The New Foundry Search and Tags

agentjaspor

So the Foundry is now available on the test server. I stopped by to check out the new search. The "Advanced" search has the following fields:

• Short Code (with a check box option to match "Exact")
• Title
• Author (with a check box option to match "Exact")
• Description
• Minimum Duration
• Language
• Include all of these tags
• Include any of these tags
• Include none of these tags

"Oo oo tags! So what are they?!?" you ask? Here you go:

• Challenging
• Story Rich
• Combat Heavy
• Lore Filled
• Exploration
• Surprising
• Secrets
• Humorous
• Dramatic
• Unusual
• Solo Friendly
• Group Friendly

They are all checkboxes, so you can select as many as you like.


(Full size image at: http://i.imgur.com/36RIx9K.jpg)

So the tagging system is left up to the reviewers though. There is no mechanic for the author to actually tag their quests themselves.

But wait! There's more! The "Details" tab now shows an incredibly, well, "detailed" breakdown of how people rated and tagged the quest.

It shows exactly how many people chose each star rating. And it also shows exactly how many people chose which tags.

Oh, and the new 3D editor is in too. It seems to be pretty cool and intuitive - there's a new "toolbar" at the top and when you go into edit mode, you basically get the same 2D asset window made available in 3D edit mode. I couldn't get much beyond that, as it disconnected me every time I tried to actually drag stuff off it.

Anyways, some pretty exciting stuff.

crok2

Tagged because I keep losing this info

x0y1

You miss the thread 4 days ago: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?416151-New-foundry-search-(test-server)

Wish I could test the 3D editor but the foundry is only crashing for me on preview ..

glantorx

So after all that discussion and blathering we are left in the same boat as before, tags are not set by the author only by players who can mess it up for you.
Wow no progress there then.
Why is it that the Devs get the idea from the community then change it to be not what was required or asked for?
I can see this being abused by the trolls just as bad as 1 star ratings.

Quest:Combat heavy - trolled to be set as exploration - gets bad reviews as it was incorrectly tagged.
Will not happen you say - well 1 star ratings did and that was not dreamed to be a problem!
If an Author makes a quest to be a certain way HE/SHE should set the tags not anybody.

As an Author I am beginning to feel I have no control over my many hours of work, just throw it out there at the mercy of the community.

I hope I am wrong on this and it will be changed.

Good news about the 3D editor hope they get it stable soon, will start to check it out.

eldarth

glantorx wrote: »

So after all that discussion and blathering we are left in the same boat as before, tags are not set by the author only by players who can mess it up for you.
Wow no progress there then.

Unbelievable, isn't it. Author can't even make suggested starting tags.
So, once again, screwed up. Really, really disappointing. So as soon
as you publish - there is absolutely no reason for your quest to show
up as "Story Rich" and "Lore Filled."

Can someone on Preview test if we put in "tags: #Story Rich" does
it show up if you select that tag -- maybe we can workaround that
horrendous oversight?

Does the Foundry Development Manager hate Foundry Authors, is that it?

glantorx

eldarth wrote: »

Can someone on Preview test if we put in "tags: #Story Rich" does
it show up if you select that tag -- maybe we can workaround that
horrendous oversight?

I Tried but crashed as soon as I hit the Foundry Button.

agentjaspor

x0y1 wrote: »

You miss the thread 4 days ago: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?416151-New-foundry-search-(test-server)

Wish I could test the 3D editor but the foundry is only crashing for me on preview ..

Oops, yeah, somehow I missed that. My bad for reposting the same info!

zovya

Just an idea about tags. Authors see their quests wholly and completely different than the players do.

agentjaspor

zovya wrote: »

Just an idea about tags. Authors see their quests wholly and completely different than the players do.

Yes and no. I mean, I don't think there'd be a whole lot of disagreement between the two that a particular quest is "Solo Friendly." But there absolutely could be different interpretations as to what is considered "Challenging" or "Story Rich."

eldarth

What would be awesome is if authors could set what tags they feel are appropriate, and show those tags in bold or highlighted somewhat from tags reviewers set.

zahinder

I'm increasingly convinced Cryptic doesn't get 'people.'

karitr

Are you sure those tags aren't something an author can attach to his quest to make it searchable under the appropriate criteria? Seems bizarre if not, but would explain why half are adjectives and not genres.

I know that there is the absolutely certainty that exploitive authors will give their quests every tagline available, but as the players can also feedback how honest those tags are that would act as a safeguard. The two could work. One without the other just seems unbalanced at best.

I will add though that Foundry players on the whole are a generous bunch and you can trust most of us (high 90s percent) to be generous, fair and honest with the tags just as we are with reviews.

zahinder

I like the idea of reviewer-based tagging, my concern is primarily opening up another avenue of griefing we'll be unable to get Cryptic to address.

(Just report it! 'But I keep getting a response that they don't consider it actionable.' Reopen it! 'But it's been a month... ok... Ok, now I'm told not to reopen settled issues and it's been locked.' Open a new ticket!)

agentjaspor

Some good and interesting responses here from the devs:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?422091-New-Foundry-Features-on-Preview