Street Level Shenanigans: Galaxy Schmalaxy (Rogue, level 1-10)

[Forager]

Street Level Shenanigans: Galaxy Schmalaxy

 

Officer Daniels refuses to send you back to Galaxy City. Habashy won't return your calls, your origin contact is a joke and the line for DFB is around the block. Work can be hard to find for a brand new, street-level hero, but I've got some for you. [SLS] [SFMA]

 

Arc ID: 65481

Solo-friendly

Long

Rogue

 

Galaxy Schmalaxy is a street-level adventure that takes place following the events of the Galaxy City tutorial. It is a look into what things might really be like for a low level superhero just starting out in Paragon City, so it's set 1-10

Edited Friday at 06:26 PM by Forager

[Kyksie]

On the first mission I punched some Arachnos, then some Clockwork, then more Arachnos, then a bunch of guys at random, but the mission won't end.

[sponazgul]

9 minutes ago, Kyksie said:

On the first mission I punched some Arachnos, then some Clockwork, then more Arachnos, then a bunch of guys at random, but the mission won't end.

 

Have you tried negotiating with them? (Now I want to try this mission out...)

[Forager]

1 hour ago, Kyksie said:

On the first mission I punched some Arachnos, then some Clockwork, then more Arachnos, then a bunch of guys at random, but the mission won't end.

 

I'm sorry. What did the objective window say?

 

My best guess based on what you're saying is that one of the Clockwork from the boss spawn got loose on that map. The "only boss" option doesn't seem to function or I would almost always use it.

 

The Arachnos are an optional sidequest from Daniels. When you finish the clockwork you just have to go find where you parked.

[sponazgul]

I went through and figured out the objectives, which had to be inferred from the dialog in the mission objective text. I appreciated that - I've never seen formatting being applied to the mission objective text.

 

Spoiler

I didn't listen to the contact's directions, and that had me help the detective (that I suppose I didn't need to) and that spawned more optional objective text which did add some flavor. I figured out to look for a car, and then another car.

 

Second mission was over so quickly, I felt like I had cheated.

 

Third mission was very straightforward.

 

The fourth mission was a bit challenging, I had been trained by the first mission on how to interpret the dialog of the mission objective text.

 

I think it works functionally for what you are advertising it as - a mission for low level characters to feel like they're just getting started.  I was disappointed by the lack of clue text to kind of give a flavor summation of things, or really any text from Forager other than vague "now you do this, now you do that"

[Forager]

1 hour ago, sponazgul said:

I was disappointed by the lack of clue text to kind of give a flavor summation of things, or really any text from Forager other than vague "now you do this, now you do that"

 

Forager being vague and unhelpful is part of the story, but I didn't intend for him to be actually vague and unhelpful. Sorry about that.

 

Of course... I thought it was all very clear... because I wrote it. My intention was to keep the mission intro as short as possible and then drive the plot through the objective window and the action. I thought glancing up at radio traffic while fighting would not only be more fun then reading paragraphs, it felt more realistic Maybe clue text could smooth it over a bit, since the clues at least ding and give a notification. I'll think on that. I tried to lay it on thick without being corny, but the window is not meant to really be a puzzle or "hints." It's meant to be taken very literally.

 

Thank you for the feedback. I'll see if a few more people return similar experiences.

[sponazgul]

1 hour ago, Forager said:

 

Forager being vague and unhelpful is part of the story, but I didn't intend for him to be actually vague and unhelpful. Sorry about that.

 

Of course... I thought it was all very clear... because I wrote it. My intention was to keep the mission intro as short as possible and then drive the plot through the objective window and the action. I thought glancing up at radio traffic while fighting would not only be more fun then reading paragraphs, it felt more realistic Maybe clue text could smooth it over a bit, since the clues at least ding and give a notification. I'll think on that. I tried to lay it on thick without being corny, but the window is not meant to really be a puzzle or "hints." It's meant to be taken very literally.

 

Thank you for the feedback. I'll see if a few more people return similar experiences.

 

I definitely want to highlight my appreciation for you doing something novel and cool with the mission objective text.

[Forager]

1 hour ago, sponazgul said:

 

I definitely want to highlight my appreciation for you doing something novel and cool with the mission objective text.

 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to check it out.

[Kyksie]

I tried it again and was able to complete the arc this time. The idea of 'new hero who can't fit in' is fairly novel, there are a few touches of humor, and I like the innovative use of nav bar text. However, the player is never told what they're doing, or for who, or why. Details are sparse with no clues or contact bio.

 

The main problem comes at the end of the arc, where an Arachnos target summons ambush waves at 75%, 50% and 25% health. This is a big no-no when the player has been reduced to level 10. I was able to beat it with a handful of large inspirations, but may players will fail.

 

 

On the plus side, I encountered a fun bug when the mission ended...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:36 PM by Kyksie

[Forager]

17 minutes ago, Kyksie said:

However, the player is never told what they're doing, or for who, or why. Details are sparse with no clues or contact bio.

 

The main problem comes at the end of the arc, where an Arachnos target summons ambush waves at 75%, 50% and 25% health. This is a big no-no when the player has been reduced to level 10. I was able to beat it with a handful of large inspirations, but may players will fail.

 

Can you give me a specific instance where the contact being vague impeded the gameplay? Like an objective that you didn't understand?

 

Part of the plot is that your contact doesn't seem to be very helpful... that's intentional, but I didn't want it to be actually confusing. Maybe I need to lay it on a little thicker? It's been really difficult, as the writer, to look at my own writing and imagine how someone could be confused because of course I know what I meant. My hope  is the character feels something about being kept in the dark. Either "Ugh... this guy is the worst..." or perhaps they're a reject as well and are like "screw it, let's ride around and blow stuff up" or perhaps they decide to just use Forager until they can figure out what's going on for themselves. The details are meant to be sparse in the story, but not the gameplay. I'll keep polishing that.

 

As for the boss, that seems exactly how a boss fight should be, to me anyway. If you're talking about the scientist, there's no ambushes. That's just what he does. If you're talking about the mu guardian, it's not that many ambushes. If you die a time or two and need inspirations, the boss is definitely working as intended.

 

Thank you so much for the time and detail in your feedback.

[sponazgul]

To the point where Forager's terse-ness is a negative

Spoiler

- in the first mission, I do end up getting a police car but that's more like I'm just trying to complete a mission objective. I'm not getting a sense that I'm stealing the police car to give Forager a ride.

 

Forager doesn't give an explicit reaction to the fact that I have a police car, he says "Ha, more like STEAL Canyon" when I return from mission 1, and at the start of mission 2 "Ha, that's wild. Anyway ..."

 

It is kind of contextless. Was he saying STEAL Canyon because the zone was loaded with thieves stealing things? (No, I realize that it was because I stole a police car - and Forager feels that it was wild, but it still seemed kind of random.) Later on, his comment "Wait, Turn Here" is supposed to communicate that we're currently driving - and that works now that I understand it, but at the time, it took me by surprise.

 

Because the visual is me standing in AE talking to Forager and it's best to help set that stage to counter that. A pop up at the end of the first mission stating "Forager slides into the stolen cop car and buckles up. He directs you to start driving." - it would then really set the stage for the next interaction.

 

It's not an impact as part of a game mechanic, it's just an impact on immersing into what's happening.

[Kyksie]

Yeah pretty much what he said. It's not a matter of 'impeding gameplay', but rather "Uh what am I doing and why am I doing this?"

[Forager]

So, imply... harder.

 

This is all really great feedback. My goal is to make the most detailed story possible with as little reading as possible.

 

I wonder if I'm underestimating the average players stomach for reading... but then again the players doing ae arcs are probably not the average.

[Forager]

11 hours ago, sponazgul said:

To the point where Forager's terse-ness is a negative

  Reveal hidden contents

- in the first mission, I do end up getting a police car but that's more like I'm just trying to complete a mission objective. I'm not getting a sense that I'm stealing the police car to give Forager a ride.

 

Forager doesn't give an explicit reaction to the fact that I have a police car, he says "Ha, more like STEAL Canyon" when I return from mission 1, and at the start of mission 2 "Ha, that's wild. Anyway ..."

 

It is kind of contextless. Was he saying STEAL Canyon because the zone was loaded with thieves stealing things? (No, I realize that it was because I stole a police car - and Forager feels that it was wild, but it still seemed kind of random.) Later on, his comment "Wait, Turn Here" is supposed to communicate that we're currently driving - and that works now that I understand it, but at the time, it took me by surprise.

 

Because the visual is me standing in AE talking to Forager and it's best to help set that stage to counter that. A pop up at the end of the first mission stating "Forager slides into the stolen cop car and buckles up. He directs you to start driving." - it would then really set the stage for the next interaction.

 

It's not an impact as part of a game mechanic, it's just an impact on immersing into what's happening.

 

I reach too far. That's what the box is for and I should use it as such. I'm burdening the player trying to be cute.