Discussion: Issue 14: Mission Architect - FAQ

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<snip>My third concern is that if I ever did make an arc that ascended to the MA heavens it could never be part of the real world of CoH/CoV. It will always be limited to AE, at least till the situation regarding zone-to-map transitions is addressed.

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I believe it has been hinted at very strongly that there is a chance that some arcs may be canonized into the mythos.

--Rad

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I understand we can't edit existing villain groups powers. But can we at least alter their appearance, or colors?

IE: I want a black and red PPD Hardsuit. And I'd like a big pink warwolf for my GF.

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Pohsyb answered this back on the first page of this thread.

(And the answer was no.)

If i make my own story arc while sitting at home pantsless...will that earn me the "creepy" badge?

Hmmm, if any Dev is still around, how is failing a mission handled?

Does the arc carry on as normal or does it end or can you choose?
I also assume you can write text for a "fail" situation (I noticed one text box called "Return Success Dialogue" but not "Return Failure Dialogue"... although I'd guess by having one marked "Success" it probably means there is a "Failure" too, it's just not in the image.

Finally, Souvenirs... are they in? I've heard rumours but it hasn't been confirmed yet.

Also, if they are in, is it possible to write up a "failed" version of the Story arc, or will we have to describe events rather neutrally to make sure we don't conflict with what actually happened

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If i make my own story arc while sitting at home pantsless...will that earn me the "creepy" badge?

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Isn't that the "Hickman's Pal" badge?

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I understand we can't edit existing villain groups powers. But can we at least alter their appearance, or colors?

IE: I want a black and red PPD Hardsuit. And I'd like a big pink warwolf for my GF.

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Pohsyb answered this back on the first page of this thread.

(And the answer was no.)

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah. The existing NPCs use a completely different character model than the player characters, so our character editor won't work on them. We can, as I recall, give them different powers, but they might not have the appropriate animation for the new power - you'll just have to test to see what looks right on them.

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I'm hoping that the "Turn into Warwolf" power is really a "Turn into <insert MOB>" power.

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If it's truly open, it would be awesome. "Quick, Sereni! You're being beaten senseless! Turn into Sailor Lune!" "Right!" (Boss becomes Elite Boss in a leotard and miniskirt.)

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Like [Nightwolf_Lt_Transform.Lycanthropy] or [Nightwolf_Boss_Transform.Lycanthropy]

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I understand we can't edit existing villain groups powers. But can we at least alter their appearance, or colors?

IE: I want a black and red PPD Hardsuit. And I'd like a big pink warwolf for my GF.

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Pohsyb answered this back on the first page of this thread.

(And the answer was no.)

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah. The existing NPCs use a completely different character model than the player characters, so our character editor won't work on them. We can, as I recall, give them different powers, but they might not have the appropriate animation for the new power - you'll just have to test to see what looks right on them.

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More likely you'll have to settle for creating as close to the mob you intend to be like as possible with the current character creator, and then give it a custom powerset.


My thought on the rating system: I like setting the bar high for getting the special ratings. If it wasn't high enough, it would cheapen the concept, and you might as well not even bother having it. I imagine there'll be plenty of threads generated in the various server forums, (or maybe even a separate MA content Forum....hint, hint... ) that could point out all the worthy player created arcs that need to be played. Once the word gets around, those arcs that are truly worthy will get their recognition, and it probably won't take long for some of them to hit the 1000 ratings mark.

(qr)

To encourage people playing and rating arcs with few or no ratings, there should be badges for doing so; things like "Be one of the first x# people to play and rate and arc, #y times".

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Once the word gets around, those arcs that are truly worthy will get their recognition, and it probably won't take long for some of them to hit the 1000 ratings mark.

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The thing is -- I'm going to feel conflicted every time I rate a mission, assuming I liked it at all.

Do I hold out five stars for absolutely superior story arcs? Even though I thought an arc was fun and enjoyable and certainly worthy? Or do I pass them out like candy to anything I think might be cool as a permanent arc?

If 5000 people rank my story at 4 stars -- ostensibly "well above average," do I pull it down as a failure and try to find something that'll do better?

If the Hall of Fame becomes full of 5 star missions that have pop culture references and lots of goofy humor, and I want to write darker stories and really bust myself to make things that are compelling, but disturbing... do I put my instincts on hold and do something the crowd will like instead? Or just pray that in the thousands of story arcs that filter through, a Dev happens to play mine? (Honestly, I'm seeing Developer's Choice as an unrealistic goal -- they have only so much time in the day, plus they have actual jobs and actual lives. If it ever happens that's fantastic, but it's a mug's game to try and catch that lightning in a bottle).

I'd like other ways to get slots open. I want to see a large number of tickets be redeemable for a new slot (among other things, because that reinforces the system -- encouraging me to play other people's content). Hell, I'd be fine dropping twenty bucks per arc slot. If I have something that's averaging 3-4 stars, I don't want to feel like I have to kill it because I'm not as good or popular as someone else but I actually have other stories I'd like to tell.

The limited number of slots is pretty much the only thing I'm unhappy about. I'm thinking of workarounds, but I'm going to feel really stupid if I end up dual boxing just so I can have six active mission arcs instead of three.

On the rating system, we could modify the Hall of Fame part by adding another button for rating, which could be called, Nominate Mission/Arc (Unlimited Nominations). Monthly the game would count the Nominations. Then, the top ten of these would be listed on a front page type thing on the menu of the MA when you go to play. These top ten would, for a month, be voted upon for the Hall of Fame, with one vote being allowed per account. The one with the highest votes would be put into the Hall of Fame, in a slot of a month, (Example, March 2009). This would eliminate any possibility of the Hall of Fame being swamped with things that may not deserve it, make it so that a few people wouldn't throw it off, and organize it better as well. At the same point that the new Hall of Fame mission is inducted, the new voting process, (Not nominations, as they would have been done during the previous voting session), will begin. All in all, simple, and easy to implement, while effective.

On a sidenote, we could change it to weekly if we'd like the Hall of Fame to be larger. Missions/Arcs staying in the running as long as they're up for Hall of Fame if they're not already in no matter what would be better in my mind, but the devs can change things around if they were to implement it.

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Do I hold out five stars for absolutely superior story arcs? Even though I thought an arc was fun and enjoyable and certainly worthy? Or do I pass them out like candy to anything I think might be cool as a permanent arc?


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Do I even bother trying to get story worth of a hall of fame or devs' choice award? Are there any other rewards other than getting my story arc a promotion? If that's all there is to it, then I'll probably stick to creating rapidly cycling story arcs for my characters, and not worry about the ratings.

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Do I even bother trying to get story worth of a hall of fame or devs' choice award? Are there any other rewards other than getting my story arc a promotion? If that's all there is to it, then I'll probably stick to creating rapidly cycling story arcs for my characters, and not worry about the ratings.

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It wouldn't surprise me if there were badges involved, but that's not my interest.

I want to build. Among other things, I want to build on the foundations I set up in the first place. If I create a new enemy group with a story arc, I don't want to have to remove that story arc that creates and establishes them to have room to post a story arc that develops their story. At the same time, I don't only want to tell stories about that villain group.

Heck, before these things were even announced, I actively outlined five story arcs I wanted to do if at all possible. And sure, I can build them, but I don't want to spend a week building a story arc that then I wait to see if maybe -- just maybe -- the three I have up will promote.

I don't know. Three just seems way too few to me. Five, maybe. Seven would be plenty. But three?

I am totally geeked about this!

and the cascading event triggers made me happy in my pants!

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If the Hall of Fame becomes full of 5 star missions that have pop culture references and lots of goofy humor, and I want to write darker stories and really bust myself to make things that are compelling, but disturbing... do I put my instincts on hold and do something the crowd will like instead?

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No, it's not a good idea to write what you think the audience will like. Write the story that you're happy with. If it doesn't get into the Hall of Fame, oh well.

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No, it's not a good idea to write what you think the audience will like. Write the story that you're happy with. If it doesn't get into the Hall of Fame, oh well.

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I concur, bear in mind. At the same time, there's something potentially wrong with a system that rewards the tyranny of the masses without making allowances for those who might have more specialized appeal.

I'm working on a set of storylines involving my main's ninja orgianization, The Poisoned Fist ninja clan. One thing I'd like to do is a set of storylines for heroes, and a set of storylines for villains. Each with different reasons for encountering said group. I'd like to do this for a bunch of level ranges. Let's say a pair (hero/villain) for low levels, a pair for mid levels, and a pair for high levels where they actually encounter the leader of the Poisoned Fist, Poison Bloom herself. Maybe several encounters, ending with an AV fight against her. She has after all proven her capabilities by dropping multiple members of the Freedom Phalanx and the group the Vindicators, as well as taking out Lord Recluse himself. If she's done that, she by all rights SHOULD be an AV in the final encounter. That's my thought anyway.

This is probably a silly question but will there be an offline tool or method to build missions? Since we are saving the missions that we are working on to our local hard disk is there any way we can work on them while we are not connected to the game?

Even if its limited to scripting, being able to do some of it offline away from the game, would be a QoL thing for me.

Since they say that a decent mission arc is to take a day or so to make, I'd like to split that up when I have a chance between gaming sessions... offline.

Shader.

Hi,
It would be a nice touch if your personal items you add to your base, could be added in missions too.
I mean only simple things, like gun and knife cases.

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Ok, dumb question (forgive me if this has been asked before):

Are all the mission arcs that are "published" going to be available to the entire community or will you be able to create mission arcs that are more isolated (for SG events, RP stories, etc)?

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As was said in . . . one of these threads somewhere, a red name said that unpublished arcs can be run by those teamed up with the creator thereof in "testing" mode. No rewards awarded (exp, inf, or tickets) but it might work out decently for RP stories.

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I don't know. Three just seems way too few to me. Five, maybe. Seven would be plenty. But three?



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By the time most folks have gotten around to having to worry about the small amount of arcs they can have, most likely the number will have been raised.*** I want there to be relatively few HoF worthy arcs. I don't want to play through half of the HoF list and say to myself "Meh...the load I left in the toilet this morning could write better." I hope the Dev's Choice arcs are an equally small list. Maybe not "Bug Hunter" small, but it should be a bit exclusive.


*** I realize the prolific writers amongst the playerbase will easily fill up their three slots. I say to that "Be self-critical when you decide which ones to post." Give a few a test run before you leave them on there, especially if there's a way to save them after you pull them off the live list.

I hope you can play mission arcs without publishing them. Like if you want a SG mission arc that you don't want to be published because it won't fit in the great scheme of CoH. But it'll fit an RP Storyline.

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I hope you can play mission arcs without publishing them. Like if you want a SG mission arc that you don't want to be published because it won't fit in the great scheme of CoH. But it'll fit an RP Storyline.

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If it's published, the SG enters the arc, and then it's unpublished immediately apparently the players can finish the arc. Doing it that way means your RP group gets experience and rewards, which if you're only developing your group in the MA would be an important and needful thing.

So-

I have a hero that's wants to access a arc written by someone- but he contact is TV- How would I get my hero to Grandville to contact TV?

Or is the contact also something that is "there" when you access the MA Arc?

Would be a nice way to finally implement cross faction missions.

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Will the MA affect Defeat badges? If I make a mission with the Cabal, can a villian earn the defeat cabal badge?

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No, No.

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Sorry pohsyb, but you just killed any interest I had in the MA.

It was the perfect opportunity to fix several mistakes and oversights re: Defeat Badges, but now? Meh. No real interest in it. That's not to say I don't recognize and appreciate the fact that a LOT of work has went into it, but two steps forward, one back IMO.