There were a few indicators to me. The first was that this week had less entries than usual (3 as opposed to 5 or so). Second, a few of the forum-goers and authors here hinted that this might be the final batch of quests. The third is that quests that were posted in the official submission thread after mine was posted have already been featured, including this week's entries. In fact, this week's entries basically mark the end of the official thread's posts.
The spreadsheet claims this quest and “The Dragon Has 3 Heads… or 5…” would make a great double feature, and it’s hard to argue with that.
Even I can't argue with that one. Thanks for the high praise!
I'm also entertained by all the comments telling me that it feels like an actual D&D adventure, since my entire quest series (including this one) is somewhat loosely based on the first campaign I ever ran.
I learned a lot from my first foundry, probably the first being that I should cut down on quest items, or probably give players more obvious chances to drop them. Note to fellow foundry authors: there is an item limit, and it is 20. (Haha, I hit that limit, so now I know that I'm doing it wrong! I had a hunch, but I didn't give it enough thought initially to circumvent it.)
Second, I should probably type my text out in advance in a text editor, and I really need to find the exact limits of the foundry, before I set about doing anything. I think I may have hit a foundry text box limit, and that hurt me a bit.
Third, details matter a lot. Like, probably the most levels of a lot. From playing dtz's quest, and talking to every npc, those kind of details really fleshed out the map. I think the maps in general may have been my greatest failing, though I'm positively sure other people will tell me otherwise. (I called it murder lake, and oh boy did it do it's job. From killing players, me while editing, and my score the tiniest bit, I now know first hand that sky map causes the smallest bit of anger rage. I was told it would happen. I did it anyway. I regret nothing! As a further side note I can guarantee that I died more at murder lake than any three of my players, unless those three players are a particular brand of hard headed, bad, and oblivious.)
Fourthly, I need to bug check much harder. Few people actually commented on issues, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there weren't any, as one of my friends experienced one on the final map that caused him more than one death. He's not supposed to die there! He's supposed to die at murder lake!
I'm sure that if (or when) I tackle the foundry again, I'll be more experienced, and this next quest will certainly be the best around (I Jest... a lot).
One last question, what endings did you fellows get? I forgot to mention it in the quest text that I would like to know, but I have a theory it was the "True End" or the "Evil End", as those were probably the most obvious and easiest to obtain.
Thank you to every one who reviewed and enjoyed my quest, and thanks to those people who played it and rage quit. Thank you once more to the people who reviewed and derived anti-enjoyment from my quest, as at least you told me about it, and a final thanks to those people who ran through the quest and quizzically asked, "The hell?" then told me and the internet, "The hell?" (Even better, it wasn't just you DTZ, and 3* confusion is still 3*'s, which is objectively half good.)
One last question, what endings did you fellows get? I forgot to mention it in the quest text that I would like to know, but I have a theory it was the "True End" or the "Evil End", as those were probably the most obvious and easiest to obtain.
True End, here. Items were definitely an issue, and it didn't play well with a group. On "Murder Lake", my partner hopped over easily, I did the combat. Characters would drop out at odd times, then we'd find out what happened. I think you had a lot of things going on there -- Scott's back story, the whole quest being essentially about getting stinking drunk, I dunno. I gave it four stars because there was something really endearing about the characters. There were issues, but they weren't deal killers.
Probably the biggest problem with this quest, aside from the items, was the length. This quest should have been half an hour.
My contest entry also used items to keep track of player choices, but I used a lot fewer of them, and I confined the important choices to just one map.
The reason it was so long, is that if you make the right decisions and circumvent encounters, you can beat it in under 20. I know this, and designed it as such, and I was incredibly paranoid that people would fly through it and the final time would be under the pre-requisite time of 15 minutes. So, I over-compensated hard. Boringly hard. So I'll add that to my lessons learned. Thanks for the tip Tipa!
Your reviews have been an incredibly enjoyable experience to read, and I was happy to read your review of my quest. I'm not too surprised at either your or Kasul's final score for my quest.
As for the story, I was going for something different. My friend pitched the idea that I should do a foundry about finding out some random fellows are joining up with the Cult of the Dragon, and your hero felt like that was a bad thing. Then you find out that the real cult of the dragon is not happy at them for throwing a BIG PARTY in the real cult's name. Then it blossomed from there.
It was certainly different, I'll give you that. Different, ambitious (in a good way), and yeah, as Tipa said, a bit too long. I played it through twice (once in the non-featured version, then again when it was featured), and got very similar endings. The first time I partied with the orcs, killed the hound and the wizard, and took the combat path across the lake. The second time I partied with the orcs, avoided the hound but still couldn't talk my way past the wizard (I thought for sure I could hit him with the turnip...), and spent about a dozen injury kits on Murder Lake.
I wouldn't even say the premise was bad - it was certainly very creative, it just didn't resonate well with me personally.
So...is the contest finally done? The newest featured foundries were last edited Nov. 3rd.
"I don't know, I'm making it up as I go..." Featured Foundry Quest:Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
This is my review of some of the “Cult of the Dragon” contest.
Assault on Pyremourn @ZWATHA
NW-DQT5KLBA5
(4 stars)
Excellent environments, and good character editing.
Dialog was ok, but not any choices.
Some finding your own way, which I liked
Black Ice and Plaguefire @Dark_T_Zeratul
NW-DKOKQ3B7Q
(4 stars)
I liked the story, and most of the maps. I thought one map had to much fog.
A good role playing adventure.
Not good for a daily Foundry but good for adventuring
The Neverwinter Conspiracy (1.0) @Pingconchere
NW-DEEIHY5B7
(5 stars)
This is by far the best foundry I have played in a long while.
Great maps, dialog, menus, and special effects.
Loved the story, and the conspiracy!
Very long, but worth it!
A must play!
Oh. I haven't seen the other two myself. Perhaps they were not meant to be featured, or perhaps they were featured like quests from before the contest. I can only speculate.
I hope everyone enjoys my quest, even if it's a bit odd.
Thank you for the info, eldarth. I checked my quest's featured banner and it was not featured for the CotD contest. It says something like Have Foundry Fun or something.
Hey everyone, so we've featured all of the eligible quests and have finished the judging (I'm still seeing stars). I'll be starting a "winners' announcement" thread in ~5 minutes. If you find that your quest was not featured it's possible that either:
-It was not submitted for featuring, which means I am literally unable to feature it with the tools I have. (This was the case for a lot of really great quests )
-It was too short.
-It took too many liberties with the lore. (I tried to be as lenient as I could with this. I know that creativity manifests itself differently in all artists, so I tried to be as open-minded as I could)
thrymskvidaMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 19Arc User
edited November 2014
Woah. Just...woah. When I started making my foundry, I didn't even expect it to reach the top ten. Winning the second prize was way beyond my expectations.
Congrats to Sarlacc for getting the first prize!
Shadow of purple wings: Help the Harpers investigate a wizard suspected to be part of the Cult of the Dragon. - NW-DEYV5SVQ9
Congrats guys! And it seems Tipa's unofficial stats were close. If that's the case then </sigh> so close...</head-desk>
"I don't know, I'm making it up as I go..." Featured Foundry Quest:Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
0
drakkenfelMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 71
edited November 2014
Congratz to everyone! Many of us did not earn the top prizes, but we are ALL WINNERS! We earned visibility and learned a lot in the process. I look forward to submitting future missions for Featuring. I also look forward to seeing many new and wonderful Foundry missions from our growing Community of Authors... Well Done Lads and Lasses...
@METH_SHADOWSTORM - Foundry author of: "The Sunnydale Campaign" - NWS-DKBEJ9OOM
Episode 1: "Missing Daughters" - NW-DCX9IZBJB
Episode 2: "A Date With Destiny" - NW-DHYEX5NKR - Featured: NW-DHFLDPWJV
STO Foundry: "Safari So Good" - ST-HPRP2WFWI
Shocked.
I didn't think I had a snowball's chance. I just had a lot of fun building what I was building. Thanks everyone! And congrats to the other winners. I think all of us authors can come away saying we learned a lot and pushed some limits. I am stoked to see what new foundries are going to come out now.
I think a special shoutout needs to go to Tipa and their meticulous spreadsheets, charts, and reviews. They added a depth to the contest that I wasn't expecting, and gave all of us, authors and players, different things to think about and consider. Yay math! Cheers to you, Tipa.
Hidden Valley Ranch - NW-DPNGENL6E D&D Adventures Part I House of 1000 Corpses - NW-DIEYVLCML D&D Adventures Part II Well of Dragons - NW-DTPJEKZCT Third Place Winner CotD Foundry Contest
It's Just a Flesh Wound Pt. 1 - NW-DM8GHAME2 Monty Python!
It's Just a Flesh Wound Pt. 2 - NW-DFADOS4EX Monty Python!
I think a special shoutout needs to go to Tipa and their meticulous spreadsheets, charts, and reviews. They added a depth to the contest that I wasn't expecting, and gave all of us, authors and players, different things to think about and consider. Yay math! Cheers to you, Tipa.
Absolutely! Showed me I was pretty much right where I wanted to be story wise, but have much room for increased difficulty.
Blows me away that my rankings were so close -- and I'd predicted that Waryur's quest was actually going to be third place over The Artifact. And I like the two judge's choices.
efinitely a BIG thanks to tipadaknife too for his spreadsheets and rankings, It was nice to have an indea which quests to try and which ones to avoid too XD
efinitely a BIG thanks to tipadaknife too for his spreadsheets and rankings, It was nice to have an indea which quests to try and which ones to avoid too XD
Comments
How's week 9 standing up against the other quests in the unofficial ratings? click here to find out.
Like charts better? I've just the thing!
I'm also entertained by all the comments telling me that it feels like an actual D&D adventure, since my entire quest series (including this one) is somewhat loosely based on the first campaign I ever ran.
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
Second, I should probably type my text out in advance in a text editor, and I really need to find the exact limits of the foundry, before I set about doing anything. I think I may have hit a foundry text box limit, and that hurt me a bit.
Third, details matter a lot. Like, probably the most levels of a lot. From playing dtz's quest, and talking to every npc, those kind of details really fleshed out the map. I think the maps in general may have been my greatest failing, though I'm positively sure other people will tell me otherwise. (I called it murder lake, and oh boy did it do it's job. From killing players, me while editing, and my score the tiniest bit, I now know first hand that sky map causes the smallest bit of anger rage. I was told it would happen. I did it anyway. I regret nothing! As a further side note I can guarantee that I died more at murder lake than any three of my players, unless those three players are a particular brand of hard headed, bad, and oblivious.)
Fourthly, I need to bug check much harder. Few people actually commented on issues, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there weren't any, as one of my friends experienced one on the final map that caused him more than one death. He's not supposed to die there! He's supposed to die at murder lake!
I'm sure that if (or when) I tackle the foundry again, I'll be more experienced, and this next quest will certainly be the best around (I Jest... a lot).
One last question, what endings did you fellows get? I forgot to mention it in the quest text that I would like to know, but I have a theory it was the "True End" or the "Evil End", as those were probably the most obvious and easiest to obtain.
Thank you to every one who reviewed and enjoyed my quest, and thanks to those people who played it and rage quit. Thank you once more to the people who reviewed and derived anti-enjoyment from my quest, as at least you told me about it, and a final thanks to those people who ran through the quest and quizzically asked, "The hell?" then told me and the internet, "The hell?" (Even better, it wasn't just you DTZ, and 3* confusion is still 3*'s, which is objectively half good.)
True End, here. Items were definitely an issue, and it didn't play well with a group. On "Murder Lake", my partner hopped over easily, I did the combat. Characters would drop out at odd times, then we'd find out what happened. I think you had a lot of things going on there -- Scott's back story, the whole quest being essentially about getting stinking drunk, I dunno. I gave it four stars because there was something really endearing about the characters. There were issues, but they weren't deal killers.
Probably the biggest problem with this quest, aside from the items, was the length. This quest should have been half an hour.
My contest entry also used items to keep track of player choices, but I used a lot fewer of them, and I confined the important choices to just one map.
Your reviews have been an incredibly enjoyable experience to read, and I was happy to read your review of my quest. I'm not too surprised at either your or Kasul's final score for my quest.
As for the story, I was going for something different. My friend pitched the idea that I should do a foundry about finding out some random fellows are joining up with the Cult of the Dragon, and your hero felt like that was a bad thing. Then you find out that the real cult of the dragon is not happy at them for throwing a BIG PARTY in the real cult's name. Then it blossomed from there.
I wouldn't even say the premise was bad - it was certainly very creative, it just didn't resonate well with me personally.
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
Assault on Pyremourn
@ZWATHA
NW-DQT5KLBA5
(4 stars)
Excellent environments, and good character editing.
Dialog was ok, but not any choices.
Some finding your own way, which I liked
Black Ice and Plaguefire
@Dark_T_Zeratul
NW-DKOKQ3B7Q
(4 stars)
I liked the story, and most of the maps. I thought one map had to much fog.
A good role playing adventure.
Not good for a daily Foundry but good for adventuring
The Neverwinter Conspiracy (1.0)
@Pingconchere
NW-DEEIHY5B7
(5 stars)
This is by far the best foundry I have played in a long while.
Great maps, dialog, menus, and special effects.
Loved the story, and the conspiracy!
Very long, but worth it!
A must play!
Ricben
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
Hey now, don't give away spoilers
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
I hope everyone enjoys my quest, even if it's a bit odd.
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Hey everyone, so we've featured all of the eligible quests and have finished the judging (I'm still seeing stars). I'll be starting a "winners' announcement" thread in ~5 minutes. If you find that your quest was not featured it's possible that either:
-It was not submitted for featuring, which means I am literally unable to feature it with the tools I have. (This was the case for a lot of really great quests
-It was too short.
-It took too many liberties with the lore. (I tried to be as lenient as I could with this. I know that creativity manifests itself differently in all artists, so I tried to be as open-minded as I could)
Thanks to all who participated!
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/7001943
Congrats to Sarlacc for getting the first prize!
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
"The Sunnydale Campaign" - NWS-DKBEJ9OOM
Episode 1: "Missing Daughters" - NW-DCX9IZBJB
Episode 2: "A Date With Destiny" - NW-DHYEX5NKR - Featured: NW-DHFLDPWJV
STO Foundry: "Safari So Good" - ST-HPRP2WFWI
I didn't think I had a snowball's chance. I just had a lot of fun building what I was building. Thanks everyone! And congrats to the other winners. I think all of us authors can come away saying we learned a lot and pushed some limits. I am stoked to see what new foundries are going to come out now.
I think a special shoutout needs to go to Tipa and their meticulous spreadsheets, charts, and reviews. They added a depth to the contest that I wasn't expecting, and gave all of us, authors and players, different things to think about and consider. Yay math! Cheers to you, Tipa.
House of 1000 Corpses - NW-DIEYVLCML D&D Adventures Part II
Well of Dragons - NW-DTPJEKZCT Third Place Winner CotD Foundry Contest
It's Just a Flesh Wound Pt. 1 - NW-DM8GHAME2 Monty Python!
It's Just a Flesh Wound Pt. 2 - NW-DFADOS4EX Monty Python!
Absolutely! Showed me I was pretty much right where I wanted to be story wise, but have much room for increased difficulty.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Grats to the winners!
*cough* her....