Worldbuilding General

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Worldbuilding General 

What is worldbuilding?

I personally understand it as creating places for your ideas to live I like to purposefully leave it a little vague - it can be as simple as make-believe or as complex as writing a book series! And as loren specified in a previous post, your world can be as big or as small or as deep as you want it to be.

Do I need to make a game/website/book/etc for it to be considered worldbuilding?

No! Even if I think it's very cool if something tangible comes out of it, it is not required. Whether your world is just a little daydream or you want to turn it into a real thing, we're here.

What is this topic for?

Discussing our worlds, figuring out aspects that we haven't figured out by themselves yet, debating what should go into worldbuilding, what to research, how to convey our thoughts into worlds/code/images... basically just a little bit of everything 

But first of all, I'd like to discuss in this topic the act of worldbuilding itself, and what do worldbuilders want and/or expect to find on this forum. Basically, get some ideas going! 

[Melooon]

I just wanted to drop in to say I really agree here! There will be a lot of topics here covering bigger and complex skills such as 3D tools etc However worldbuilding at its core is just about creating an “other” place. So often today we are missing what people call third places in our lives and I really feel that worldbuilding is a method of creating third places. It’s about creating a zone for ideas and inviting others into visit it.

It’s a lot of fun to do that in more complex ways with advanced game tools - however you can also do it with an idea, a web page or a piece of paper!

We are still figuring out this board and forum section so it will adapt as needed over time; so I hope people will ask questions and share opinions!

[WynterSkies]

I love this thread idea! I'll definitely be coming back tomorrow and writing an in depth reply with my own world, since I've actually been looking for people to just casually share ideas with!

My feelings have always been when I work on stuff like that on my own I either go too broad and stress myself out thinking of too much at once or go too hyper-specific and then can't think of things outside that one aspect. So I definitely think bouncing both bigger and smaller things off other people is a great idea for a thread!

[Memory]

oh my worldbuilding is probably too large for this thread but it's still fun to read through other peoples worldbuilding hehe

it's kinda in depth and i've only just made the first part to it.
i guess to describe it - it's a mix of influences from random things, which it has some European fantasy mixed with anime and doujin influences at times i guess. at least that's how it is to me.
it's here if you wanna find it.

[candycanearter07]

I technically have a small ish world in my little webcomic, but... there's not a lot of lore bc im bad at writing

Basically my kinda headcanon is that its kinda a pocket/border world thats a white void slightly isolated from everywhere else, but random props from games and stuff leaks in? also thye have a teleporter so

[Yoylecake420]

Does worldbuilding count if it involves existing franchises?

I'm doing worldbuilding for a Cbeebies themed amusement park full of chaos if you want to see it here.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Does worldbuilding count if it involves existing franchises?

Sure! I personally prefer original worlds, but that's not to say interesting things can be created from things that already exist. Time ago on Tumblr I saw an artist reimagine Friendship is Magic as to make "holding items with hooves" more "believable" and ended up creating like... an alternative take on the ponies' look and society that I legit found more interesting than the original thing  It even got me thinking on how would I handle the same base idea (a sapient society of quadrupedal equine beings). If I find them again, I'll make sure to link back!

[Milo The Bun]

I have too many worldbuilding projects 

This is one of em

There’s also a some WIP lore for my main website and a couple other projects. I like to think they’re worlds all in themselves anyways.

[grilledTux333]

worldbuilding.... I have made my own world for my ocs! it is a constant WIP and i'm not the best writer so yeah. It has magic and, well, magicians  it's not that serious though, and there's no "story" to follow its' just the world and its inhabitants (my dear OCs :3)

I was thinking about making a website for it but never had the time and/or motivation for it 

[BlazingCobaltX]

Have to say that worldbuilding turned out to be my favourite element of creating original fiction. Not that it will ever amount to anything. Every attempt at cohesively summarising the world stops halfway because I keep thinking of new stuff to add. Even now I am suddenly revamping elements that have been stable for 10+ years because I can make it cooler. That makes it hard for me to even post a simple summary of the whole thing.

I've always wondered: Aside from wikis, story bibles, and the like, what are other, non-book format ways to share an original story?

[IndigoGolem]

Have to say that worldbuilding turned out to be my favourite element of creating original fiction. Not that it will ever amount to anything. Every attempt at cohesively summarising the world stops halfway because I keep thinking of new stuff to add. Even now I am suddenly revamping elements that have been stable for 10+ years because I can make it cooler. That makes it hard for me to even post a simple summary of the whole thing.

I've always wondered: Aside from wikis, story bibles, and the like, what are other, non-book format ways to share an original story?

I think writing a story is very different from writing a world. Stories are the best way to share a world (if not the most complete, but i think most people would prefer The Lord of the Rings to the Silmarillion). As for ways to share a story, animation has a lot of potential as a medium but is also a lot of work. Prose is probably the simplest option. I personally like comics. You get plenty of visuals to show off architecture and character designs but it's way simpler than animation. On the other side of comics from prose is just pictures of your world. If writing good prose sounds hard, you could try scripts. Instructions for characters and events instead of descriptions of the same.

On the subject of sharing worlds, i had an idea a while back for a Magic School Bus style series that explores and explains different parts of my world without being a wiki or full of questions that nobody in the world would ever think to ask because of what's normal there. That part probably doesn't answer your question though.

[Horsey Chobunso]

I've been working with a friend to make a horror game set in Appalachia, but it has inspired me to build my own world for a future low-fantasy work. It will still be based around Appalachia and the history of the mines, but I'm finding myself falling into pastiches of real world places and events rather than coming up with my own ideas inspired by them. Regardless, the mental exercise has been fun and I love when things just start flowing out of me.

[raven]

posting a reply so I can come back later

[raven]

I've been working with a friend to make a horror game set in Appalachia, but it has inspired me to build my own world for a future low-fantasy work. It will still be based around Appalachia and the history of the mines, but I'm finding myself falling into pastiches of real world places and events rather than coming up with my own ideas inspired by them. Regardless, the mental exercise has been fun and I love when things just start flowing out of me.

this is such a great idea. I love game dev as well & idk why it never occurred to me to start at worldbuilding vs character building.

also that flow state when you get in the groove is chef's kiss!