Can anybody tell me the story behind Frozen Heart for EVO. It came out before I got Nova and has disappeared from the web. I tried to find it but couldn't and nobody seems to have it. I just want to know what happens in the plugin because every source tells me that it was very well written.

I'd tell you if I understood it myself. I found it very confusing, possibly because I didn't fully understand the background. But then, I never did find anything explaining the background, anyway. Furthermore, the ships and weapons, for the most part, seemed to simply be adaptations of EVC's ships and weapons with a few one or two new ships/weapons/outfits thrown in for flavor... dull flavor.

Bottom line, I found it confusing and unappealing.

Doing a Google search (of "Martin Turner" "Frozen Heart") churns up a result that seems to have the entire novel in .txt… Not sure whether permission was given to distribute it, so I'm not linking to it, but you can read the entire thing there.

Got it. Thanks.

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Jul 18 2010, 09:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Furthermore, the ships and weapons, for the most part, seemed to simply be adaptations of EVC's ships and weapons with a few one or two new ships/weapons/outfits thrown in for flavor... dull flavor.

The Frozen Heart was much more strongly based on a single character and story than most plug-ins are; there was an expectation that you would have a fairly specific type of ship relatively early on, and so Martin Turner didn't need to provide a large number of other ships and weapons. Certainly this isn't what most people expect, but it's a question of genre expectations rather than quality, and it is sort of inherent in the idea of a plug-in based on a novel.

The Frozen Heart novel was indeed written by Martin Turner (the author of the plug), and I enjoyed the read (having played the plug-in a long time ago. Man, I wish I still had that old mac to replay it). It was freely distributed back when I read it, although I don't know if that's changed. However, "Fallen Angel" is a graphic novel set in a very similar universe (I can't remember if it's the same cannon as FH, but it's at least very EV-esque).

You can read it on his home page here:
http://martinturner.org.uk/2005/08/22/crea...-graphic-novel/
(I don't have any qualms about linking that)

You can download the plug-in for EVO here, listed as the FrozenHeart104.sit file. I actually liked the plug-in and its sequel: Femme Fatale, available as an old Macintosh .sea file a few entries down. You can run it through SpacePort for use in EVN. Speaking of which, I have version 1.2.0 rather than 1.1.1, widely reported to be the latest version. I just can't remember where I got it. Google has failed me. Worthy of note is that these were good enough to make it on a MacAddict CD that I have from 1999.

Okay, now that I think about it some more, it was in orcaloverbri9's signature years ago. A post I dug up says that there is no download link anymore because he exceeded his bandwidth and something about his host not liking him anymore (here). The closest link I could find is here, albeit dead. If I recall correctly, 1.1.1 was broken in Mac OS 10.3.4. If orca is still around and wouldn't mind my sharing it, I could upload it to the Nova addon pages.

Regarding Fallen Angel: I have not read the Frozen Heart book, but I have played the plugs several times. The first couple pages of FA revealed a planet that I was not at all familiar with. I highly suspect that it is a separate universe.

QUOTE (gavin83209 @ Aug 3 2010, 07:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Regarding Fallen Angel: I have not read the Frozen Heart book, but I have played the plugs several times. The first couple pages of FA revealed a planet that I was not at all familiar with. I highly suspect that it is a separate universe.

No, it seems to be set in the same universe, alright. There are too many implicit references to people, events, and even the Rift B ruins in the graphic novel from the plug-ins not to be. There's even an eerily familliar system map in the graphic novel (albiet, one that seems to have several additional systems tacked on).

From what I know of The Frozen Heart universe (less well known by its official name as the 'E3 Universe'), civilization has risen and fallen several times already. By the point of Frozen Heart and Femme Fatale, humanity has long since undergone at least three "Galactic Conflicts", a "Great Collapse" of intersteller civization, and is just starting to get back on its feet under the auspice of a new technological reniassance. Old colonies, abandoned or otherwise, being rediscovered is not at all uncommon, and given the way that hyperspace works its not unlikely that a great deal of systems are successfully kept off the 'public' star charts.

Considering that Fallen Angel occurs some years after The Frozen Heart and Femme Fatale, new ships and planets do not at all surprise me.

Yes, they are all in the same universe.

The original Frozen Heart novel was written 22 years ago when I was 22, and the plugin came out in 1997. The original novel is rather short — more of a novella than a novel, and I never submitted it to a publisher. I have a much more complete version in planning. If there's interest in it I may try to complete it over the summer.

Fallen Angel took about a month to write, and it is set around the sister of one of the characters in Frozen Heart. There's a sequel to Fallen Angel, but it's still sitting on my Mac.

If you're interested, I have a complete novel available on iBooks / Kindle / others. It's fantasy rather than SF. You may like it: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16448 You can download and read the first 1/5th for free.

Hope this helps.

QUOTE (Martin Turner @ Aug 4 2010, 04:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a sequel to Fallen Angel, but it's still sitting on my Mac.

I for one would very much like to see this.