Discussion: Issue 14: Mission Architect - FAQ
By
8_Ball,
Posted on: 2009-02-26 13:02 in Developers' Corner
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- The Hall of Fame is where the best player rated content goes. To get to this rank you need to have over a 1000 votes with an average of 5 stars (we round up). Getting into the Hall of Fame changes your standing in the mission browser, moving it further up the cue.
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I have three questions:
1) How far do you round up? Is it 4.5 or higher = 5 stars?
2) Are you going to be correcting for weird human behavior like people who only give the minimum or maximum value, never give ratings above or below the midpoint, or rate every single arc the exact same value? There will likely be people that 1 star every arc they play because they want to do whatever they can to ensure that their own are ranked as highly as possible relative to everyone else's. There will be other people who 5 star everything just because they're nice people, or because they hope others will do the same. Hotornot.com at one time had a part in their faq about their rating system that described these kinds of issues (and that they were more common than you'd think), and claimed that they corrected for them.
3) Are you guys seriously psyched about this? Because you should be really, really proud of the fact that you're providing such an incredible feature that no other (currently operating) MMO has. (edit: bah. I'm wrong, Saga of Ryzom is apparently operating again. Still, it's an awesome feature that only ONE other MMO has!)
Please try my custom mission arcs!
Legacy of a Rogue (ID 459586, Entry for Dr. Aeon's Third Challenge)
Death for Dollars! (ID 1050)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare (ID 1218)
Win the Past, Own the Future (ID 1429)
Ahh, Exact, you've hit your quota!
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Are there any enemy factions that people would need to unlock to be able to use?
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Yes
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Is there a limit to how many AVs/EBs can be in a mission?
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Yes, the amount of spawn placements on the map.
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
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Is there a limit to how many AVs/EBs can be in a mission?
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Yes, the amount of spawn placements on the map.
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They can take these tickets to an Architect ticket vendor and redeem them for various in game rewards, such as enhancements, recipes and salvage.
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Yet *another* loot ticket/vendor/unlockable system? I love the rest of MA, this gets a big thumbs down.
http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/
Dang, oh well.
Hopefully someone else will ask the same questions as me!
Wow from what I have just read, it gives me hope that I can play my lv 50's for a good long while now...
You only fail if you give up. - Dana Scully
Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum - Nick Cave
We're not just destroyers, at the same time we can be saviors. - Allen Walker
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You can put pre-existing critters into custom villain groups
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So could we make a custom enemy group that is all pre-existing critters from various factions? Like have a group with Trolls, Circle, Council and Igneous critters (as long as they're in the same level range)?
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Can we save costumes from this editor? And how about saving whole villain groups for convenient swappage between, oh lets say SG mates for thematic nemesis groups?
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Yes
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will we get in-game support for emailing those files? or some other transfer system, like maybe a SG version of FileFront?
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Is there a Translucency option in case we wish to expand upon the Shadow Shard Reflections?
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No
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
I have a question that I think I can keep short and concise.
The Mission Architect appears to be limited to some kind of virtual reality propagated by Architect Entertainment. What is the "reality" impact of this? Does that mean that all missions we create are all locked within the AE building and essentially "not real?" Does that mean we can't pretend that the storyline we made is actually real, rather than just a work of fiction within fiction?
That could be both good and bad, I suppose. On the one hand, it kind of bugs me that my duel between my namesake hero and his signature villain won't be "real." On the other hand, then I don't have to worry about writing some stupid, impossible plot and have it disproved by canon because it's not "real."
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I've heard both the terms "unlock" and "purchase" used for "extra" content in the MA. Is the latter term just another way of saying unlockable, or will we actually have to BUY certain maps/items?
Also, if custom missions are shareable pre-publishing, there are unlocked items/maps within and the other player does not have said objects or maps unlocked, what happens? Will they be in a read-only state, able to edit but not add, or unable to do anything at all?
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The Mission Architect appears to be limited to some kind of virtual reality propagated by Architect Entertainment. What is the "reality" impact of this? Does that mean that all missions we create are all locked within the AE building and essentially "not real?" Does that mean we can't pretend that the storyline we made is actually real, rather than just a work of fiction within fiction?
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I was hoping it would be tied to Portal Corporation, and that mission creation would be explained in-game as "researching other dimensions".
Please try my custom mission arcs!
Legacy of a Rogue (ID 459586, Entry for Dr. Aeon's Third Challenge)
Death for Dollars! (ID 1050)
Dr. Duplicate's Dastardly Dare (ID 1218)
Win the Past, Own the Future (ID 1429)
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I have a question that I think I can keep short and concise.
The Mission Architect appears to be limited to some kind of virtual reality propagated by Architect Entertainment. What is the "reality" impact of this? Does that mean that all missions we create are all locked within the AE building and essentially "not real?"
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Yes. That's what it sounds like to me.
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Does that mean we can't pretend that the storyline we made is actually real, rather than just a work of fiction within fiction?
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How can they stop you from pretending?
Avatar: "Cheeky Jack O Lantern" by dimarie
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Is there a Translucency option in case we wish to expand upon the Shadow Shard Reflections?
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No
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I'm betting you'll be able to give stealth to custom NPCs though.
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They can take these tickets to an Architect ticket vendor and redeem them for various in game rewards, such as enhancements, recipes and salvage.
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Yet *another* loot ticket/vendor/unlockable system? I love the rest of MA, this gets a big thumbs down.
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Ok, seriously, if a signifigant portion of your players start playing MA missions, they start earning Pool A and Salvage drops like they earn Merits now. This system would then come with all the same drawbacks that we have seen so dramatically played out in the Market over the past few months. If tickets are like Merits for Pool A and Salvage drops, the market and whatever is in "store" for it (hopefully that wasn't a real hint about more stores coming, because we don't need this to become more store-like, that has been part of the problem recently.) could be impacted rather harshly.
Could we get some details about what will be able to be purchased. All Pool A recipes including Purples? Will there be a Random option like at the Merit Vendor?
Will ticket storage have the same kind of 9,999 limit like Merits?
Thanks for any and all answers, MA looks great, the tickets worry me a great deal.
Will the MA affect Defeat badges? If I make a mission with the Cabal, can a villian earn the defeat cabal badge?
Nemsis lv50 Inv/SS
Arch-Nemsis lv 50 SS/Inv
Can failed / successful mission arc in two different directions?
Has a choice been made if temp powers will be allowed to be issued, even if it last just as long as the mission does?
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How will level scaling work? Will every mission automatically scale to your current level (+ difficulty, team size, etc.) or will it be predetermined by the "architect"?
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This is complicated. Every critter has a level range where they are valid. When you make a mission, all of the level ranges must overlap at some point. If you are outside this level range when you go to play the mission you will be brought up or down to the level rang of the mission.
Example, I use critters A (1-54), B (34-45) and C (40-48). The level range of the mission is (40-45).
If I am level 5, I will play mission at level 40.
If I am level 50, I will play mission at level 45.
If I am level 42 I will play at level 42.
If I am level 5, but have set my difficulty to max, I will play at level 38.
Note: I said mission here, not arc, each mission has an independent level range.
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
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How can they stop you from pretending?
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Game lore to the contrary. When I say pretend, I don't mean plug up my ears and go "Lalalala! I can't hear you!" so much as I mean to take vaguely-defined or undefined game concepts and give them your own meaning. For instance, I can pretend I kill, maim or arrest my enemies, because "defeat" is ambiguous. If the system text said kill, I couldn't really pretend, now could I?
If the Mission Architect is set only in a virtual reality, what happens inside will be inherently not real thanks to the medium. The best we can hope for is a retelling of an assumed real event, but even that is a stretch.
Also, do we need to put our contacts inside the AE building? I was kind of hoping to plop them out on street corners, though I can see how that would be problematic.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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1) How far do you round up? Is it 4.5 or higher = 5 stars?
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I don't know
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2) Are you going to be correcting for weird human behavior like people who only give the minimum or maximum value, never give ratings above or below the midpoint, or rate every single arc the exact same value?
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Not yet.
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3) Are you guys seriously psyched about this?
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I'm crazy like Malaise o.0!
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
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So could we make a custom enemy group that is all pre-existing critters from various factions? Like have a group with Trolls, Circle, Council and Igneous critters (as long as they're in the same level range)?
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
pohsyb, you magnificent [censored], I love you.
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenth ur-
nuk!
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will we get in-game support for emailing those files? or some other transfer system, like maybe a SG version of FileFront?
[/ QUOTE ]
No
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
[ QUOTE ]
I have a question that I think I can keep short and concise.
The Mission Architect appears to be limited to some kind of virtual reality propagated by Architect Entertainment. What is the "reality" impact of this? Does that mean that all missions we create are all locked within the AE building and essentially "not real?" Does that mean we can't pretend that the storyline we made is actually real, rather than just a work of fiction within fiction?
That could be both good and bad, I suppose. On the one hand, it kind of bugs me that my duel between my namesake hero and his signature villain won't be "real." On the other hand, then I don't have to worry about writing some stupid, impossible plot and have it disproved by canon because it's not "real."
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Uhh...
"We all lose in the end, that is the intention" --Emanuel Lasker
How will level scaling work? Will every mission automatically scale to your current level (+ difficulty, team size, etc.) or will it be predetermined by the "architect"?