I'm going to be extending the voting deadline again as some missions are still being republished and some missions may be uncompletable due to the reach marker bug (which we are working to resolve). There is currently no voting deadline I'm setting forth at this time, but what I will most likely do is re-post voting information on the front page once the bug is fixed, update this thread, and restart the voting process.
I will give challenge authors a one-week warning before the new 3-week voting period begins so they can play through their missions and ensure there are no blockers that would make the mission uncompletable. I will ask that they honor the original rules and not change the mission in terms of story, content, etc. Any changes should only be to ensure that players can complete the mission.
If there is not an overwhelming amount of objections, any votes received before the launch of Legacy of Romulus will still count towards final vote totals that will determine a winner.
im laying odds it'll be called... "Subspace Monsters" and bla bla bla... make a mission based on the Elachi
Likely, even if not a part of the Elachi, Sub-Space Monsters those sound cool!
Elachi would make my BTRW Series easier to connect, I better start work on a banner in the event your correct
Well, if us authors can use the "Snatcher" animation used in the Virinat colony attack, that wouldn't be so bad.
That would be both awsome and over used
STAR TREK CONTINUES
Episode One - A Single MomentEpisode Two - InfancyEpisode Three - Unto the Breach Episode Four - Head Of A NeedleEpisode Five: The Duality of MenEpisode Six - Redemption Earned Episode Seven - Shattered UniverseEpisode Eight - The Gepetto ConditionEpisode Nine - One Room, Two Officers Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest StarEpisode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't HurtEpisode Twelve - A Protracted Officer Episode Thirteen - SomewhenEpisode Fourteen - The Boy Who LivedEpisode Fifthteen - Empathy
We're going to re-start the voting period next Wednesday, July 3rd -- I'll be reposting the voting blog then and voting will be open for 3 weeks. Please re-read this post of mine, noting the yellow text:
I'm going to be extending the voting deadline again as some missions are still being republished and some missions may be uncompletable due to the reach marker bug (which we are working to resolve). There is currently no voting deadline I'm setting forth at this time, but what I will most likely do is re-post voting information on the front page once the bug is fixed, update this thread, and restart the voting process.
I will give challenge authors a one-week warning before the new 3-week voting period begins so they can play through their missions and ensure there are no blockers that would make the mission uncompletable. I will ask that they honor the original rules and not change the mission in terms of story, content, etc. Any changes should only be to ensure that players can complete the mission.
If there is not an overwhelming amount of objections, any votes received before the launch of Legacy of Romulus will still count towards final vote totals that will determine a winner.
was it against rules that
I removed the Heat wave Effect from map?
it was really ugly. didn't notice it pre LOR.
and no objections to any thing in your post.
well my entry is able to be completed.
I admit story leaves much to be desired. Sorry
If any 1 wants to play through it with me to offer "feedback"/ test group play.
was it against rules that
I removed the Heat wave Effect from map?
it was really ugly. didn't notice it pre LOR.
and no objections to any thing in your post.
well my entry is able to be completed.
I admit story leaves much to be desired. Sorry
If any 1 wants to play through it with me to offer "feedback"/ test group play.
today or sometime later.
I doubt it. I went back and fourth during the last challenge fixing stuff that was breaking. Aslong as the mission isn't down long enough for anyone to notice you'll be fine.
I only need to correct a couple of glitches and a few spelling errors with my mission.
IF it is OK with the rest of you, I will make the Space Combat a bit easier, I thought it was Hard/Challenging but I recieved a few emails in-game complaining they couldn't get past it :rolleyes: If you guys don't object will erase one of the two Enemy Squads.
I'll wait till Monday evening to make the changes (GMT - Time).
Additional: I will re-publish on Wednesday around 5PM GMT
STAR TREK CONTINUES
Episode One - A Single MomentEpisode Two - InfancyEpisode Three - Unto the Breach Episode Four - Head Of A NeedleEpisode Five: The Duality of MenEpisode Six - Redemption Earned Episode Seven - Shattered UniverseEpisode Eight - The Gepetto ConditionEpisode Nine - One Room, Two Officers Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest StarEpisode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't HurtEpisode Twelve - A Protracted Officer Episode Thirteen - SomewhenEpisode Fourteen - The Boy Who LivedEpisode Fifthteen - Empathy
UPDATE! (7/3/13 - Voting resumes today and will last for 3 weeks. If you've already sent in your vote, you do not need to send in your vote again.) From today until Wednesday, July 24th, at 10AM PDT, voting is once again open for Foundry Challenge #7! More info on voting here: http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=883341
UPDATE! (7/18/13) Earlier this month, voting resumed for Foundry Challenge #7, with all votes being due by next Wednesday, July 24th, at 10AM PDT. I mentioned that if you already voted that you did not need to resend your vote -- unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I will need you, as well as anyone who has sent in a vote since Foundry Challenge #7 voting resumed, to send in the vote once more via an in-game mail to me (@PWE_BranFlakes). In the message, please include the name of the one (1) mission you feel should win this challenge. Please send this in by the aforementioned date and time.
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of having to resend in your vote and wish all our entrant authors the best of luck in this challenge!
Since the update thread was closed, I wanted to encourage folks to resubmit their votes for Foundry Challenge #7. According to BF, "I was clearing out old email to get below the 200, and thought I was starting from the oldest to newest Major, major bummer."
So, if you voted for a winner in the recent Foundry challenge, please vote again. You have less than a week to do so.
My truth does not make me any grace this, we return to business as usual, the cast does not work but added advertised as a great game.
I find it shameful that and also get the feeling that you do not care, go to this forum and creators and here's a conformism that I am very surprised, but clear. Then you allow an interview and you drool all.
Since the update thread was closed, I wanted to encourage folks to resubmit their votes for Foundry Challenge #7. According to BF, "I was clearing out old email to get below the 200, and thought I was starting from the oldest to newest Major, major bummer."
So, if you voted for a winner in the recent Foundry challenge, please vote again. You have less than a week to do so.
I've enjoyed playing through these. Since we're talking detailed comments, here are the notes I made on the missions as I went along; they're not as thorough as stardestroyer001's and I haven't tried to give points, but I hope someone might find them useful. I haven't played "Shadows of Omega" (wasn't up when I checked yesterday) or "Alpha Flight" (ran out of time).
"Sarita" by @T1N1
This is a tricky one to review because it's so uneven.
The plot itself is good - short, bold and not taking itself entirely seriously - I like ones like that.
The prologue is a good idea and well executed.
The first section has potential but is messy - I wasn't even clear what I was pretending to be doing besides flying to this point and then that point. I think the Foundry system may have garbled the intended sequence.
The setting-up-the-colony sequence is a really good idea, but it comes out so badly that I honestly began to think that the mission was actually meant as a joke at STO's expense, until I read the author's posting here. Something about the way my captain unpacked 10 boxes at once with a wild wave of her arms makes me suspect that T1N1 hates the "just press F" system and all its works... which is a fair point, but there are ways of doing more interesting activities, and even of taking the mickey, that don't make the player feel like the mission itself is as pointless as the press-F system. I've seen it done in other Foundry missions. I know this is T1N1's first attempt at Foundry writing and I'm not meaning to be snippy here, just pointing out what needs working on. Ask for advice by all means; this is entirely fixable, and worth fixing. (I'm always interested in original ways of doing non-combat tasks, so this has my tongue hanging out for an opportunity).
And after all that... the final section is inspired! And carried out well too. Had me laughing all the way. (Stardestroyer001 is right, though, it's puzzling at first - there's a slight gap between entering the map and the explanation of what you're doing there and that it's weeks later.) Was it just an accident of the graphics, or... did anyone else notice that before moving off their captain bent down and appeared to take a little mouthful of seawater? :eek: :cool: :cool: :cool:
Bits and pieces:
A little more information in the mission description would be good. (I think this mission would actually work with more than one player, unusually for a diplomatic mission - that should be pointed up.)
Pity it can't really have you alone in your quarters, like the text says, but I've heard that the Foundry doesn't yet have an option for solo ground maps without the away team.
For those who haven't played "Mine Trap" (I haven't), a "What? Just what am I taking aboard?" option would be good when he says that the colonists are all under quarantine and aren't to be mentioned to Starfleet Command. He's a 31er, he can always refuse to answer.
"Cloaked Loyalties" by @edwinsterling
Story: A mindboggling premise carried off really well.
The only thing is that the first Romulan scene could perhaps be polished a bit, since it has so much weight to carry. Somehow didn't seem quite convincing, I don't know - largely just repeating a few things, felt as if my character was barely surprised about this turn of events. Maybe one or two touches of yellow text would help? - "Somehow you feel you should recognise this woman..." that kind of thing. Given the standard of the rest of it (once the author had got into the swing of it?) I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. Especially the final confrontation, that really was a scene to remember and it had me genuinely rooting for my frantic Romulan team - even though I hadn't a clue whether they really were "my" team or not!
Technical:
Having to post your away team officers at various points is a new one on me, good. The rally points worked fine for me.
The space section after you take the cloaking device didn't work perfectly - at several points I didn't know where to go next, and indeed some of the points only turned up after getting defeated and respawning, or circling up and down over the green circle to find the right height.
During the confrontation the Romulan officer once insists that "You are NOT him!" Spoils the effect slightly if your character happens to be a girl - should be easy to fix.
"Waiting for the Light" by @kirkfat
Story: Really good and thought-provoking story, thorny moral dilemmas coupled with memorably scary adversary - I hesitate to say "villain"; see above... Good "colour" and details too, especially poor Mr Talis. The notion of a computer failure sending the security drone craft out of control, at the beginning, is uncomfortably close to home these days!
Technical: Slightly too many of each obstacle for my patience; tunnel a little too long, three waves of drone craft where one would do, lost count of how many identical waves of ground enemies.
I wasn't actually able to finish this mission, the last ground enemy - the Chieftain - just stumped me. Tried a dozen times, never got him down below 50%, even with all his underlings defeated.
"Inner Space" by @rickysmith1
Story: Good premise but it's the detail that's outstanding; the mystery race is so well realised with convincing little details, like the writing made up of circles (pedant note - carbon dating isn't actually accurate to 100 years, but I can't think what is, off-hand), and the technician's last log entry is really moving.
Technical: Several of these missions contain threading-the-needle type maps - one of the perks of a shuttle mission - but I think this one's is the best.
"You don't know when it's real" by @ciphertuesday
Story: Wonderfully imaginative/completely bananas. I always like dream/illusion sequences and such. All the bad English that previous reviewers mentioned is now fixed. I didn't have much idea what was going on until the final reveal, which was annoying, like a detective story where you've no inkling who dunnit, but it did all tie up in the end.
Technical: The fight with the bridge crew's too hard - I had to respawn again and again, defeating one officer at a time. Though since we were stuck in a time loop anyway, respawning as necessary seemed only fair ;-)
Comments continued: "Protector" by @terinvorta
Story: Ten out of ten as far as it goes. Very short and leaves a lot unexplained, but I'm assuming it's "to be continued"? The Doctor Who references do it no harm whatsoever
If you choose to have the plot rattle along like that with minimal explanation (which I liked, myself), the things it does explain do need to be absolutely clear - the bit about the unlocked transmat console (during the trial) lost me, though it doesn't appear to be that important, and "Try to escape" confusingly appears as a mission task BEFORE you transfer to the prison map, although in fact you're not meant to have a chance to escape until you get there.
Technical: The wormhole graphics are beautiful.
What d'you call all that with the fight between the Fed ships and the Klingon ships in the background, after you escape the prison planet? Should either be cut out or some reason for it given - dramatic but inexplicable isn't really enough.
There's a slight bug just after that - you have to change maps twice in succession.
"Beneath the Skin" by @P_Sutherland (included for completeness - I mailed these and a bit more to the author at the time, while we were discussing a bug that's now fixed)
Story: One of my favourites of the whole batch. I like a rescue mission and like even more the idea of those particular people needing rescuing!
Non-stop action and not all of it just fighting, either.
It seems rather bitty until after you speak to Sheeba, but it's powering along by the time you enter the moon. I think it would flow better if it introduced fewer things at once, all these different things and races mentioned at the start are sort of distracting.
Technical:
The follow-that-ship sections are fun, and unusual. There should be more missions with those.
The moon tunnels are very good.
The NPC ship I was escorting ran aground inside the moon and I had to reload the map (it did fine the second time). Sheeba's final conversation, saying they've won, appears while they're still fighting the enemy ships.
"Alien vs Predator" as a chapter name: brilliant!
"Uninvited Guests" by @sirboulevard
Story: This one very much assumes that you're playing it as end-game content, having done enough missions that your character would have earned a big reputation. My character WAS a Vice-Admiral, but HADN'T played through whatever the "incident with Admiral Zelle" was that was referred to. Still, it's clear enough what the backstory is supposed to be, and the tension it causes takes the storyline to a new level.
Technical: In the meeting on Kaleb IV, several people have missed their chairs and are sitting on the floor.
L'Val kept referring to my character as "This man!" She resents this
The search and rescue section (the atmosphere map) was very well done - STO tends to make those kind of non-combat tasks rather tedious, but these really were not. I noticed somebody in the in-game reviews protesting that he got wiped out by the Romulan fighters; in fact, you don't need to engage those, so you just need to dive immediately and do your work while flying low enough that you don't get mixed up with them again.
It took me plenty more than 30 minutes, if that's the criterion; why is it not worth any dilithium?
I've enjoyed playing through all these. My compliments to the authors.
"Beneath the Skin" by @P_Sutherland (included for completeness - I mailed these and a bit more to the author at the time, while we were discussing a bug that's now fixed)
Story: One of my favourites of the whole batch. I like a rescue mission and like even more the idea of those particular people needing rescuing!
Non-stop action and not all of it just fighting, either.
It seems rather bitty until after you speak to Sheeba, but it's powering along by the time you enter the moon. I think it would flow better if it introduced fewer things at once, all these different things and races mentioned at the start are sort of distracting.
Technical:
The follow-that-ship sections are fun, and unusual. There should be more missions with those.
The moon tunnels are very good.
The NPC ship I was escorting ran aground inside the moon and I had to reload the map (it did fine the second time). Sheeba's final conversation, saying they've won, appears while they're still fighting the enemy ships.
"Alien vs Predator" as a chapter name: brilliant!
Thanks for playing it.
meh my one was origonally going to be longer.. but I lost interest after stuff kept breaking.
I'm going to leave it so I can import some of the maps... and use it lifeboat for the custom npcs :P
Congratulations to all! Everyone did a FANTASTIC job! You're all winners in my book.
I am going to unstick this, but feel fee to keep discussing this challenge in this thread! Challenge #8 will be posted next week.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Congrats to the winner of an incompetently administered challenge by a company that doesn't give a TRIBBLE about the foundry. Good PR for you. You will need the spotlight to get some plays for your other missions. Congrats.
I've enjoyed playing through these. Since we're talking detailed comments, here are the notes I made on the missions as I went along; they're not as thorough as stardestroyer001's and I haven't tried to give points, but I hope someone might find them useful. I haven't played "Shadows of Omega" (wasn't up when I checked yesterday) or "Alpha Flight" (ran out of time).
"Sarita" by @T1N1
This is a tricky one to review because it's so uneven.
The plot itself is good - short, bold and not taking itself entirely seriously - I like ones like that.
The prologue is a good idea and well executed.
The first section has potential but is messy - I wasn't even clear what I was pretending to be doing besides flying to this point and then that point. I think the Foundry system may have garbled the intended sequence.
The setting-up-the-colony sequence is a really good idea, but it comes out so badly that I honestly began to think that the mission was actually meant as a joke at STO's expense, until I read the author's posting here. Something about the way my captain unpacked 10 boxes at once with a wild wave of her arms makes me suspect that T1N1 hates the "just press F" system and all its works... which is a fair point, but there are ways of doing more interesting activities, and even of taking the mickey, that don't make the player feel like the mission itself is as pointless as the press-F system. I've seen it done in other Foundry missions. I know this is T1N1's first attempt at Foundry writing and I'm not meaning to be snippy here, just pointing out what needs working on. Ask for advice by all means; this is entirely fixable, and worth fixing. (I'm always interested in original ways of doing non-combat tasks, so this has my tongue hanging out for an opportunity).
And after all that... the final section is inspired! And carried out well too. Had me laughing all the way. (Stardestroyer001 is right, though, it's puzzling at first - there's a slight gap between entering the map and the explanation of what you're doing there and that it's weeks later.) Was it just an accident of the graphics, or... did anyone else notice that before moving off their captain bent down and appeared to take a little mouthful of seawater? :eek: :cool: :cool: :cool:
Bits and pieces:
A little more information in the mission description would be good. (I think this mission would actually work with more than one player, unusually for a diplomatic mission - that should be pointed up.)
Pity it can't really have you alone in your quarters, like the text says, but I've heard that the Foundry doesn't yet have an option for solo ground maps without the away team.
For those who haven't played "Mine Trap" (I haven't), a "What? Just what am I taking aboard?" option would be good when he says that the colonists are all under quarantine and aren't to be mentioned to Starfleet Command. He's a 31er, he can always refuse to answer.
Thank you for all who reviewed and played.
You are all too kind. I've no excuse for how bad it was.
**any interpreted intentions were unintended and may not reflect actual views...
Break down of what I thought of it...
2nd map was well... I hated it. I got it to be complete able then tried to make the the 3rd map actually playable.
3rd map went through at least 5 different layouts. I think, I may have crashed the server trying to make that map. wasted so much time trying get it playable. night before deadline was trying to make it better. Failed, sorry
First map was actually most fun to make. and one that's actually got couple "easter eggs" fish tank, crew eating plant, poker game.
Last map could have used a little more work...
it's actually 2nd challenge I tried for...the other was worse, a 2 hour long mess. (*putting it kindly)
Thank you everyone who took part, it was great fun playing through the missions. So many different approaches. Had a lot of fun making my mission and learned a lot from the feedback.
Congratulations to all! Everyone did a FANTASTIC job! You're all winners in my book.
I am going to unstick this, but feel fee to keep discussing this challenge in this thread! Challenge #8 will be posted next week.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
No man, the happiness you have to give us, for not seeing what you going to fix in the next patch is not working foundry and casting have ANYTHING you have to come here to PUT THE ONLY MESSAGE in months knowing that we pissed because you let CASTING IS BROKEN BY MONTHS.
Your salary you earn each month, congratulations to you.
Congratulations to the author and the rest that were presented, which are not to blame, I hope that when you have another contest not this one, is mainly to stop deceiving players viewing posts must believe that the foundry works perfectly.
Episode One - A Single MomentEpisode Two - InfancyEpisode Three - Unto the Breach Episode Four - Head Of A NeedleEpisode Five: The Duality of MenEpisode Six - Redemption Earned Episode Seven - Shattered UniverseEpisode Eight - The Gepetto ConditionEpisode Nine - One Room, Two Officers Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest StarEpisode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't HurtEpisode Twelve - A Protracted Officer Episode Thirteen - SomewhenEpisode Fourteen - The Boy Who LivedEpisode Fifthteen - Empathy
Comments
I'm going to be extending the voting deadline again as some missions are still being republished and some missions may be uncompletable due to the reach marker bug (which we are working to resolve). There is currently no voting deadline I'm setting forth at this time, but what I will most likely do is re-post voting information on the front page once the bug is fixed, update this thread, and restart the voting process.
I will give challenge authors a one-week warning before the new 3-week voting period begins so they can play through their missions and ensure there are no blockers that would make the mission uncompletable. I will ask that they honor the original rules and not change the mission in terms of story, content, etc. Any changes should only be to ensure that players can complete the mission.
If there is not an overwhelming amount of objections, any votes received before the launch of Legacy of Romulus will still count towards final vote totals that will determine a winner.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Likely, even if not a part of the Elachi, Sub-Space Monsters those sound cool!
Elachi would make my BTRW Series easier to connect, I better start work on a banner in the event your correct
That would be both awsome and over used
Episode Four - Head Of A Needle Episode Five: The Duality of Men Episode Six - Redemption Earned
Episode Seven - Shattered Universe Episode Eight - The Gepetto Condition Episode Nine - One Room, Two Officers
Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest Star Episode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't Hurt Episode Twelve - A Protracted Officer
Episode Thirteen - Somewhen Episode Fourteen - The Boy Who Lived Episode Fifthteen - Empathy
We're going to re-start the voting period next Wednesday, July 3rd -- I'll be reposting the voting blog then and voting will be open for 3 weeks. Please re-read this post of mine, noting the yellow text:
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I removed the Heat wave Effect from map?
it was really ugly. didn't notice it pre LOR.
and no objections to any thing in your post.
well my entry is able to be completed.
I admit story leaves much to be desired. Sorry
If any 1 wants to play through it with me to offer "feedback"/ test group play.
today or sometime later.
I doubt it. I went back and fourth during the last challenge fixing stuff that was breaking. Aslong as the mission isn't down long enough for anyone to notice you'll be fine.
IF it is OK with the rest of you, I will make the Space Combat a bit easier, I thought it was Hard/Challenging but I recieved a few emails in-game complaining they couldn't get past it :rolleyes: If you guys don't object will erase one of the two Enemy Squads.
I'll wait till Monday evening to make the changes
Additional: I will re-publish on Wednesday around 5PM GMT
Episode Four - Head Of A Needle Episode Five: The Duality of Men Episode Six - Redemption Earned
Episode Seven - Shattered Universe Episode Eight - The Gepetto Condition Episode Nine - One Room, Two Officers
Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest Star Episode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't Hurt Episode Twelve - A Protracted Officer
Episode Thirteen - Somewhen Episode Fourteen - The Boy Who Lived Episode Fifthteen - Empathy
UPDATE! (7/3/13 - Voting resumes today and will last for 3 weeks. If you've already sent in your vote, you do not need to send in your vote again.) From today until Wednesday, July 24th, at 10AM PDT, voting is once again open for Foundry Challenge #7! More info on voting here: http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=883341
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of having to resend in your vote and wish all our entrant authors the best of luck in this challenge!
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
So, if you voted for a winner in the recent Foundry challenge, please vote again. You have less than a week to do so.
Good luck to all the contestants.
I find it shameful that and also get the feeling that you do not care, go to this forum and creators and here's a conformism that I am very surprised, but clear. Then you allow an interview and you drool all.
That little personality have some.
https://www.youtube.com/user/NenfisGirfud
you got my vote :P
"Sarita" by @T1N1
This is a tricky one to review because it's so uneven.
The plot itself is good - short, bold and not taking itself entirely seriously - I like ones like that.
The prologue is a good idea and well executed.
The first section has potential but is messy - I wasn't even clear what I was pretending to be doing besides flying to this point and then that point. I think the Foundry system may have garbled the intended sequence.
The setting-up-the-colony sequence is a really good idea, but it comes out so badly that I honestly began to think that the mission was actually meant as a joke at STO's expense, until I read the author's posting here. Something about the way my captain unpacked 10 boxes at once with a wild wave of her arms makes me suspect that T1N1 hates the "just press F" system and all its works... which is a fair point, but there are ways of doing more interesting activities, and even of taking the mickey, that don't make the player feel like the mission itself is as pointless as the press-F system. I've seen it done in other Foundry missions. I know this is T1N1's first attempt at Foundry writing and I'm not meaning to be snippy here, just pointing out what needs working on. Ask for advice by all means; this is entirely fixable, and worth fixing. (I'm always interested in original ways of doing non-combat tasks, so this has my tongue hanging out for an opportunity).
And after all that... the final section is inspired! And carried out well too. Had me laughing all the way. (Stardestroyer001 is right, though, it's puzzling at first - there's a slight gap between entering the map and the explanation of what you're doing there and that it's weeks later.) Was it just an accident of the graphics, or... did anyone else notice that before moving off their captain bent down and appeared to take a little mouthful of seawater? :eek: :cool: :cool: :cool:
Bits and pieces:
A little more information in the mission description would be good. (I think this mission would actually work with more than one player, unusually for a diplomatic mission - that should be pointed up.)
Pity it can't really have you alone in your quarters, like the text says, but I've heard that the Foundry doesn't yet have an option for solo ground maps without the away team.
For those who haven't played "Mine Trap" (I haven't), a "What? Just what am I taking aboard?" option would be good when he says that the colonists are all under quarantine and aren't to be mentioned to Starfleet Command. He's a 31er, he can always refuse to answer.
"Cloaked Loyalties" by @edwinsterling
Story: A mindboggling premise carried off really well.
The only thing is that the first Romulan scene could perhaps be polished a bit, since it has so much weight to carry. Somehow didn't seem quite convincing, I don't know - largely just repeating a few things, felt as if my character was barely surprised about this turn of events. Maybe one or two touches of yellow text would help? - "Somehow you feel you should recognise this woman..." that kind of thing. Given the standard of the rest of it (once the author had got into the swing of it?) I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. Especially the final confrontation, that really was a scene to remember and it had me genuinely rooting for my frantic Romulan team - even though I hadn't a clue whether they really were "my" team or not!
Technical:
Having to post your away team officers at various points is a new one on me, good. The rally points worked fine for me.
The space section after you take the cloaking device didn't work perfectly - at several points I didn't know where to go next, and indeed some of the points only turned up after getting defeated and respawning, or circling up and down over the green circle to find the right height.
During the confrontation the Romulan officer once insists that "You are NOT him!" Spoils the effect slightly if your character happens to be a girl - should be easy to fix.
"Waiting for the Light" by @kirkfat
Story: Really good and thought-provoking story, thorny moral dilemmas coupled with memorably scary adversary - I hesitate to say "villain"; see above... Good "colour" and details too, especially poor Mr Talis. The notion of a computer failure sending the security drone craft out of control, at the beginning, is uncomfortably close to home these days!
Technical: Slightly too many of each obstacle for my patience; tunnel a little too long, three waves of drone craft where one would do, lost count of how many identical waves of ground enemies.
I wasn't actually able to finish this mission, the last ground enemy - the Chieftain - just stumped me. Tried a dozen times, never got him down below 50%, even with all his underlings defeated.
"Inner Space" by @rickysmith1
Story: Good premise but it's the detail that's outstanding; the mystery race is so well realised with convincing little details, like the writing made up of circles (pedant note - carbon dating isn't actually accurate to 100 years, but I can't think what is, off-hand), and the technician's last log entry is really moving.
Technical: Several of these missions contain threading-the-needle type maps - one of the perks of a shuttle mission - but I think this one's is the best.
"You don't know when it's real" by @ciphertuesday
Story: Wonderfully imaginative/completely bananas. I always like dream/illusion sequences and such. All the bad English that previous reviewers mentioned is now fixed. I didn't have much idea what was going on until the final reveal, which was annoying, like a detective story where you've no inkling who dunnit, but it did all tie up in the end.
Technical: The fight with the bridge crew's too hard - I had to respawn again and again, defeating one officer at a time. Though since we were stuck in a time loop anyway, respawning as necessary seemed only fair ;-)
"Protector" by @terinvorta
Story: Ten out of ten as far as it goes. Very short and leaves a lot unexplained, but I'm assuming it's "to be continued"? The Doctor Who references do it no harm whatsoever
If you choose to have the plot rattle along like that with minimal explanation (which I liked, myself), the things it does explain do need to be absolutely clear - the bit about the unlocked transmat console (during the trial) lost me, though it doesn't appear to be that important, and "Try to escape" confusingly appears as a mission task BEFORE you transfer to the prison map, although in fact you're not meant to have a chance to escape until you get there.
Technical: The wormhole graphics are beautiful.
What d'you call all that with the fight between the Fed ships and the Klingon ships in the background, after you escape the prison planet? Should either be cut out or some reason for it given - dramatic but inexplicable isn't really enough.
There's a slight bug just after that - you have to change maps twice in succession.
"Beneath the Skin" by @P_Sutherland (included for completeness - I mailed these and a bit more to the author at the time, while we were discussing a bug that's now fixed)
Story: One of my favourites of the whole batch. I like a rescue mission and like even more the idea of those particular people needing rescuing!
Non-stop action and not all of it just fighting, either.
It seems rather bitty until after you speak to Sheeba, but it's powering along by the time you enter the moon. I think it would flow better if it introduced fewer things at once, all these different things and races mentioned at the start are sort of distracting.
Technical:
The follow-that-ship sections are fun, and unusual. There should be more missions with those.
The moon tunnels are very good.
The NPC ship I was escorting ran aground inside the moon and I had to reload the map (it did fine the second time). Sheeba's final conversation, saying they've won, appears while they're still fighting the enemy ships.
"Alien vs Predator" as a chapter name: brilliant!
"Uninvited Guests" by @sirboulevard
Story: This one very much assumes that you're playing it as end-game content, having done enough missions that your character would have earned a big reputation. My character WAS a Vice-Admiral, but HADN'T played through whatever the "incident with Admiral Zelle" was that was referred to. Still, it's clear enough what the backstory is supposed to be, and the tension it causes takes the storyline to a new level.
Technical: In the meeting on Kaleb IV, several people have missed their chairs and are sitting on the floor.
L'Val kept referring to my character as "This man!" She resents this
The search and rescue section (the atmosphere map) was very well done - STO tends to make those kind of non-combat tasks rather tedious, but these really were not. I noticed somebody in the in-game reviews protesting that he got wiped out by the Romulan fighters; in fact, you don't need to engage those, so you just need to dive immediately and do your work while flying low enough that you don't get mixed up with them again.
It took me plenty more than 30 minutes, if that's the criterion; why is it not worth any dilithium?
I've enjoyed playing through all these. My compliments to the authors.
Thanks for playing it.
meh my one was origonally going to be longer.. but I lost interest after stuff kept breaking.
I'm going to leave it so I can import some of the maps... and use it lifeboat for the custom npcs :P
Congratulations to all! Everyone did a FANTASTIC job!
I am going to unstick this, but feel fee to keep discussing this challenge in this thread! Challenge #8 will be posted next week.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Congrats to the winner of an incompetently administered challenge by a company that doesn't give a TRIBBLE about the foundry. Good PR for you. You will need the spotlight to get some plays for your other missions. Congrats.
Thank you for all who reviewed and played.
You are all too kind. I've no excuse for how bad it was.
**any interpreted intentions were unintended and may not reflect actual views...
Break down of what I thought of it...
2nd map was well... I hated it. I got it to be complete able then tried to make the the 3rd map actually playable.
3rd map went through at least 5 different layouts. I think, I may have crashed the server trying to make that map. wasted so much time trying get it playable. night before deadline was trying to make it better. Failed, sorry
First map was actually most fun to make. and one that's actually got couple "easter eggs" fish tank, crew eating plant, poker game.
Last map could have used a little more work...
it's actually 2nd challenge I tried for...the other was worse, a 2 hour long mess. (*putting it kindly)
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congrats to winner.
I liked playing through all the entries.
Thank you everyone who took part, it was great fun playing through the missions. So many different approaches. Had a lot of fun making my mission and learned a lot from the feedback.
Cheers everyone, looking forward to the next one
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No man, the happiness you have to give us, for not seeing what you going to fix in the next patch is not working foundry and casting have ANYTHING you have to come here to PUT THE ONLY MESSAGE in months knowing that we pissed because you let CASTING IS BROKEN BY MONTHS.
Your salary you earn each month, congratulations to you.
Congratulations to the author and the rest that were presented, which are not to blame, I hope that when you have another contest not this one, is mainly to stop deceiving players viewing posts must believe that the foundry works perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/user/NenfisGirfud
See you at the next contest
Episode Four - Head Of A Needle Episode Five: The Duality of Men Episode Six - Redemption Earned
Episode Seven - Shattered Universe Episode Eight - The Gepetto Condition Episode Nine - One Room, Two Officers
Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest Star Episode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't Hurt Episode Twelve - A Protracted Officer
Episode Thirteen - Somewhen Episode Fourteen - The Boy Who Lived Episode Fifthteen - Empathy