The Officially Unofficial Weekly Challenge #7: Make a story focused mission arc in AE for levels 1-10 and post it here

[DougGraves]

AE should be filled with hundreds of story arcs at all levels so players can create a new character and level it to 50 with content they have never played before.

 

So this is starting at levels 1-10.  Make an AE story focused mission arc.  Put SFMA in the name.  

 

Use maps you don't normally see at levels 1-10.  Use enemies for levels 1-10, but try making hero arcs with Gold or Red side villains or custom villains.

 

I will play every new AE SFMA posted here, and my sub-challenge is for others to also play all of them and post their comments here.

[ZamuelNow]

What if it isn't posted this week?  Just wondering if it were finished later if it would still count.

[DougGraves]

9 minutes ago, ZamuelNow said:

What if it isn't posted this week?  Just wondering if it were finished later if it would still count.

 

I'm not putting a time limit on the challenges, particularly this one.

[Clave Dark 5]

I believe I just re-posted an old redside story I wrote on Live (and still had) for just-starting-out villains and posted it, but I'm not 100% on that.  I'll check soonish (life's a bit much right now) and come back if it is up.

[cranebump]

I’m down to a single free slot (again). And just burrowed through a 3-arc story. Maybe this summer.:-)

[DougGraves]

2 hours ago, cranebump said:

I’m down to a single free slot (again). And just burrowed through a 3-arc story. Maybe this summer.:-)

 

Do you make new accounts to get new slots?  Just unpublish old ones?

[cranebump]

4 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

 

Do you make new accounts to get new slots?  Just unpublish old ones?

I can always ask for more, and do get them. My main factor right now is time/burnout. I need to reset from the 12 mishes I power-scripted over the course of a week.

[Clave Dark 5]

44 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

Do you make new accounts to get new slots?  Just unpublish old ones?

The Devs are more than happy to give out three more when you've filled up the previous ones.  I've done this twice now! 

 

And speaking of, here's my low level Villain arc I mentioned above:

To check it, I replayed it with a scrapper who was low level (I think about 12th level, with obviously few IOs) and things went just fine.

[DougGraves]

I will get to this but I am having computer problems and have a new laptop ordered due in a few days.

[ZamuelNow]

Super late to the party but I never forgot this.  Have you had a Consideration of Knowledge recently? It's 1-9 instead of 1-10 due to a lot of default enemies changing when they become level 10.

[DougGraves]

On 4/8/2024 at 5:44 PM, Clave Dark 5 said:

 

 

It just took me 9 months but I got to this.

 

In general I like the arc.  It does some basic things I really like in AE and has a twist I had not thought of but really like for Villains.  There are a few issues of confusion and things not necessarily working right.

 

The basic story was confusing.  I did not get how working in the sewers was going to make me a villain.  It said badges a bunch, but my job did not seem villainous.

 

Mission 1: I really appreciate the enemies.  A type I rarely encounter red or blueside, so it was a nice variety.  The map was fine but not very interesting.   At some point I got a clue saying I didn't need to bother with mission completion.  I was very confused.  I figured it out on a later mission, but the clue might want to spell out that clicking on those specific glowies was not needed for mission completion.  

 

Also at the end of a mission is a clue saying I only get $20.  That seemed significant that I was annoyed at my contact but I had to read the clue to get any idea that it happened.  Maybe change that to an end of mission pop-up?

 

Mission 2: I liked the story of this mission and the variety of encountering Tuatha and clockwork.  But after the mission I could not figure out why I was sent on it.  If the clockwork are controlling the Tuatha why was I sent in to defeat the Tuatha?  I still don't understand what happened and why I was sent.  Great map.

 

Mission 3: Good map.  Easy fight outside.  Inside I clicked the two glowies and then was attacked by about 9 clockwork.  I'm not sure if they triggered wrong, if they were hidden behind terrain, or what happened.  But I completed the mission inside before I was attacked.

 

Mission 4: Good map.  I wish I had encountered or heard of the guy I warned before the mission so that meant more.  The boss chain stunned and held me and I barely defeated him at level 2.  His controls might need to be toned down - although having 2 allies helped a lot.

 

I really liked the idea of turning the tables on my contact.  I wish the contact dialog had been written so I was threatening him and interacting with him instead of thinking to myself in front of him.

 

Overall I really liked the concept of the arc and the variety of maps and enemies.  The contact was well done and the flavor of the writing was good.  Because it was an unusual plot it probably could use a bit more explanation of what is going on in mission entrance or exit pop-ups.

[Clave Dark 5]

@DougGraves  Thanks for the play!  I'm glad you overall enjoyed it.  This was one of the first things I wrote for AE so I'm sure it is indeed rough round the edges as you describe.  It was also composed before the AE started to break, doing things like having every NPC say their "Enemy Unaware, "Enemy Aware" lines when you first step onto the map.  Maybe some day they can get that fixed, the comedic timing worked so much better, sigh.  The point of some of these jobs is that indeed they are stupid busy-work your stupid boss sends you out on; I based some of this on my own employment history, cough, but clearly didn't work those memories to feel universal enough.  I do hope to have the time to clean things up in future.