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I have an idea. Looking for feedback.

bardaaronbardaaron Member Posts: 545 Bounty Hunter
edited January 2015 in The Foundry
We talk a lot about the Foundry and a special currency; about Zen store monetization; about lack of interests/rewards; and so on. I am having an idea, and I want others to check it and see if it's actually a good idea or not.

First, it involves the idea of Foundry Tokens that has already been suggested. You would get these by playing foundry quests. The new part is that they could be used to buy discrete budget increases on individual maps we are authoring. Maybe one map needs more details, or another needs more encounters. You use the tokens to get a set increase to each (I am thinking separate purchase for each budget). If you want to get more tokens quickly, you could drop some money in the Zen store to buy a pack of them, but everyone can eventually get as many tokens as they want just by playing through enough foundry quests.

What do you think? Could this be good?
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Post edited by bardaaron on

Comments

  • reiwulfreiwulf Member Posts: 2,687 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    the only drawback is that too many assets could cause problems in maps, or so I've been told.
    I personally would love bigger maps with a higher asset limit.
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  • idiotamongusidiotamongus Member Posts: 70 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    bardaaron wrote: »
    First, it involves the idea of Foundry Tokens that has already been suggested. You would get these by playing foundry quests. The new part is that they could be used to buy discrete budget increases on individual maps we are authoring. Maybe one map needs more details, or another needs more encounters. You use the tokens to get a set increase to each (I am thinking separate purchase for each budget). If you want to get more tokens quickly, you could drop some money in the Zen store to buy a pack of them, but everyone can eventually get as many tokens as they want just by playing through enough foundry quests.

    That's just tempting development companies to add more P2W assets. They may start charging these Foundry Tokens on regular maps. However, something like this could be useable.
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  • bardaaronbardaaron Member Posts: 545 Bounty Hunter
    edited January 2015
    I'm not talking about any exclusive assets that you'd have to pay for; just using coins (and paying if you WANT TO) to increase the limit. Or are you thinking they would curtail our core package that we currently get for free so they could charge us tokens to increase the limit up to what we have now? That seems like a <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> move even for PWE. I don't think the Cryptic Devs would do that.
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  • eldartheldarth Member Posts: 4,494 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    bardaaron wrote: »
    I'm not talking about any exclusive assets that you'd have to pay for; just using coins (and paying if you WANT TO) to increase the limit. Or are you thinking they would curtail our core package that we currently get for free so they could charge us tokens to increase the limit up to what we have now? That seems like a <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> move even for PWE. I don't think the Cryptic Devs would do that.

    ^ I'm pretty sure this would definitely be something the bean counters would immediately think of and push for implementing.

    Especially as the budget limitations are almost exclusively there because the 10+ year old graphics/game engine can't handle much more than that. They do special "tricks" to make larger zones and more objects because they can sort of "pre-cook" their environments whereas the foundry quests are too wide-open.
  • orangefireeorangefiree Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,148 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I like the idea. It encourages authors to play foundries to get benefits for authoring. Personally, I've always cared a lot more about the opinions of other authors than the opinions of random players, so encouraging authors to play each other's quests is a good idea in my book.
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  • ahrisahnahrisahn Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    I think the token system is the way to go. I don't think this should be an additional reward for authors, it is too author specific to increase the number of players actually wanting to do the foundry. Which I would think, is the goal in all this.

    I believe the foundry should have its own distinct 'tokens' that the players can exchange for cosmetic or collectible type items. I think this will give them the incentive to play and not disrupt any current systems that are in place.

    For it to be truly effective though, the cash store shouldn't allow access to the tokens, unless it's a 'buff' item to increase the number of tokens per quest.

    I really enjoy authoring content and sharing it with others, but until we get more players 'through the door', we probably won't get as much support for our efforts as we believe we deserve.

    These are my thoughts on being charged for assets/distinct items from an authoring stance. The foundry is a great tool that lets my imagination run wild. There are some limitations, but it's free.... If they did establish some 'purchased' features, I would look at as an opportunity to make my personal 'art' better, not as an attack on some personally held belief about what the Foundry should be. This game is run by a business and they're providing me with entertainment, I would expect some sort of monetary expense at some point...
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  • imaginaerum1imaginaerum1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 378 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    ahrisahn wrote: »
    ...
    These are my thoughts on being charged for assets/distinct items from an authoring stance. The foundry is a great tool that lets my imagination run wild. There are some limitations, but it's free.... If they did establish some 'purchased' features, I would look at as an opportunity to make my personal 'art' better, not as an attack on some personally held belief about what the Foundry should be. This game is run by a business and they're providing me with entertainment, I would expect some sort of monetary expense at some point...

    I agree with this. I know there are some here who consider this heresy, but I would have no problem with paying a few dollars here and there to add things not currently available, as long as everything already in place remained free and free additions continue to be made at least at the current snails-pace rate.

    I'm okay with paying a couple of bucks for character slots in the main game, as it expands what I can do.
    Similarly, I'd be okay with paying a couple of bucks for some extra quest slots once I've filled up the ones I've got.

    I'd be willing to pay a couple of bucks for an "asset pack" with additional details, sounds, costumes, etc. that are not currently available.

    I'd be willing to pay a couple of bucks for an "advanced tools pack" that had those things we've been asking for like "or" functionality, working levers, objective branching, etc.

    As long as prices were reasonable, I'd fork out some cash. At least that way, with some monetization going on, maybe we'd actually get new tools, new details, etc. $5 for two extra quest slots? I'd pay that. Probably more than once. $10 for an asset pack that included 200 new unique details, an extra volume gate or two, some new music tracks, some new costume options, and a working lever? Yeah, I'd pay that. $10 to add 100 details, 5 encounters, and 5 NPCs to my budget caps? Hell yes, I'd pay that.
  • maegmaagmaegmaag Member Posts: 332 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    Another nail into coffin. How twisted, paying instead of being paid for work.
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  • bardaaronbardaaron Member Posts: 545 Bounty Hunter
    edited January 2015
    Just to make it clear; my idea was not to use these to pay for FEATURES, but rather to increase budget limits, and that was only meant to be a possible use. I think that for any Foundry tokens, there must be things for players to get with them too, not just things for authors. This, making use of a foundry based rewards system and a foundry-based item to purchase, together would give two things that might measure how people would react to them.

    Another thing, if foundry tokens being sold in the zen store isn't palatable, what if there were an exchange like the ZAX, but with tokens, so that people could trade them as the wanted, for the price that people decided they seemed worth? No matter what, I think there should be a (relatively) easy way to get as many tokens as you need with a reasonable amount of work.
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  • maegmaagmaegmaag Member Posts: 332 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    The budget limit for static assets (details) is calculated from gpu draw calls and overall resource dependencies so it wont change unless the server specifications and the average (even engine both server and client side) power of client change. Another story would be a possibility to make "zones" and that wont (most likely here) happen.

    There are plenty of things that could help both the authors and the players, i call it for myself a torch. Its just an example which came from the lack of torches usable by PC (another could be a scroll of portal to nearest spawnpoint). U could put a torch usable by the PC (c head lights in STO) in the foundry that will perish the moment the PC finish/leave the quest or u could buy a torch from the zen store, lets say in a variety of designs, for all time use. Thats just the monetarizing the foundry hint. Player rewards is another story which wont be better till...

    Anyway the epitaph is the same: Just one single person dedicated to foundry development and support. Till that any discussion is pointless.

    edit: i admit i dont rly pay much attention to the topic, i simply participiate out of drunken boredom
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    A bit nosy NW-DKG7E99X6
    "Hardcore" exploration journey and dungeon crawl. Read its description prior to trying it.
  • imaginaerum1imaginaerum1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 378 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    maegmaag wrote: »
    Another nail into coffin. How twisted, paying instead of being paid for work.

    For work? Making foundry quests isn't work.

    Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not easy by any means. But it's not work. It's art.
    If you see it as work, you're wasting your time. 99.9% of the time, the game as a whole doesn't care one whit about your "work".
    Whether you specifically make foundry quests or not really doesn't matter, either to Cryptic/PWE or the player base.

    You're not "working" for anyone, you're here (presumably) because you enjoy making quests.
    It's sure not for the rewards. Tips are nice, but 50/250/500 is a joke. Whee, in weeks I've made enough tips to equal one character doing Leadership once during the day. Achievement rewards (the useful ones) are above most authors' ability to achieve.
    You're not getting gear for your character(s) from it.

    So, why are you making quests? If the answer isn't "because I enjoy it" then stop. Seriously. Stop.

    So, here we are playing a game which allows us to do something we enjoy, which is create quests. That game, and the toolset so far provided, is free. Yet Foundry is getting pretty much ignored, because there's "no monetization".
    So would I be willing to toss a few bucks Cryptic/PWE's way in order to get things we are not currently getting? Absolutely. Because I'm willing to pay for my entertainment, as long as the costs are reasonable.
  • imaginaerum1imaginaerum1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 378 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    maegmaag wrote: »
    The budget limit for static assets (details) is calculated from gpu draw calls and overall resource dependencies so it wont change unless the server specifications and the average (even engine both server and client side) power of client change.
    ...

    Are you sure about that? They upped details from 1500 to 1700 before. I'm pretty sure that wasn't in response to any upgrades.
  • maegmaagmaegmaag Member Posts: 332 Arc User
    edited January 2015
    "They" just adjusted it to the expectations and yes, am pretty sure how it works.

    And yes, doing an "art" even is work being done (even that i barely saw any here), its value added. If someone takes the word "work" for a "labor", then there is no matter to talk about. On top of it, its a work done for free for a non-free software company that, as one of the main features, advertise and gets credits from it.
    dAuGVxU.png
    A bit nosy NW-DKG7E99X6
    "Hardcore" exploration journey and dungeon crawl. Read its description prior to trying it.
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