Piecemeal

For what it's worth, I understand where you are coming from. And it's not anything like how you perceive it to be, at least in my opinion. We all want the same things, but for all of us behind the scenes I think we acknowledge that it would be building on a very unstable foundation. We're building the house on solid ground, and sometimes that looks a little ugly before the ground is leveled and the trim goes on. 🙂 I ask you to remain positive. There are so many factors involved!

Imagine if you will, that you volunteered to be part of a team to create a meal. A cheeseburger and fries. For a very important customer, who was patient, but waiting. You love this customer dearly, and you love cheeseburgers just as much. You and the team plan the meal, and then the chef goes on family leave and the only other people who know the kitchen are keeping the lights on and maintaining the building. The meal planners move on. You're sitting there with your silly chef hat going "Heywaitaminuteguys" realizing you're the burger team now. Your job was to cut the lettuce. Now you're responsible for the entire meal prep. You have to learn how to work the grill, the fryer, the plating... and you have to learn how to properly butcher the cow for the correct meat. Out of respect for the cow, you want to do it right. The farmer has lot of cows, and the customer is getting lots of appetizers from the menu that's still being built. To be fair, this has been a learning project, and I don't want my first trip out into the world of criticism to be a ruinous experience, either. It just so happens that certain things behind the scenes have been fortunate to allow the deadlines to be fluid. I'd say the heaviest lifting happened because of COVID-19 for me. I have had massive stress and panic attacks about how long this has taken precisely because I never thought it was good enough, or the logic needed work, or because the invisible mainfestation of the playerbase inside my head would say "That's a cheap trick we've seen before, make something unique." After looking at the data, there was the structure of a workflow left behind. So I posit that this work is on par with what a minimum of 4-6 people, working full time, for a AAA dev studio, with the right tools and documentation could accomplish in 2 months. And I had to do it with a minimum of oversight, with minimum instructions on how anything worked, and a massive amount of detective work and trial and error and realizations of how things could be done. Around here, the mantra is that knowledge and quality is borne from breaking it until you understand it. I believe that in certain cases, I broke things into a fine silicon powder. For other things, I basically hammered square pegs into round holes and now I'm cleaning that up for release. I now have Stockholm's Compiling Syndrome, most likely. I wholeheartedly endorse the next project having a team with me. The scope of the projects for the future really insists that I don't grind myself down into a fine dust. I can neither confirm nor deny any of that, but I can tell you that the red-side story is indeed in two parts and a second part is still coming after this release. And I am actively figuring out the best answers to those questions internally with the team.

After I mis-made it, I realized it looked familiar. From an ooooooold animation back in my time, which became a show. Which nobody needs to watch.

That, my dear friend, is my favorite new creation. It is the top half of an abomination strapped to a manhole cover and floating on top of a reclaimed force field generator. He is of course called the disc jockey.

I believe the forumites have already found out all the information necessary to answer that question 🙂

20 to 30 blue, 30 to 40 red.

Hello everyone! I am so incredibly pleased to be here in an ‘official’ capacity, to introduce myself to you fine, devoted gaming specimens. I am Piecemeal, and since nobody asked and I didn’t bother to mention it to my colleagues, I am installing myself as the official Villain liaison. Doing so, impulsively and without consultation or consideration, perfectly justifies this official title, and plays perfectly to the spirit of villainy. So, with that out of the way, let’s talk about who I am and what I do. I’ve been a devoted fan of this game since 2005, when I showed up halfway through Issue 3 with a feather in my cap, bounce in my step, and a wide-eyed wonderment of the world in front of me. I knew nothing of the Rularuu invasions that would fly-by murder people in Steel Canyon months prior, or that the Fifth Column even existed. Truly, it was an innocent and ignorant time. I endured the Enhancement Diversification, which destroyed my playstyle, since I was raised under the mantra of “Invuln is all you need”. It was a tough transition, but one I grew to love. I really didn’t need 5Dmg/1Acc in all my claws attacks with 6 slots in Stamina. It was fun, but I understood the logic of the new system. I adopted, adapted, and improved, like an arbiter with a bad haircut. When this game came back, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had made peace with the 6-years-old hole in my heart, and then suddenly it was back again. I decided that if I was going to invest again, I had to contribute, somehow. I snuck in with a bunch of other well-intentioned folk when an open call went out early, and saw a call for people who wanted to take on a story arc task: “Who wants to write a story that connects the Freakshow and Vahzilok?” I practically leaped down someone’s throat for the opportunity, only to find that Mekkanos had scooped me and gotten the reins. Undeterred, we formed a small co-op to begin making sense of what we were trying to do. What would we need? What should it entail? Can these things even be done? Eventually Mekk came up with his narrative document, and my first task was to develop the descriptions of the enemies featured in our first new enemy group, the Freaklok - an unholy marriage of man, machine, and groaning meat. As part of his story, Mekkanos centered the idea around there being a lab of Dr. Vahzilok that falls into Freakshow hands. As I began developing Freakified Vahz and Eidolified Freaks in my design document for the enemies, I also began to assist in molding the story documents for lore and logic. Pretty soon we realized that the Freaks weren’t organized enough to accomplish the story as written, and went to the lore bible to read up on the Vahz. It was there that we realized that most of the Vahzilok were partly cybernetic, so we proposed that the Freaks would engage in a hostile takeover of the Vahz, bridging the level gap from when the Vahz disappear and the Freaks begin showing up in content. They were after the tech that was miniaturized, hidden, and keeping the zombies together. And anarchy could still prevail. What we needed next was the catalyst, and decided Cortex was more-or-less the “lost asset” of the Vahzilok, having shown up as a big-bad in the original Posi TF, and then fading into obscurity as a side fight in Posi Part 2. We wanted this to run redside, so we needed a reason for him to be there… ...He’s dying. But why? Because Posi 2 put the Doctor in jail FOR REALSIES, and nobody can maintain the army like Doc V could. We had our hook. Your actions heroside had consequences, and created a proactive adventure for a villain. Instead of the opposite, which tickled me pink. Off we went. Your character finds out about the lab, and pursues it in hopes of building their own army. Of course, it never quite plays out the way you think. Note: They are falling apart super fast. Along the way, we decided we needed another NPC to drive the research, and I pitched Dr. Pierce, dooming her to her fate. I now could say I had left my mark on the work, and I was happy. The story got worked on, and I went down the rabbit hole of spaghetti code learning to make costumes from NPC parts like a deranged Mr. Potato Head surgeon. That’s where things got crazy. We were a small team, and I didn’t really know anyone, and everyone was always SUPER busy. We got me set up, and started with some basic costumes and tools to get textures ready. And then, as volunteer operations do, those who felt their part were done, were done. The person concepting costumes was finished, and I was making them; the writer was done with his narrative; the map editor was communicative but busy, and couldn’t give the time. Suddenly, it was just me. And a villain was born! I absconded with the project and started to learn. I mean really, really, really learn. It was part detective work, part deductive reasoning, and all the mental hell I could enjoy for months. I didn’t want to bother anyone, so I kept referencing things that already worked and determining how they did what they did. Sometimes I got it, sometimes I hilariously missed the mark. Getting a leg up on my knowledge, or: Individual bone scales don’t mind not having limits. Sorry not sorry to Operative Renault, my personal surgery dummy. Don’t use a chest as a head. Or maybe you should. Don’t look to me as your moral compass. And in the span of a few months, somewhat quietly, my knowledge tree had grown from just costumes to include costumes, textures, villain groups, individual villains, new power assignments for mobs, spawndefs, map editing, FX, tricks, GEOs, story arc writing, branching dialog, conditionally triggered events, scripting, captions, powers, PFX, and… really, I don’t know how my life has held together with all that in my head alone. I had grown from a knucklehead into a semi-competent if not devious reverse engineer and detective. It was a game within a game. I was in it to win it. Left: A Freaklok Ripper smiles in appreciation of her tormented existence. Right: A Freakbomination tests out its cyber-sight. Not shown: A small donation has been made to surviving members of Operative Renault’s family, out of pity. When you play these arcs, please do not ride the hype-apotamus to the stratosphere. These arcs, while I consider them to meet my standard for quality, are also my first foray into anything like this. At all. I’ve never coded in my life. And the quality steadily increases in these arcs as I set more and more goals for myself. So you’ll see that redside mission 1… is fairly standard. Redside mission 2, a little bit more involved, with a few more tricks. Mission 3, full ham on mobs, scripting, dialog. I went nuts. Lost maybe 6 weeks troubleshooting that mission until I got it working right. We're coming to a chophouse near you! Missions 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 - just learning compound tasks, with some surprises. And then mission 5. Mission 5 took a WHILE to make. I hope you find it worth it. Especially since I coded in an easter egg. If your character has all the badges and souvenirs needed, an additional fight will spawn for another badge. You’ll know it when someone says ‘For reals tho', let's gank this crybaby.’ My favorite happy accident was that I wrote out the redside arc first, and then wrote the companion arc, blueside from Agent Watkins, that chronologically precedes it next. Do you have any idea how rewarding it is to write dialog that foreshadows events when you do it that way? I didn’t know, until I began dropping hints via dialog in blueside mission 3, and I chuckled. I had arrived. These arcs are a love letter to the game, and a moment captured in the timeline of my life where I can say I truly created something that other people could experience and enjoy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted and all I ever hoped it could be so far. The creativity, the struggle, the frustration, the enjoyment of overcoming the obstacles. The HEAPS of pop culture references. It’s a dream come true. I want to give you all the best experience possible in telling stories in this world. I’m really shooting for the moon with this opportunity. I will patiently read your feedback on how the story sits with you. Some of it can’t change, but the things that can, I will consider. And I promise the next thing I work on won’t stay locked in a vault for this long. This arc has been a long time in development, but soon, I hope to deliver quality content faster, with a battalion of trainees underfoot. Of course, I will make them seek knowledge out before just giving it to them. I might make them walk my path to understand how to figure it out. Because I’m a villain, and that’s what villains do.

Did someone summon me?

I APPROVE SO HARD. PROMOTE THIS MAN.

If I get time to study LUA, this is possible. But no guarantees. This sounds like the newfangled raid interfaces.

I was thinking in two directions: 1) Create a reward bonus for doing it the old way if you have teammates (but not doing mandatorializing it, which is my official term for it). This is the low-hanging fruit option and the path of least resistance. or 2) Give those old simulclicks a timer if solo so you can run to each within reason. Clear first, click later, is what I'm thinking. Like the mayhem/safeguard code, a glowie grants X seconds to failure and each one adds X seconds as you go until all glowies are clicked. This is all just exploring my headspace, by the way, so full disclosure, just talking to refine the idea. This is no way, shape or form a commitment OR a promise. Yet. I only make promises explicitly.

As the duly recognized supervillain on the team, be careful what you wish for when it comes to out-of-the-box mechanics to increase challenge and subvert expectations. 😄 😄 But as a regular player as well, I'm open to your feedback.

When this game was in testing, player numbers were too low to allow some of those missions to persist, giving rise to the decision to remove Simultaneous Clicks across the board entirely.

My elec/rad is fun 😄

And yet nobody acknowledged my Elec/Rad build. I see where your priorities are!

*coughs in foreshadowing*

So I kind of oops'ed this build a bit. I based it off a pre-sunset build and then worked into today's environment. It's got the stats where I need it but the power picks aren't in the right spots. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! MeTanksta v1: Level 50 Technology Tanker Primary Power Set: Electric Armor Secondary Power Set: Radiation Melee Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Charged Armor (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (3) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge (3) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (5) Reactive Armor - Resistance Level 1: Contaminated Strike (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage (5) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (7) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance (7) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge (9) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 2: Conductive Shield (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (11) Reactive Armor - Resistance (11) Reactive Armor - Endurance (13) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge Level 4: Radioactive Smash (A) Superior Might of the Tanker - Recharge/Chance for +Res(All) (13) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage (15) Superior Might of the Tanker - Damage/Recharge (17) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (17) Superior Might of the Tanker - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 6: Static Shield (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (9) Reactive Armor - Endurance/Recharge (19) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge (19) Reactive Armor - Resistance Level 8: Grounded (A) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection (23) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 10: Combat Jumping (A) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (21) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (48) Kismet - Accuracy +6% (50) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 12: Energize (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb (25) Preventive Medicine - Heal (27) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (27) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (46) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 14: Super Jump (A) Springfoot - Endurance/Jumping Level 16: Taunt (A) Perfect Zinger - Taunt (29) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge (29) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge/Range (31) Perfect Zinger - Accuracy/Recharge (31) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Range (31) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage Level 18: Proton Sweep (A) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage (21) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (25) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (40) Superior Gauntleted Fist - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (45) Superior Gauntleted Fist - RechargeTime/+Absorb Level 20: Fusion (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge Level 22: Lightning Field (A) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage (23) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (36) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance (46) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge (46) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 24: Boxing (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage (33) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance (33) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge (33) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 26: Tough (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance (34) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance (34) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance Level 28: Power Sink (A) Perfect Zinger - Taunt (37) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge (37) Perfect Zinger - Chance for Psi Damage (40) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Recharge/Range (43) Perfect Zinger - Accuracy/Recharge (43) Perfect Zinger - Taunt/Range Level 30: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 32: Lightning Reflexes (A) Run Speed IO Level 35: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (36) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 38: Radiation Siphon (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold (39) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance (39) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (39) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (40) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime Level 41: Atom Smasher (A) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown (42) Overwhelming Force - Endurance/Recharge (42) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (42) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (43) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 44: Irradiated Ground (A) Superior Avalanche - Recharge/Chance for Knockdown (45) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Superior Avalanche - Damage/Endurance (50) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (50) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 47: Gloom (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 49: Power Surge (A) Impervious Skin - Status Resistance Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 1: Gauntlet Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 6: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift

You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette!

Just thought I'd pop in with a screenshot of my testing work today. Making sure hunts work is strenuous. Blueside's coming along 🙂

I want to make you guys fall in love again with red side. Its personality is more in line with my own. When my current project is done I have a bang-up write-up for a massive plot-progressing arc that I'm writing in tandem with another, which will be quite fun and tie in some more lore. I also hope to continue challenging convention and surprising players. Current feedback is positive, but I look forward to the majority playerbase to test when it's ready. It is one small step for man, one giant step for cyborgs.

Once upon a time I remember a villain that was Mercs/Poison, and TBH he was a beast. I can't recall the name though.

Read the opening lines of the poem, it makes sense these arcs are all blue. You once stood proud, then turned face and went evil. Also, Glaciers post is entirely correct. You will need to enter into a conflict wherein you can face the results of your actions from your previous life. Badges and souvenirs. Yes, souvenirs can be read as requirements. Sutter (And I patched a fix in for the Duray fight. Harbinger does not speak, or hardly. Doc Delilah Talshak Moonfire Hess Stephanie Peebles Shauna Stockwell Eagle Eye Freaklympics. MEAT FREEEEDOM Synapse Positron Graham Easton, mercifully. Whatever could you do redside that creates consequences for blueside actions? Hmm... Also the Posi2 badge will be needed to start the blue arc that feeds in.

Oh, you all have figured everything out, I just went back and started shoveling through NDA NBD's. Anyway every answer is somewhere in this thread. Compose the most solid list of answers that you think are correct and I will, only once, tell you how many are correct.

Yes indeed!