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Underappreciated Spec?; A celebration of projects you might not have heard of
Topic Started: Aug 4 2016, 05:29 PM (6,786 Views)
Zorcuspine
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Sheatheria, Diyu, The Future is Far, Ilion. These are all projects everyone knows and loves, made by prominent members such as Sheather and Malicious Monkey. But for every project that generates a ton of buzz, there are plenty that get overlooked. Many are understandably avoided because they are of very low quality, but there are also passionate and well thought out projects that for whatever reason just don't get the appreciation they deserve. Perhaps it is due to a lack of illustrations, or being about a subject that at first glance seems cliche or boring, or perhaps the person who made it dosen't have enough prestige behind the name to pick up momentum. So I have decided to make a thread for us to point out projects that are interesting but not fully appreciated, so that lesser known creators can get the recognition they deserve.

Now before we start, I'd like to set up a few simple ground rules & guidelines for this thread;
1. No self promotion! This is the big one here, this thread was made so that people can talk about what they like of others projects, not to boost their own egos.
2. Stick to projects that are at least partially on the forum. If there is supplementary material on deviantart of another website by all means post it, but the projects themselves should be ones created by members of this forum.
3. There is no age limit to the projects you post here. If the project was last updated in 2008, it is no less valid an entry to this thread than an active project, though the latter would certainly be appreciated.
3. I may add additional rules & guidelines to this thread if neccessary.

With that out of the way, let's begin!


One project I think is overlooked is Forbidden3's Kerguelen: A Relic of a Kingdom Lost. It is about a hypothetical microcontinent arising on the sunken Kerguelen Plateau 40 million years in the future. It makes good use of invasive species humans have brought to the Kerguelen Islands, as well as later migrants that would inevitably arrive to the newly formed landmass.
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Dapper Man
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Hmm... I think that Rodlox's Marsupialess Australia is a bit underrated/underappreciated (It is about what Australia would look like without the predominant Marsupials, and there is quite a bit of novel ideas in it.)
Edited by Dapper Man, Aug 4 2016, 05:34 PM.
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Dr Nitwhite
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Beetleboy's stuff is of pretty high quality, and probably deserves a little more recognition. So does Ebervalius's Sirens. Perhaps they aren't updated quite frequently enough.
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LittleLazyLass
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Canis Lupis' Future of the Kinds was always one of my favorites, even back as a lurker. Something about the writing style, I think. Only ever got a few updates, and of those they aren't all even about the same timeline, but what is there is of good quality, IMO.
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malicious-monkey
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Zerraspace's projects could use more love, and Veles. Zealandia also doesn't get as much attention as it merits, but has a steady following at least.
"My recommendation would be to just draw things now and draw good things later." - Nanotyranus

Ilion: an illustrated tour of a tidally locked planet
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malicious-monkey.deviantart.com
sunriseonilion.wordpress.com
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Dragonthunders
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Forbidden3 projects have been pretty nices, even without or with low pieces of art, his ideas, concepts and content are really incredible. Just like Unfamiliar Worlds, Tardigradus and Walking with the future which were quite inspiratory, also its actual project of future evolution Ao-oni and alt evo as Zorc mentioned, Kerguelen.

There is also a good xenobiology project made by the user Oceanus called Tavotrio, I am surprised that this project has been forgotten (But thinking well is for the lack of updates)
Projects

"Active" projects

The Future is Far
Welcome to the next chapters of the evolution of life on earth, travel the across the earth on a journey that goes beyond the limits, a billion years of future history in the making.

The SE giants project
Wonder what is the big of the big on speculative evolution? no problem, here is the answer

Coming one day
Age of Mankind
Humanity fate and its possible finals.

The Long Cosmic Journey
The history outside our world.

The alternative paths
The multiverse, the final frontier...

Holocene park: Welcome to the biggest adventure of the last 215 million years, where the age of mammals comes to life again!
Cambrian mars: An interesting experiment on an unprecedented scale, the life of a particular and important period in the history of our planet, the cambric life, has been transported to a terraformed and habitable mars in an alternative past.
Two different paths, two different worlds, but same life and same weirdness.




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Finncredibad
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I think this one is pretty cool.
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/611785/1/
What if our fish ancestors took to the air? This project tried to ansawer that, but people just kinda shrugged it off.
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Nyarlathotep
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LittleIslander
Aug 4 2016, 06:03 PM
Canis Lupis' Future of the Kinds was always one of my favorites, even back as a lurker. Something about the writing style, I think. Only ever got a few updates, and of those they aren't all even about the same timeline, but what is there is of good quality, IMO.
Canis was one of my biggest influences here too back in the day, I was so happy when me and Jasonguppy got to adopt one of his projects.

Underrated projects IMHO include stuff like Zealandia (well it's not obscure, but still), the various Admantium projects, the old 'Gramezoic (even f it needs a plausibility reform majorly), Lemuria, and Akurian's posthuman projects. I know all of those were or are fairly popular, but definitely not in the league of the OP's mentions (apart from my own one, and thanks :))
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trex841
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My Preferences are filled with these that I wanted to keep on hand (Might need to add this Topic to the list as well.). Lets see here..

Lost Continents of Gondwana, by DValtron. There weren't many updates, but the ones we got were so thorough that it caught my eye instantly.

Natural History of Horus, by Dromaeosaurus. The discovery and exploration of an alien world during the 1860's. Gives the whole thing a magnificent feel I can't get enough of.

Galactic Anthropology, Again by Dromaeosaurus. A look into alien minds and culture compared to our own. Simple, but highly enjoyably.

Eighty Thousand, its Redux, and the in canon Mwodonis, by Blue Jay. A realistic take on a universe filled with life and thought.

I got more, but I'm not sure how known or unknown they are, and some may skirt the line of spec. But I could just add them later. ^_^
F.I.N.D.R Field Incident Logs
A comprehensive list of all organisms, artifacts, and alternative worlds encountered by the foundation team.

At the present time, concepts within are inconsistent and ever shifting.

(And this is just the spec related stuff)
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Beetleboy
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Dr Nitwhite
Aug 4 2016, 05:36 PM
Beetleboy's stuff is of pretty high quality, and probably deserves a little more recognition. So does Ebervalius's Sirens. Perhaps they aren't updated quite frequently enough.
Thanks!
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Zerraspace
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I know why Zainter doesn't count among the big names: I'm not nearly as prolific as the major speccers, I'm not nearly as good an artist and rely wholly on lineart, I'm not sociable and hence do not actively engage other members and projects that would gather more active interest or at least get people talking, and I lack charm, as my creatures are presented as designs, creations and principles, not breathing entities or stories. Funny that should be, given that Zainter was born out of an attempt at a children's novel, a novel that may be said to be in much the same state.

It's not a lack of recognition, though I appreciate the mention, malicious-monkey. I am responsible. What I do not give, I do not receive.
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Finncredibad
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This project seems kinda interesting
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/815399/3/#new
What if life on earth was like lol fe on Snaiad? All vertebrates have two heads.
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Dragonthunders
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That topic seems more a type of discussion rather than a project in my opinion, only with 3 pages and little development.
That makes me ask: we have to add also topic of ideas of little development but interesting and really creative concepts or not? I say this because it seems that in this topic we recognize the good work and dedication on projects and people who have done a great job.
Projects

"Active" projects

The Future is Far
Welcome to the next chapters of the evolution of life on earth, travel the across the earth on a journey that goes beyond the limits, a billion years of future history in the making.

The SE giants project
Wonder what is the big of the big on speculative evolution? no problem, here is the answer

Coming one day
Age of Mankind
Humanity fate and its possible finals.

The Long Cosmic Journey
The history outside our world.

The alternative paths
The multiverse, the final frontier...

Holocene park: Welcome to the biggest adventure of the last 215 million years, where the age of mammals comes to life again!
Cambrian mars: An interesting experiment on an unprecedented scale, the life of a particular and important period in the history of our planet, the cambric life, has been transported to a terraformed and habitable mars in an alternative past.
Two different paths, two different worlds, but same life and same weirdness.




My deviantart


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malicious-monkey
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I was sad when Horus went inactive.

It is true that it takes more than good concepts to capture an audience. There needs to be something to relate to, something that makes it feel like more than just reading a textbook, illustrated or not.
"My recommendation would be to just draw things now and draw good things later." - Nanotyranus

Ilion: an illustrated tour of a tidally locked planet
Spoiler: click to toggle

malicious-monkey.deviantart.com
sunriseonilion.wordpress.com
supermalmoworld.tumblr.com
Redbubble - Ilion art prints and more
Commissions are OPEN
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trex841
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And some of us sadly do not seem to have the capacity to produce such a hook, no matter how hard we try.
F.I.N.D.R Field Incident Logs
A comprehensive list of all organisms, artifacts, and alternative worlds encountered by the foundation team.

At the present time, concepts within are inconsistent and ever shifting.

(And this is just the spec related stuff)
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