this is a shame, atari is not a good company. look at their customer support for instance. i do believe that cryptic is there money maker and keeping them afloat. so hopefully atari goes bankrupt and is forced to sell cryptic to a better company. that will recognise the potencial of the game and staff and the loyalty the staff has to thier products. and give cryptic the budget 20 times what it is know.
I appreciate your suggestions. You obviously really like the Feature Episodes and want many more of them. As I said. We will make as many of them as we possibly can.
You have obviously figured out the secrets of MMOs. It boils down to content. Luckily, we have a very talented and highly trained staff of MMO experts who also know this and work on it every day for hours upon hours. It took 1/3 of my team 3 weeks to make "Coliseum". If you do the math that means that I could theoretically do 52 missions like today's a year (and trust me when I say that is a huge nearly impossible stretch). Unfortunately, we have many more things to do in the game other than Feature Episodes - which we all agree are awesome - but I don't have the luxury to just ship Feature Episodes non-stop and nothing else.
So what do you want me to say? We're not making content fast enough for you? That seems pretty obvious.
Dan,
I can make a fairly beefy Foundry mission in around 24 hours. In 48, I could have custom maps and quite a bit of polish.
Now I recognize that you're talking about a team that works VERY hard on securing music rights, fine tuning and creating art assets, bug testing and QA, creating cutscenes, recording voiceover, etc.
But either I'm some kind of high powered mutant or your team has done such an extraordinary job with The Foundry that, were I your employee, I would not feel at all anxious promising you 10-15 meaty, story-driven missions a month that I could build pretty much by myself, anticipating at least 90% of the things that might create a problem on, say, Zero's end in internal testing.
Now, what you're already doing is lovely. But wouldn't it be justifiable to have one person churning out 10-15 official missions a month on top of that?
this is a shame, atari is not a good company. look at their customer support for instance. i do believe that cryptic is there money maker and keeping them afloat. so hopefully atari goes bankrupt and is forced to sell cryptic to a better company. that will recognise the potencial of the game and staff and the loyalty the staff has to thier products. and give cryptic the budget 20 times what it is know.
20 times the budget?? You know the average game developer based on 2008 stats makes 80k a year. On that same wikipedia page I was on it stated Cryptic Studios has 100 employees. That means alone it takes 80 million a year just for the current staff. Granted if they could get more budget it would be nice for the game but if your never satisfied with what you have, will you every be satisfied when you get more?
I can make a fairly beefy Foundry mission in around 24 hours. In 48, I could have custom maps and quite a bit of polish.
Now I recognize that you're talking about a team that works VERY hard on securing music rights, fine tuning and creating art assets, bug testing and QA, creating cutscenes, recording voiceover, etc.
But either I'm some kind of high powered mutant or your team has done such an extraordinary job with The Foundry that, were I your employee, I would not feel at all anxious promising you 10-15 meaty, story-driven missions a month that I could build pretty much by myself, anticipating at least 90% of the things that might create a problem on, say, Zero's end in internal testing.
Now, what you're already doing is lovely. But wouldn't it be justifiable to have one person churning out 10-15 official missions a month on top of that?
Levi,
The dev tools are more cumbersome but powerful than the Foundry. Adjust math accordingly.
You're not a snowflake or a super-powered mutant or Trogdor, the burninator You're a guy with cool tools but not necessarily that powerful ones (and custom animations and artwork in this mission required a lot of effort from the whole team).
Maybe one day the tools will be at a point to be as powerful as the devs ones but even then the art, music, animation, A.I. logic, etc. takes time.
this is a shame, atari is not a good company. look at their customer support for instance. i do believe that cryptic is there money maker and keeping them afloat. so hopefully atari goes bankrupt and is forced to sell cryptic to a better company. that will recognise the potencial of the game and staff and the loyalty the staff has to thier products. and give cryptic the budget 20 times what it is know.
not nice. that'd be a lot of people forced to lose their jobs and some other talented studios losing distribution (i.e. the team behind The Witcher)
as for atari goes they need to lose their jobs. the good ones if there are any then the company that buys them can hire them. out with the bad in with the excellance. as far as not nice, maybe your right, but it not nice that cryptic isnt given a reasonable budget to make this game better for the community when it has and is a finacial supporter of there company.
as for atari goes they need to lose their jobs. the good ones if there are any then the company that buys them can hire them. out with the bad in with the excellance. as far as not nice, maybe your right, but it not nice that cryptic isnt given a reasonable budget to make this game better for the community when it has and is a finacial supporter of there company.
Atari actually did a good job of trimming fat these past two years, if you're familiar with reading investor financial reports. They're not terribly complex and turning around such a massive dip into the red into less-so is pretty outstanding.
Wishing them to lose their jobs means some faces would get dropped. If I remember right, ThomasTheCat isn't fully a STO team member. He's Atari-wide in web art.
So, you'd want Atari to fire Thomas, right? Presumably, you'd also ask for the people who invested in Cryptic in the first place to help acquire the license to also lose their jobs?
It's not cool: those are just easy grasps at solutions and blame. It doesn't account for the range of experiences and input in the game. Not all Atari employees are evil (technically, all Cryptic employees are atari employees). Cut and dry blame games aren't good. They may seem gratifying but they're not rewarding.
Atari would likely invest more into STO due to Champs' new performance. It takes time though. Quarterly results, semi-annual, and yearly results all factor into decision regarding one of the flagship titles for Atari. You don't just toss money out an airlock because the preliminary results say it's sunny.
well you want to get technical ok. i was enjoying the blame game. but you have a point about the quarterly reports and champs but dont underestimate sto this game is huge success i dont care what anyone or report says. it needs to have the resources to do thier jobs.
The dev tools are more cumbersome but powerful than the Foundry. Adjust math accordingly.
You're not a snowflake or a super-powered mutant or Trogdor, the burninator You're a guy with cool tools but not necessarily that powerful ones (and custom animations and artwork in this mission required a lot of effort from the whole team).
Maybe one day the tools will be at a point to be as powerful as the devs ones but even then the art, music, animation, A.I. logic, etc. takes time.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Armchair Quarterback.
not nice. that'd be a lot of people forced to lose their jobs and some other talented studios losing distribution (i.e. the team behind The Witcher)
Darren,
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that most dev missions do things you can't do yet in The Foundry.
My point is... with the tools being there, I think the opportunity is fast approaching to take a two tiered approach to this, with a large bulk of the team doing these quality featured episodes but with 1-2 people focused on generating simple, official missions.
If I had the Foundry tools (though I'd want to learn how to tweak more beyond that) and could work fulltime on it, I could close the Federation/Klingon content gap in 2-3 months. *I* could do this. There are people at Cryptic who I'm sure could do better and more.
I'm just saying I think a two-pronged approach is in order, with a high quality team and a high quantity team of just 1-2 people, starting with basic Foundry tools. Fairly plain missions but a lot of them.
The point is, sure there will be a ton of Foundry content in the not too distant future. There are people who won't touch it. There are people for whom that doesn't "count".
I'm saying I believe that it would be worth putting 1-2 people on generating bulk content, using whatever tools are available, even if those missions are basically just Foundry missions and about on par with the missions this game had at launch. And this would be done while most of the team focuses on high quality new content but that the bulk/filler team, 1-2 people, could basically go through filling out factions with core content or just designing the new exploration content.
well you want to get technical ok. i was enjoying the blame game. but you have a point about the quarterly reports and champs but dont underestimate sto this game is huge success i dont care what anyone or report says. it needs to have the resources to do thier jobs.
It does and I think STO and Champs' performance should have a solid impact: revenue going up 500% in just one of Cryptic's titles is great.
Financial reports take time to work their way back to investor calls which take time to go back to Cryptic and appease the abacus gods and before dstahl can interview yet another person for the team.
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that most dev missions do things you can't do yet in The Foundry.
My point is... with the tools being there, I think the opportunity is fast approaching to take a two tiered approach to this, with a large bulk of the team doing these quality featured episodes but with 1-2 people focused on generating simple, official missions.
If I had the Foundry tools (though I'd want to learn how to tweak more beyond that) and could work fulltime on it, I could close the Federation/Klingon content gap in 2-3 months. *I* could do this. There are people at Cryptic who I'm sure could do better and more.
I'm just saying I think a two-pronged approach is in order, with a high quality team and a high quantity team of just 1-2 people, starting with basic Foundry tools. Fairly plain missions but a lot of them.
The point is, sure there will be a ton of Foundry content in the not too distant future. There are people who won't touch it. There are people for whom that doesn't "count".
I'm saying I believe that it would be worth putting 1-2 people on generating bulk content, using whatever tools are available, even if those missions are basically just Foundry missions and about on par with the missions this game had at launch. And this would be done while most of the team focuses on high quality new content but that the bulk/filler team, 1-2 people, could basically go through filling out factions with core content or just designing the new exploration content.
Dear Levi,
I'd love to see the devs do some Foundry missions on their own - maybe to spur community action or get people interested. Is it in the cards, is it not? I can't say.
However, I know it's a good idea and I'm pretty sure the fine team at Cryptic deals in a lot of good ideas (especially as of late, when it comes to missions).
Who knows? Until then, we're still going to see a two-tiered approach (there are Featured and then there are Sorties/FDC/PvP/Daileis), regardless of the Foundry providing a third-tier.
Totally agrees that more stuff is nice,
Some dude who needs to drink less coffee
I don't work for Cryptic, I'm not an Atari employee. It's not for me to speculate as to the working structure of the organisations. What I am is the end user and right now I think::
Games awesome.
Yes the game needs improvements and improvements have clearly been made. Its a MMO (work in progress) based on what it is right now, its awesome and part of that opinion is how it has developed.
What's promising is that improvements are being made faster than ever, which is more than reassuring.
Games awesome and I like that it is contiually moving forward.
The dev tools are more cumbersome but powerful than the Foundry. Adjust math accordingly.
You're not a snowflake or a super-powered mutant or Trogdor, the burninator You're a guy with cool tools but not necessarily that powerful ones (and custom animations and artwork in this mission required a lot of effort from the whole team).
Maybe one day the tools will be at a point to be as powerful as the devs ones but even then the art, music, animation, A.I. logic, etc. takes time.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Armchair Quarterback.
not nice. that'd be a lot of people forced to lose their jobs and some other talented studios losing distribution (i.e. the team behind The Witcher)
Darren,
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that most dev missions do things you can't do yet in The Foundry.
My point is... with the tools being there, I think the opportunity is fast approaching to take a two tiered approach to this, with a large bulk of the team doing these quality featured episodes but with 1-2 people focused on generating simple, official missions.
If I had the Foundry tools (though I'd want to learn how to tweak more beyond that) and could work fulltime on it, I could close the Federation/Klingon content gap in 2-3 months. *I* could do this. There are people at Cryptic who I'm sure could do better and more.
I'm just saying I think a two-pronged approach is in order, with a high quality team and a high quantity team of just 1-2 people, starting with basic Foundry tools. Fairly plain missions but a lot of them.
The point is, sure there will be a ton of Foundry content in the not too distant future. There are people who won't touch it. There are people for whom that doesn't "count".
I'm saying I believe that it would be worth putting 1-2 people on generating bulk content, using whatever tools are available, even if those missions are basically just Foundry missions and about on par with the missions this game had at launch. And this would be done while most of the team focuses on high quality new content but that the bulk/filler team, 1-2 people, could basically go through filling out factions with core content or just designing the new exploration content.
in march all i see is the last episode of the series.
I am sure you are working on SOMETHING that will get released in that timeframe.
Just make sure to tell us "WHAT'S NEXT".
If i am paying $15 a month i would like to know what i get this month for it (beyond Servers that are still running and the default C-Store items of course).
personally i think 5 Features Series (25 Episodes) is a good goal, pretty much the same number you would get from any TV Series Season in any Year ...and sure i allways want MOAR!!!
But STO is more then just the Feature Episodes, we have STF's, Fleetactions and PVP to worry about and they all need some love right now. (Some new dailies would be nice too).
So what's next? I heard something about a daily crafting Quest to get a Delta Flyer? Any ETA for that? put it on the calendar! Maybe a new Remastered Episode sometime next month? put it on the Calendar! Foundry to Holodeck? CALENDAR!
....i think you get it now. We just want to know what is going on please.
The Engineering Reports are awesome and i love them, but in all honesty, without an ETA anything on that list can become the next Gorn so i am very carefull about anything on that list in terms of expectations.
I
Totally agrees that more stuff is nice,
Some dude who needs to drink less coffee
Just make sure there's not a fish in the percolator. ;-)
If I came off edgy, chalk it up to it being Sunday and a tense couple of days. Heck, I'm glad that they added what, for my money, is the best mission in the game because that was a great chance to blow off some steam after a somewhat tense week and before I have to go write another ten pages on my novel and prep for entertaining three auditoriums full of kids tomorrow, when I have to leave at *ugh* 6:30 am. Which is basically 3:30am as far as I'm concerned because my body's been stuck on pacific time for years. :-)
I can't wait to see what Cryptic pulls out next and that's a great thing at this point if people want bigger portions.
i haven't read everyone's comments in this thread, however i know i'd like to see the developers make a series akin to the television shows where we have regular contacts for missions and a common hub for all factions.
we're already facing the potential of being swamped under with individual missions spread from one end of the galaxy to the other, it'd be nice to have 20-25 missions in a row set from one area per year.
obviously this idea wouldnt start for at least a year, but it would be nice for the developers to be heading in this direction sometime in the future.
Talk about scaling expectations. I remember when there weren't any featured episodes at all, and everyone got really excited when Zinc announced that we could use our tricorder to help find the scanny things.
Thomas, you've hit it on the head. Folks seem to think they are entitled to the Featured episodes now.
Just a thought for everyone. They could stop them entirely you know and be well within the norm for the MMO world. We are getting FREE content, that they are busting their collective rears off on and all you can do is whine about not enough?
Really?
For once, be happy we have them for free, Be happy the Executive Producer of this game talks to us, listens when we have valid gripes about the game, and even goes as far as to take suggestions! No, they're not perfect, nor is the game, but be real here, they've been working HARD on this game, it HAS gotten better, it continues to get better and WE get a lot of it for FREE.
and no I'm not a fan Boy, I took Dan's advice and voted with my sub for over 5 months . Things changed and I've come back to a game that is very much changed, and gotten better.
PS if i've torqued someone the wrong way, its not intentional nor even aimed to do that, its aimed to make you think, just for a second, about what we do have and how we get it.
PPS, sorry for the font change, the default font is way to small, and I've no clue how to change it.
I am not sure of the difficulty with this proposal but why not in the interim consider moving some fan created Foundry missions over to Holodeck. Perhaps one fan created foundry mission for each faction, every two weeks. You can continue to call it Fan Spotlight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Powerhelm View Post
Would love it if my "Engineer Option" for this week were to hack the consoles via a mini game instead of the 6 step puzzle process (not that I minded the puzzle)
Quote:
I mean you guys did get about 5 mini-games from him right off the bat months ago
Someday Powerhelm. It will happen.
now thats not a bad idea, having a work around for those who dont wanna do the complex minigame. sounds like a reasonable compromise
I just wanted to let you know Daniel, that I understand why you have to put off the next series until after season 4. More people need to understand that the team is working on all of the below and that you need the whole team devoted to getting it all out in time:
Remastered Episodes
Fleet Action Player Increase
TOS Bundle Pack (interiors, dress uniforms, and wraparound)
Starfleet Jackets Pack (2409)
Fed and Klingon Fighters
Prometheus MVAM
Foundry Improvements
Shuttle Data Sample gathering missions and shuttle crafting
New running, sprinting, and 8 direction movement animations
Vivox voice chat integration
Fleet Action Lobby System
Duty Officer System
KDF Tutorial and Character Creation for new players
Open PvP melee arenas and weapon merchants (Vulcan, Andoria, Rura Penthe, and Oo'nos)
Caitian Boffs
Exploration Revamp
DSE Revamp
Gorn Customization
More Klingon content
Possibly:
Crew Uniforms and Ship Interior customization (Season 4 or 5)
Functional Ship Interiors (season 4 or 5)
Sickbay
Shuttlebay
Crafting in Engineering
Botanical Garden
Holodeck
Expanded Ensign powersets and exclusive powers (Season 4 or 5)
Bridge officer Exchange
Some people just don't seem to be able to appreciate just how much work that is to get done in 4 or 5 months. Yeah, we all want more Featured Episodes, but some of us, like myself, don't want them coming out that fast if it sacrifises other content. So be proud devs, you made and released the most amazing mission in the whole game yesterday. Revel in it, don't let this vocal minority get you down.
I have to agree with Shika here. My only complaint is that some content seems to come out unfinished and untested. For example, the recent uniforms had to be patched four times before they were right, and the DS9 and TNG open-jacket undershirts are still wrong. Having waited 6 months, I would have waited another few days for a working update.
That being said, I've enjoyed the progress you guys are making. Comparing this most recent update (Coliseum) to some of your previous missions, I can safely say you guys are making huge improvements, and for that, the silent majority are thankful.
By the way, if you guys need help, check your applications. Mine's floating around in there somewhere.
in march all i see is the last episode of the series.
I am sure you are working on SOMETHING that will get released in that timeframe.
Just make sure to tell us "WHAT'S NEXT".
If i am paying $15 a month i would like to know what i get this month for it (beyond Servers that are still running and the default C-Store items of course).
personally i think 5 Features Series (25 Episodes) is a good goal, pretty much the same number you would get from any TV Series Season in any Year ...and sure i allways want MOAR!!!
But STO is more then just the Feature Episodes, we have STF's, Fleetactions and PVP to worry about and they all need some love right now. (Some new dailies would be nice too).
So what's next? I heard something about a daily crafting Quest to get a Delta Flyer? Any ETA for that? put it on the calendar! Maybe a new Remastered Episode sometime next month? put it on the Calendar! Foundry to Holodeck? CALENDAR!
....i think you get it now. We just want to know what is going on please.
The Engineering Reports are awesome and i love them, but in all honesty, without an ETA anything on that list can become the next Gorn so i am very carefull about anything on that list in terms of expectations.
Things I've noted from various dev responces for March:
Diplomatic Orders Remastered
Foundry beta release (shortly after March 5)
Shuttle Data Collecting (tied into Shuttle Crafting)
C-store: Prometheus MVAM console (March 10)
C-Store: TOS Bundle Pack- Interiors, Dress Uniforms, wraparound (March 24)
This thread makes me proud of STO.
There were a couple of spots with some really nasty stuff on the horizon, but it never really got any worse than blowing off steam/writing stuff that depends on tone of voice/quasi-rude and there's even a lot of positive, constructive, informative stuff in here.
Thanks to the devs for all the great work, but also thanks to the fans for not being the slavering horde of [whatever MMO it's cool to bash right now] fans and acting like people that think the real world could stand to be a little more Trek.
You guys are why I never lurk as much as I 'd like because I keep having to jump in-game after looking around the forums for a bit!
Unfortunately Star Trek is not comparable with WoW or Star Wars, it's mostly about exploration and neutral zone entanglements. Featured episodes are nice, no doubt, but how many more gigs can we take before our harddrives start smoking? The scenes in those episodes are just great but we play it 2 or 3 times then we never or barely see it again.
We need something that's worth visiting/questing over and over without getting bored.
Unfortunately Star Trek is not comparable with WoW or Star Wars, it's mostly about exploration and neutral zone entanglements. Featured episodes are nice, no doubt, but how many more gigs can we take before our harddrives start smoking? The scenes in those episodes are just great but we play it 2 or 3 times then we never or barely see it again.
We need something that's worth visiting/questing over and over without getting bored.
I agree. That's why I'm really hoping they hit the nail on the head with the Exploration revamp in Season 4. A decent exploration system that actually feels like exploring would be the most beneficial thing for this game right now, IMHO.
Yesterday's giant desert map was a good start. I want more massive ground maps that I can acutally explore. I hope that there will be somethign like that in Season 4's exploration revamp.
It was over 2 months between the featured episode series 2 and 3. This was due to the work being done on Season 3. Now we're finding out we arent going to see the next FE series before Season 4. If they keep up this trend, we're only going to be getting 1 featured episode series ever 3-4 months. That is simply not good enough.
While i understand the current Dev took over a pile of TRIBBLE, they have been workinbg diligently to bring us new content or improve what was dropped in their lap.
That being said, FE were suppose to be a fairly constant stream of new content. The OP is right when he talks about the amount. I remember reading somewhere on these forums how we should expect around 5 - 6 FE sets per seasons. Hopefully we can get at least 3 FE series per, otherwise its gonna be a C-Store rich year with little to no new content.
While i understand the current Dev took over a pile of TRIBBLE, they have been workinbg diligently to bring us new content or improve what was dropped in their lap.
That being said, FE were suppose to be a fairly constant stream of new content. The OP is right when he talks about the amount. I remember reading somewhere on these forums how we should expect around 5 - 6 FE sets per seasons. Hopefully we can get at least 3 FE series per, otherwise its gonna be a C-Store rich year with little to no new content.
Yeah, the devs did say that their goal was to put out 5 a year. However, since Season 4 is a content heavy season, it's looking like they're going to delay one season this year so they can get everything into Season 4. So, it's looking like we'll get 4 this year instead of 5.
To be fair, there's a BIG difference between putzing around in Photoshop and actually making a minigame work in STO.
I've had to poke around in some of the UI scripts, and it's pretty complicated stuff. Before that step there's also the matter of having someone actually program in all the puzzles and make sure that everything is actually solvable and yada yada yada...
I can see why minigames aren't front and center on the to-do list when there are things like, oh, say, User Generated Content and Ground Combat to deal with.
I get that. But one thing to take from this. People are happy you're there and are excited to see your minigames come to life.
My mist anticipated are a medical mingame for sick bay. And I'd love one for repairing satalites.
Yeah, the devs did say that their goal was to put out 5 a year. However, since Season 4 is a content heavy season, it's looking like they're going to delay one season this year so they can get everything into Season 4. So, it's looking like we'll get 4 this year instead of 5.
Don't jinx it man. I have a good feeling they'll live up to their promise.
I agree. That's why I'm really hoping they hit the nail on the head with the Exploration revamp in Season 4. A decent exploration system that actually feels like exploring would be the most beneficial thing for this game right now, IMHO.
Yesterday's giant desert map was a good start. I want more massive ground maps that I can acutally explore. I hope that there will be somethign like that in Season 4's exploration revamp.
According to the most recent comments I've heard, star clusters are going to become like the Defari system with "known locations, known people that you can go help, daily missions". I have 2 concerns with this: first of all, thats not really exploration. Second, what happens when you play through those missions? Do you have nothing new to explore until new ones are added?
PS: The details discussed above are from this interview, 13 mins in:
Comments
Dan,
I can make a fairly beefy Foundry mission in around 24 hours. In 48, I could have custom maps and quite a bit of polish.
Now I recognize that you're talking about a team that works VERY hard on securing music rights, fine tuning and creating art assets, bug testing and QA, creating cutscenes, recording voiceover, etc.
But either I'm some kind of high powered mutant or your team has done such an extraordinary job with The Foundry that, were I your employee, I would not feel at all anxious promising you 10-15 meaty, story-driven missions a month that I could build pretty much by myself, anticipating at least 90% of the things that might create a problem on, say, Zero's end in internal testing.
Now, what you're already doing is lovely. But wouldn't it be justifiable to have one person churning out 10-15 official missions a month on top of that?
20 times the budget?? You know the average game developer based on 2008 stats makes 80k a year. On that same wikipedia page I was on it stated Cryptic Studios has 100 employees. That means alone it takes 80 million a year just for the current staff. Granted if they could get more budget it would be nice for the game but if your never satisfied with what you have, will you every be satisfied when you get more?
Levi,
The dev tools are more cumbersome but powerful than the Foundry. Adjust math accordingly.
You're not a snowflake or a super-powered mutant or Trogdor, the burninator You're a guy with cool tools but not necessarily that powerful ones (and custom animations and artwork in this mission required a lot of effort from the whole team).
Maybe one day the tools will be at a point to be as powerful as the devs ones but even then the art, music, animation, A.I. logic, etc. takes time.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Armchair Quarterback.
not nice. that'd be a lot of people forced to lose their jobs and some other talented studios losing distribution (i.e. the team behind The Witcher)
Atari actually did a good job of trimming fat these past two years, if you're familiar with reading investor financial reports. They're not terribly complex and turning around such a massive dip into the red into less-so is pretty outstanding.
Wishing them to lose their jobs means some faces would get dropped. If I remember right, ThomasTheCat isn't fully a STO team member. He's Atari-wide in web art.
So, you'd want Atari to fire Thomas, right? Presumably, you'd also ask for the people who invested in Cryptic in the first place to help acquire the license to also lose their jobs?
It's not cool: those are just easy grasps at solutions and blame. It doesn't account for the range of experiences and input in the game. Not all Atari employees are evil (technically, all Cryptic employees are atari employees). Cut and dry blame games aren't good. They may seem gratifying but they're not rewarding.
Atari would likely invest more into STO due to Champs' new performance. It takes time though. Quarterly results, semi-annual, and yearly results all factor into decision regarding one of the flagship titles for Atari. You don't just toss money out an airlock because the preliminary results say it's sunny.
Darren,
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that most dev missions do things you can't do yet in The Foundry.
My point is... with the tools being there, I think the opportunity is fast approaching to take a two tiered approach to this, with a large bulk of the team doing these quality featured episodes but with 1-2 people focused on generating simple, official missions.
If I had the Foundry tools (though I'd want to learn how to tweak more beyond that) and could work fulltime on it, I could close the Federation/Klingon content gap in 2-3 months. *I* could do this. There are people at Cryptic who I'm sure could do better and more.
I'm just saying I think a two-pronged approach is in order, with a high quality team and a high quantity team of just 1-2 people, starting with basic Foundry tools. Fairly plain missions but a lot of them.
The point is, sure there will be a ton of Foundry content in the not too distant future. There are people who won't touch it. There are people for whom that doesn't "count".
I'm saying I believe that it would be worth putting 1-2 people on generating bulk content, using whatever tools are available, even if those missions are basically just Foundry missions and about on par with the missions this game had at launch. And this would be done while most of the team focuses on high quality new content but that the bulk/filler team, 1-2 people, could basically go through filling out factions with core content or just designing the new exploration content.
It does and I think STO and Champs' performance should have a solid impact: revenue going up 500% in just one of Cryptic's titles is great.
Financial reports take time to work their way back to investor calls which take time to go back to Cryptic and appease the abacus gods and before dstahl can interview yet another person for the team.
Dear Levi,
I'd love to see the devs do some Foundry missions on their own - maybe to spur community action or get people interested. Is it in the cards, is it not? I can't say.
However, I know it's a good idea and I'm pretty sure the fine team at Cryptic deals in a lot of good ideas (especially as of late, when it comes to missions).
Who knows? Until then, we're still going to see a two-tiered approach (there are Featured and then there are Sorties/FDC/PvP/Daileis), regardless of the Foundry providing a third-tier.
Totally agrees that more stuff is nice,
Some dude who needs to drink less coffee
Games awesome.
Yes the game needs improvements and improvements have clearly been made. Its a MMO (work in progress) based on what it is right now, its awesome and part of that opinion is how it has developed.
What's promising is that improvements are being made faster than ever, which is more than reassuring.
Games awesome and I like that it is contiually moving forward.
Darren,
I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that most dev missions do things you can't do yet in The Foundry.
My point is... with the tools being there, I think the opportunity is fast approaching to take a two tiered approach to this, with a large bulk of the team doing these quality featured episodes but with 1-2 people focused on generating simple, official missions.
If I had the Foundry tools (though I'd want to learn how to tweak more beyond that) and could work fulltime on it, I could close the Federation/Klingon content gap in 2-3 months. *I* could do this. There are people at Cryptic who I'm sure could do better and more.
I'm just saying I think a two-pronged approach is in order, with a high quality team and a high quantity team of just 1-2 people, starting with basic Foundry tools. Fairly plain missions but a lot of them.
The point is, sure there will be a ton of Foundry content in the not too distant future. There are people who won't touch it. There are people for whom that doesn't "count".
I'm saying I believe that it would be worth putting 1-2 people on generating bulk content, using whatever tools are available, even if those missions are basically just Foundry missions and about on par with the missions this game had at launch. And this would be done while most of the team focuses on high quality new content but that the bulk/filler team, 1-2 people, could basically go through filling out factions with core content or just designing the new exploration content.
-> http://www.startrekonline.com/calendar/2011/03
in march all i see is the last episode of the series.
I am sure you are working on SOMETHING that will get released in that timeframe.
Just make sure to tell us "WHAT'S NEXT".
If i am paying $15 a month i would like to know what i get this month for it (beyond Servers that are still running and the default C-Store items of course).
personally i think 5 Features Series (25 Episodes) is a good goal, pretty much the same number you would get from any TV Series Season in any Year ...and sure i allways want MOAR!!!
But STO is more then just the Feature Episodes, we have STF's, Fleetactions and PVP to worry about and they all need some love right now. (Some new dailies would be nice too).
So what's next? I heard something about a daily crafting Quest to get a Delta Flyer? Any ETA for that? put it on the calendar! Maybe a new Remastered Episode sometime next month? put it on the Calendar! Foundry to Holodeck? CALENDAR!
....i think you get it now. We just want to know what is going on please.
The Engineering Reports are awesome and i love them, but in all honesty, without an ETA anything on that list can become the next Gorn so i am very carefull about anything on that list in terms of expectations.
Just make sure there's not a fish in the percolator. ;-)
If I came off edgy, chalk it up to it being Sunday and a tense couple of days. Heck, I'm glad that they added what, for my money, is the best mission in the game because that was a great chance to blow off some steam after a somewhat tense week and before I have to go write another ten pages on my novel and prep for entertaining three auditoriums full of kids tomorrow, when I have to leave at *ugh* 6:30 am. Which is basically 3:30am as far as I'm concerned because my body's been stuck on pacific time for years. :-)
I can't wait to see what Cryptic pulls out next and that's a great thing at this point if people want bigger portions.
we're already facing the potential of being swamped under with individual missions spread from one end of the galaxy to the other, it'd be nice to have 20-25 missions in a row set from one area per year.
obviously this idea wouldnt start for at least a year, but it would be nice for the developers to be heading in this direction sometime in the future.
Thomas, you've hit it on the head. Folks seem to think they are entitled to the Featured episodes now.
Just a thought for everyone. They could stop them entirely you know and be well within the norm for the MMO world. We are getting FREE content, that they are busting their collective rears off on and all you can do is whine about not enough?
Really?
For once, be happy we have them for free, Be happy the Executive Producer of this game talks to us, listens when we have valid gripes about the game, and even goes as far as to take suggestions! No, they're not perfect, nor is the game, but be real here, they've been working HARD on this game, it HAS gotten better, it continues to get better and WE get a lot of it for FREE.
and no I'm not a fan Boy, I took Dan's advice and voted with my sub for over 5 months . Things changed and I've come back to a game that is very much changed, and gotten better.
PS if i've torqued someone the wrong way, its not intentional nor even aimed to do that, its aimed to make you think, just for a second, about what we do have and how we get it.
PPS, sorry for the font change, the default font is way to small, and I've no clue how to change it.
Originally Posted by Powerhelm View Post
Would love it if my "Engineer Option" for this week were to hack the consoles via a mini game instead of the 6 step puzzle process (not that I minded the puzzle)
Quote:
I mean you guys did get about 5 mini-games from him right off the bat months ago
Someday Powerhelm. It will happen.
now thats not a bad idea, having a work around for those who dont wanna do the complex minigame. sounds like a reasonable compromise
Some people just don't seem to be able to appreciate just how much work that is to get done in 4 or 5 months. Yeah, we all want more Featured Episodes, but some of us, like myself, don't want them coming out that fast if it sacrifises other content. So be proud devs, you made and released the most amazing mission in the whole game yesterday. Revel in it, don't let this vocal minority get you down.
That being said, I've enjoyed the progress you guys are making. Comparing this most recent update (Coliseum) to some of your previous missions, I can safely say you guys are making huge improvements, and for that, the silent majority are thankful.
By the way, if you guys need help, check your applications. Mine's floating around in there somewhere.
Things I've noted from various dev responces for March:
Diplomatic Orders Remastered
Foundry beta release (shortly after March 5)
Shuttle Data Collecting (tied into Shuttle Crafting)
C-store: Prometheus MVAM console (March 10)
C-Store: TOS Bundle Pack- Interiors, Dress Uniforms, wraparound (March 24)
There were a couple of spots with some really nasty stuff on the horizon, but it never really got any worse than blowing off steam/writing stuff that depends on tone of voice/quasi-rude and there's even a lot of positive, constructive, informative stuff in here.
Thanks to the devs for all the great work, but also thanks to the fans for not being the slavering horde of [whatever MMO it's cool to bash right now] fans and acting like people that think the real world could stand to be a little more Trek.
You guys are why I never lurk as much as I 'd like because I keep having to jump in-game after looking around the forums for a bit!
We need something that's worth visiting/questing over and over without getting bored.
I agree. That's why I'm really hoping they hit the nail on the head with the Exploration revamp in Season 4. A decent exploration system that actually feels like exploring would be the most beneficial thing for this game right now, IMHO.
Yesterday's giant desert map was a good start. I want more massive ground maps that I can acutally explore. I hope that there will be somethign like that in Season 4's exploration revamp.
While i understand the current Dev took over a pile of TRIBBLE, they have been workinbg diligently to bring us new content or improve what was dropped in their lap.
That being said, FE were suppose to be a fairly constant stream of new content. The OP is right when he talks about the amount. I remember reading somewhere on these forums how we should expect around 5 - 6 FE sets per seasons. Hopefully we can get at least 3 FE series per, otherwise its gonna be a C-Store rich year with little to no new content.
Yeah, the devs did say that their goal was to put out 5 a year. However, since Season 4 is a content heavy season, it's looking like they're going to delay one season this year so they can get everything into Season 4. So, it's looking like we'll get 4 this year instead of 5.
I get that. But one thing to take from this. People are happy you're there and are excited to see your minigames come to life.
My mist anticipated are a medical mingame for sick bay. And I'd love one for repairing satalites.
Don't jinx it man. I have a good feeling they'll live up to their promise.
According to the most recent comments I've heard, star clusters are going to become like the Defari system with "known locations, known people that you can go help, daily missions". I have 2 concerns with this: first of all, thats not really exploration. Second, what happens when you play through those missions? Do you have nothing new to explore until new ones are added?
PS: The details discussed above are from this interview, 13 mins in:
http://www.trekradio.net/news/dan-stahl-interview-in-on-demand