DeviousMe

Well, by the definition of pirate, I coincidentally have a group - or an individual, depending on your point of view - that would fall into this category. It's a computer virus, which of course stages hostile incursions to steal booty in the form of data. It can be found in my first arc, #13220 - Welcome to Architect Entertainment.

Sounds fun. I'll definetely be entering #13220, 'Welcome to Architect Entertainment' into this. Even if I don't win any art prize, it'll at least result in someone hitting it the first day of live.

"That makes two of us." Johnny replied after gliding over to the coffee table again, motioning for Pax to come closer, "Pass that here, let me take a look at it. If it's stolen, I should be able to find out where it came from."

"Stolen?" Pik looked 'up' again, querying of Kia with a confused expression, "What did I miss?"

"Someone sent Mr. Winston over there a car part," the mountain dragon indicated the house's owner, Pik giving a 'hi, sorry to intrude like this' sort of wave as Kia went on, "and we're trying to figure out where it came from. That's Paxtera, a...time cop, I think, and that over there's a robot, which I'm pretty sure is busted. Oh, and yes: you did it again."

"Great." was the monosybillic reply, along with a sigh and rolled eyes, not to mention a depressed frown. That, however, disappeared when Kia gently pressed a kiss onto his forehead.

"Better?" she smiled in return to his, "Oh, and is Josh okay?"

"A little." Pik gave a slight nod, "And yeah, Josh is sexy."

The next instant, his palm had already smacked against his face, teeth grit. Kia and Sarah alike were of course already laughing loudly as the water dragon groaned while sitting up, "...yeah, he's fine. Juuust fine..."

Aye, I had to redo my custom groups because critters went all over the place too.

But everything's fixed now (or at least everything I could see), so since I lost all my ratings, I'd appreciate if people who played my arc before could tag it again as before - or play it again, considering I had to make some minor tweaks.

Well, my arc broke due to the most recent patch. Dang, there go all my ratings. It's now republished under ID #13220...with the spacing placeholder bug.

Well, my arc broke due to the most recent patch. Dang, there go all my ratings. It's now republished under ID #13220.

Well, my arc broke due to the most recent patch. Dang, there go all my ratings. It's now republished under ID #13220.

I think he means the first mission specifically, where Dr. Aeon sends you to beat down Requiem and the 5th Column just to show off that 'with this system, you can do anything' - which really is the main point of this arc: that with MA, you can do just about anything. I didn't present this as a 'tour' for no reason.

As for the AV - yeah, if you spawn that as an AV, it will indeed eat your lunch. For solo, I don't recommend it as more than an even-con EB. I designed that sucker for teams, and even made sure Dr. Aeon warns you (now updated in nice, yellow text).

Aye, that was Rebel. I keep starting it, but every time I do, something comes up, so I haven't been able to actually finish it.

Was wondering what had happened to you. Them's some mighty slick works.

"Maybe someone from the island brought a car here in your world's near future." Sarah offered up as a potential explanation, despite looking fairly unconvinced of this herself, with a look to Kia adding, "Though I wouldn't know who...none of us has one. Or plans to get one."

"Right." the mountain dragon nodded thoughtfully, "The only person with a car who's even remotely close to us is Blake - and he's a police officer. If he knew we came here, the first thing he'd do is yell us all into the ground."

"Or faint." Johnny mentioned with a snicker, "At least halfway. You guys remember how he reacted to Player the first time."

"That was only because Player almost crushed him and he wasn't getting any air." Sarah interjected sternly, then looked to the water dragon beside Kia, "While we're on the subject, how's Pik doing? He gonna wake up anytime soon?"

"Not sure." the mountain dragon looked to the red amphibian with a somewhat concerned expression, "I would've thought-"

A mild groan from the subject in question answered that much, his eyes gradually coming open with several slow, interspaced blinks.

"Hey there." he smiled as he saw Kia looking down at him, a smirk on her face now as well. A moment later though, his already vanished, Pik looking rather disappointed as he asked, "I did it again, didn't I...?"

((M'kay, I'm sorry, but I can't heep up with this pace. Gonna have to bow out. Have fun, guys.))

((Caldok, Dogma. Caldok. ))

"The impatient pessimist, are you?" the metal Tsaiv retorted distantly. If she'd bee able to raise an eyebrow, she would have, "Too bad. Fine. Who are you, and why do you not have SLI? Moreover, what do you want here?"

Her tone was calm and casual, as if this was some manner of business meeting, as if she wasn't worried one bit about what was to her a 3rd-generation cyborg currently in an armory full of highly destructive weaponry within arm's reach in virtually every direction.

And in fact, she wasn't.

The plasma weapons here required an SLI to operate. She may not have known who Egregore was, but since her attempt to scan his SLI just now had brought up that he lacked one, she did know the weapons would not function for him. Well, at least those that could actually do damage. The Steyr AUGs and other 'lighter' weaponry hadn't the capacity to harm her.

Of course, she didn't know he could teleport, not to mention call in his own weapons at will. This, however, she didn't need to know, the field whose job it was to axe this method of transportation very much encompassing de- and rematerialization. In other words, all he had on him at this moment really was all he had.

On the other hand, the Tsaiv was quite visibly unarmed - unless one chose to count that touchpad stylus as a weapon.

In any case though, ten seconds had passed...

--------------------

Max and crew weren't ones to be asked twice, hurrying after Valerie with due haste, neither knowing nor caring what she thought the robot was up to. She was from here. If she thought getting distance to the thing was good, then it was good, that was that...

--------------------

As Zeo fueled his spectacle, the elevator finally reached the detention block on level 57, the doors slid aside to reveal a pair of plain-uniformed guards standing there, both giving a start in surprise at what the cabin held.

"Meine Fresse!" the left declared with wide eyes, German accent thick as he switched back to English, "Is that...what is that...?"

--------------------

It didn't seem there was anyone else in the hospital in shape to talk to Vlasta at this point. Even Griffin was still out, and him the Tsaigon had really wanted to get a few words with in - not to mention War and Famine.

For now though, it looked like he'd just have to wait as well, and what was worse, actually do some work in the meantime. With a sigh, he gave a nod to Wolfgang, the metal Caldok following him out the doors that led to the State Weapons Factory's uppermost structure...

Nice.

Oh, and I turned the brothers onto this. They like it even more and ask for 'swiftly moar'.

At this point, the Sky Commander wasn't much interested in what had come off the driver, Arek's attention still visibly focused on the man himself, his intent to lift the man up by his collar and get the answers he desired...

--------------------

"A fairly...accurate comparison." grunted Drago from the table, trying to rise, but managing little more than a miniscule arch of his back. After a curt groan, he let out a huffed exhale, "Okay...so that doesn't work yet...what the heck did you flatfeet put into me...?"

The man turned his helmet-encased head to them with visible difficulty, going on as he once more tried to reach for his collar, "On second thought...I don't want to know. Just...help me get this can off..."

Can't. Test is down. I wanted to play Grey's and yours first thing this morning, but Blue Steel crashed in with his bold red text and told me 'no'.

I think I just swallowed my tongue. I got a dev choice!

*insert psychotic laughter here*

I know it's still in open beta, but I figured we should get this started now. Hopefully, we'll come across some gems and have a barrel of fun while diggin' for 'em. So please do drop some MA arcs in here for your fellow players of Infinity to enjoy, even if it's currently only on the test server.

I'd suggest a concise, general format that lets people know what to look for, and also for the poster to announce any details he/she might want known in order for feedback to be used to its full potential. For example:

MArc Title: Welcome to Architect Entertainment
MArc ID#: 4019
MArc Level Setting: All (recommend 8+, though)
# of Missions: 4
Length: 10-20 minutes
Synopsis: a tour of Architect Entertainment's system of limitless possibilities, brought to you by none other than the great Dr. Aeon himself. Of course, things aren't always what they seem.

I do hope I've caught your interest. If so, Dr. Aeon is eagerly expecting you. Going for a 5-star rating, so all feedback is appreciated, especially the sort suggesting improvements.

As far as I know, yes. I don't see any reason why not.

[ QUOTE ]
Spoilers Below

-Alrighty, the first mission seemed standard, but it had a cool twist, which I liked a lot.

-Second mission was pretty cool, especially with how Dr. Aeon was hiding.

-The Viruses in the next mission were challanging for a squishy like me. The incursions at the end of the mission were cool, but they spawned right around me, which almost killed me. The viruses with force powers made me remember why I play a scrapper.

-Liked the idea of collecting drones before fighting the EB.

Really cool concept. Good execution. Solid 4 of 5.

Also, thanks for the comment Poptart. I'll be expanding that arc. Watch out for Mysterious Circumstances: Redux!


I open the floor to anyone who'd like to post an arc.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the feedback. Quick question: what do you think I could improve to make it a 5?

Arc Name: Welcome to Architect Entertainment
Arc ID: 4019
Faction: 5th Column (Corrupted)
Creator Global/Forum Name: @Acid Zero/DeviousMe
Difficulty Level: Not sure (been told too easy to really hard ...medium?)
Synopsis: A tour of Architect Entertainment, presented to the player by Dr Aeon, is cast into chaos by an unexpected visitor.
Estimated Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Link to More Details or Feedback: Link

[ QUOTE ]
Arc: 'Small Fears'
Arc ID: 6528
Length: Medium
Missions: 3 (nothing major- medium is a fairly accurate description)

Description: No matter how happy your childhood, there are always a few corners of darkness, little pockets of black fear that every child knows. And now those shadows are expanding. Something is clawing out of the lost childhood of Paragon. Are you ready? Ready to confront the forgotten fears of the nursery?

((It's a horror-themed arc; I really have no idea why that popped out of my brain, but it did; feel free to absolutely savage it, since horror is way outside my normal purview, and it's open to question whether or not I have the faintest clue what I'm doing with it :/))

[/ QUOTE ]
Definetely better than its last installments, even getting mildly creepy. Mission objective text is way wordy and would be much better placed in clues and contact dialogue, but it's without a doubt getting better.

Mother Mayhem suddenly coming back after just being beaten down in another universe is also a little...loosely plausible. It'd be much better if she showed up with either another Praetorian at her side or at least a bunch of her group.

Okay then, here's mine:

Arc:

'Welcome to Architect Entertainment'
Arc ID: 4019
Length: 'Long'
Missions: 4

Description: A tour of Architect Entertainment, presented provided by none other than Doctor Thaddeus Aeon AQSA

Well, I'd add to this now:

Likely Enemies, Unlikely Allies

To Hell and Back

..but the second one crashed and disappeared on me, so we'll have to wait until it comes back.

((Well, I suppose I'm able to move. ))

The cyborg did indeed not notice, running her stylus down the shelves, placing a tic on the touchpad in her other hand as Egregore began his improvised report. She did listen carefully, but thankfully not closely enough to note the pop of air accompanying his departure teleportation.

The guessing, however, she did.

"Nice to hear at least some things still run as they should." the metal Tsaiv replied casually, placing another tic on the pad after reading of a shelf number, having run the stylus along it, "Everywhere I look today, one mess after the other."

In other words, she gave no indication she'd noticed anything. Well, at least not to Egregore, or vocally for that matter. She didn't know who this guy was, ergo it was probably best to find out, and if she confronted him with it right now, he might flee or fight. Neither action was very conductive to an exchange of information. So instead, she did nothing but send out an infinitesimally miniscule code signal.

On the surface, in front of the main research building of the institute, there stood about two dozen CANINE units (give or take), standing motionless like iron watchdogs with legs slightly bent, their crimson lenses unblinking, just as static as the rest of their frames.

E. Korovinova: Security breached.

Like something straight out of 'I, Robot', all at once the formation rose just a tad, coming to attention at the cyborg's signal from below. They turned about-face with mechanical precision, then set course for the building's entryway, glass doors missing, and subsequently the elevator shaft. Undeterred by the sheer vertical drop, the machines began to climb down the shaft walls like four-legged spiders, limbs moving two by two, always having a secure grip.

As this took place, the rest of the facility responded as well. The armory door behind Egregore slammed shut and locked with a series of loud clacks, the system doing what it could to try and achieve a lockdown state on the intruder - including routing power to equipment that axed teleportations.

"Security should be on its way." the Tsaiv woman told Egregore as she rose, touchpad and stylus in her hands before her, not wishing to appear hostile by entering some manner of defensive stance, "In the meantime, how about we have a talk...?"

Okay, title is too long to add 'Feedback', so I'll just put it here. Anyway, the comments thus far received have been very informative, and I want to thank the people that took the time to get their opinions to me.

That said, I really want to make this a fun arc for a great many people, and for that I'm going to need a lot more feedback. So for anyone with an interest in things that turn out very differently than what they first seem, please give Welcome to Architect Entertainment a look - even if it's just to hear Dr. Aeon ramble.