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Idea for Devs
dragonf1ight
Posts: 9 Arc User
No clue if they'll read this. I hope they do, 'cause this one struck me out of the blue, and it seems so *straightforward* I'm amazed I never thought of it before!
Okay. First, we know the Foundry concept from STO doesn't work with Champions because it's an older platform, and bolting it on doesn't work. This is what's prevented people from coming up with player-generated content.
Second, the Devs have recently been holding costume contests, with the winning entry being built as a new in-game update, adding new costumes to the game. It works well, and the playerbase gets really involved in the outcome.
See where I'm going here? The Devs hold a contest for people to come up with a new mission. Make it a muliti-mission arc so as to increase replayability for everyone. Maybe a 3 or 5 mission arc. Obvious rules things like it having to fit the storyline, it can't be an obvious ripoff of someone else's property, and for interest's sake, it should be as original as possible. That kind of thing.
Then hold a contest for two or three weeks, for people to submit story ideas. This includes proposed combats, locations and even dialogue. The winner, picked by the Devs, has their work turned into story-arc which is added to the game, through an NPC who hands these things out. Then just turn out one arc every month, with a development delay time of two or three months from winning to deployment.
At first, the number of missions will obviously be small. But in six months? A year? Eventually there will be a large list of player-generated content added by the devs which will greatly increase playability of the game content. It neatly steps around the Foundry issue by allowing the Devs to script the new missions and add them, but also allows the players to contribute, giving the Devs the ability to tap all that creative power the playerbase has at its disposal.
Okay. First, we know the Foundry concept from STO doesn't work with Champions because it's an older platform, and bolting it on doesn't work. This is what's prevented people from coming up with player-generated content.
Second, the Devs have recently been holding costume contests, with the winning entry being built as a new in-game update, adding new costumes to the game. It works well, and the playerbase gets really involved in the outcome.
See where I'm going here? The Devs hold a contest for people to come up with a new mission. Make it a muliti-mission arc so as to increase replayability for everyone. Maybe a 3 or 5 mission arc. Obvious rules things like it having to fit the storyline, it can't be an obvious ripoff of someone else's property, and for interest's sake, it should be as original as possible. That kind of thing.
Then hold a contest for two or three weeks, for people to submit story ideas. This includes proposed combats, locations and even dialogue. The winner, picked by the Devs, has their work turned into story-arc which is added to the game, through an NPC who hands these things out. Then just turn out one arc every month, with a development delay time of two or three months from winning to deployment.
At first, the number of missions will obviously be small. But in six months? A year? Eventually there will be a large list of player-generated content added by the devs which will greatly increase playability of the game content. It neatly steps around the Foundry issue by allowing the Devs to script the new missions and add them, but also allows the players to contribute, giving the Devs the ability to tap all that creative power the playerbase has at its disposal.
Post edited by dragonf1ight on
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Add a 40's Lairs to players team up and good stuff drops. Thats what we need imo.
That's why I suggested that idea up above. It allows the remaining Devs to tap the talent pool all those players represents, and allows them to do most of the plot writing. As for custom bad guys, the rule could be easily something like, "Design it in the Nemesis creator and send us a copy of the pics." With that, you have an existing in-game method for creating new enemies and monsters. And with the gamers having done most of the work, it's just up to the devs to script the arc based on the winning entry for that month.
While it'd be great to have a 'design the next big thing!' contest, it likely isn't viable. Cybermind was a really cool little arc that was ultimately over in around half an hour. It was either the devs testing out what they could do, or was a quick arc to satisfy the playerbase. The Malvan arc had a flippin' VEHICLE RACE. That part was likely specifically designed to sell vehicles (even though people with flying powers could do it too.) Then the last part was a rather awkward boss rush that was the usual tank 'n spank.
Not to mention, if they did throw a contest, the community would likely throw a collective hissy fit when the winning arc turns out to be something simple and easy, just like the Nemesis and Fire and Ice contests, because 'simple and easy' is what the developers are likely looking for. Why do challenging, thought-provoking and fulfilling when you can do Fire and Ice? Why make a big adventure pack with a proper narrative when you could just as easily take player-designed villains and concepts and drop them into alerts without context?
This would only work if the players had the dev tools and the power to do this stuff themselves, and we do not, and we likely never will.
^ that.
Even if the issue was a lack of ideas, all they devs would have to do is open up the forums. We've been throwing bucket fulls of ideas at them for years.
If anything they need to have a "Are you a talented person with useful technical skills who is willing to work for free?" contest.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
RIP Caine