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Cult of the Dragon Foundry Contest - Official Discussion Thread

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  • pingconcherepingconchere Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2014
    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.
  • tipadaknifetipadaknife Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    My Week 9 foundry contest reviews are right here.

    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!
    dec2014nwsig.png
  • tipadaknifetipadaknife Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    double post, dunno how to delete it.
    dec2014nwsig.png
  • dtzdtz Member Posts: 174 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.
    Rank 8 Foundry Grand Master

    Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
  • howlitehowlite Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.)
  • tipadaknifetipadaknife Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    howlite wrote: »
    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.
    dec2014nwsig.png
  • howlitehowlite Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.
  • dtzdtz Member Posts: 174 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.
    Rank 8 Foundry Grand Master

    Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
  • iandarkswordiandarksword Member Posts: 978 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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
  • dtzdtz Member Posts: 174 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Looks like it; the new featured quests don't say they're for the contest, and two definitely don't have anything to do with the Cult.
    Rank 8 Foundry Grand Master

    Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
  • tipadaknifetipadaknife Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I have no idea if the contest is over. I guess I'll add Ping's to the spreadsheet.
    dec2014nwsig.png
  • ronackerronacker Member Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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!

    Ricben
  • dtzdtz Member Posts: 174 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    ronacker wrote: »
    I thought one map had to much fog.
    Turn up your graphics settings and the fog will go away.
    Rank 8 Foundry Grand Master

    Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
  • pingconcherepingconchere Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    My quest does say it's for the contest (as far as I remember). I'm surprised it got featured this week, but I'm happy with that.
    definitely don't have anything to do with the Cult.

    Hey now, don't give away spoilers ;) I did say I took some liberties, after all.
  • dtzdtz Member Posts: 174 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Hey now, don't give away spoilers ;) I did say I took some liberties, after all.
    Oh, I meant the other two. They're pretty obviously not contest entries.
    Rank 8 Foundry Grand Master

    Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
  • pingconcherepingconchere Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.
  • dtzdtz Member Posts: 174 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Maybe they thought your quest was good enough to feature, but took too many liberties to qualify for the contest.
    Rank 8 Foundry Grand Master

    Check out my Foundry questline, The Brightstone Explorers' Guild, now archived on Youtube!
  • eldartheldarth Member Posts: 4,494 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    All of the CotD contest quests stated that they are featured for the contest on their graphic overview.
  • pingconcherepingconchere Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.
  • akromatikakromatik Member Posts: 1
    edited November 2014

    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!

  • kithliskithlis Member Posts: 217 Arc User
    edited November 2014
  • thrymskvidathrymskvida Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 19 Arc 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
  • iandarkswordiandarksword Member Posts: 978 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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
  • drakkenfeldrakkenfel Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 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...
    Paladin.jpg
    @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
  • waryurwaryur Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 167 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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!
  • eldartheldarth Member Posts: 4,494 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    waryur wrote: »
    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.
  • tipadaknifetipadaknife Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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.

    Grats to the winners!
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  • reiwulfreiwulf Member Posts: 2,687 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    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
    2e2qwj6.jpg
  • tipadaknifetipadaknife Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    reiwulf wrote: »
    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

    *cough* her....
    dec2014nwsig.png
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