Just finished Beta! Great maps, effects, battles, and especially storyline. There are some dialog trees that could use a bit of work. There was at least one character profile where I couldn't resolve the dialog and had to restart the tree, and the news console on Rho station had a broken "back" button. Also, in the ship conference, "Segway" should be "segue". Just a note that the Enigma ships in the last battle revert to Elachi models when they summon support ships.
But I really enjoyed the benefits of the work you put into crafting cool maps and detailed characters. 5/5, even in beta.
Thank you for playing lordarathron! Glad to see that you liked it.
And thank you for pointing out those little bugs, they have been resolved. For the Elachi issue, I decided to change them to Borg mobs since the Elachi were already used earlier in the mission, and I think fighting those will make for a slightly more satisfying end battle.:D
Now, I suppose I should really get things going for part 2. Still a lot of work ahead for this series.
Description: The Omnitabula, an ancient orb containing vast amounts of knowledge rivaling the Federation's Memory Alpha is the key to finding Xausea, the orb's place of origin and the potential site of a great assembly of knowledge akin to the Preserver Archive.
But when the orb is taken by an illusive and wicked force known only as Enigma you must use any means at your disposal to take it back before the discovery of a lifetime is lost forever.
Features: - Story
- Branching Dialogue
- Space and Ground Combat
- Length: 45 - 90 Minutes
- Bonus Objectives
This mission at the time of this post can be found under the foundry's review tab, so you will need to be a reviewer in order to play it. It only needs 3 more plays in order to be visible to everyone.
Hope you all enjoy! Because I sure enjoyed making this one.
I am stunned that Omnitabula: Awakening has gotten 9 reviews already, especially since most of them have rated the mission highly. This is a record for me. *tears up* Also, kudos to the player that who wrote a review detailing what they found was wrong in a one star review.
To that user, if you are reading this, it seems that the mission couldnt be completed because I had accidently set one of the enemy mobs as Borg Cooperative, and not just Borg in update 1.01 (and this was on the last map too!). So big apologies to you and anyone else who may have been unable to actually complete the mission due to my error. Update 1.02 has just been released to fix this.
I thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to play Awakening, especially since this is anything but a short mission. The feedback has been very good so far as well.
As for Part 2, that one is going to take a while before it is finished due to happenings in real life. I am aiming for a pre-summer release though. I have to admit though, after seeing the scores part 1 has gotten so far there is some pressure to ensure that part 2 is as good as or better than part 1. One thing I can tell you about it now is that it will be shorter than part 1, which will be good news for some. It is good news for me since I can concentrate my efforts on ensuring the mission is of high quality (I think that after this series any future missions from me will be quick, 30 minute ones).
You all wont hear from me again for a while. When you do, it'll be when I start posting some screenshots of part 2.
PS: If you like my maps, then you may want to visit the house I made as a small side project over the holidays when you have the time:
Mission name: Starfarerthetas Home
ID: ST-HL84X3Y7T
Faction: Fed
Level requirement: Any level
We had to briefly divert from our current assignment to investigate a massive explosion on the edge of Federation space. When we arrived at the location of the explosion we found a large quantity of debris. A fraction of them we identified as Starfleet in origin, the rest did not match anything in our data banks. There was also a very dense and very large dust cloud nearby.
Our attempts at examining the unidentified debris proved fruitless as it always disintegrated in response to our efforts. My science officer theorizes that a Starfleet vessel had been attacked and that it ended with a warp core breach that destroyed their attackers. Unfortunately we were unable to identify which ship it was. I wonder if this was in any way related to the attack on Risa.
Our investigation into the massive dust cloud nearby proved fruitless as well, since its identity is classified. By who I was unable to determine. Scans could not penetrate it, and the probe we tried was lost. It remains but a mystery, one that the crew have already made several explanations for. I would love to stay and investigate it more, but our current assignment demands that we meet a deadline.
I contacted Starfleet about what my ship has found. They have agreed to send a team to investigate.
Captains log, supplemental,
Something strange has happened. As we left the area our long range sensors have picked unidentified signatures entering the dust cloud at high speed, and there were a lot of them. We almost missed them. I have informed Starfleet about the unexpected event.
Now I am sure that there is something in that dust cloud.
- Captain Aaleahya Maharashtra, CO USS Ngôi Sao.
____________________________________________
Incoming message from Starfleet Command,
A task force is being assembled at Deep Space 5 to investigate an attack on a Starfleet vessel in the Omega Sagitarri sector. The identity of the Starfleet vessel has yet to be determined. The site of the attack was discovered by the USS Ng
Due to an apparent lack of interest in my ship naming offer, I have decided to take on the arduous task of naming them myself.
Starfleet:
USS Only
USS Lone
USS Apart
USS Sole
USS Solo
USS Solitary
Klingon:
IKS Reluctant (as suggested by westmetals)
IKS Prudish
IKS Prim
IKS Fastidious
Romulan:
RRW Transparency
RRW Clarity
RRW Limpid
RRW Lucid
Again, these will appear in Omnitabula part 3.
Edit: Switched KDF to IKS.
Edit 2, The Note: I probably should've made it clear that this post was meant to be humorous, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it just came off as being a little stupid. So I will explain the reasoning for my attempted jokes in this note. Not saying no one got the jokes, but I just want to try to clear up any misunderstanding.
There was a thread on this forum that talked about Star Trek's constant theme of being "the only ship in range." I decided to play on this in the naming of the Starfleet vessels, which are based on the idea of being the only ship around. Some irony is afoot here since all of these ships are going to be working together and will therefore not be alone.
The Klingon ship names were meant to be wholly unsuited to anything from the empire. Are there really any Klingons who could be described as "prim?" Not really, and that's the joke.
The Romulan names is meant to be a horrendous pun as the Romulans were known for having highly advanced cloaking technology.
Then there is the overarching joke were I described my efforts at naming these ships to be arduous when it was clear that I actually expended little effort. I just took a word and found all the synonyms for it. So if anyone had felt that I had been making a joke at their expense then please understand that it was really a shot at myself.
Hope that clears some things up. Some may be glad to know that I will not try to be funny anymore as I don't seem to be any good at it.
Nice mechanics at play here bumping into the dude on Risa for example.
If you want to swap NPCs out to change their animation and it doesnt involve combat, to avoid them beaming in you can swap them for reskinned mastiff neutral squads they fade in quietly. No beaming.
Loved the detail level in conference room. You might want to throw down an invisiwall at the windows though, as I could jump up and see the red carpet below.
Also, if you want good space-views at windows, building in the black space in the corner of the newer OLD ESD map is perfect (see my shuttlebay in Starchaser or Alimac30s Mayns of Balnar Moon).
Nice black hole map, by the way!
Some issues I encountered:
*Atalanta has told BE a lot about you (Pearle on Risa)
*Maybe include name of person talking in their title box on the dialogue to cut down on the buttons that say [so-and-so speaks]
*it may help immersion to replace the textbook style <dialogue summary> with a speech button that a player can say like: Just tell me what I need to know (SKIP) I use it a lot as the average player cares little for reading and the new Top 3 means a lot of average players will pick missions up now with no warning what to expect as theres no description page in sector space.
*I have never seen quotations used in speech buttons before. Dont know if that is good, bad, or neither.
*Adding your objective in green under the last NPC dialogue can save so many extra dialogue windows.
*Nice shuttle spawn on Risa, but 1 Maco was in the floor and 1 had feet poking down through ceiling. May be a Y-elevation error.
*Its a good idea to include some responses for 3 captain types:
Standard (Picard/Kirk), Logical (Vulcan/Android), and rogue (cheeky/sassy)
I found my android had few responses that suited him.
*You dont want to assume a player has any idea about your previous missions. Everyone here said I was part of some other adventure that I was NOT involved in. There was no I havent done that dialogue, and this mission did not say play previous mission first.
*Check your dialogue tab. You will find an Unnamed dialogue in there. It is blank and you may want to delete it. It popped up for me at the end of the conference room chat. This leads me to the response there that is neither do I it leads to the blank dialogue which has no resolution.
*Few typos and grammatical errors noticed throughout. A couple of odd sentence structures here and there. Nothing too severe.
* I got dis ? Really?
*You asked me to use a shuttle but face me against starships I had to cheat and call my ship back. Didnt feel the shuttle was that necessary in the end.
*Be careful not to forget this is a game rather than a fanfiction novel when getting carried away with the amount of dialogue, (IF you want to appeal to more general players)
There is so much, and after every little move you make, that it makes this mission feel rather uneventful, like I had little to physically do, other than a few battles.
Theres lots of over-explanation of objectives and options here making for an unnecessarily high word count.
Discipline and editing is key as its easy to get carried away with writing and with the green and yellow text. It got a bit much for me here. I had to take a 6hr sleep halfway through and even then I was still nodding off after resuming. It took hours to get through and by the time I reached Cardassia I had to skip the dialogue (even that took a very long time). And I usually like to do everything in a mission. This was just too much for me.
The walls of dialogue may cause you problems as people pick the mission up in sector space (there is no description to warn them it is talky)
This is a problem I am facing in making The Things of Hell, which requires severe editing now, as this mission taught me, before I can publish. I need to reduce the number of non-player characters and half the dialogue.
Basically, with all due respect, and not meaning to sound harsh but, seriously, the number of dialogue boxes after every objective is a bit insane, which is why I was left feeling like I was reading a book rather than DOING stuff. By the end I just wanted to get it over with.
This is the only reason I didnt give 4 stars here.
*When one of your Enigma ships is destroyed at the end it reverts to the Borg cube skin as it breaks apart looks a bit strange.
All this is just advice and in no way an instruction.
Overall a well-constructed mission. With a tighter story (half the dialogue), some typo and grammar fixes, this could be an amazing spotlight mission.
Excellent map work here reminds me of my 1st mission a bit.
Its interesting to see how different people adapt the same Cryptic maps.
Just used the dance club myself in Divide et Impera for a similar objective.
Also, Enigma, Are they Cybermen? ]
Thank you for your hard work. If you do ever half the reading I would love to replay it.
J.
Jackpot! Thanks for the detailed review johnnysnowball. After looking over the reviews for this mission today, I think it is time for an immediate revision.
In order to spare others from the tediousness of the current dialogue (It does show up in the top three for Risa, which suprised me), the mission has been withdrawn.
As for part 2 of the series, as of this post I am close to opening it for play testing.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear your withdrew it.
You know, one way to get lots of dialogue into your missions is you can have buttons each with a question for you to ask and a 'no more questions' skip option. That way people can get only the info they want.
That can work for details that aren't necessary to progress the story/mission.
At the end of the day, there are dialogue heavy missions and you have to make the mission for yourself the way you want it and be damned what other people think. I make missions for myself cos i need the creative outlet and people like me will enjoy them.
I have to say it like this 'If you don't like my missions, they weren't made for you'
I will say this, you are an excellent set builder, which is the thing I enjoy doing with the Foundry most of all.
From now until the start of spring come test out the latest installment in the Omnitabula Trilogy! Please note that this is just a beta version of the mission so it will lack some polish and may seem incomplete in some areas (because it probably is). Remember, you will have to be a reviewer in order to see this mission while it has less than five plays.
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated, especially now when they will have the most influence in this missions development.
Omnitabula: Threshold - BETA
ID: ST-HIKR5YADT Author: starfarertheta Faction: Federation Length: 50-70 minutes (rough estimate). Door: Risa.
Description: The informally self-labeled Task Force Impromptu is now effectively distanced from any help within the Deadzone. With no way out for the next decade, only one mission remains: finding Xausea, the homeworld whence the Omnitabula was made. There lies a potential wealth of knowledge the equal of the Preserver Archives, and a small hope of a way home.
But what will be found within the Deadzone will only begin to reveal the true nature of what is yet to come...
Edit: I should mention that this mission has only half the dialogue the first one did, if that.
Omnitabula: Awakening has been republished. Some things have been tweaked here and there, including a shorter dialogue path option on all dialogue windows that needed one.
Anyway, here's a screenshot. Notice anything different?
Some new screenshots of Omnitabula part 2, the beta of which has been updated today.
Think you can find this fellow?...
Edit: I was so happy when the snowmen were added, as well as all the other animal costumes as they were perfect for what I am doing in this mission. Big thanks to all on the dev team who had a part in adding them!
Description: The Omnitabula, an ancient orb containing vast amounts of knowledge rivaling the Federation's Memory Alpha is the key to finding Xausea, the orb's place of origin and the potential site of a great assembly of knowledge akin to the Preserver Archive.
But when the orb is taken by an illusive and wicked force known only as Enigma you must use any means at your disposal to take it back before the discovery of a lifetime is lost forever.
As of posting it can only be found under the review tab.
Summary: This is an outstanding mission with excellent map designs, tough but balanced battles and good story dialogue. Some of your map designs are very intricate and look fantastic. I could run around them and just look at the details if I was not conducting a review. I would highly recommend this mission to other players.
I mentioned a problem with dialogue that follows certain response buttons coming up blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". With some instances of this I did not have to run the dialogue string to resolve it but on others I did. It seemed to occur on almost every map. I noted each map and instance where I saw it occur. That does not mean I caught every instance where it occurs. I thought it may be linked to the [Extended v.] dialogue you had in the story line; however I cannot be sure of that without a thorough analysis of each dialogue in the chain. Obviously, I do not have time for that even in my in depth review. You have [Extended v.], [Standard v.] and [Summary dialogue], which implies you are using linked dialogue strings. I think the problem is within those links to map dialogue back to another part of the string. This is also an issue with the follow on grant dialogue. Consider going through the dialogue strings in the mission to ensure this problem is resolved.
Below are some things I noted while playing the mission that I wanted to let you know about. Everything in this write up should be seen as suggestions on ways I felt you could improve certain elements of the mission. They are yours to do with as you see fit.
Mission Description: This is a good description with a lot of details. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this description.
Grant Mission Dialogue: The grant and follow on dialogue is well written. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-Add an additional space between "to decrypt it" and "Perhaps you'll have better luck".
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Bridge, plot a course for Risa. Maximum warp" is blank with no image or dialogue. The response button is "Continue".
Mission Task: This is a good initial task. I noted no spelling errors with this task.
Mission Entry Prompt: This is a good use of the prompt. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this prompt.
MAPS: On Risa [Risa]: This is a good map design with well written story dialogue. The shuttle sequence was excellent. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map.
The Omnitabula [Audentia Conference Room]: This is a great map design with well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Neither do I" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". After clicking Continue the dialogue closes and appears as an Ops button. The player must go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task. On the second run through of the dialogue I selected "Energize". It finished and gave me the map transfer text. From this point I will note the maps where this happens and cover it my summary above.
Ambush [Deep Space - Near Risa System]: This is a good map design with balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response buttons "Red Alert" and "Red Alert! All hands to battlestations" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player does not have to go back through the dialogue to continue with the battle but this is still an issue.
-Consider changing the response button "Red Alert! All hands to battlestations" to read "Red Alert! All hands to battle stations".
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Keep them away from the Audentia" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player does not have to go back through the dialogue to continue with the battle but this is still an issue.
The Retired Admiral [Earth - East Eurasia - Gautier's House]: This is a great map design, especially the house and garden layout. The story dialogue is well written. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Nope" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
The Return to Gautier dialogue; consider changing "I sincirely hope you brought" to read "I sincerely hope you brought".
The Competitive Duo [Station Alpha Rho 108]: This is a good map design with a good battle and well written story dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The post Defend yourself dialogue; consider changing "this gorn by any chance" to read "this Gorn by any chance".
A Cynic and a Squadron [System 2063-FC]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Good work, I think these will be very useful" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Understood" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
The Shadow Operative [Cardassia Prime]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The center shaft of the bomb goes right through a console. Is that intended? If not consider moving the bomb object out from the device.
The Retaking of the Orb [Somewhere in space ]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response buttons "Understood. Good luck on that meeting" and "Understood. I look forward to what you have to say" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
-The post Hold Out Against Enemy Forces battle dialogue response button "Understood" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
Checkpoints [Deep Space - Near the Federation Border]: This is a good map design with nice transitions and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Understood, let's proceed with caution" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
-The post Locate the Rogue Planet task dialogue response button "Understood" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
On the Edge [Dead Zone]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-When the player arrives there is already a battle underway but the dialogue indicates the battle is about to start. Most likely the sequence is out of order in the story line with the dialogue and battle.
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Red Alert" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player does not have to go back through the dialogue to continue with the battle but this is still an issue.
-Noted some of the enemy vessels have Borg cube debris when destroyed.
End Report
Thanks again for authoring and for giving me the chance to review your work. You did a great job with this mission, especially with the maps, and I look forward to playing/reviewing more of your work in the future.
Brian
I have no idea why the blank dialogue windows are happening ("It's always something!"), and the fact they occur often makes this problem all the more annoying. I wish I knew what was happening so that it can be fixed. It's weird since the foundry won't let you publish a mission if any of the dialogue windows are blank. I'm just going to blame the Iconians for the time being.
In any case, glad you enjoyed the mission despite the invasion of the empty dialogue windows.
I have no idea why the blank dialogue windows are happening ("It's always something!"), and the fact they occur often makes this problem all the more annoying. I wish I knew what was happening so that it can be fixed. It's weird since the foundry won't let you publish a mission if any of the dialogue windows are blank. I'm just going to blame the Iconians for the time being.
In any case, glad you enjoyed the mission despite the invasion of the empty dialogue windows.
Glad I could help.
As for the empty dialogue boxes I have to say I have never seen them anywhere else. You are right that the Foundry will not normally let you publish without entries in the dialogue. I plan to play around with some of my unpublished stuff to see if I can repeat the issue. In the meantime I would suggest you report it in the bug area of the forums. Perhaps they know what is happening or at the very least they need to be made aware of it.
Again, great mission and loved the map designs for several of your customized work.
Thanks for authoring,
Brian
The last set of screenshots for Omnitabula Threshold, which is set to publish on March 30th.
Disclaimer: what's depicted in these screens, especially the last two, is different from what's in the currently published beta version of the mission. These map versions will be seen in the full version of the mission come end of march.
Good news everyone! I think I found a way to rid of those pesky empty dialogue boxes in Omnitabula Awakening. Here's how I figured it out:
When starting a new dialogue branch the first step is the create a new response, and then press the oval-like plus button to make a new window for that new response. What's suppose to happen is the new window appears directly below the new response button. Except when I tried this in some dialogue trees the new window would show up in the wrong place. And this little glitch happens in the same spots where Evil70th had observed the empty dialogue windows in his review.
It seems that the way to get rid of this little glitch to delete the new window when it shows without modifying it in any way. That seemed to fix the new window-showing-up-where-it-wasn't-suppose-to bug and also gets rid of the empty dialogue window too. I've already tested this in the foundry itself and it seems to do the trick.
I'm currently running through my debug process and should have Omnitabula Awakening updated later today.
Description: The informally self-labeled Task Force Impromptu is now effectively distanced from any help within the Deadzone. With no way out for the next decade, only one mission remains: finding Xausea, the homeworld whence the Omnitabula was made. There lies a potential wealth of knowledge the equal of the Preserver Archives, and a small hope of a way home.
But what will be found within the Deadzone will only begin to reveal the true nature of what is yet to come...
Okay, I've just spent at least two months building the final installment in this series. Now I can confidently state that I have no idea when it'll be finished. Still shooting for around the end of spring/early summer, but it is more complicated than I thought it would be.
So apologies to anyone who may be waiting for some time yet.
Comments
But I really enjoyed the benefits of the work you put into crafting cool maps and detailed characters. 5/5, even in beta.
And thank you for pointing out those little bugs, they have been resolved. For the Elachi issue, I decided to change them to Borg mobs since the Elachi were already used earlier in the mission, and I think fighting those will make for a slightly more satisfying end battle.:D
Now, I suppose I should really get things going for part 2. Still a lot of work ahead for this series.
...
Published. :cool:
ID: ST-HESR65VWI
Author: starfarertheta
Language: English
Faction: Federation
Level Requirement: 51+
Door: Risa
Description:
The Omnitabula, an ancient orb containing vast amounts of knowledge rivaling the Federation's Memory Alpha is the key to finding Xausea, the orb's place of origin and the potential site of a great assembly of knowledge akin to the Preserver Archive.
But when the orb is taken by an illusive and wicked force known only as Enigma you must use any means at your disposal to take it back before the discovery of a lifetime is lost forever.
Features:
- Story
- Branching Dialogue
- Space and Ground Combat
- Length: 45 - 90 Minutes
- Bonus Objectives
This mission at the time of this post can be found under the foundry's review tab, so you will need to be a reviewer in order to play it. It only needs 3 more plays in order to be visible to everyone.
Hope you all enjoy! Because I sure enjoyed making this one.
To that user, if you are reading this, it seems that the mission couldnt be completed because I had accidently set one of the enemy mobs as Borg Cooperative, and not just Borg in update 1.01 (and this was on the last map too!).
I thank each and every one of you who have taken the time to play Awakening, especially since this is anything but a short mission. The feedback has been very good so far as well.
As for Part 2, that one is going to take a while before it is finished due to happenings in real life. I am aiming for a pre-summer release though. I have to admit though, after seeing the scores part 1 has gotten so far there is some pressure to ensure that part 2 is as good as or better than part 1. One thing I can tell you about it now is that it will be shorter than part 1, which will be good news for some. It is good news for me since I can concentrate my efforts on ensuring the mission is of high quality (I think that after this series any future missions from me will be quick, 30 minute ones).
You all wont hear from me again for a while. When you do, it'll be when I start posting some screenshots of part 2.
PS: If you like my maps, then you may want to visit the house I made as a small side project over the holidays when you have the time:
Mission name: Starfarerthetas Home
ID: ST-HL84X3Y7T
Faction: Fed
Level requirement: Any level
Captains log, stardate 84178.1
We had to briefly divert from our current assignment to investigate a massive explosion on the edge of Federation space. When we arrived at the location of the explosion we found a large quantity of debris. A fraction of them we identified as Starfleet in origin, the rest did not match anything in our data banks. There was also a very dense and very large dust cloud nearby.
Our attempts at examining the unidentified debris proved fruitless as it always disintegrated in response to our efforts. My science officer theorizes that a Starfleet vessel had been attacked and that it ended with a warp core breach that destroyed their attackers. Unfortunately we were unable to identify which ship it was. I wonder if this was in any way related to the attack on Risa.
Our investigation into the massive dust cloud nearby proved fruitless as well, since its identity is classified. By who I was unable to determine. Scans could not penetrate it, and the probe we tried was lost. It remains but a mystery, one that the crew have already made several explanations for. I would love to stay and investigate it more, but our current assignment demands that we meet a deadline.
I contacted Starfleet about what my ship has found. They have agreed to send a team to investigate.
Captains log, supplemental,
Something strange has happened. As we left the area our long range sensors have picked unidentified signatures entering the dust cloud at high speed, and there were a lot of them. We almost missed them. I have informed Starfleet about the unexpected event.
Now I am sure that there is something in that dust cloud.
- Captain Aaleahya Maharashtra, CO USS Ngôi Sao.
____________________________________________
Note: Stardates for this series are calculated using the TNG calculator at TrekGuide.com.
Link: http://trekguide.com/Stardates.htm.
A task force is being assembled at Deep Space 5 to investigate an attack on a Starfleet vessel in the Omega Sagitarri sector. The identity of the Starfleet vessel has yet to be determined. The site of the attack was discovered by the USS Ng
Due to an apparent lack of interest in my ship naming offer, I have decided to take on the arduous task of naming them myself.
Starfleet:
USS Only
USS Lone
USS Apart
USS Sole
USS Solo
USS Solitary
Klingon:
IKS Reluctant (as suggested by westmetals)
IKS Prudish
IKS Prim
IKS Fastidious
Romulan:
RRW Transparency
RRW Clarity
RRW Limpid
RRW Lucid
Again, these will appear in Omnitabula part 3.
Edit: Switched KDF to IKS.
Edit 2, The Note: I probably should've made it clear that this post was meant to be humorous, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it just came off as being a little stupid. So I will explain the reasoning for my attempted jokes in this note. Not saying no one got the jokes, but I just want to try to clear up any misunderstanding.
There was a thread on this forum that talked about Star Trek's constant theme of being "the only ship in range." I decided to play on this in the naming of the Starfleet vessels, which are based on the idea of being the only ship around. Some irony is afoot here since all of these ships are going to be working together and will therefore not be alone.
The Klingon ship names were meant to be wholly unsuited to anything from the empire. Are there really any Klingons who could be described as "prim?" Not really, and that's the joke.
The Romulan names is meant to be a horrendous pun as the Romulans were known for having highly advanced cloaking technology.
Then there is the overarching joke were I described my efforts at naming these ships to be arduous when it was clear that I actually expended little effort. I just took a word and found all the synonyms for it. So if anyone had felt that I had been making a joke at their expense then please understand that it was really a shot at myself.
Hope that clears some things up. Some may be glad to know that I will not try to be funny anymore as I don't seem to be any good at it.
And since the foundry is back on, this thread will again go quiet for awhile. See you all in March!
Nice mechanics at play here bumping into the dude on Risa for example.
If you want to swap NPCs out to change their animation and it doesnt involve combat, to avoid them beaming in you can swap them for reskinned mastiff neutral squads they fade in quietly. No beaming.
Loved the detail level in conference room. You might want to throw down an invisiwall at the windows though, as I could jump up and see the red carpet below.
Also, if you want good space-views at windows, building in the black space in the corner of the newer OLD ESD map is perfect (see my shuttlebay in Starchaser or Alimac30s Mayns of Balnar Moon).
Nice black hole map, by the way!
Some issues I encountered:
*Atalanta has told BE a lot about you (Pearle on Risa)
*Maybe include name of person talking in their title box on the dialogue to cut down on the buttons that say [so-and-so speaks]
*it may help immersion to replace the textbook style <dialogue summary> with a speech button that a player can say like: Just tell me what I need to know (SKIP) I use it a lot as the average player cares little for reading and the new Top 3 means a lot of average players will pick missions up now with no warning what to expect as theres no description page in sector space.
*I have never seen quotations used in speech buttons before. Dont know if that is good, bad, or neither.
*Adding your objective in green under the last NPC dialogue can save so many extra dialogue windows.
*Nice shuttle spawn on Risa, but 1 Maco was in the floor and 1 had feet poking down through ceiling. May be a Y-elevation error.
*Its a good idea to include some responses for 3 captain types:
Standard (Picard/Kirk), Logical (Vulcan/Android), and rogue (cheeky/sassy)
I found my android had few responses that suited him.
*You dont want to assume a player has any idea about your previous missions. Everyone here said I was part of some other adventure that I was NOT involved in. There was no I havent done that dialogue, and this mission did not say play previous mission first.
*Check your dialogue tab. You will find an Unnamed dialogue in there. It is blank and you may want to delete it. It popped up for me at the end of the conference room chat. This leads me to the response there that is neither do I it leads to the blank dialogue which has no resolution.
*Few typos and grammatical errors noticed throughout. A couple of odd sentence structures here and there. Nothing too severe.
* I got dis ? Really?
*You asked me to use a shuttle but face me against starships I had to cheat and call my ship back. Didnt feel the shuttle was that necessary in the end.
*Be careful not to forget this is a game rather than a fanfiction novel when getting carried away with the amount of dialogue, (IF you want to appeal to more general players)
There is so much, and after every little move you make, that it makes this mission feel rather uneventful, like I had little to physically do, other than a few battles.
Theres lots of over-explanation of objectives and options here making for an unnecessarily high word count.
Discipline and editing is key as its easy to get carried away with writing and with the green and yellow text. It got a bit much for me here. I had to take a 6hr sleep halfway through and even then I was still nodding off after resuming. It took hours to get through and by the time I reached Cardassia I had to skip the dialogue (even that took a very long time). And I usually like to do everything in a mission. This was just too much for me.
The walls of dialogue may cause you problems as people pick the mission up in sector space (there is no description to warn them it is talky)
This is a problem I am facing in making The Things of Hell, which requires severe editing now, as this mission taught me, before I can publish. I need to reduce the number of non-player characters and half the dialogue.
Basically, with all due respect, and not meaning to sound harsh but, seriously, the number of dialogue boxes after every objective is a bit insane, which is why I was left feeling like I was reading a book rather than DOING stuff. By the end I just wanted to get it over with.
This is the only reason I didnt give 4 stars here.
*When one of your Enigma ships is destroyed at the end it reverts to the Borg cube skin as it breaks apart looks a bit strange.
All this is just advice and in no way an instruction.
Overall a well-constructed mission. With a tighter story (half the dialogue), some typo and grammar fixes, this could be an amazing spotlight mission.
Excellent map work here reminds me of my 1st mission a bit.
Its interesting to see how different people adapt the same Cryptic maps.
Just used the dance club myself in Divide et Impera for a similar objective.
Also, Enigma, Are they Cybermen?
Thank you for your hard work. If you do ever half the reading I would love to replay it.
J.
In order to spare others from the tediousness of the current dialogue (It does show up in the top three for Risa, which suprised me), the mission has been withdrawn.
As for part 2 of the series, as of this post I am close to opening it for play testing.
You know, one way to get lots of dialogue into your missions is you can have buttons each with a question for you to ask and a 'no more questions' skip option. That way people can get only the info they want.
That can work for details that aren't necessary to progress the story/mission.
At the end of the day, there are dialogue heavy missions and you have to make the mission for yourself the way you want it and be damned what other people think. I make missions for myself cos i need the creative outlet and people like me will enjoy them.
I have to say it like this 'If you don't like my missions, they weren't made for you'
I will say this, you are an excellent set builder, which is the thing I enjoy doing with the Foundry most of all.
From now until the start of spring come test out the latest installment in the Omnitabula Trilogy! Please note that this is just a beta version of the mission so it will lack some polish and may seem incomplete in some areas (because it probably is). Remember, you will have to be a reviewer in order to see this mission while it has less than five plays.
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated, especially now when they will have the most influence in this missions development.
Omnitabula: Threshold - BETA
ID: ST-HIKR5YADT
Author: starfarertheta
Faction: Federation
Length: 50-70 minutes (rough estimate).
Door: Risa.
Description:
The informally self-labeled Task Force Impromptu is now effectively distanced from any help within the Deadzone. With no way out for the next decade, only one mission remains: finding Xausea, the homeworld whence the Omnitabula was made. There lies a potential wealth of knowledge the equal of the Preserver Archives, and a small hope of a way home.
But what will be found within the Deadzone will only begin to reveal the true nature of what is yet to come...
Edit: I should mention that this mission has only half the dialogue the first one did, if that.
_______________________________________________
Not quite.
Anyway, here's a screenshot. Notice anything different?
Think you can find this fellow?...
Edit: I was so happy when the snowmen were added, as well as all the other animal costumes as they were perfect for what I am doing in this mission. Big thanks to all on the dev team who had a part in adding them!
Federation Mission - The Omnitabula - Awakening
Author: starfarertheta
Allegiance: Federation
Project ID: ST-HESR65VWI
Report Start
Summary: This is an outstanding mission with excellent map designs, tough but balanced battles and good story dialogue. Some of your map designs are very intricate and look fantastic. I could run around them and just look at the details if I was not conducting a review.
I mentioned a problem with dialogue that follows certain response buttons coming up blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". With some instances of this I did not have to run the dialogue string to resolve it but on others I did. It seemed to occur on almost every map. I noted each map and instance where I saw it occur. That does not mean I caught every instance where it occurs. I thought it may be linked to the [Extended v.] dialogue you had in the story line; however I cannot be sure of that without a thorough analysis of each dialogue in the chain. Obviously, I do not have time for that even in my in depth review.
Below are some things I noted while playing the mission that I wanted to let you know about. Everything in this write up should be seen as suggestions on ways I felt you could improve certain elements of the mission. They are yours to do with as you see fit.
Mission Description: This is a good description with a lot of details. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this description.
Grant Mission Dialogue: The grant and follow on dialogue is well written. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-Add an additional space between "to decrypt it" and "Perhaps you'll have better luck".
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Bridge, plot a course for Risa. Maximum warp" is blank with no image or dialogue. The response button is "Continue".
Mission Task: This is a good initial task. I noted no spelling errors with this task.
Mission Entry Prompt: This is a good use of the prompt. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this prompt.
MAPS:
On Risa [Risa]: This is a good map design with well written story dialogue. The shuttle sequence was excellent. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue or any issues with the map.
The Omnitabula [Audentia Conference Room]: This is a great map design with well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Neither do I" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". After clicking Continue the dialogue closes and appears as an Ops button. The player must go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task. On the second run through of the dialogue I selected "Energize". It finished and gave me the map transfer text. From this point I will note the maps where this happens and cover it my summary above.
Ambush [Deep Space - Near Risa System]: This is a good map design with balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response buttons "Red Alert" and "Red Alert! All hands to battlestations" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player does not have to go back through the dialogue to continue with the battle but this is still an issue.
-Consider changing the response button "Red Alert! All hands to battlestations" to read "Red Alert! All hands to battle stations".
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Keep them away from the Audentia" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player does not have to go back through the dialogue to continue with the battle but this is still an issue.
The Retired Admiral [Earth - East Eurasia - Gautier's House]: This is a great map design, especially the house and garden layout. The story dialogue is well written. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Nope" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
The Return to Gautier dialogue; consider changing "I sincirely hope you brought" to read "I sincerely hope you brought".
The Competitive Duo [Station Alpha Rho 108]: This is a good map design with a good battle and well written story dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The post Defend yourself dialogue; consider changing "this gorn by any chance" to read "this Gorn by any chance".
A Cynic and a Squadron [System 2063-FC]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Good work, I think these will be very useful" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Understood" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
The Shadow Operative [Cardassia Prime]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The center shaft of the bomb goes right through a console. Is that intended? If not consider moving the bomb object out from the device.
The Retaking of the Orb [Somewhere in space ]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted one item to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response buttons "Understood. Good luck on that meeting" and "Understood. I look forward to what you have to say" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
-The post Hold Out Against Enemy Forces battle dialogue response button "Understood" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
Checkpoints [Deep Space - Near the Federation Border]: This is a good map design with nice transitions and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Understood, let's proceed with caution" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
-The post Locate the Rogue Planet task dialogue response button "Understood" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player has to go through the dialogue again in order to finish it and bring up the next mission task.
On the Edge [Dead Zone]: This is a good map design with tough but balanced battles and well written story dialogue. I noted no spelling or grammatical errors with this dialogue. I noted a couple of items to consider changing:
-When the player arrives there is already a battle underway but the dialogue indicates the battle is about to start. Most likely the sequence is out of order in the story line with the dialogue and battle.
-The dialogue that follows the response button "Red Alert" is blank with no image or dialogue and the response button is "Continue". The player does not have to go back through the dialogue to continue with the battle but this is still an issue.
-Noted some of the enemy vessels have Borg cube debris when destroyed.
End Report
Thanks again for authoring and for giving me the chance to review your work. You did a great job with this mission, especially with the maps, and I look forward to playing/reviewing more of your work in the future.
Brian
This critique report also filed 03/12/2015 on forum posting for: In depth mission reports upon request. The specific report in that posting can also be viewed here: Mission Critique Report - The Omnitabula - Awakening.
I have no idea why the blank dialogue windows are happening ("It's always something!"), and the fact they occur often makes this problem all the more annoying. I wish I knew what was happening so that it can be fixed. It's weird since the foundry won't let you publish a mission if any of the dialogue windows are blank. I'm just going to blame the Iconians for the time being.
In any case, glad you enjoyed the mission despite the invasion of the empty dialogue windows.
Glad I could help.
As for the empty dialogue boxes I have to say I have never seen them anywhere else. You are right that the Foundry will not normally let you publish without entries in the dialogue. I plan to play around with some of my unpublished stuff to see if I can repeat the issue. In the meantime I would suggest you report it in the bug area of the forums. Perhaps they know what is happening or at the very least they need to be made aware of it.
Again, great mission and loved the map designs for several of your customized work.
Thanks for authoring,
Brian
Disclaimer: what's depicted in these screens, especially the last two, is different from what's in the currently published beta version of the mission. These map versions will be seen in the full version of the mission come end of march.
When starting a new dialogue branch the first step is the create a new response, and then press the oval-like plus button to make a new window for that new response. What's suppose to happen is the new window appears directly below the new response button. Except when I tried this in some dialogue trees the new window would show up in the wrong place. And this little glitch happens in the same spots where Evil70th had observed the empty dialogue windows in his review.
It seems that the way to get rid of this little glitch to delete the new window when it shows without modifying it in any way. That seemed to fix the new window-showing-up-where-it-wasn't-suppose-to bug and also gets rid of the empty dialogue window too. I've already tested this in the foundry itself and it seems to do the trick.
I'm currently running through my debug process and should have Omnitabula Awakening updated later today.
Edit: Mission now updated.
ID: ST-HIKR5YADT
Author: starfarertheta
Faction: Federation
Level: 51+
Length: Estimated 50-70 minutes
Door: Risa
Description:
The informally self-labeled Task Force Impromptu is now effectively distanced from any help within the Deadzone. With no way out for the next decade, only one mission remains: finding Xausea, the homeworld whence the Omnitabula was made. There lies a potential wealth of knowledge the equal of the Preserver Archives, and a small hope of a way home.
But what will be found within the Deadzone will only begin to reveal the true nature of what is yet to come...
To celebrate, here is the first little teaser of the final mission in the series.
So apologies to anyone who may be waiting for some time yet.
Foundry Mission Database
Check out my Foundry missions:
Standalone - The Great Escape - The Galaxy's Fair - Purity I: Of Denial - Return to Oblivion
Untitled Series - Duritanium Man - The Improbable Bulk - Commander Rihan
And I've decided to stick with the title.