test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Options
Idea for player crews using both the new interiors, hybrid F2P concept
System
Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hi there, all. Id like to pitch an idea I had regarding a method of implementing both player crews (I know, I know, beating a dead horse, but hear me out) along with a free2play hybrid concept that I think would please a lot of people.
THE BASIC OVERVIEW:
The game becomes segmented into two groups of players: Captains and Bridge Officers.
Captains are essentially how players work now. They pay a monthly subscription, have access to ships to fly, bridge officers to customize, ship interiors to have and bridges to choose from, etc. They also are able to create Bridge Officer characters at no extra cost to themselves. They generate revenue to Cryptic through the current combination of subscription fees and microtransactions through the C-store.
Bridge Officer-type characters would be creatable for free, without the cost of a monthly subscription. What these characters dont get: their own ships, bridge officers, interiors. What they can do is occupy bridge officer slots on player ships (or, at the very least, occupy player ships) and support Captain players by engaging in support activities on the inside of the ship via the interiors. They generate revenue by allowing access to the same C-store microtransaction options that Captains have access to, such as species unlocks, uniform unlocks (maybe they have access to a smaller variety than standard Captains?).
THE DETAILS:
The bulk of the new stuff as it were is to generate a place for the F2P players to fit in that is, functionality for the new inside the ship content. Heres how I currently envision it.
Instead of equipping a bridge officer in a ship slot, Captain players have the ability to Invite to Crew one of the Bridge Officer players. This persons picture shows up in the Boff area on the Captains bar, but the abilities do not activate automatically (i.e., they dont light up by default).
Bridge Officer players take action inside the ship, and dont actually see much of the ship outside (though a camera view outside the ship or a map would be useful).
o Depending on the ability set of a given Bridge Officer player, they have different ways of buffing or supplying abilities for the Captain player to use in combat. These could range from passive buffs to actually supplying the captain player with an active ability
o Im thinking that the way these abilities are used can function in one of a few ways. The first scenario: Since the Bridge Officer player is an Engineer, once the captain warps into a sector, she heads down to engineering. In order for her to activate her Antimatter Regulators ability to give the ship shes on an extra speed boost, she must Click the Glowy Consoles in a certain order (each one would have a fancy functionality name, such as 1. Unlock Regulators, 2. Increase Plasma Flow, 3. Re-engage Regulator Lock. The sequence of Glowies to be clicked (not to mention the location, i.e. engineering or sickbay) changes depending on the power being activated (and the class of the Bridge Officer character). Another option would be to devise minigames for the Bridge Officer player to engage in. In either case, the Captain character then shows the immediate change in a passive ability being activated, or the icon lights up in the boff tray, to be activated at will.
NEEDED COMPONENTS TO MAKE THIS PLAN HAPPEN:
The following things would need to be created:
Powers exclusive to the Bridge Officer type characters would need to be created that is relatively balanced compared to Captain type players using standard boffs.
UI elements for the Bridge Officer players and Captains that are synchronized.
Creation of an entirely new player class in the character creator, along with the restrictions and other differentiators from the Captain player type.
Other C-store items specifically designed to cater to the Bridge Officer player class that would supplement subscription income.
Other stuff Im sure. Dammit Cryptic, Im in marketing, not game design!
WE ALREADY HAVE THE FOLLOWING THINGS!
Ship insides to support Bridge Officer type player class
Engineering architecture to support activatable powers by Bridge Officer players (i.e., high yield torpedo is activated for use within 30 seconds).
All character creation tools can be used on bridge officer creation support.
Other stuff.
Anyway, definitely open to feedback on this one.
THE BASIC OVERVIEW:
The game becomes segmented into two groups of players: Captains and Bridge Officers.
Captains are essentially how players work now. They pay a monthly subscription, have access to ships to fly, bridge officers to customize, ship interiors to have and bridges to choose from, etc. They also are able to create Bridge Officer characters at no extra cost to themselves. They generate revenue to Cryptic through the current combination of subscription fees and microtransactions through the C-store.
Bridge Officer-type characters would be creatable for free, without the cost of a monthly subscription. What these characters dont get: their own ships, bridge officers, interiors. What they can do is occupy bridge officer slots on player ships (or, at the very least, occupy player ships) and support Captain players by engaging in support activities on the inside of the ship via the interiors. They generate revenue by allowing access to the same C-store microtransaction options that Captains have access to, such as species unlocks, uniform unlocks (maybe they have access to a smaller variety than standard Captains?).
THE DETAILS:
The bulk of the new stuff as it were is to generate a place for the F2P players to fit in that is, functionality for the new inside the ship content. Heres how I currently envision it.
Instead of equipping a bridge officer in a ship slot, Captain players have the ability to Invite to Crew one of the Bridge Officer players. This persons picture shows up in the Boff area on the Captains bar, but the abilities do not activate automatically (i.e., they dont light up by default).
Bridge Officer players take action inside the ship, and dont actually see much of the ship outside (though a camera view outside the ship or a map would be useful).
o Depending on the ability set of a given Bridge Officer player, they have different ways of buffing or supplying abilities for the Captain player to use in combat. These could range from passive buffs to actually supplying the captain player with an active ability
o Im thinking that the way these abilities are used can function in one of a few ways. The first scenario: Since the Bridge Officer player is an Engineer, once the captain warps into a sector, she heads down to engineering. In order for her to activate her Antimatter Regulators ability to give the ship shes on an extra speed boost, she must Click the Glowy Consoles in a certain order (each one would have a fancy functionality name, such as 1. Unlock Regulators, 2. Increase Plasma Flow, 3. Re-engage Regulator Lock. The sequence of Glowies to be clicked (not to mention the location, i.e. engineering or sickbay) changes depending on the power being activated (and the class of the Bridge Officer character). Another option would be to devise minigames for the Bridge Officer player to engage in. In either case, the Captain character then shows the immediate change in a passive ability being activated, or the icon lights up in the boff tray, to be activated at will.
NEEDED COMPONENTS TO MAKE THIS PLAN HAPPEN:
The following things would need to be created:
Powers exclusive to the Bridge Officer type characters would need to be created that is relatively balanced compared to Captain type players using standard boffs.
UI elements for the Bridge Officer players and Captains that are synchronized.
Creation of an entirely new player class in the character creator, along with the restrictions and other differentiators from the Captain player type.
Other C-store items specifically designed to cater to the Bridge Officer player class that would supplement subscription income.
Other stuff Im sure. Dammit Cryptic, Im in marketing, not game design!
WE ALREADY HAVE THE FOLLOWING THINGS!
Ship insides to support Bridge Officer type player class
Engineering architecture to support activatable powers by Bridge Officer players (i.e., high yield torpedo is activated for use within 30 seconds).
All character creation tools can be used on bridge officer creation support.
Other stuff.
Anyway, definitely open to feedback on this one.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
EDIT:
What about instead of player BOs being non-subscriber players, have this be an optional phase in the leveling of a regular character? Instead of getting your own command straight away, you can serve under a friend.
But Having seen (in general) the types of people that play F2P games regularly, I would never feel comfortable having them on my ship. Make being bridge officers available to subscribers and I may have a little interest in it.
Yeah, I'm definitely thinking it'd be invite-based.
Oh, and as for ground combat... the "Bridge Officer" players would have to function the same as "Captain" characters as far as that goes. It's only fair, eh?
Honestly if you can understand what I just said...let me know......cause im not sure......its the meds....
You're flying along and get sucked into a battle. You raise shields, and make phasers and photon torpedos ready. You ease up the throttle to begin moving toward the enemy ships, then click full impulse to ambush them as they turn their aft toward you.
You come streaking in with beams firing full on. Then you're ready for a torpedo salvo. So you click over to the chat window...
"Hey, can I get some photons please?"
"Sucka say what?"
"Torps!"
By this time you're shields are at half strength and your hull has several breaches. Half your crew is dead, and you still have not fired one torpedo.
Hey, I see what you're saying here, believe me! Though the way I see it, the abilities activated by the PC on the ship insides would have activatable powers akin to current Boff skills. So ideally it wouldn't be horrendously mission critical if they cant figure out how to play (and if they were to hypothetically time out, your standard Boff would take their place.