cranebump

All this time...I had no idea Atlas was Lance Armstrong.

I might just rationalize everything with you are an old man, and deserve to take all the shortcuts you can.:-)

Thanks! I didn’t know that. I’ll keep that in mind next time. I happened to be running through AP last night and found a portal sitting there near City Hall. But I think I might visit RV, just to check this out.

GDIT, ZHYM! He's gonna do it! He's gonna DOOOO IT! (if he does, I'm gonna take that to mean @Zhym wants us ALL to use timers indiscriminately. With big maps. Especially that one with the smoke. And you got 14 rescues. And 10 minutes. [5, if it's a Crane arc]).:-) (actually replied to mention a text bug I had the other day scripting part 1 of a planned 2-parter - clues to 2 bosses did not pop in the test--at ALL. I exited, checked text length. It was fine. Went back in, the text popped. Go figure. Go...and figure. [not sure what, but AE must want me to])

This is Vector Mike... It looks like he has no face, but trust me - he does. And it's smiling. This is Vector Mike's second contact, Susan Davies. Susan is rudely ignoring Vector Mike, probably because he's standing there waving at you and not asking her if she's got any work. She's used to lame lowbies like Mike appearing out of nowhere, asking for something to do. Vector Mike is a WHOLE LEVEL 2! He just worked with a bunch of nice policemen, some not so nice contaminated, then a cool dude in tights named Coyote (Awoooooooo!). Mike stopped an Outbreak! And now, he's off to bigger and better things. Like a lack of $$, slow advancement, a lot of running, and incredible endurance issues. Why? Because Cranebump likes to do stupid things. And this is yet another one of them. ******************************** Soooo, in plain English: was reading crimson's texts about just coming back, and running into issues that have long since passed, like starting money, free cool powers, super fast levelling on the DFB train, and all that jazz. Got me to thinking, "You know, you somehow played without those things and managed. it was painful, but gdit, you MANAGED." "Think you could do it again?" Well, of COURSE I can, but the question is, why would I WANT to. I already told you: Cranebump likes to do dumb things. Or rather, masochistic things. Sometimes. Mainly when no one's looking (or no more than 3), but this time this time, we're going public. So, the deal is this: I'm gonna run this poor lil Archery/Ninja Training toon without giving him any seed $$. Like I'm fresh out the box back in the days of yore, and dragging myself through the game. I am allowing myself to grab athletic run and the jump pack, mainly because my last account on live had Ninja Run and Jump Pack (and I feel stupid using Ninka Run, even if I AM playing a pseudo-ninja). I'll pick up any explore badges I can remember, and collect any merits that go with them (which means I'll grab the AP ones and, if I get lucky enough to get an Ouro [I won't ask for one, but I will dive in when I see one [yeah, yeah...at the wrong level]). But I won't use zone transporter, and I won't bother with a base (because bases were expensive when you were a lone wolf back then). So, it's "sorta" old school. The main thing is no XP buff and using only what I can get on the drop. I'll sell salvage, but will hoard the merits for...well, I'll think of something appropriate. Not sure if anyone else wants to Be Like Mike, but, if you do, hit me up. I'm usually on Friday mornings, and (some) Monday evenings (like tonight). I'm running Mike on Excel, so if I do any updates, I'll likely post them there, rather than muck up General Discussion again (like now...with this novel...). Visualize Whirled Peas, Crane

Who are you, and what have you done with @Zhym?

As has already been explained, you can grab plenty of Inf without Farming, if that's your druthers. Unless you're planning to got all out on IO sets, you won't need much $$ to have a viable toon for most things. I say this having a few mid-level toons who have DOs and SOs slotted. Between that in Inps, they handle regular content fine (well...you DO get the occassional big bad who's troublesome). That said, having gotten used to grabbing those enhancements via seeding, usually by grabbing explore merits from AP and Galaxy (then converting to converters, etc.), I'm not sure how things would work for me anymore, playing on straight-up default XP/drop mode. I have and do run without ever running 2XP on some chars, but those are special cases. So, I'm thinking I may have to revisit default mode - drops only, no LR TP, Mish TP or anything. I'll have to solo it all, of course, just to make it grindier and more obnoxious.:-) Been wanting to make a blappy arrow guy, so this may be the time. CUE FACEPLANT!

Wouldn't this just enhance farms even more?

Little Tommy cannot answer the phone. Half his body is wedged beneath the floor plating.

Bane Spider Ruben

Not sure how we define “work.” All of them do what they’re supposed to do (which includes face planting).

(ahem) May I present The Re-education of Westin Phipps (see below) 🙂 (just pretend he's a hero):-)

DANCE, PUPPET! DANCE!:-)

Yep. That's the very definition of a Mary Sue in TTRPG's, too. GM characters that soak up the spotlight. I know many of us AE geeks do drop in our characters (guilty here, though, in some cases, the AE NPC came first, then I decided to create a toon). But as long as it's still about the PC and not my totally rad, badass vigilante from King's Row, 🙂 it's all good. So, yeah. This arc is not really an AE vanity piece. It's a labor of love. You can tell that from the start.

It was clear that much WAS optional. What wasn’t entirely clear was what wasn’t. It was also never clear how I got there, but, again, hard to evaluate by any traditional measure because it is a non-traditional arc. It stands on its own due to artistic merit.

Yeah M3 did have glowie overload. Again, wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do except find the “coughing person” and…I dunno. I went after the explosives first, then just treated it as a farm after that and cleared until I found him.

Oooookay... First-Never seen anything like it. That could be a good or not so good thing, depending on who's playing it.:-) Mechanically, it's just flat out brilliant. All the customs, choice of animations, the use of musical notes in the text - just really, really, brilliant. Narratively...well, I knew I was in some sort of weird space. But I spent a lot of time unsure of exactly what I was supposed to do, other than stare at the brilliance (and hear it), and then beat it all down. It's like watching that sequence in 2001, with all the colors, and I'm Dave Bowman, just slack-jawed, staring at it. Overall, it will provide a great experience for folks wanting to max out the settings, because I was only on +0/x4, with a fire-farming tank, and when I got cocky and dragged 3 mobs to me in the finale, I got cold-cocked, after eating insps, popping alpha strike, popping heal, and 3 AoE's. I rated it as a 5, because, as a piece that pushes the creative envelope, this is example A. It's just ridiculously innovative and interesting. Like walking through an art gallery (esp. in the opening). Use of sound is something I haven't seen, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's often discordant, which reflects the theme. I do think it's thin, story-wise, but as it's not a traditional story, the usual litmus tests in this area don't really apply. It drips with atmosphere. It's hard not to be completely impressed by all the work done here, in such a unique fashion. It has things I hadn't thought of, and personally could not execute anywhere close to this level. That said...it has no characters to latch on to. At all. So, anyone looking for the feels isn't going to get any here. On the whole, though, I don't think that really matters because, when you take the entire thing as it is, judging on visuals, atmosphere, sound, and text, it's the best execution of an AE theme that I've ever seen. I liken it to an experimental film. Even the nod to what was actually occurring at the end seemed obligatory, as if I'm told, "Okay, here's an explanation for all this, but really, you should stop worrying and just let art wash over you, man." Great work. Really great. 'Grats.

I still need to do this. Will try tomorrow if I get back on.

Final notes and verdict. Let's start with strengths: Mechanically, you know what you're doing. Your objectives are straightforward, and easy to follow. Your Customs are excellent. Easy to get your ass handed to you if you aren't on your toes. Use of ambushes was judicious and caused some nice (nasty) surprises. Critter text is, by and large, excellent. By and large, the maps work with your intent. What mucks that up is having to defeat everything, all the time. In and of themselves, they're good choices (and finale map is excellent, imho). There's an interesting premise here, with various entities involved in the overarching plot. As @Zhym noted, good bones. Now, to the work:

Mish 2 M3 Moving on to Finale:

Mission 1. I'll hide notes to avoid spoilers.

Okay, I'm doing the run through now. I have a lot of notes and comments that I hope are helpful. Remember, this is a work in progress. Any feedback we offer is to help you improve your product. So, let's start with general notes: General notes: Timed Mishes: Really have to be careful about these, since this is not a favorite of player objectives. In general, I’d say (1) There needs to be a good story reason for a defeat all (ex: We can’t let any of them get back to HQ!); (2) the map matters (small, uncomplicated ones are better); and (3) Don’t add a timer to a Defeat All-it’s too easy to lose track of say, one runner. I should add 4: If I fail a defeat all, with a story mission to defeat all, then how does me failing affect the next mission? Since you can’t add a branching storyline for success/failure, it’s probably best just to remove the timer, mainly to take the onus off you on explaining how my failure has harmed the overall mission. Different levels on mishes: @Zhym's right. Better not to have too much level hopping. You can drop me to 22, but it’s better to keep me there, so I can settle into what powers I have available, and how I can use them to approach your enemies. If you ARE going to have a level differentiation, have a reason for it (EX: They’re using power dampeners in there, so be careful, or It was early in your career when you met Hugo…[followed by other mishes with text showing time passage]). Think like an author first, then as a designer: Basic questions to think of=Who are the characters? What do they want? What’s in the way of them getting it? It’s likely the player character in the way, which is fine. Often, it’s the contact. Sometimes, it’s something we’re trying to figure out. But you, as the story teller must know the answers to the central 3 questions, above. Then, bring me into it, and unravel it as I go. As you continue to follow the tenants of storytelling, within this small, creative space, maintain solid plot structure: Stories can flow in different ways, but typically, for this truncated format, you usually need: (1) Inciting incident: What happens to draw me in? Think En Medias Res: You arrive at the bank, sirens blaring. Three PPD are down, wounded, peppered with arrows. A bystander yells “It’s Manticore! He’s gone crazy!” Make me ask questions: What's up with Manti? Was it REALLY Manti? (2) Add complications: So I’ve taken care of X, but what about Y, the next mish that X leads me to? EX: In Mish 1 (i.e., 'X'), I just discovered (clue). So it wasn’t Manticore, but it looked exactly like him. And this is definitely his tech they’re using. How did they get it? And why are they acting like Manti? Let’s go ask him – whoops…he’s gone. Suddenly both Y and, later, Z just got more complicated. I have a mystery. (3) A Twist: have something unexpected happen. Someone’s trying to take over Wyvern (well, maybe), and has taken Manti prisoner! (most likely) What? It’s his illegitimate son? (4) Unravel complications and conclude. Poor, neglected "Manti, Jr." (who was actually a Manti clone, but with a daddy complex [I just stole the Ultron plot/ethos]. Too bad we had to beat his ass [and his mind-altered dad’s maybe?). If it's a story arc, you need the story first. AE is the vehicle for telling it (which means the details may change, depending on map selections, and all sorts of other niggling and annoying AE limitations. Now, on to Mish 1.

I noticed the same thing about the dialogue, though he did read through some important dialogue offered in Gravity. Seeing as how he's running for an audience, though, and often talking about various subjects while he plays, I'm not sure we can consider the runs truly representative of a typical player experience. I also think he misses the green text pop on objective completions that reveal info without pinging a clue box. This has led me to going back to using clues in situations where the completion text should be enough, but will probably be missed because the player is expecting a clue pop. As for as Clues in general go, my most recent stories are somewhat less clue heavy, and numbered sequentially from 1 (rather than by mission/Clue # [ex: "C1-3"], to sort of gauge how info-heavy the arc is. The one I'm working on currently is making use of "Bonus Clues" to flesh out the narrative, while I make a conscious effort to ensure the Clues I provide are (1) actually needed, and (2) actually clues (and not just situation summaries, or rehashes). On Clues, I really think most players just don't want too many of them. But, as AE players aren't most players, you can get away with more than you would in a trad story arc. Even so, I'm trying to execute new stuff with "less is more" in mind (though this is not the easiest thing to do). On the bosses: Same here - I've included more bosses than usual (but rarely more than 3 types, while Lts and Minions are around 5-6 each).

Often times a concept, but no set pattern. I play solo a lot on Torch. I play teams and TF's on Excel. I made one Fire Farming tank, that I actually farmed with for a short (very boring) while. I usually run a test toon when a new set comes out, but haven't bothered at all with any after the running seismic and hating the huge, screen-covering rock. I run almost exclusively blue side, but I have a current MM that I'm soloing as a challenge put on my by my wife ("Hey--why don't you play something that is completely the opposite of your usual play style. On the side you never play, villain. Oh, and go all the way to 50. [kisses!]). I don't play much high level content, and tend to abandon toons around 30-35, so there's little necessity to bother with mids, min-maxing, or purchasing the same, popular enhancements for every toon. I AM a sucker for movement, though, so I'll slot IO sets with MV bonuses, regardless .=of concept, just to trot slightly faster. I stay away from buffers, since I suck at tracking everyone else (I have trouble enough keeping track of just me). So, long story short: fast-moving, clicky, ranged or melee toons. I'm simple.

Hey, @raven9864! Welcome to the pain!:-) Of course, I refer to the sweet, sweet pain of making the limited AE builder work wonders in spite of itself. I’ll give your arc a run Friday morning. little advice: don’t ever let random negative comments stick. Take good advice. View obstacles and flaws as temporary problems seeking (and having) a solution. When wrestling with the AE creator, follow the path of water-that is, don’t fixate on what it can’t do, but work with what it does do. Finally, and most importantly -steal. Steal every good idea you see. This ain’t rocket science. Tell a good story. Enjoy the process. Grow from the mistakes. and, once again, welcome.