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The Rising Phoenix - Part One

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
My little experiment using our Foundry toolset is published :eek: .

It runs a bit long (about 1.5 hours to play through), and I wish I had 1 more map to end it on but that being said ...
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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    My little experiment using our Foundry toolset is published :eek: .

    It runs a bit long (about 1.5 hours to play through), and I wish I had 1 more map to end it on but that being said ...

    Is this a playable published foundry mission and if so what faction is it on fed, kdf, both? :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    It is playable and is a Fed mission targeted at experienced players levels 41+. I wanted to design it for end game players - so make sure you have some STF gear before playing.

    I would love to do a Klink mission at some point too... Maybe when Season 6 hits and we have our new Foundry tools.

    :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the mission.

    I need to replay it now that you've rebalanced it, but I very much enjoyed it, looking forward to Part 2 (if you make one).

    I'll see if we can get it on Bitesize and possibly BroadcastUGC sometime if you'd like :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Cant wait to play :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    Maybe when Season 6 hits and we have our new Foundry tools.

    :)

    You do realize that 4 or 5 months down the road people are gonna quote this post as a promise don't you?

    I know its not really a promise but that wont stop the members of our forum who run around with torches and pitchforks from skewing it as one.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    My little experiment using our Foundry toolset is published :eek: .

    It runs a bit long (about 1.5 hours to play through), and I wish I had 1 more map to end it on but that being said ...


    I wish more devs would do this. There are probably a lot of things that would be eye-opening, and the whole team would have a better grasp of the needs of the Foundry community.

    Thanks H20rat
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    ...my Captain is going to be in sickbay for a month.

    Very challening ground portions, sir.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    My little experiment using our Foundry toolset is published :eek: .

    It runs a bit long (about 1.5 hours to play through), and I wish I had 1 more map to end it on but that being said ...

    Since when is 1.5 hours long? :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Mentions of teleport/teleporters aside I found it quite enjoyable. And whether or not it was intentional, I also found one of the references to "Q Who" quite pleasing, something that wouldn't crop up again until Voyager season 5.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Nagorak wrote: »
    Since when is 1.5 hours long? :D

    Its long to those who are paid minimum wage :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    I was really enjoying this mission, right up until "Extraction of Steel" (which was a really fun map to look at and run around) where, I'm guessing, a combat between my crew and the klingons standing near the Trademaster killed two of the Trader contacts I needed to talk to to progress? Anyway, that prevented me from completing the mission, but I was impressed by what I did see. The maps and dialogue up to that point were excellent.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Naju wrote: »
    I was really enjoying this mission, right up until "Extraction of Steel" (which was a really fun map to look at and run around) where, I'm guessing, a combat between my crew and the klingons standing near the Trademaster killed two of the Trader contacts I needed to talk to to progress?

    This has been a problem with the foundry since the start. Contacts aren't protected from death, and certain types of AOE (DoT3 weapons, warp core breaches) hit them. And since they're always level 1, even a little damage is almost guaranteed to be lethal.

    A lot of authors have come up with ways to handle it, like having contact dialog be an interaction with an invisible object instead of the NPC itself, having contacts appear only when enemies are killed, or in one case I noticed a second identical contact beam in when the one I was dealing with died.


    Edit: In this one I noticed the solution is to look at the map and see where the enemies are. One member of the group near the merchants is off to the right just as you beam in. If you engage him first, the rest will come to you and away from the contacts.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    This is a good catch - NPC contacts probably should be set to unkillable (or at least a check box under their properity to make them unkillable) - which many are in the regular game. I will pass this forward for a possible fix.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    It is playable and is a Fed mission targeted at experienced players levels 41+. I wanted to design it for end game players - so make sure you have some STF gear before playing.

    I would love to do a Klink mission at some point too... Maybe when Season 6 hits and we have our new Foundry tools.

    :)

    Yeah when you get too it make a KDF one too so I can try it out since I do not do fed side missions.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Good story and an overall exciting mission. The ground combat was brutal though, some of the groups just beamed in on my head. Not sure if that's a bug or was intended.

    Played on Advanced, definitely not for the faint heart :) I would have liked a few less Lt./Bosses.

    One of the slave girls was still called UGC Contact. The constant screenshake on the surface was getting old fast.

    Looking forward to part 2.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    The Foundry team is investigating the death of NPC contacts. Thanks again for the heads up on this. I will let you know what happens - for now I just moved the two NPC contacts that died the most farther back to avoid them being more in the line of fire.

    :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    The Foundry team is investigating the death of NPC contacts. Thanks again for the heads up on this. I will let you know what happens - for now I just moved the two NPC contacts that died the most farther back to avoid them being more in the line of fire.

    :D

    I think I saw video on foundary tricks about caging in NPC contacts with invisible walls so that enemies cannot target them. Then sink the trigger for the conversation at the NPC's feet.

    Disclaimer: I have not designed a foundary mission. Just watch the videos for ideas. (I can never make up my mind on what I want to do.)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    This is a good catch - NPC contacts probably should be set to unkillable (or at least a check box under their properity to make them unkillable) - which many are in the regular game. I will pass this forward for a possible fix.

    It's a badly needed fix. Please make sure they know it's a problem both in space and on the ground.

    Honestly if this is what it takes to get some attention to the problems of the Foundry then I really wish more Cryptic/PWE employees would make a mission.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    The Foundry team is investigating the death of NPC contacts. Thanks again for the heads up on this. I will let you know what happens - for now I just moved the two NPC contacts that died the most farther back to avoid them being more in the line of fire.

    :D


    Thanks. We've been asking for this fix since closed beta, if I recall correctly. It would help a lot of people who face the same issue.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Nagorak wrote: »

    Honestly if this is what it takes to get some attention to the problems of the Foundry then I really wish more Cryptic/PWE employees would make a mission.

    Yeah no kidding. It makes a huge difference.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Nagorak wrote: »
    Honestly if this is what it takes to get some attention to the problems of the Foundry then I really wish more Cryptic/PWE employees would make a mission.

    Well He was tasked with looking at the foundry from a Player/Modder's perspective.

    He's probably the most influential person for the foundry at this point...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    H20rat, please share your experience with the ratings system, mission listings, and player feedback in this thread.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Ok, I don't play alot of foundry missions, but as I saw a Dev made it, I had to give it a try. Here is my feedback, as I play it.

    Very cool opening space sequence. I actually felt like I was warping into the system, and is not what I expected when I beamed up from SFA. First bug I came across was the Romulan Commander contact. He was pictured as my Sci officer. I tried to be diplomatic when dealing with everyone, not sure if that has an impact on what could happen yet. I'll have to replay to find out. I liked the damaged interior. The only thing I would have liked better is a scaled down version of it but I know that is just a foundry limitation at the moment.

    Just went through another cool space map. Lots of enemy ships, that you are not required to engage, unless you're thirsty for battle. I skipped them all and just orbited the moon.

    That first Dahar master just jumps right up on you. Man he kicked my butt. Nice groupings of NPCs...you make it so you have to pick them off at a distance so youd on't aggro them all....learned that the hard way. One suggestion with the transporter. I interacted with the console, started transporting and then a BO talked to me and I reappeared. Make the BO dialog trigger before reaching the console so when you interact with it and transport you just go.

    This is highly annoying, I found the Commander, had all those spawns get me, and then I come across the ground combat power freezing bug and my team gets destroyed. Now I had to log otu and back in for my powers to be responsive again. Cool map though. I like the usage of the Bajoran arch to make the hallway seem smaller in the first room.

    There are alot of map transfers that are slow loading, I guess they are necessary for story continuity, but they are loading VERY slow

    On the new planet surface, two things. 1) tone down the fog. It was a pain to try to see things with all that stuff, it caused severe eye strain and greatly hindered enjoyment of the mission. 2) Those NPC's at the turbolift where aweful. perhaps use less medics or less higher NPC's and more lower NPC's.

    More of the same underground. Very annoying ground combat with OP NPC groups. Just finished. Interesting story, but frustrating ground combat made me give it 3 out of 5 stars.

    I was really liking the mission in the begining really enjoyed the first part, but once the ground combat started it left a bad taste in my mouth. tone it down a little and I would have given it 4 or even 5 stars.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    jam062307 wrote: »

    There are alot of map transfers that are slow loading, I guess they are necessary for story continuity, but they are loading VERY slow

    On the new planet surface, two things. 1) tone down the fog.

    Jam, a Foundry author has no control over loading screens. They also can't really adjust the amount of fog that is built into the map.

    We can pick a sky with no fog or we can put in a cryptic amount of fog. We can't really tone down something like that, unless H20Rat was just going crazy with an individual fog fx.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Looks like we may of found the issue for NPC contacts being killable and a fix is ready to be checked in.. but needs to be internally tested a bit. Not sure when it will actually go live though...

    You can thank Scott S for the fix.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Kirkfat wrote: »
    Jam, a Foundry author has no control over loading screens. They also can't really adjust the amount of fog that is built into the map.

    We can pick a sky with no fog or we can put in a cryptic amount of fog. We can't really tone down something like that, unless H20Rat was just going crazy with an individual fog fx.

    You are right...and any other foundry author I would not have made the comment, but H2Orat is a dev, and has contact with people who may be able to fix it so it was worth mentioning. And as for not being able to tone down the fog, perhaps that should be a feature coming soon. but if given the choice between eye strain fog and no fog..I go no fog!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Great Scott! Thank you.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    Sweet thanks!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    I have a challenge for part 2: Build a custom interior map.

    Typically, foundry authors do this with platforms and walls on a ground map, sometimes way up in the sky.. I suspect that an attempt to do so will get us another quick fix to a bug.

    I know that custom interiors is something planned for the toolset. Even so, I'd like to see a dev experience what we experience building a completely unique interior map using existing Cryptic props.

    Sorry, if part 1 contained one. I have yet to play.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited March 2012
    h2orat wrote:
    Looks like we may of found the issue for NPC contacts being killable and a fix is ready to be checked in.. but needs to be internally tested a bit. Not sure when it will actually go live though...

    You can thank Scott S for the fix.

    Quick! Lets get him to make more missions with other long standing bugs!

    Does... anyone remember what some are? I kinda got so used to doing my Killable NPC work-arounds I forgot its importance. I wonder what else I am doing by habit now...
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