\'s capable of creating any number of models, compatable with Lightwave, 3ds Max, maya, XSI, Lightwave, you name it. Can output in a number of formats, create meshes as tri or quads, can create bump maps, normal maps, displacement maps, color maps.... Was used in quite a few films including Lord of the Rings, and several others. Does wonders with details, however it\'s best used with out programs for composition. Still getting used to it, as you\'ve said it\'s not like most apps.

The head is just practice, getting used to the software and tools. I hadn\'t planned on creating a body to go with it. More than likely, I\'ll move on to another model when done adding the color.

Started working on the color today, and still have a ways to go. Head is still looking somewhat monochromatic at this stage.