Testing 3 New Stories with: Cosmic Pirates, a Cursed Board Game, or Aliens & Hunters (Extreme custom everything!)

[moonligh7er]

Just wanted to share a few AE stories I'm fairly proud of and that you should play if the genre appeals to you. 😄 All are very long with 4-5 missions with extreme custom AV's (& most everything else). Recommend +4/x8 for full experience, and a full team for success.

All of these are in-progress/under development. 2 don't have dialogue yet (Just follow the mostly linear objective navigation). These are my fist ones and I welcome any feedback particularly about optimizing gameplay flow (or obviously anything obviously broken--Shouldn't be any). Strange Spear (edit: temporarily withdrawn) is the only one that hasn't been fully tested (I'll get a team together and beat it soon, probably around 11:30 ESET one day this weekend).

Radiance of Theia
Genre: Fantasy/SciFi (Cosmic pirates!)

Enemies: Theian Space Pirate Armada, contains GM
Arc ID: 63222

Cursed Game
Genre: Fantasy/SciFi Horror

Enemies: Various factions within a cursed tribal/Voodoo board game

Arc ID: 63223

Strange Spear (temporarily withdrawn)
Genre: SciFi Horror

Enemies: Vicious aliens or corporate experiments (who knows), Galactic hunters, Corporate mercs
Allies: Galactic Colonial Force Recon
Arc ID: 63256

Don't forget to rate! ❤️

I need more AE arc slots. D;

Edit: "Strange Spear" temporarily withdrawn due to some unapparent glitches.

Edited July 25 by moonligh7er

[Kyksie]

The first mission had one sentence of intro dialog, no clues, no chatter, spelling errors, custom minions with no bios. The second mission didn't even have contact dialog. The third crammed four tough EBs into one room, making it impossible.

 

I realize that this is your first effort, but please, don't ask people to play arcs that aren't even half done.

 

 

Edited July 19 by Kyksie

[moonligh7er]

On 7/18/2024 at 9:46 PM, Kyksie said:

The first mission had one sentence of intro dialog, no clues, no chatter, spelling errors, custom minions with no bios. The second mission didn't even have contact dialog. The third crammed four tough EBs into one room, making it impossible.

 

I realize that this is your first effort, but please, don't ask people to play arcs that aren't even half done.

 

 

Well, I think in-progress is a category for a reason. They're perfectly playable for custom enemies and rewards.

I specified they're in-progress, no dialogue, etc. 4 EB's aren't impossible at all when you've read and understood what, "ideal for teams," means, which I did also again mention to bring a team in the post for playability. For someone so mad about having nothing to read, you don't seem to have read any of my actual post because you actually added no information lmao?? Aside from alleged typos. Cute, thanks, honestly probably the only even potentially useful bit. Seriously thanks for your opinion but it's unnecessarily aggro fluff. Playing people's in-progress mishes not for you? Find something else to do. Nobody asked you for a favor or tricked you into playing a half done mish.

I've seen people express disappointment that people's bios aren't filled, etc., but what you're on is weird dude. Nobody else who played or rated any of these stories whined about lack of story let alone (wtf?) discouraged me from sharing. It's in-progress--labeled as such and specified wherever I share it (like being ideal for teams). Testing is part of progress. Story will come when I've figured out the limitations of AE and all it's glitches, structured my story with them and per the methods I choose (open to feedback, which isn't whatever you're on), etc. There were issues with your social and reading skills, while we're being critical. Maybe use the labeling system better. I didn't wanna play that. ^_^

Edited July 25 by moonligh7er

[cranebump]

In Kyksie's defense, this is posted as a "story arc," not a farm. It's hard to properly critique a story if there's no story. It sounds like what you wanted was feedback on the mechanical aspects of design (and maybe some comments on where it lands, in terms of difficulty)? That said, he did give you feedback from a soloist's perspective, which may prove useful to you, since there are AE soloists out there (more than AE teams, I'd wager). And you did say you welcomed any feedback, so...

 

For me, I'm curious about your aim in creating the arc. You recommend +4/x8. Am I to assume this is a challenge arc (esp since there are multiple EB's/EVs in one location)? If so, that will need to be a part of your arc description. If the main objective of the arc is to be challenging, and players know that going in, you'll hear fewer complaints (if any) from those who play it. And those who avoid arcs simply for challenge's sake (like me), will be warned off from playing it (unless I'm feeling uncharacteristically chippy that day).:-)

 

Beyond all this, I'd say that, when you submit a story for feedback, the more you've completed, the more useful your feedback will be (and the more ground it will cover). Right now, you're asking for reviews of "optimizing gameplay flow." I'm assuming this has to do with spawn placement, objective chains and the like (and difficulty). I would offer here that you can usually self-test most mechanical aspects by simply running and rerunning the arc, using different AT's at different levels (for team play, you'd have to recruit testers). I would say that there's an expectation on the part of the player that the designer has done at least that (made multiple test runs, in varying contexts*) before posting a story arc (farms? who gives a sh*t. things can be anywhere).  Kyksie's demands of actually experiencing a full story arc, for one that is advertised as such, isn't an unreasonable expectation, especially if you're wanting feedback. 

 

FYI: such things as desc's for custom minions, contact verbiage, dialogue, etc., are minimum expectations for someone experiencing a story arc (as is the assumption on the part of the player that the designer has done due diligence on the mechanical aspects I already mentioned (making multiple run-throughs to check proper objective placement/spawns/flow, etc). The burdens on the writer are enormous. All I can say is, when you shirk any of them, people notice. And they tell you about it.:-)

 

Good Luck!

 

*this is why I design for soloists -- you don't have to get a team to test an arc that's designed for one.

[Triumphant]

Yeah, I think the disconnect is in your forum topic title, though you do of course clarify this in the actual forum post.  I do think it's fine to ask for feedback on the mechanical balance/combat aspect of your AE mission, though.  I'll try to find some time to play them and give you some constructive feedback on 'em.  👍

[Kyksie]

Let's put it this way. Why do people play an AE? Not to punch random mobs: if that's what I wanted I'd just grab a radio mission or fly down to smack a few street Nazis. If I'm playing an AE it's for one of two reasons: it's a farm, or it tells a story. There are a few niche uses, like a blank stage for an RP SG to yiff in, but mostly people want to either grab easy XP or hear a cool story. If the purpose of the arc is not farming, then the only thing that really matters is the text.

 

If you create a custom NPC group (with no bios) and plop them into a map, you've done about 5% of the work, 10% tops. Asking people to take a look at it, even if you're stating it's a 'work in progress', is like digging the foundation of a house and laying a few beams, and then asking people to evaluate your house 'in progress'. It's not a house, it's a hole in the ground with a few empty Coke cans in the corner. Actually one is half full cuz the contractors peed in it.

 

Assuming your arc is not a farm or yiffing pit, at the very least fill out the contact dialog and clues before asking people to evaluate it.

Edited July 28 by Kyksie