I'm really enjoying having mine featured, not only for the giant uptick in tips received, but for the feedback as well. It's a wonderful feeling having your work be well received, for the most part, by the community. I also think, from reading reviews that improvements should be made regarding the pathway (sparkly trail.) A lot of my lower scoring reviews involve things that we authors have little control over, (so I'm not really sweating them, just an observation.) If I could trace the pathway similar to a one way patrol, it would probably solve most of this issue and avoid terrain that isn't intended in the pathway. This contest is wonderful for getting more recognition for the Foundry, but it's also a good way to look and see where improvements can be made. I like how everyone on the forums is being supportive, and letting the chips fall where they may. It's really turning a positive side to the overall community. I have a busy real world schedule the next few days, hopefully I'll find time to review some of the longer missions, but we'll see. Best of luck to you all!
"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
My reviews of Secrets of Manipulation, Whispers of an Ancient Evil, To Rescue a Kobold, and DownFall of the Dragon. Kasul and I ran out of time to review more, so we'll get to Error of Our Ways and Temple of All Colors and None, Friday. Like Week 1, it was a mixed bag of story quests, combat quests, and hybrids.
PS -- just noticed that, while the first week was pretty much just the first six foundries, this second week is skipping a lot of foundries. Not sure if some are being saved for later, or if they didn't meet the requirements, or what.
My reviews of Secrets of Manipulation, Whispers of an Ancient Evil, To Rescue a Kobold, and DownFall of the Dragon. Kasul and I ran out of time to review more, so we'll get to Error of Our Ways and Temple of All Colors and None, Friday. Like Week 1, it was a mixed bag of story quests, combat quests, and hybrids.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I actually wasn't sure they would let me keep some of those popular characters in. I did have to throw in some extra encounters to pad the time limit (I was going for 15-20 minutes), and to tie in with the newer material. Plus, I actually like the newer Cult encounters more than the old ones. I kinda wish we were given more control over the fight mechanics, so that I could've scripted the Ogre Mage a little differently. I'd have preferred a more "boss" cut-scene setting, but we're still limited in that respect. I'd like him to do more than fling magic missles most of the time, but I found that more "mage-like" than the Eye of Gruumsh direction. I kept finding him too squishy, so I actually added two additional Hobgoblins as bodyguards to preoccupy players. I tried to set it up so you could either charge and take on the whole group (hard) or apply some strategy and try to draw out the different encounters. I also tried to create the incidental encounters in a way so players could technically avoid some of them if they so chose. This was my first ever Foundry, so I was experimenting often but not comfortable enough to really try very advanced ideas. Funny side note: If you play as a GF or CW, you can knock the hobgoblin archers off of the cliff like Wile E. Coyote. Thanks again for the reviews, they are helpful and constructive. I hope you guys play it again soon.
"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
We really enjoyed your foundry. Thing about the Ogre Mage is, every scrap of paper we found talked him up, and when we finally caught up to him, he was just in a crowd of enemies. I'm a GF, my friend is a TR, so when we see enemies, we just wade in and kill them. Is when I noticed our Ogre Mage was in the mix.
Same thing happened with "To Rescue a Kobold", when I eventually began noticing the spork-related names of some of our enemies, and I had to slow down on the killing to see what was up with that. I am, personally, going to miss plot-related things happening in fights. Encounters are just the price to pay to see the next chapter of the plot, rarely interesting in and of themselves.
Maybe, at some point, the mage could have seen you were coming after him, turned around and called you out. Dunno. We don't have the tools to make real boss battles, and every foundry author does it differently. For a first foundry, this is amazing. I can't wait to play your next one!
Just a caveat: redeem those Mystagogue codes in your forum PM box because those codes expire at the end of the month.
Thank you!
For those of us who already have Mystagogues available on our accounts, is it okay if we share the code with a friend? (I realize it can't be exchanged for a different Companion, which is cool. It's a great gift already. I'm just thinking my son might like one on his account so that the code doesn't go to waste...)
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I actually wasn't sure they would let me keep some of those popular characters in. I did have to throw in some extra encounters to pad the time limit (I was going for 15-20 minutes), and to tie in with the newer material. Plus, I actually like the newer Cult encounters more than the old ones. I kinda wish we were given more control over the fight mechanics, so that I could've scripted the Ogre Mage a little differently. I'd have preferred a more "boss" cut-scene setting, but we're still limited in that respect. I'd like him to do more than fling magic missles most of the time, but I found that more "mage-like" than the Eye of Gruumsh direction. I kept finding him too squishy, so I actually added two additional Hobgoblins as bodyguards to preoccupy players. I tried to set it up so you could either charge and take on the whole group (hard) or apply some strategy and try to draw out the different encounters. I also tried to create the incidental encounters in a way so players could technically avoid some of them if they so chose. This was my first ever Foundry, so I was experimenting often but not comfortable enough to really try very advanced ideas. Funny side note: If you play as a GF or CW, you can knock the hobgoblin archers off of the cliff like Wile E. Coyote. Thanks again for the reviews, they are helpful and constructive. I hope you guys play it again soon.
It's one of the best quests I've played so far. The encounters felt actually meaningful rather than just being there for the sake of combat, which is something I rarely see. It's oviously not a foundry quest for the mob grinder crew, but for people like me who love a good D&D adventure with story focus, it's amazing.
I hope you'll turn it into a longer campaign eventually.
Question of ignorance here: Is there a way to sort the contest entries in the featured tab? I'm getting search hits for what look like contest entries but are in other languages, including the very term, "Cult of the Dragon Contest Entry". Because I would like to check out this week's entries but I don't know what they are. Could they be posted please?
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!
Good luck to the Week 2 foundry authors! The Week 1 foundries are proving tough to pull down, but the week isn't over yet.
We're also up against 2x Refinement weekend, so established farms are probably getting more attention from their usual runners. Plus there was no announcement about the ongoing contest so the hype is dying down a little. These things happen. I'm glad I'm not the one keeping track, dizzying enough as it is.
"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
I'm glad I'm not the one keeping track, dizzying enough as it is.
It's not too bad -- Akro said they are going to be taking the rating average (the actual average) for the quests featured week.
So, 6 quests/week x 5 possible star ratings -- just 30 values to enter. Any ratings before/after don't matter.
Hold on -- they're looking for the average, and not the number of stars? That would change everything.
If we're sorting by average score, then Secrets of Manipulation -- a week 2 quest -- moves into prize territory, while the previous third place -- The Artifact -- moves to dead last.
I need to check up on this. Rankings spreadsheet now includes both sorts in the Sort menu.
Hold on -- they're looking for the average, and not the number of stars? That would change everything.
Ah - that explains why it wasn't sorted by average. lol. I'll see if I can find Akromatic's answer about scoring and link/quote it in here.
Edit:
Oh rats - yep it is "accumulated" stars. Not sure I like that. Leans more toward the "popularity" vote -- the more plays you can get during that week increases your star count but not necessarily with good ratings. Someone who gets 100 plays and 2 stars on all of them wins over someone who gets 20 plays and all of them 5 stars. Oh well. I wonder if those from this week (which didn't get a news/blog notice) will have significantly less plays that the first week.
Starting Tuesday 9/2, we will start featuring the contest entries that are eligible for winning. We ask that all entrants make sure their Foundry quests are eligible for featuring and have been submitted for featuring. Due to the high volume of entries, we will be featuring the quests in batches to ensure all entries receive enough visibility. Each batch of entries will be featured for 1 week at a time and we will only count the stars accumulated during that week. Once a given entry's week is over, we will record the accumulated stars for quests featured that week in our super-secret ledger. When we have featured all of the eligible entries, we will declare the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners based upon their accumulated stars.
I just updated the scores as of now, and still not looking good. No offense meant to the author of "The Artifact", but if a minimal quest like that can win one of the top prizes over much more deserving entries, something is wrong.
So the top 3 had over 1,000 reviews and 4-5,000 stars accumualted in one week? If so, then interest significantly dropped off from week 1 to week 2. They're only counting the week that's featured not the entire run, right?
"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
It's not based on the amount of rates, but the average rating. Not sure who came up with thought it would be based on plays.
If it was, i would have just made a simple map running at 15 minutes and called it "The Quick Cult Quest".
Also i think the drop off this week is just based on the quality and the refining weekend. All I've been able to do with my play-time is click click click
It's not based on the amount of rates, but the average rating. Not sure who came up with thought it would be based on plays.
If it was, i would have just made a simple map running at 15 minutes and called it "The Quick Cult Quest".
Also i think the drop off this week is just based on the quality and the refining weekend. All I've been able to do with my play-time is click click click
No, not the average -- the TOTAL accumulated stars FOR THE FEATURE WEEK ONLY.
Once a given entry's week is over, we will record the accumulated stars for quests featured that week in our super-secret ledger.
No, not the average -- the TOTAL accumulated stars FOR THE FEATURE WEEK ONLY.
Once a given entry's week is over, we will record the accumulated stars for quests featured that week in our super-secret ledger.
Well there has been a huge drop off from week one to week two, mostly according to my guildmates due to how sucky most of the foundry entries have been. On top of that if your featured during the invasion week, no one will be playing foundry they will be helping save the city from the cult with awards.....something the foundry does not provide.
No, not the average -- the TOTAL accumulated stars FOR THE FEATURE WEEK ONLY.
Once a given entry's week is over, we will record the accumulated stars for quests featured that week in our super-secret ledger.
If so, then I think Tipa's spreadsheet has 2 weeks worth of data (based upon where they are now) for the first batch, which is why they're so far ahead. If that's the case then the first week will always have more than the second,the second more than the third and so forth as entries continue to be played after the counting week. Akro's got the "Official" data, so we'll never know until the winners are announced. I think that's why it's so confusing.
"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
hmm if its based on stars (how many plays pretty much). then we are going to get a very HAMSTER top 3 list.
any quest more than 30-40 minutes will auto-fail too.
That can't be the way they are judging, after all this effort to make things fair. It really doesn't make sense to judge this way, its too hard to believe.
My spreadsheet has about an extra day's worth before I understood it was only for the run. So there are some more for week 1 than there should be, but not substantially more. Not enough to alter the standings. I haven't updated them now for days. I stand by the ordering. If they get really close, there might be some issue -- but they aren't close.
I'm not sure what people were expecting. Foundries are always of random quality; the difference here is, quality is not taken into consideration when chosen for featuring. Some shorter foundries didn't make it, but those that made the time limit seem to have made it in, even if they were minimal. Grimah should have gone ahead and made a sewer map filled with cult mobs and called it done, because currently, a map that is exactly that and nothing more is up for one of the three prizes that are based on accumulated stars.
We ALL should have done that. Most of us spent weeks working on our entries, and I think for most of us, the green companion will be our only reward -- and possibly some foundry achievements.
Most foundry missions are pretty terrible, 'tis true. My foundry partner and I typically avoid them if we can, but now we, and everyone else, has to play the good and the bad alike. I can see why some people would get turned off by the wildly varying quality.
However, there's still the two dev's choice awards. I'm hoping those are awarded to the best of the quests to come from this contest.
Comments
KUDOS! Well done!
"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
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
Greetings Authors,
Just a caveat: redeem those Mystagogue codes in your forum PM box because those codes expire at the end of the month. Happy Foundry-ing!
Week 2 Reviews, Part 1
PS -- just noticed that, while the first week was pretty much just the first six foundries, this second week is skipping a lot of foundries. Not sure if some are being saved for later, or if they didn't meet the requirements, or what.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I actually wasn't sure they would let me keep some of those popular characters in. I did have to throw in some extra encounters to pad the time limit (I was going for 15-20 minutes), and to tie in with the newer material. Plus, I actually like the newer Cult encounters more than the old ones. I kinda wish we were given more control over the fight mechanics, so that I could've scripted the Ogre Mage a little differently. I'd have preferred a more "boss" cut-scene setting, but we're still limited in that respect. I'd like him to do more than fling magic missles most of the time, but I found that more "mage-like" than the Eye of Gruumsh direction. I kept finding him too squishy, so I actually added two additional Hobgoblins as bodyguards to preoccupy players. I tried to set it up so you could either charge and take on the whole group (hard) or apply some strategy and try to draw out the different encounters. I also tried to create the incidental encounters in a way so players could technically avoid some of them if they so chose. This was my first ever Foundry, so I was experimenting often but not comfortable enough to really try very advanced ideas. Funny side note: If you play as a GF or CW, you can knock the hobgoblin archers off of the cliff like Wile E. Coyote. Thanks again for the reviews, they are helpful and constructive. I hope you guys play it again soon.
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
Same thing happened with "To Rescue a Kobold", when I eventually began noticing the spork-related names of some of our enemies, and I had to slow down on the killing to see what was up with that. I am, personally, going to miss plot-related things happening in fights. Encounters are just the price to pay to see the next chapter of the plot, rarely interesting in and of themselves.
Maybe, at some point, the mage could have seen you were coming after him, turned around and called you out. Dunno. We don't have the tools to make real boss battles, and every foundry author does it differently. For a first foundry, this is amazing. I can't wait to play your next one!
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
Thank you!
For those of us who already have Mystagogues available on our accounts, is it okay if we share the code with a friend? (I realize it can't be exchanged for a different Companion, which is cool. It's a great gift already. I'm just thinking my son might like one on his account so that the code doesn't go to waste...)
Doc
It's one of the best quests I've played so far. The encounters felt actually meaningful rather than just being there for the sake of combat, which is something I rarely see. It's oviously not a foundry quest for the mob grinder crew, but for people like me who love a good D&D adventure with story focus, it's amazing.
I hope you'll turn it into a longer campaign eventually.
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
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!
Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
Good luck to the Week 2 foundry authors! The Week 1 foundries are proving tough to pull down, but the week isn't over yet.
We're also up against 2x Refinement weekend, so established farms are probably getting more attention from their usual runners. Plus there was no announcement about the ongoing contest so the hype is dying down a little. These things happen. I'm glad I'm not the one keeping track, dizzying enough as it is.
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
It's not too bad -- Akro said they are going to be taking the rating average (the actual average) for the quests featured week.
So, 6 quests/week x 5 possible star ratings -- just 30 values to enter. Any ratings before/after don't matter.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
If we're sorting by average score, then Secrets of Manipulation -- a week 2 quest -- moves into prize territory, while the previous third place -- The Artifact -- moves to dead last.
I need to check up on this. Rankings spreadsheet now includes both sorts in the Sort menu.
Ah - that explains why it wasn't sorted by average. lol. I'll see if I can find Akromatic's answer about scoring and link/quote it in here.
Edit:
Oh rats - yep it is "accumulated" stars. Not sure I like that. Leans more toward the "popularity" vote -- the more plays you can get during that week increases your star count but not necessarily with good ratings. Someone who gets 100 plays and 2 stars on all of them wins over someone who gets 20 plays and all of them 5 stars. Oh well. I wonder if those from this week (which didn't get a news/blog notice) will have significantly less plays that the first week.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
If it was, i would have just made a simple map running at 15 minutes and called it "The Quick Cult Quest".
Also i think the drop off this week is just based on the quality and the refining weekend. All I've been able to do with my play-time is click click click
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
No, not the average -- the TOTAL accumulated stars FOR THE FEATURE WEEK ONLY.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Well there has been a huge drop off from week one to week two, mostly according to my guildmates due to how sucky most of the foundry entries have been. On top of that if your featured during the invasion week, no one will be playing foundry they will be helping save the city from the cult with awards.....something the foundry does not provide.
Ah well at least we got a green companion.
If so, then I think Tipa's spreadsheet has 2 weeks worth of data (based upon where they are now) for the first batch, which is why they're so far ahead. If that's the case then the first week will always have more than the second,the second more than the third and so forth as entries continue to be played after the counting week. Akro's got the "Official" data, so we'll never know until the winners are announced. I think that's why it's so confusing.
Featured Foundry Quest: Whispers of an Ancient Evil [v3] - NW-DQ4WKW6ZG
Foundry Quest: Harper Chronicles: Blacklake - NW-DCPA4W2Q5
any quest more than 30-40 minutes will auto-fail too.
That can't be the way they are judging, after all this effort to make things fair. It really doesn't make sense to judge this way, its too hard to believe.
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
I'm not sure what people were expecting. Foundries are always of random quality; the difference here is, quality is not taken into consideration when chosen for featuring. Some shorter foundries didn't make it, but those that made the time limit seem to have made it in, even if they were minimal. Grimah should have gone ahead and made a sewer map filled with cult mobs and called it done, because currently, a map that is exactly that and nothing more is up for one of the three prizes that are based on accumulated stars.
We ALL should have done that. Most of us spent weeks working on our entries, and I think for most of us, the green companion will be our only reward -- and possibly some foundry achievements.
Most foundry missions are pretty terrible, 'tis true. My foundry partner and I typically avoid them if we can, but now we, and everyone else, has to play the good and the bad alike. I can see why some people would get turned off by the wildly varying quality.
However, there's still the two dev's choice awards. I'm hoping those are awarded to the best of the quests to come from this contest.