Let's Trade Foundry Reviews!

zorbane

Hi everyone!

Just created a new foundry mission? Want to get some plays and some feedback? You're in the right place. Just post your mission and I'll add it to the list. Play the ones that are already there and "trade" reviews with the other authors. You'll learn both what people's opinions are on your mission, and also learn how people are using the Foundry.

Thread 1: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=796691

I've created this thread for a couple reasons.

1. To encourage authors to try each other's missions
2. Help authors get plays and reviews on their new missions.

So if you're a new author and/or you've got a new mission published I encourage you to share it with us. The first thread did really well reaching 8 pages and there was a lot of great discussion on different author's building styles so hopefully we can keep it going!

I've added the missions from the previous thread that were added recently. If I didn't include yours but still want it included here just post it again! (I also added the ones I didn't put on the list in the first thread).

Please play the missions that other people made too, don't use this as a freeloader "Get plays and reviews" thread.

RULES:

You can post your mission(s) in this thread and do whatever you want, but I won't add it to the list nor will I play it until you've played at least one other mission on this list (or previous lists) and left feedback. If other people want to play it its up to them I still encourage it.

Thanks

zorbane

Thread 1 List: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=11470441&postcount=1

LEGEND:

Blue = Fed Mission
Red = KDF Mission

Mission/Author List:

Author: @maninblack017
Mission(s):

• Uprising - Act I: Off The Grid

Author: @alysvanya
Mission(s):

• Star Trek: Saturn: Ep. I (Intro)
• Star Trek: Saturn: Ep. II

Author: @nrobbiec
Mission(s):

• Traitor's Tales

Author: @neko213
Mission(s):

• Mirror Universe Mystery

Author: @amahood
Mission(s):

• Homesick Heroes (Romulan)

Author: @renegadesteve
Mission(s):

• Fluidic Relations

Author: @Intuitive_Aptitude
Mission(s):

• Infinite Shift (Romulan)

Author: @ashkrik23
Mission(s):

• Perfection, part 1.

Author: @bigdogofbria
Mission(s):

• The Freebooter's Gambit
• The Raven and The Marionette
• What Matters Most

Author: @donperk
Mission(s):

• The Sins of the Fathers

Author: @Duncan-Idaho
Mission(s):

• Orders Form The Top (Grinder)

Author: @maninblack017
Mission(s):

• Uprising: Act II - The Tempest

Author: @lincolninspace
Mission(s):

• a time to search

Author: @starswordc
Mission(s):

• Bait and Switch

Author: @aleniskendra
Mission(s):

• Healing Old Wounds

Author: @eldil
Mission(s):

• Contact Squared
• Contact Squared Part 2

Author: @Stolu
Mission(s):

• Reman Dilithium Run

Author: @NCC-89471
Mission(s):

• [Rom] Valley of the Shadow II" (aka "The Shadow of Death") (Romulan)

Author: @ashkrik23
Mission(s):

• Perfection, Part 2

Author: @BorrowedTune
Mission(s):

• A Taste of Collateral Damage

Author: @kyeto13
Mission(s):

• Sacrifice

Author: @ryan218 ?
Mission(s):

• Return of the Maquis

Author: @pbau3993
Mission(s):

• The Dogs of War

Author: @Sorroway
Mission(s):

• In the Shadows of Oppression

Author: @wildkazoo
Mission(s):

• Foothold

Author: @prierin
Mission(s):

• The Once and Future King

Author: @ashkrik23
Mission(s):

• Scars of the pride, Part 1

Author: @kortaag
Mission(s):

• Amicus Apparatus

Author: @helixfungus
Mission(s):

• Sons of Organia
• City on the Edge of Hope

Author: @confedinblue
Mission(s):

• The Devil's Playground

Author: @ashkrik23
Mission(s):

• Scars of the Pride Pt 2:The Claw

Author: @logitech007
Mission(s):

• The Unexpected Return Part One
• The Unexpected Return Part Two
• The Unexpected Return Part Three

Author: @prierin
Mission(s):

• The Rise of the Red Eclipse <--

Author: @helixfungus
Mission(s):

• Ghost in the Machine

Author: @johnnysnowball
Mission(s):

• Shore Leave Under Seige

Author: @logitech007
Mission(s):

• The Unexpected Return Part Four

Author: @maninblack017
Mission(s):

• Uprising: Act III - Epsilon

Author: @SerpentineOne
Mission(s):

• A Message From Nowhere
• The Wraith

Author: @helixfungus
Mission(s):

• Mutara Legacy

Author: @starfarertheta
Mission(s):

• A Routine Mission
• Artifacts
• Escalation
• Maelstrom

Author: @Blucher
Mission(s):

• Tyranny of the Tal Shiar

nrobbiec

Traitor's Tales
@nrobbiec
Fed - any level

more info and rants via the link in my sig :P

isthisscience

I am more than happy to review people's missions and will prioritise (and, to the best of my ability, guarantee to play within a week) any story-focused missions that have under 5 reviews. I don't always give a huge review but I try to hit the important thematic points (I like to be concise where possible) relevant to the level you're working at. My missions of course can be found in my signature but I won't always expect a return play.

Zorbane, can we buidl this into some kind of themeatic database? Somewhere we can have missions tagged by content and success in specific areas? Just thinking about ways of circumventing the search function ingame.

nrobbiec

Off the Grid review.

I'm sorry I'm not very good at reviewing so it'll be more summarising. It's a very well made mission, the maps are lovely. I actually stopped for a second to enjoy the scenery on the planet's surface.

The pirates have an impressive roster, don't they. Fek'Ihri, Undine, Elachi...how'd they get them. The one thing I will say is I don't think using Gorn npc groups was the best idea as everyone tries to bite you, which is a little strange for most species.

The ambush was a little brutal, I had to respawn a couple of times - still fun though. Space battle was fun, a nice mash of ships to decimate haha.

Kind of funny facing off against Jek'lava as my character is designed to look like the devil too :P

I did notice one or two spelling mistakes but nothing major sorry I didn't commit them to memory I know one's after you destroy the Valkyrie. All in all, was an excellent mission and there must have been a lot of time, effort and patience put into designing it.

zorbane

isthisscience wrote: »

...

Zorbane, can we buidl this into some kind of themeatic database? Somewhere we can have missions tagged by content and success in specific areas? Just thinking about ways of circumventing the search function ingame.

I'd love to be able to do something like that, but I'm not sure how to do it other than in a zillion Foundry threads

maninblack017

nrobbiec wrote: »

Off the Grid review.

I'm sorry I'm not very good at reviewing so it'll be more summarising. It's a very well made mission, the maps are lovely. I actually stopped for a second to enjoy the scenery on the planet's surface.

The pirates have an impressive roster, don't they. Fek'Ihri, Undine, Elachi...how'd they get them. The one thing I will say is I don't think using Gorn npc groups was the best idea as everyone tries to bite you, which is a little strange for most species.

The ambush was a little brutal, I had to respawn a couple of times - still fun though. Space battle was fun, a nice mash of ships to decimate haha.

Kind of funny facing off against Jek'lava as my character is designed to look like the devil too :P

I did notice one or two spelling mistakes but nothing major sorry I didn't commit them to memory I know one's after you destroy the Valkyrie. All in all, was an excellent mission and there must have been a lot of time, effort and patience put into designing it.

Thanks for the review!

Didn't realize that regarding the Gorn npc groups but will look into that. Good catch.

Thanks for the compliments on the scenery. I believe that the scenery should cause you to take a step back and say wow. To me that's always been apart of Star Trek so I try to emphasize making a visually appealing Environment.

I will also look into the spelling mistakes because I thought I had caught them all. Thanks for the good eye on that. And I'm glad you liked the design of Jok'lava. You have good taste! Haha

stoutes

Maninblack; first of all, pretty sweet mission you made! Congrats!

maninblack017 wrote: »

Thanks for the review!

Didn't realize that regarding the Gorn npc groups but will look into that. Good catch.

Thanks for the compliments on the scenery. I believe that the scenery should cause you to take a step back and say wow. To me that's always been apart of Star Trek so I try to emphasize making a visually appealing Environment.

I will also look into the spelling mistakes because I thought I had caught them all. Thanks for the good eye on that. And I'm glad you liked the design of Jok'lava. You have good taste! Haha

Please leave the gorn groups in; it is SO funny to see feds/klinks/etc throwing rocks.


Well, this is my review which i wrote up while playing; please read it as being constructively:
Off the grid


Map one, Mariana System:
- (question) My tasklist says i have to rendezvous with the Conestoga, but it isn't mentioned in the latest dialog (i can see it damaged, maybe in the likings of "The conestoga is in front of us, but it seems damaged. Should we go over there and offer any assistence?")
- (note) I like the dialog!
- (note) Lots of effects in the map! Loads of things are happening (I like it!). But in any good dish you have something to bind all the ingredients together, i still miss something here (might be a cloud or nebulae) to make it to a whole.
- (typo) Awayteam == Away team.

Overall a nice usage of this map! Wide search pattern, lots of effect. Good one!


Map two, The ship:
- (suggestion) After you warp in, you have a flickering like effect on the ground. In such a dark environment with such a high frequency it can result in epilepsy (or in my case a heavy migraine)... I am asking you to change that effect (Starburst Effect 01 has the same lighting effect but without the flickering).

Once again a pretty nice build up map. Story and dialogs are pretty well written, i would even call it "dry" in times. And dry is good

Map three, the Bridge:
- (note) You've captured the situation well (how dire it actually is). Nice introduction!


Map four, Surface:
- (suggestion) Your officer intently studies his tricorder... But she's a woman! I would try to change this sentence so it can be used both female and male.
- (note) Very nice starting point! Adding the rain gives a nice layer to this situation. By the way when i was attacked by the creatures, i barely saw them coming because of the grass. My compliments for that!
- (note) Combat was fun, unfortunatly when you have the need to respawn, you end up at the starting point. Maybe a new respawn point near the one you talk to after the first fights?
- (note) Nice damage and destruction, after investigating i am really bummed there seems to be invisible walls... Let me enjoy damage and destruction!

After awhile i got the feeling *gee another battle?...*, but that might be my fault since the char i used is mainly specced for space..

Map five, back in space:

Sweet, burning through the hulls. Went swift and easy. And as always the *dont want to spoil it!*!

markhawkman

I tend to spec my chars for ground rather heavily. So I didn't have much issue with the ground part.

stoutes

So is my romulan , unfortunatly chose to use my fed today.

drogyn1701

I admit I did have a bit of trouble with the ground portion, probably cause the guy I was using and his boffs are horribly under-geared. So that's more my fault than anything. And dying a lot doesn't particularly bother me, especially cause you had a respawn point real close.

stoutes

Inside the building, yes... but i didn't encountered a respawn point outside of it.

drogyn1701

stoutes wrote: »

Inside the building, yes... but i didn't encountered a respawn point outside of it.

Oh you were talking about outside. I think I just ran past those mobs.

stoutes

drogyn1701 wrote: »

Oh you were talking about outside. I think I just ran past those mobs.

Then you have awesome built boffs! These mobs needed to be killed for the mission to continue. OR... you are better geared than you might think.

drogyn1701

Y'know, I was thinking about an entirely different mission by an entirely different author. lol memory fail. Never mind!

stoutes

Yup, i remember you say something about memory fails in podcast #26 .

Butttttttt


It might be better to get back on topic.

maninblack017

Thank you stoutes. I really appreciate that.

You're right about the respawn points. I had forgotten to put ANY in until I played it for the first time and died. Yes...how embarrassing that I got killed in a mission I designed! But I then added a respawn point inside the fortress. I will add another one outside.

Will look to address all of the little quality assurance things you pointed.

Thanks for the compliments on the environment. I really hoped they would be well-liked and so far they have been. As for the invisible walls, they were put in to try and funnel the player in the path they needed to go. Actually if they weren't there, the players would actually be able to get to the building before they were supposed to and I didn't want to risk that for obvious reasons.

Thank you again!

markhawkman

maninblack017 wrote: »

Thank you stoutes. I really appreciate that.

You're right about the respawn points. I had forgotten to put ANY in until I played it for the first time and died. Yes...how embarrassing that I got killed in a mission I designed! But I then added a respawn point inside the fortress. I will add another one outside.

Will look to address all of the little quality assurance things you pointed.

Thanks for the compliments on the environment. I really hoped they would be well-liked and so far they have been. As for the invisible walls, they were put in to try and funnel the player in the path they needed to go. Actually if they weren't there, the players would actually be able to get to the building before they were supposed to and I didn't want to risk that for obvious reasons.

Thank you again!

Just throw up a security field across the doorway to prevent entry...

isthisscience

zorbane wrote: »

I'd love to be able to do something like that, but I'm not sure how to do it other than in a zillion Foundry threads

Load the mission title, followed by any reviews for it, onto a wordpress blog. The categories would be applied as tags so you can just click "Romulan-playable" and get every Romulan playable mission in the database. Getting the system in place shouldn't be too hard, it is just the initial formatting of content and advertising there of. Do you think that might work?

zorbane

Hmm I suppose that could work, it'd be a lot to maintain though and I don't think I can put the time commitment into it!

isthisscience

I'll see about setting up a test thing at the weekend maybe if people could chuck some content at me around that time?

zorbane

isthisscience wrote: »

I'll see about setting up a test thing at the weekend maybe if people could chuck some content at me around that time?

You could grab the missions we have so far and test it that way.

stoutes

Will it be wordpress? If yes, i wont mind adding some of my reviews..

zorbane

I don't know anything about wordpress, is there an easy way to let random people add posts?

stoutes

Yes it does, i have made couple of my own modules too with it like a gallery system (but gives me the ability to create my own way of showing (it only gives me a list of pictures you've chosen, i only need to program once how it will be shown on the site), nothing special.

zorbane

Assault on DS9 - @Andeon

This is a misison form the previous thread. I haven't had time to play STO in the past week...anyhoo...

Straight forward, heavy combat mission. Technically sound, and polished. I was kind of at a loss at what was going on though. I thought the Dominion and the Federation were at peace? I kinda ran around just shooting things because they "were there". A bit more back story would have been nice but I assume that's what part 2 will be for!

Nothing really stood out to me as a problem, good first mission! Just hoped for a bit more story-wise. I gave it 4 out of 5

Thanks!

zorbane

This is my review for Latinum is Forever by @teklionbenrasha

I really enjoyed this mission, the story was interesting and well...to be honest I really love pop culture references (just look at Duritanium man and Galaxy's Fair) so I was nerding out a bit. Technically it was sound without any problems, however my biggest wish was that a couple of the maps had more stuff going on. It felt liek there were "only" the important npcs and other than the first map there wasn't much in the way of background characters or detail. Overall though I still gave it a 5 out of 5!

I assume that a sequel is coming? I look forward to it.

Technical question: Why do you make the NPCs disappear after talking to them on Risa? You should be alllowed to use multiple "Talk to NPC" objectives on the same one (I could be wrong about this)

Map specific stuff:

Map - SI HQ
Overlapping wall on the door...distracting/ugly. Why didn't you move it all the way to the left?
Empty room after holodeck is ...empty
I like the office, "lab" room and the associated dialogue
Q...heh

Map - Holographic Firing Range
Could use a new respawn point, died at the last gorup and had to walk all the way back

Map - Lissepia
This map felt pointless to me. I take 10 minutes ot load the map, then I just run to a spot to load another map. It did look nice though.

Map - Central Bank Interior
I like what you started with the map but it still feels a bit empty. Maybe more props or (especially) people could make it feel more "alive"

Map - Risa
I get the same feeling on this map, it looks like its the start of a really nice one but just feels empty. An example is the singer. Shes rocking out with her band mate but there's no one listening or dancing along!
Two people sitting at a table are actually sitting IN the table
A lot of running on this map, I personally am fine with it but dunno about other people
Hill Top fight a lot of the jem'hadar ended up falling off the cliff and I had to go hunt them down one by one

isthisscience

Okay, I'm developing something now. The way I'm working it is this;

1) Authors (very preferably) copy over a template and set up a page for each of their missions. They include at least one image & tag and categorise it.
2) In the main text, there are two sections they leave blank for two large reviews (i.e. not one paragraph, but something more in depth). These can then be added in by other reviewers (either directly if everyone has rights to edit other posts or, if that is a recipe for disaster, by emailing an admin or the author and then add one of us adds it to the post.
3) Smaller reviews and feedback via comments at the bottom of each post.
4) Via reviews and comments, people can object to some categorisation that an admin would then correct if it is valid. If two people object that it is an EC farm or exploit, then we'd look at removing it.
5) Most importantly, when someone adds a review to your mission - you add a review to theirs!

And if that all works, when we'll have a nice big database of all the missions plus decent reviews on all if them, side stepping the rubbish foundry search (that isn't great even if it were to work properly) and the star rating system.

Think it is a good idea? Pop over to http://thefoundryreview.wordpress.com/ (I'm working on graphics etc. after more content is up), sign up and add your missions & reviews! If you face any issues at all, tweet me (I'll likely reply faster than on here).


EDIT: Have set up seperate thread for this here: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=11839681

zorbane

I'll shove mine in

EDIT: dammit both Zorbane and Zorb are already taken. Do I have to log in to post a mission?

isthisscience

Yes, that at least or the spammers wil cotten on. Just stick a 1 after it like I had to do with my twiiter (damn @isthisscience stealing my name!)

neko213

I've created a foundry mission, its more of a story driven one with combat elements. I can't post in a different area, but I'm looking for reviews so that I know how to improve upon the mission, but it deals with my federation character's prime universe counterpart returning to the main universe.