Darkfang

First I'll be making money. Then when I get home from that I'll roll my elec/elec dominator Loyalist - Praetorian of one of my alts. I might also roll my robot mastermind Resistance member. Then I might take a break to work on a Neverwinter mod, Then maybe I'll come back and see what I'll need to do to make my blaster a bad guy.

Not that I've thought any of this out...

Well, we know dynamically changing zones are possible. And they have shown interest in bringing old zones up to date in the past. Might be a good suggestion to send their way.

The event sounds very cool! If my wife and I can make it, we will. At the very least, I would hate to miss the costume contest.

On the subject of custom characters and their backstories, I'd like to add a little note for aspiring architects that these descriptions do not need to be long - and in most cases shouldn't be. So don't be intimidated by the prospect of writing the life story of every minion in your custom faction. All you really need is one good sentence explaining their specific role - anything the players really need to know about the faction itself should be explained in the arc.

Too true, Tangler. In my own submission I had two seperate outdoor boss battles that would spawn in some unreachable, unfindable location. Perhaps somewhere beneath the geometry of the map. Quitting and replaying would usually fix the problem, but that can be a pain when you're almost 4 out of 5 missions. Still, this is a problem far beyond the control of architects, so I wouldnt hold it against any authors if it happens.

Stupendously done, Minimalist! Can't wait to go play through it!

PW, thank you so much! That feedback is extraordinarily helpful, and (much like how you reviewed the arc) I wound up taking copious notes as I read along. I have plenty of ideas for how to improve Patriot Palace. I'm also glad to hear that you enjoyed the story, and once I've finalized it, I hope you'll give it another play - not for review, just to sit back and enjoy.

I would go point-for-point with you on things, but honestly I'd rather be editing, since reading the review got me pumped to get in there and work on stuff.

Woohoo, I'm next on the list! I should probably point out that, per some player feedback, I made some changes to Patriot Palace Massacre tonight. If you've already played it and are writing the review, I'll be interesting to see how my changes match up to your critique. If not, then it has been fine tuned just in time! Either way, I hope you find it enjoyable, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say.

Name: Good Magicians Never Reveal Their Secrets
Arc ID: 349413
Creator Global Name: @Darkfang

Synopsis - There is a rumor that the power of Paragon's M.A.G.I. organization hinges on a single secret. If an ambitious villain were to abduct one of its members and beat the truth out of them, this knowledge could be used to cripple the city's magical crimefighting populace.

Morality - Villainous
Level Range – 30-40
Keywords - Solo Friendly, Canon Related, Magical
Villain Groups – M.A.G.I. (custom), Paragon Police
Mission Count - 3

Care to take a look at the Patriot Palace Massacre? (#342403) Be brutal, I'm always looking to improve.

Is it so wrong that, and this has nothing to do with the architect at this point, I would love to see that play out as the climactic scene in a time travel action movie? Not that we're talking Oscar winning stuff here - or even sci-fi original movie quality stuff. I'd just like to see a protagonist/antagonist have an epic, strategy-based causality fight.

What can I say, sometimes I'm a sucker for stories where I can shut my brain off and just enjoy the pretty lights and sounds.

P.S. - and this might get put in some dev suggestion box at some point, but I would LOVE it if there was a way to set a boss encounter to act as an ambush. There would have been multiple situations I would have rather handled this way.

Grinning, that is some exellent feedback - some of the points I agreed with even before you said them. In almost every case, they are things I either wish I could have done differently, but the architect limitations forbade it, or things that, looking back, maybe I should have done differently, but was focused on using every element of the arc to tell the story. In those cases, I weighed the potential frustrations of gameplay against the emotional impact and plot development of the moment, and went for the latter. Next time, I am going to try harder to find the happy middle ground.

As for the idiot box and logical player character reaction to dialogue - yeah, you got me on that one. For the sake of telling the story I wanted to tell, and knowing that there is just no way to come up with a universally plausible story where the protagonist is any of a billion different character concepts, I came up with this mission statement: Tell my story, and rely on the player's suspension of disbelief if they are interested in seeing how the arc plays out. Because remember, ultimately (though this is not the reaction a designer would ideally want), the hero always has the option of saying "@#$% this, I'm going to the cops." - by quitting the arc. Again, not ideal, but in a program that allows no player dialogue options or mission branching, the choice is always "Choose to do this or go home."

Thanks for playing, and I'm sorry that game mechanics stood between you and the end of the story. If you ever feel like giving it another go just to see how it ends, you can even look me up, and if I'm available I will join you as a 'search party' assistant. But for now, just know that you're feedback will be directly responsible for some of my choices in the next arc I make.

Arc Name: The Rogue Raider
Arc ID: # 346852
Faction: Hero
Creator: @Darkfang
Difficulty Level: Balanced and written to be a thrilling challenge for the 20-29 range. You won't be asked to fight an EB without some help available to you, but if you want to play it safe, bring a friend. And fair warning: You can fail the last mission.
Faction: Arachnos, Longbow, Paragon Police, and a few surprises along the way
Synopsis: Paragon City will become ground zero for an international war unless a hero is willing to defy their ideology and help an infamous criminal that is defying his.
Estimated Time To Play: 1-2 hours, 5 missions.

Known issues:
* A few times, you will be expected to search a large outdoor map for a specific objective. I apologize for this, and while I realize it may be a turn-off to some players, conceptually there is nothing I can change. I made every attempt to keep it to a minimum.

* In the outdoor maps, rescued hostages just stand around after being rescued instead of fleeing to a nearby door, which in at least one case may cause a tiny bit of confusion. This seems to be a bug specific to the maps used, and I'm hoping they fix it in the future. In the meantime, if you have an objective that references a character, and you find a non-responsive version of that character, it is because that is the previous version you interacted with.

Looking for feedback - though I probably won't make any non-critical fixes until after the challenge has ended.

I think the Chronological wayfarers Bill S. Preston and Ted "Theodore" Logan handled causality loops quite sufficiently during their most bogus journey. So long as you have a reminder to go back and do something later, you will have gone back and done it, and it will be done. Just remind yourself after it is done that you need to go back and do it, and the Wyld Stallyns garbage can will be there to drop on the villain's head.

AAAAND my entry has been emailed. Spoilers - it IS the next great American novel, and I will not be making a cent off it, and I'm pretty okay with that (though in almost any other case, JailBird, I would be completely behind your sentiment.) And it has nothing to do with time travel, though if I could go back and do it all over again, it might.

It will bring you infinite riches and the adoration of the opposite sex? Wait a minute, no it won't. I have no idea. I just know I'm playing Death to Disco when I get home tonight.

Sounds like a new challenge has been set forth, people! After you're done Dr. Aeon's challenge, its time to set out and make a time travel story so amazing that Venture will play it.

....*facepalm* And this is what happens when you don't read the whole post before responding. Learn from me, people - learn from me.

Pick any of the 4 following, since I can't bring myself to pick just one.

* Will we see the addition of Epic ATs as custom character options?

* Are there any plans to introduce a selectable number of ambush waves, instead of the current single ambush?

* Are there plans to include the option of having civilians in missions, either as ambient bystanders or even as an enemy faction? 4 Loyalist models do not an angry mob make.

* Though I'm guessing this would just be WAY to impractical for the dev team and the average player, is there a hope in hades that we will ever be able to use cutscenes?

Love this idea, and I'm 3/5 of the way finished my first draft. I'm so stoked about the story that has developed around this idea that I am actually dusting off the word 'stoked' just for the occassion.

Well, if you'd be interested in checking out an attempt at the mystery genre, I'm pretty starved for feedback on my first serious stab at arc creation.

Arc Name: The Patriot Palace Massacre
Arc ID: 342403
Difficulty: Need input from playtesters
Ideal for: Solo, level 50 hero
Length: 5 missions
Description: A local supergroup was gruesomely slain in their own home, and it will take a Hero of the City to bring the killer to justice.

Just a reminder, tomorrow is my day at the NYCC . If you're attending, I will be seated at the DC Comics booth (the Zuda comics section) between 6-7PM. Just bring me a screenshot and I'll draw you a pretty picture.

Just a quick heads up - if you are attending the New York Comic Con on Saturday, April 19th, bring a screenshot. I will be seated at the DC Comics booth for at least part of the day. If you can find me (I'll be answering to Tony on that day, and I'll be the big guy promoting a "YULETIDE" webcomic), give me that screenshot, and if I don't have time to sketch something on the spot, I will take it home with me - but you'll definitely get free art out of it.

Now in PDF format

For those who were having a hard time with the hypercomics interface, here's the same comic in an easy-to-view pdf. I would have put this up sooner, but we just got our internet set up at our new apartment a few days ago.

THE GALACTO GUARD!

WEBSITE

PROMOTIONAL COMIC BOOK

In-game contacts:

Captain Galacto (@Darkfang)
Galacto Girl (@Ravenbane)
Solarkinetic (@Yusaku777)
Ruhkaruh

From planets across the stars, superpowerd champions have united under a common goal: the protection of all life from evil alien invaders! Led by the stellar powered Captain Galacto, these heroes travel from planet to planet, driving off the forces of evil, rallying entire races to their just cause, and protecting those who cannot protect themselves. A neverending quest which now brings them.... TO EARTH! They are the GALACTO GUARD!

((We are a golden-silver age, science fiction themed roleplay supergroup of space adventurers, aliens, robots, and the like. If your character has experience, or interest, in extraterrestrial and/or extradimensional affairs, and wants to join the ongoing battle against the likes of the Rikti and the Nictus, then sign up for the Galacto Guard today!))