cranebump

To Dream of Nothing [ID: ] by @Zaphir This L20-29 heroic arc has you helping out Mel Gibs-, I mean Detective Martins on a missing scientist case (because in the world of superheroing, only scientists count!). Kidding there, of course. Tracklash, my obligatory “Sure, I’ll try a regen scrapper [omg...what have I done?]" is all too happy to help (esp. Since Crane has sidelined him at L46 for, like, a gillion days). We dive in to discover: BAD GUYS ARE INVOLVED! Who knew? (We did. We most certainly did. It’s like it was planned that way).:-) But, yes - bad guys. Who? I’ll give you one clue: FREEEEEEEM! Yup. THOSE guys. Oh, we ‘ve got some Family involvement here. But mainly, it’s everyone’s favorite fascists, embroiled in a complex little story that is well-paced, with great clues, nice details, a great deal of mandatory “Council-ing,” Nicti, a professor in over his head, an enigmatic something known as "the Voice," and... And that’s all I’ll say on story, because you should check this one out without me spoilering anything (else).:-) Overall: I really enjoyed this one. A great blend of story/design using familiar baddies, some strong NPCs, and excellent foreshadowing. A purplish Seal of Approval emitting an unavoidable gravitational pull (not that I’m hinting at anything there…noooooooo…):-) PLAY IF: your thing is a detailed story. There’s plenty here, and it’s very well-crafted. Worth your time! Stay frosty everyone (like, for real if you’re in this vortex thing), Crane P.S. There are semicolons in character dialogue. People don’t speak in semicolons. They just don’t. And everyone knows semicolons suck. Or rather, I know that, and… Okay, so my nonexistent staff is telling me this is a personal thing, and that I’m proselytizing. They’re also saying it’s annoying, overbearing, nitpicking, and…OKAY! I GET IT! Stepping aside right...NOW!:-) Design Deets (for those interested)

I can relate. Got into it (in PMs) with mods from The Big Purple over them giving me a warning while giving a succession of passes to a longtime poster/troll. They decided to slap a short term ban on me. I wrote back that they could go fuck themselves and my time there was done. I'd probably do things a bit differently today.:-)

Even though I've had my douchey moments (including a recent one), I don't think anything discussed on the forums is so all-encompassing that it can adequately (or even marginally) serve as a litmus test for how to be be "true to the self." It's just a f'in video game, after all. Whether we like it or not, the truth is it's not what you say, it's how you say it. I could have the cure for cancer, but if I presented it to the world by being a colossal jerk, no one's gonna give a shit. I don't know what Snarky wrote, but receiving a warning is small taters. Not every discussion is - or should be - about who wins the argument. I mean, geez -- a dustup over KB? There has to be a taller hill to die on.

Yeah, that would be a commitment.:-) Best I've done is watch the video later in the day.

Logging in in a few. I'll be running Whipsmart:-)

A Light Within the Darkness (ID: 843) by @Steel Dancer This L25-37 arc from 2019 has you working with the Midnighters to secure some of their valuables (the main worry being possible theft by the Circle of Thorns). You agree to help and, of course, run into CoT right off the bat. However, your in-mish contact tells you that most of the raid damage doesn’t appear to be done by the Thorns. Your own initial investigations back this up, so…shenanigans! By an as yet unrevealed somebody/something! Involving a scary, mystical (stolen) tome! Actually “council bot” Montague (see below) is much more composed than that, but this is our basic setup. With your only real lead being the Thorny crew, you naturally pay them a visit. Here, you discover the 3rd party involved in the theft, which, in a nice little twist, leads you back to…Well, you’ll just have to see.:-) VERDICT: A clean, clear, well-constructed arc, made with care and attention to detail. Strikes a nice balance between "stuff" and story. Antagonists are well-drawn. Customs are nicely done. Great map choices (esp for the finale). Overall, I give it a solid, raddy-green Seal of Approval (I ran this with my Atomic blaster):-). PLAY IF: You want a solidly constructed, well-balanced mish. It's listed as story-heavy, but it didn't feel that way. The arc moves along very nicely. FYI: Arc ID 844:An Exchange of Words is a companion piece to this one. A few items of note: The contact model isn’t Montague, but rather the default council bot model the system uses, indicating the need for some updating. Also: There's no text on interact with some glowies in M1, nor do any clues drop from them. This only occurs in M1, and is the only noticeable error I found in the whole arc. There IS a timer on one of the mishes, but the map isn’t huge. I had plenty of time leftover (though I DID beeline to the objectives).

I script with the soloist in mind, and usually an experienced one at that. I'm thinking new players have enough other things to do before they decide to delve into player-made content. I'm not sure what can be done to truly raise the profile any more than it is, other than seeing some player-made content becoming in-game content. I'd say the chances of that happening or pretty small, at best. The return of Dev's Choice would certainly help matters, however.

I imagine this has been said by someone already, but one very obvious aspect of why more people don't attempt to create (or get discouraged from creating) story arcs is the wonkiness of Architect feature itself. Unless you're doing something very, very basic, it takes a WHOLE LOT of time to produce a decent, workable mission, much less an entire arc. You can spend forever just editing/testing/editing/testing and still not have it work 100% the way you want it. Then, if you do decide you've got something decent, and you publicize it, you could STILL have the very first person go through it, and that spawn you set up that always appeared on the first floor is suddenly appearing somewhere else, making you look like you don't know what you're doing. It's tough enough you're exposing yourself to various opinions about quality content. Add in the prospect that the production system itself can also work against you, we shouldn't be surprised when we don't see many people truly diving into the shallow pool.

As a player. I’ll play just about anything. As an author, I tend toward noir.

Nature of the beast these days. They’re a small group of busy volunteers, so I don’t begrudge them having a life outside the game. And I do think a Devs Choice equivalent produced by players is too problematic to implement. I mean, we can’t even discuss ways to grant recognition to more authors without arousing suspicions of elitism during a discussion of hypotheticals. @Dacy’s right. You can have good intentions and things can still go shitty. The question is whether (and how long) anyone wants to put up with it.

Didn’t really want to wade into this, considering my week in the forums, but: I think if anyone understands how easy it is to miss typos, it’s the people who’ve worked with the AE the most. It’s a somewhat unavoidable and forgivable “offense.” Beyond that, no one’s saying there’s a single “standard of excellence.” This started with a benign question asking what people would look for if they were Dev’s Choice judges. More than one person mentioned proper composition skills as a component (not a litmus test for the entire effort, but a part, at least). How we leaped from that to “there’s an elitist cadre driving people away from scripting!” boggles the mind, but, here we are. My advice to anyone who wants to promote SFMA AE stories is to publicize them. Create your own forum to raise the profile according to whatever guidelines or standards you want to follow. That will have a much greater impact than vague insinuations against what is obviously either an imaginary, or very poorly organized, cabal of so-called gatekeepers.

To be fair the response was to a longer, harsher review. I edited and refined the longer one. But still…yeah.

I learn ever so slowly, sensei.:-)

I hope to make the Torch run!

I did offer up a rather harsh, poorly-composed review. I've edited it to present something more balanced (and indicative of what I normally present). That said, another review is a good idea. I keep saying I'm only one opinion. Not sure that's being heard.

Well...I'll avoid any sort of argument about how to write, since I know quite a bit about that. I'll grant that saying the story was illogical was an inaccurate assessment. Whether I do reviews all the time or not doesn't make me mistake-proof. Given that, then, It would be more accurate for me to say that I found the story rather thin, and nearly devoid of characterization. These are deficiencies in my view, since I like a strong story with my AE. I have my own ideas on that, and, as a consumer, I'm entitled to them (as you've already said, above) Please bear in mind, though, that plenty of other people don't give a shit about story and character detail. I'm just one opinion. I do think that, by focusing so much on "challenge" you lose an opportunity to enjoy what details you actually do have there. Especially in the finale, which I was forced to rush through due to the timer being so short. In any case, I presented a more balanced version of the review, above, one that I hope recognizes differences in taste. My last word on the whole story thing is that, the story might've been "logical," but, the bare bones way it was presented felt like it was something obligatory that was getting in the way of your level design. Something set in the background to get to the next mission, or mob, or objective. But, again, I'm just one person. Others prefer just that in their missions. I do have some nagging questions, btw: (1) Why AM I helping Daniels? I assume this is tied in with the original Shivan invasion, right? Blue Spectrum showing up and such? Okay, then. I didn't see it blatantly stated there (or, really, what my specific task was in the whole affair -- gathering some sort of info, iirc). Regardless, it struck me that I was told NOT to go underground, and then was placed directly underground. Why did I do that? Do I know something Daniels doesn't? I found that hard to get past. (2) Why did I get ambushed by Trolls after I rescued some Trolls? I couldn't sort that out. Maybe it's in there, but, since I was on a short timer, I didn't have time to peruse the details (assuming they were there). Oh, and by the by: personal attacks? C'mon... While I admit douche baggery was a prime motivation for my initial, scattered review, a personal attack goes like this: "Cranebump is a douche bag." Whereas: "Cranebump's arcs are heavy-handed on useless details and filled with time-wasting glowies. He also makes his bosses too hard" is not. I might not've liked your story, but I don't know shit about - nor did I say shit about - you personally. We may differ on what constitutes strong writing, or story, but I feel like we can both agree that, when putting work into the public arena, it's a good idea to separate the work from the person. I don't know about anyone else, but, when it comes to crafting stories and such, I know I don't shit gold. (Anky does that--effortlessly):-)

Ha! I guess. I wouldn't consider any of it major. The one thing I wish everyone would embrace is the subjectivity of the whole thing. One person's masterpiece is another person's "wha-?" From the writing side of it, you say thanks for the kudos and take what's usable from the criticism. Speaking of, I need to go back and actually provide some useful criticism. My last review post wasn't too beneficial.

There isn’t, but it sure seems like someone wants to start one. As far as what the original Devs looked for, it’s beyond me. There’s an eclectic range of arcs that were recognized (including more than a few that aren’t “literary gems”). It really comes down to who’s doing the judging, I think. Whatever the case, anyone who creates more than a few mishes isn’t doing it for an award. They’re doing it because they like doing it. They’ll continue to do it whether they receive a pat on the ass or not. So I’m not sure that formal awards will encourage anyone to dive into the design pool. That said, if we are considering basic, uniform expectations, @Police Woman’s criteria are pretty solid. If you expect people to take their valuable time to play your arc, it’s a reasonable expectation that you spent some time and effort to make it worth their while. If you’re doing things that unduly frustrate a large proportion of your audience (like having a shit-ton of distracting typos), you’re doing something wrong. Most of what’s on PWs list covers the common frustrations.

NOTE: This is a resubmitted view of the longer one I put here before. (Never post when you're pissed off). Anyway, this one's more even-handed and in the spirit of what these reviews are intended to promote. Sorry for the initial display of douche baggery. Galaxy Schmalaxy:Constellation Row (Arc ID: 65609) by @Forager This new, lowbie (L10-20) arc sends us back to Galaxy City, offering some ancillary support to whatever the heck is going on there. Officer Daniels warns us not to go underground. So, of course, we do that first. We’re told we’ll get some help from Forager, who promptly runs outside when we free him from some nasty Shivans (thanks, Forager). Too bad. We coulda used him against the mother of all ambushes that followed. Same thing happens when we rescue Blue Spectrum, who’s digging for something while telling us we should not be there (ambush follows). NOTE: Blue Spectrum has default descriptive text. Forager’s text is…well, it’s unique, let’s say. At least BS is helpful as an ally. We follow up with Mish 2, where we’re supposed to meet up with Daniels at the PPD. This is actually a clever little interlude, but ultimately could’ve been handled with text, as all you’re doing is clicking a couple glowies. The last mish has multiple objectives, ambuishes and a 15-minute timer. The arc is presented as a “challenge” arc, the challenges being baked in mainly as ambushes (early on espeically), and a very short timer (the finale). The author has presented advice on these boards about how you can avoid such some of the major challenges in M1 by beelining to the objective and skipping fights. The same is true of the finale, as well (though I don’t recall that being advertised or advised elsewhere). After dealing with a rather HUGE ambish in M1, then getting mapserved, I beelined to the end, skipping most of the other content on the 2nd run. Unfortunately, I did not beeline the finale mish, and was unable to complete the objective that spawned off the rescue due to the timer running out (so I don’t know what comes after that). Pretty sure I’d have been fine if I had gone to the objective first. But that would’ve involved skipping 3 other floors of content, to include some optional allies. I chose not to skip, and was penalized for it. I also feel the mish is penalized for it, as well, since any player running through it is going to be way too under the gun time-wise to enjoy any details the other floors present. Unless they go straight to the end, complete everything to shut off the timer, then decide to go back through anything they skipped. Doable, I suppose. But I don’t believe most players like to play that way. Extending the timer to even 30 mins would enhance this mish by allowing the player more latitude to explore. Or, you know – go to the bathroom, if need be. This mish would also work well as the first mission in the arc, since it presents a stronger framework for the entire "rescue people" premise, imho. OVERALL: Design chops are plenty good. I’d say 5/5, since everything works the way it’s supposed to (especially ambushes, including some friendlies). It’s cleanly written. Now, narratively? Hm. I had problems there. I felt confused as to why my hero was there in the first place (subsequent reviews indicate I must've missed something, but I'm not typically that oblivious, so... Even if I did miss something I also wondered why, after receiving a warning not to do certain things (“don’t go underground”), I did them anyway, without any sort of narrative reason that I could see [ex: “Screw orders! I’m saving my friends!”]). Maybe all this was implied, but, this being my 3rd edit of this review, I no longer remember. Anyhoo, we get into M2, which, while an interesting change of pace, felt like a wasted mish slot for such a short arc (I think this mish would’ve benefitted by having me talk to NPCs to get those clues, putting a face on the situation -- that said the PPD map has very few usable objectives). And then you have the very short timer in M3, which means I didn't finish the misssion as intended. And since I’m much more of a “story over design” AE player, and since I ended up failing due to said design element, it colored my overall experience. I felt rushed through, in some cases pounded on, and then didn't even succeed (even though I didn't lose any actual battles in M3). I know some stories have you fail and your hero learns a character lesson and such. But I failed after I saved Daniels, so it was pretty disappointing. All this said, the arc itself is plenty playable, and has some design elements that others who don't swell on the things I do might enjoy (noted below). PLAY IF: (1) You want to take on some tough (albeit optional) encounters in the L20 range; (2) if you want to beat a short timer on a fairly long map; and (3) you’re more about getting right to the action, rather than delving deeply into story and/or character details. It’s a pretty straightforward hack-n-slash. If that’s up your alley, this is a rather quick diversion into it.

Well, guess I can post that review now.

That was likely me. I had some issues with the "challenge" aspect" being unfair in M3 due to the timer, and the fact that, even if you beeline to Daniels, you just get another rescue objective. The timer is so short, you can't really enjoy the full 4 levels of design. Some context: I initially ran this with an eye toward putting it in my short reviews. By the time I was done, I ended up with a really long review that I decided not to post because, despite some design strengths in the arc, there's one major issue I just can't get around (and is the main reason for the low rating). It's subjective, of course, but here's the tl;dr version of that review, for what it's worth. Outside that I wouldn't bother with responding to poor reviews. We've all gotten them. Taste is subjective. Keep writing, Crane

It's entirely subjective, but I'd go mainly with: an interesting story and characters, well-edited, designed and constructed with care. That said, I find myself admiring all sorts of arcs for different reasons.

Trying to find time and inspiration will be my biggest goal.:-)

The Bounce House (ID: 65600) L21-26 The enigmatic Agent Crimson calls upon on a "temporary asset" (you) to look into a glitzing surveillance system, pulling you into a desperate gamble involving a hand full of wild cards held close to the vest. Notes: Nothing fancy. Just a bit of espionage. Allusions/references are pretty obvious. Ran with a L29 AR/TA that's not kitted out. There are 2 potentially touch encounters, depending on how you approach them. I made one of them WAAAAAAY worse by going full auto and dragging a certain summoning boss into the fray, going from attacking the standard mob of 3, to, oh, 9 I think it was. Other than that, I'd say this is pretty easy, esp. if you're a non-squish. And maybe I found all the typos...maybe...:-) Happy New Year, Crane

Vahzilok. Organized serial killers.