Azure Lightstar

...if you start tracking time in "issues" vs months and years.

...if you only celebrate three holidays a year:
the Winter event.
the Halloween event.
the Valentine's event.

...if you white-out important birthdays, doctor appointments, and anniversaries from your calendar to make room to the Weekly Strike Target.

...if you stop paying your bills because in a few months a new currency will come along making the previous currency valueless.

...if you go out to a bar with friends, and ask "Are we just running to the back or is someone pulling them?"

...if you enter a bar and immediately assume it's a "co-op" zone for no reason.

...if you imagine throwing down caltrops to slow down your approaching boss whose going to give you an assignment to work on.

...if you refer to the popular guy/gal at the party as a mastermind and all their flunkies as pets.

...if you are jealous of people who do parkour, because they have ninja run and you don't.

...if you think sitting/standing in the lobby of your employer consitutes having a day job.

...if you need a vidmap to drive down the street in your own hometown.

...if you mistake a sprinkler head for an exploration badge.

...if you go on vacation and get upset that Rand McNally doesn't color code the scarier parts of town.

...if you petition your local transit authority to make all routes accessible from one stop because Paragon City and the Rogue Isles managed to do it.

...if you think it's a Nemesis plot that your cat took a dump in your bedroom because you're playing in trials for the last three months instead of cleaning out the litter box.

...If you think a night cap is a nocturnal Hooligan.

...if you stop defeating Mary MacComber after the 9th defeat, just so you can have a higher badges count.

...if you are mortaging your house to buy scratch-off lottery tickets to pay for VIP status and extra Paragon Points.

Congratulations.

Have a safe move.

We will look for you when you get back.

Congratulations.

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.

I have made the changes you suggested, and am pleased with the results.

I'm looking forward in trying out your arcs this week.

I'm finally done with the bulk of my reworked arc (it was originally titled A Silent Death). I published it today under a new title. If you have time, could you please run through it and give me your thoughts?

Thanks.

508100 (Kansas Anymore by @azure lightstar)

The game allows you to purchase 1, 2 or 5 slots for $5.99, $9.99, and $19.99 respectively...up to a maximum of eight slots per game account. Not sure if this will change with Paragon Points.

I too have run into the same problem. I think I have a great story, but I cannot get it to translate as well as I'd hoped in the design. Right now, I'm mostly bogged down with the character designs because of I'm picky about costume parts.

When starting your collaboration, it might help to give examples of arcs which you felt had good stories. That way, we can find out what you're interested in. Do you like having a Gothic-horror feel or something more swashbuckling instead? Do you want playful NPCs or very militaristic ones? Should the story have a heroic feel where the characters have a sense of duty as they are progressing through the arc, or do you want the story to be more of a downward spiral, where the characters descend deeper into depravity and larceny with each goal achieved?

I personally like heroic tragedies that are popular in Chinese martial art films or in some Japanese Anime. I love Gothic-horror but enjoy a good science fiction novel too. But mostly, I like anything with good characters (IE...I'm usually trying to right click on attackers for back story info while they're pounding their fists into me. hehe).

Collaborations are tough to do though. It requires that egos be left at the door. But when you have a good team, you get a synergy that's truly outrageous (wow, I can't believe I wrote that. I must be watching too much JEM on the HUB network lately).

~azure

I've been trying to take some color queues from new mission content that has been recently released (the Incarnate Trials, Mortimer Kal, tip missions, etc.).

One of the big changes I've made, which in fact has forced me to delete my arc entirely for a complete overhaul, was using text color to offset action vs. dialog in a window (I currently plan to use Orange text to denote "stage directions" and leave the "dialog" in its usual text color).

I personally have been using the highlight method, where you highlight the text that you want colored, right click, and select color and the color I want. This easily and automatically insert the tags that I want. I don't have to mess around with the HTML Color Wheel and the options available are what I'm guessing the developers most often use also.

I've noticed that in my testing, that this simple change with color really spiced up the story because I am able insert sections between the original dialog where the contact supposedly pauses to think about what you have discovered in the last mission. The contact then looks at you cautiously, as if to consider whether to let you continue with the next mission. And finally I go back to the dialog that was originally written asking you to help them out.

I realize that my post doesn't specifically talk about color conventions, except that maybe I recommend running through the new mission content. But it does talk about a good use of color. I agree with Lazarus (from earlier) that color should be used sparingly. It should also be consistent as well. If you use one convention on the first mission, be sure to use it on the second and third.

Will you be planning another one?

I stop at a Blockbuster Video Kiosk because there is an advertisement on the touchscreen for "rent 2, get one free rental". I pick my three videos, thinking it would be automatically handled. But don't get the third rental free, because I then learn that I need to use the "coupon code" that flashed at the bottom of the ad about 10 minutes ago.

Two words..."Nemesis Plot"

=(

-drools profusely-

=P~

Is there any interest in having another CoP trial in the future?

I realize that most people are trying to work on incarnate trials at the moment, but I remember how much fun I had doing the CoP. It would be nice to see if we could get one together in the near future.

Oh...I forgot. Look for characters with gold "Helper" titles above their names. They usually are willing to help you out with any stuff.

Also...Jump into Pocket-D. It is a safe zone so you don't have to worry about navigating through it and you will have access to a lot of people who are members of super groups. While you are there, inquire about "joining a super group". This will give you access to some nice base resources, a handy look-up for other members of your group, and a special chat where you can discretely ask questions and get advice about builds. Most groups have nights set aside to do things like character leveling or task forces.

Sorry for letting you guys down.

Real life demands hit me rather hard the last few months, and I pretty much dropped out of sight for a while. But I think I'm going to make a comeback. And I really don't want to this idea to die, so I'm going to try to work on getting something together some.

I love the ideas so far.

~azure

I've been offline a lot the last few months because of real life demands. I'm starting my comeback though.

I'm most likely participating in a trial when I'm logged in now, but I'd be willing to help you on your missions if you send me a tell. Just let me finish with the trial first. Hehe. I can even give you some pointers with my empathy too, as one of my favorite characters is a empathy/sonic.

Look for @azurelightstar.

I'm mostly on on Sundays now...but sometimes during the weeknights.