Cadden

From Star Wars: Exodus Visual Encyclopedia

Contents 1 A Nickname is Born 2 The Man Behind the Mask 3 Say What? 4 The Future 5 Favorite Sayings 6 Video Games 7 The Map Project

A Nickname is Born

Why Cadden Blackthorne, you might ask? What a very good question!

Cadden Blackthorne is the name of an Imperial Warlord/Grand Admiral character I made during the peak of my interest in Star Wars gaming, long before the invention of Star Wars Galaxies. Until the SWG community was made, he had only gone through some minor modifications, but his core personality had always remained the same. He was loosely based off of a mix between Grand Admirals Thrawn and Zaarin, but with my own personality thrown into it as well.

However, Cadden Blackthorne was not my original online nickname. The very first one I had, when I was first introduced to online Star Wars RPing, back at the height of Windows 3.1 (millennia ago!) was VaderBoy. Why? I dunno... my brother thought of it, and at the time I enjoyed it. Though, obviously, I literally outgrew that nickname as time passed on.

At any rate... the height of using my "Cadden Blackthorne" nickname was during my Star Wars gaming, when I made a group called the "Imperial Death Armada" (hey, if Star Wars can get away with cheesy names, so can I! :)), whereupon we had a whopping eight (or so) members. Yeah, needless to say, I think that only lasted about four months 'fore we fell apart.

Later, I took my nickname with me to the X-wing vs. TIE Fighter editing community (later to expand into X-wing Alliance) and made a few missions, and even started up my own editing group - which thereafter fell apart about a year later, with no real projects made. None of my original missions survived the several computer wipes and cleanups I've done since then, so no portfolio for you! Even though I'm not much in that community anymore, I still hold a name there, and from time to time people gotta ask where I am, so I pop in and say I'm not there (which is a major contradiction, but I enjoy those moments anyway) and pop back out.

When SWG was created, I was taking a look-see at what different things one could be. When I was sorely dissappointed that I would not be able to (effectively) transfer the Cadden Blackthorne that I made in-game, I decided to remake the character. And, so, taking one of my favorite characters of all-time, the infamous Boba Fett, I created a Fett-clone (little did I know how ironic that term would become) with some of my personality thrown into the mix, and began my RPing as a bounty hunter.

Of course, as the roleplaying community grew to need bounty hunters less and less, due to the sudden uprising of governments, I had to accomodate Cadden to slowly develop into who he is today. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Man Behind the Mask

Though some people have identified me under various terms - some less-appealing than others - I am still who I have always been. People see my less-appealing "side" and automatically make the huge mistake of assuming that's just who I am. Which, frankly, I don't give a damn (I love movie puns!), and generally I just shrug it off, saying, "That's your opinion of me, and nothing more." True, sometimes it can be accurate, but hey, like anyone in the Exodus community truly knows anyone else....

Anyhows... who am I? Well, aside from the info you see on that synopsis bit above, I'm also a fairly patient, ambitious individual who just wants to find his place in this busy world that we live in today. I often find it rather ironic that, out of all three of my career paths I have to choose from (one of which may not be available), it's fairly necessary that I receive at least a Bachelor's Degree in something. It's rather ironic 'cause college usually bores me to tears, and yet any one of my three career possibilities, well, wouldn't.

That being said, I'm a goal-focused individual. I look at the outcome, and I make steps to acheive it. Of course, life often gets in the way of plans, but nevertheless, I always try to achieve each of those steps to the ultimate prize, so-to-speak. Despite the fact it took me an extra year to do so (due to a brash decision in college - and major - changes), I graduated from my local community college with an Associate in Business, and my next step is to finish off with a Bachelor's Degree in Small Business Management/Entrepreneurship. Since October 2006, I've found myself changing schools once and degrees three times to keep up with life getting in the way. Until recently, I was to finish my degree in Information Technology, but the costs far outweighed the benefits in the short-run, and I was forced to change it to Entrepreneurship. I plan on, after I finish my Entrepreneurship degree, to take online classes to get a degree in Game and Simulation Programming. It's a more round-about way to achieve the same thing I was originally aiming for with the IT degree, but eventually things will work out on their own.

Say What?

I'm often a critical thinker, and a deep one at that. Not to mention I analyze the crap out of most stuff... but I can also fairly easily make decisions on the spot (though I'd prefer not to). And, often, if nothing else makes sense, I just follow my gut instinct - hasn't failed me yet!

I've tried oh-so-desperately to re-develop Cadden into something much closer to who I truly am, personality-wise, but so far it's become more and more of a challenge to do, just due to who he used to be. Should there be a board-wide reset some day, preferrably while I'm still around and actively RPing (should the board last that long), then I would immediately jump at the opportunity to make Cadden into a more closer-to-Steven character as I am capable of doing (without making RPing him a boring task :P).

The Future

Ah, yes, the topic of yesterday, the news of today... the product of tomorrow. Everyone thinks about it on a normal basis, whether they know it or not. What does the future have in store for me?

Video game production.

Yes, you heard me right. Video game production.

"But, Cadden, what happened to the military?"

Simply put, I realized I don't have the personality for the military. And, even if I had, I found that my true passion comes back on video games. If I didn't have such a strong passion and desire to design and develop games, then the military would have been an easy choice. And, perhaps of the two, it would have been a more reasonable choice, but I'm not too hot on choosing reason over passion. :)

I have several game ideas I want to see brought to life, and it's fairly obvious that nobody in their right mind would ever buy a game concept from somebody else. So, it's up to me to see them through.

Look out, entertainment industry... Cadden's coming!

Favorite Sayings

Current Quote

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible."

— Arthur C. Clarke

Favorite Quote

"Elizabeth Swan and Captain Jack Sparrow"

— {{{2}}}

Video Games

This, as you may know, is my pass-time. My hobby. My favorite leisure activity. I've played many, and look forward to playing many more. For your reading pleasure, here is a list of games I am currently working on:

• God of War II
• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• Spider-Man 3
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert
• Predator: Concrete Jungle
• Area 51
• Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
• Ninja Gaiden
• Shadow of the Colossus
• Revenge of the Sith
• AvP: Requiem
• The Witcher

Here is a list of my all-time favorites (my "top ten"). I have attempted to list these in order, but the list may be inaccurate as it needs updating:

1. God of War II
2. The Witcher
3. God of War
4. God of War: Chains of Olympus
5. Ninja Gaiden
6. Area 51
7. Knights of the Old Republic
8. Spider-Man 2
9. Batman Begins
10. Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast

Now... why did I add this section? Mostly because I've become a diehard God of War fan. And because I like video games. Deal with it. :P

The Map Project

Aside from the Visual Encyclopedia, I am making the huge contribution to the community by providing a new, completely made-over version of our MBT map, based off of Modi's map. This is a very big project, and has taken a long time to work on, and yet is still a WIP. Currently, there is no estimated completion date available.