I try to mention Foundry stuff when writing responses in the other parts of the Forum.
I can understand wanting to limit talks about the workings and mechanics of making a mission to the Foundry section of the forums. Because that is very specific to Foundry itself.
But mentioning that you are having fun doing the spotlight mission or testing things using Foundry missions or are currently playing missions for Foundry contests out in the General Discussion as a matter of course, or even in passing, brings more awareness to others.
And when and if Kael ever gets back to posting Foundry mission spotlights, do not let it idle. You know new posts brings and keeps those threads at the top of "recent posts".
Oh, and over on Reddit, too...for the folks who rather talk there.
P.S...creating a "buzz" (outside) is what I am talking about.
Post edited by where2r1 on
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Kael broke the Foundry, which may be why it didn't come back immediately after the AOD downtime (we assumed it was a costume issue but that was never confirmed) or resolving the Sompek issues. No ETA to report yet but again the chances look good for the Foundry to come back online soon. The circumstances of what Kael was doing when he broke the Foundry remains to be seen/lightly prodded but I would invite folks to not make any presumptions here (could be "trying to add new stuff" or "normal operations in downtime.") We know he's been learning how to add content to the Foundry though note that does fall as a secondary priority to the responsibilities that come with the job title "Community Manager."
But mentioning that you are having fun doing the spotlight mission or testing things using Foundry missions or are currently playing missions for Foundry contests out in the General Discussion as a matter of course, or even in passing, brings more awareness to others.
And when and if Kael ever gets back to posting Foundry mission spotlights, do not let it idle. You know new posts brings and keeps those threads at the top of "recent posts".
Oh, and over on Reddit, too...for the folks who rather talk there.
P.S...creating a "buzz" (outside) is what I am talking about.
As an example, recently I suggested to a TOS fan who was not looking forward to a Discovery focus in STO that there was a lot of RP content (like Star Trek Continues) available in the Foundry and that they might enjoy it as an alternative to main-game content. They took it quite positively and it helped de-escalate a tense conversation.
Bringing up the Foundry in other parts of the community indeed doesn't mean being a missionary for it, bringing the word of the Editor to all those in Cryptic's creation. It just means making relevant suggestions based on what the Foundry is actually capable of delivering and what people need themselves. Ie. addressing it as you would in natural community discourse. The "call to arms" is simply for folks to get back up to that level and try to break out of their comfortable grooves (which tend towards in-group activities.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
P.S. another thing folks can do that would help promote the Foundry is find more spotlight recommendations. There's a few the community has put in since the last call and we'll see how the next few months play out but it would be good to maintain a larger pool for Kael to pull from (and avoid the possibility of that well running dry and sending a message about the volume of quality output from Foundry authors to both Kael and those higher up.)
Soooo....
What happens when we get to 51 Spotlights?
We argue for 52?
So two more than can be seen on the 'fixed-in-concrete 50 missions only' list.... even for Spotlights
Seriously, one of the reasons people are ending up playing 1-3 star missions and hating the Foundry is because they can't find the search window, and when they do, they have to know EXACTLY what they are looking for title/author-wise. The 50 missions only is KILLING the Foundry - we have GOT to get a better UI so 'normal' players have easy and UNRESTRICTED access to all 100,000 missions. That is what will breathe life back into it.
Well, here's to hoping it will at least be back online this week. Long downtimes are something else killing it too, as Matt has made clear about his Fleetmates.
Considering the long downtime I also don't want to wait for long before getting onto the next Foundry challenge. Conversations need to be had but if folks want to start thinking about specifics of what they'd like to work on (in some way related to Discovery) I'd like for those conversations to resolve sooner rather than later.
Winners from the Victory is Life challenge will be announced live on the next full episode of Roundtable (following the remaining 4 days of voting, once the Foundry fully comes back online) and we may have additional surprises in store too (conversations need to be had, we shall see...)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Well we're in for a barrage of Discovery content ... so ... do a Discovery Themed Challenge
I think that's been planned for quite a while, granted the last challenge is technically not yet over and it might better to a small break between those.
Well we're in for a barrage of Discovery content ... so ... do a Discovery Themed Challenge
I think that's been planned for quite a while, granted the last challenge is technically not yet over and it might better to a small break between those.
A small break but we definitely want to avoid bumping into another "season" update. Certainly I'm not talking about an imminent Foundry challenge but I think we should have one sooner rather than later and factor downtime into the break between challenges (after all, authors haven't been working in the editor since AOD and we're still not back online yet.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
No Foundry news in patch notes. HILARITY ENSUES FRIDAY.
Typically we don't get news about the Foundry coming back online in the patch notes and incidentally we got news during the dev stream last night. What happened is that while updating the landing page Kael somehow deleted 3 files needed to make the Foundry work (in a completely different set of system folders to what he was working on, it shouldn't be possible but this happens in game design.) So, Cryptic (specifically: Jeremy) has identified exactly what's wrong and we know they were internally playtesting Foundry missions last week. So, big thanks to that.
Personally I think 1-2 more weeks of downtime is likely, they may need more time to test and Kael didn't give an ETA last night (which means: "working on it but can't commit to a time yet.")
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
No Foundry news in patch notes. HILARITY ENSUES FRIDAY.
Typically we don't get news about the Foundry coming back online in the patch notes and incidentally we got news during the dev stream last night. What happened is that while updating the landing page Kael somehow deleted 3 files needed to make the Foundry work (in a completely different set of system folders to what he was working on, it shouldn't be possible but this happens in game design.) So, Cryptic (specifically: Jeremy) has identified exactly what's wrong and we know they were internally playtesting Foundry missions last week. So, big thanks to that.
Personally I think 1-2 more weeks of downtime is likely, they may need more time to test and Kael didn't give an ETA last night (which means: "working on it but can't commit to a time yet.")
At least now we know what's wrong and that they're working on it (and for the doomsayers, if they weren't working on it why admit to something as embrassing as "we accidently deleted the files that make the foundry work").
At least now we know what's wrong and that they're working on it (and for the doomsayers, if they weren't working on it why admit to something as embrassing as "we accidently deleted the files that make the foundry work").
To reiterate it's something that does happen in game design. They're working on large, integrated systems which have been built, ad hoc, over many successive updates. When they say that "sometimes when you add or tweak something in one part of the game it breaks something completely unrelated" what they're referring to are instances like this. It's a very direct example and they're not sure how it could have happened (except that "insert refrain here.")
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
To reiterate it's something that does happen in game design. They're working on large, integrated systems which have been built, ad hoc, over many successive updates. When they say that "sometimes when you add or tweak something in one part of the game it breaks something completely unrelated" what they're referring to are instances like this. It's a very direct example and they're not sure how it could have happened (except that "insert refrain here.")
Yes, but its happends only if you stacking deliberately bugged patches (usally content ones). So bugged patchs moving to main server asap. One after another... And at some point - its really hard to fix something. This approach is profitable for mobile mmos - they usally got a very short lifespan. And it looks like publishers is trying same approach for PC MMOs right now. Its not only STO problem. Its like a world wide pandemic right now
Nonetheless, hilarity is now ensuing. Have you looked in the game right now? Trololo!
So true! Perhaps now that more than a simple 'niche' group is affected, the Foundry might get a bit more dev attention in the next couple of days.... (*hopes*)
This endeavor feels almost like a slap in the face to all of us foundry authors. We've been waiting and waiting and waiting, then they throw this at us? I'm sure it's not intentional but one can't help feeling like this.
"Today is a good day to die... but I'd rather go to Risa."-Fleet Admiral Christopher D. Marshall
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Sooo... are they still putting up foundry missions? Cuuuz the mission I published right before AoD was released is no where to be found...
We're in the middle of what's called an "Auto-republish." The servers are in the process of repopulating Foundry missions (there's many tens of thousands to work through.) Until that process is completed (few days to a week) the Foundry editor and reviews will be disabled (to make sure we don't TRIBBLE anything up during the process and to make sure that star ratings aren't penalized if there's something technically wrong with Foundry gameplay. Both are safety checks.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
We're in the middle of what's called an "Auto-republish." The servers are in the process of repopulating Foundry missions (there's many tens of thousands to work through.) Until that process is completed (few days to a week) the Foundry editor and reviews will be disabled (to make sure we don't TRIBBLE anything up during the process and to make sure that star ratings aren't penalized if there's something technically wrong with Foundry gameplay. Both are safety checks.)
Makes sense. At least there is progress and we have an actual ETA. Thanks!
"Today is a good day to die... but I'd rather go to Risa."-Fleet Admiral Christopher D. Marshall
Heads up, a folk is reporting on twitter that they can't actually play Foundry missions right now. They can accept and go to a start location but no go on getting the mission to run. I can't confirm that myself right now, out and about, but if it is the case then we're probably seeing the re-occurrence of an older "coming back from downtime" bug which Cryptic's dealt with before (maybe just an error in starting procedure, it wasn't a big thing to fix.)
I'll update if I hear back from Kael (poked him about this on twitter.) For the time being, sit tight and if you want to help out then just try to confirm if the Foundry isn't quite back yet.
Update: Got a hold of Kael, they'll be looking into the new bug and working on a fix ASAP. Given that this is an issue that's come up before I doubt it'll take very long (it's late on Friday ATM, so no chance of getting a quick turnaround today.)
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Typically we don't get news about the Foundry coming back online in the patch notes and incidentally we got news during the dev stream last night. What happened is that while updating the landing page Kael somehow deleted 3 files needed to make the Foundry work (in a completely different set of system folders to what he was working on, it shouldn't be possible but this happens in game design.) So, Cryptic (specifically: Jeremy) has identified exactly what's wrong and we know they were internally playtesting Foundry missions last week. So, big thanks to that.
Personally I think 1-2 more weeks of downtime is likely, they may need more time to test and Kael didn't give an ETA last night (which means: "working on it but can't commit to a time yet.")
That's something that happens in general IT fairly frequently. I work for HP in Elite tech support (mandatory disclaimer at the bottom) and I see this kind of thing happen often enough with my customers. It can be much worse, like when the user's doing something generally ill-advised like hacking on their registry, they select a few hives and sneeze, deleting everything they had selected with a BSOD immediately following. Or their cat/dog/child pull out the power cable or undock during a BIOS update, killing their BIOS.
And unlike an OS or a BIOS, game server files generally don't have easy to use recovery/restoration media. Accidentally selecting and deleting three files is nowhere near as bad as it can get, trust me.
Seeing the foundry up at all today, even if we can't yet play missions is nice though. I was hoping it would be this weekend, over on the ESO side of things they're doing an event for content I just finished two weeks ago so its sort of meh, even if it takes til Monday to actually play something foundry-wise I'm pleased.
Ibi cookies for everyone involved. Preferably freshly cloned.
(I am an HP Employee at AMS-PPS-CSS. The views expressed are my own and not necessarily those of HP Inc., its suppliers or contractors)
I am a Starfleet Officer first, but an Intelligence Professional second to none. With pride in my heritage, but focused on the future. Performing the first task of an Army; To find, know and never lose the enemy. With a sense of urgency and of tenacity, professional and physical fitness. And above all: Integrity--for in truth lies victory. Always at Silent War while ready for a shooting war: The silent warrior of the Starfleet team
Comments
I can understand wanting to limit talks about the workings and mechanics of making a mission to the Foundry section of the forums. Because that is very specific to Foundry itself.
But mentioning that you are having fun doing the spotlight mission or testing things using Foundry missions or are currently playing missions for Foundry contests out in the General Discussion as a matter of course, or even in passing, brings more awareness to others.
And when and if Kael ever gets back to posting Foundry mission spotlights, do not let it idle. You know new posts brings and keeps those threads at the top of "recent posts".
Oh, and over on Reddit, too...for the folks who rather talk there.
P.S...creating a "buzz" (outside) is what I am talking about.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Kael broke the Foundry, which may be why it didn't come back immediately after the AOD downtime (we assumed it was a costume issue but that was never confirmed) or resolving the Sompek issues. No ETA to report yet but again the chances look good for the Foundry to come back online soon. The circumstances of what Kael was doing when he broke the Foundry remains to be seen/lightly prodded but I would invite folks to not make any presumptions here (could be "trying to add new stuff" or "normal operations in downtime.") We know he's been learning how to add content to the Foundry though note that does fall as a secondary priority to the responsibilities that come with the job title "Community Manager."
As an example, recently I suggested to a TOS fan who was not looking forward to a Discovery focus in STO that there was a lot of RP content (like Star Trek Continues) available in the Foundry and that they might enjoy it as an alternative to main-game content. They took it quite positively and it helped de-escalate a tense conversation.
Bringing up the Foundry in other parts of the community indeed doesn't mean being a missionary for it, bringing the word of the Editor to all those in Cryptic's creation. It just means making relevant suggestions based on what the Foundry is actually capable of delivering and what people need themselves. Ie. addressing it as you would in natural community discourse. The "call to arms" is simply for folks to get back up to that level and try to break out of their comfortable grooves (which tend towards in-group activities.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
So two more than can be seen on the 'fixed-in-concrete 50 missions only' list.... even for Spotlights
Seriously, one of the reasons people are ending up playing 1-3 star missions and hating the Foundry is because they can't find the search window, and when they do, they have to know EXACTLY what they are looking for title/author-wise. The 50 missions only is KILLING the Foundry - we have GOT to get a better UI so 'normal' players have easy and UNRESTRICTED access to all 100,000 missions. That is what will breathe life back into it.
Well, here's to hoping it will at least be back online this week. Long downtimes are something else killing it too, as Matt has made clear about his Fleetmates.
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
Winners from the Victory is Life challenge will be announced live on the next full episode of Roundtable (following the remaining 4 days of voting, once the Foundry fully comes back online) and we may have additional surprises in store too (conversations need to be had, we shall see...)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I think that's been planned for quite a while, granted the last challenge is technically not yet over and it might better to a small break between those.
A small break but we definitely want to avoid bumping into another "season" update. Certainly I'm not talking about an imminent Foundry challenge but I think we should have one sooner rather than later and factor downtime into the break between challenges (after all, authors haven't been working in the editor since AOD and we're still not back online yet.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Typically we don't get news about the Foundry coming back online in the patch notes and incidentally we got news during the dev stream last night. What happened is that while updating the landing page Kael somehow deleted 3 files needed to make the Foundry work (in a completely different set of system folders to what he was working on, it shouldn't be possible but this happens in game design.) So, Cryptic (specifically: Jeremy) has identified exactly what's wrong and we know they were internally playtesting Foundry missions last week. So, big thanks to that.
Personally I think 1-2 more weeks of downtime is likely, they may need more time to test and Kael didn't give an ETA last night (which means: "working on it but can't commit to a time yet.")
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
At least now we know what's wrong and that they're working on it (and for the doomsayers, if they weren't working on it why admit to something as embrassing as "we accidently deleted the files that make the foundry work").
To reiterate it's something that does happen in game design. They're working on large, integrated systems which have been built, ad hoc, over many successive updates. When they say that "sometimes when you add or tweak something in one part of the game it breaks something completely unrelated" what they're referring to are instances like this. It's a very direct example and they're not sure how it could have happened (except that "insert refrain here.")
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Yes, but its happends only if you stacking deliberately bugged patches (usally content ones). So bugged patchs moving to main server asap. One after another... And at some point - its really hard to fix something. This approach is profitable for mobile mmos - they usally got a very short lifespan. And it looks like publishers is trying same approach for PC MMOs right now. Its not only STO problem. Its like a world wide pandemic right now
So true! Perhaps now that more than a simple 'niche' group is affected, the Foundry might get a bit more dev attention in the next couple of days.... (*hopes*)
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
We're in the middle of what's called an "Auto-republish." The servers are in the process of repopulating Foundry missions (there's many tens of thousands to work through.) Until that process is completed (few days to a week) the Foundry editor and reviews will be disabled (to make sure we don't TRIBBLE anything up during the process and to make sure that star ratings aren't penalized if there's something technically wrong with Foundry gameplay. Both are safety checks.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Makes sense. At least there is progress and we have an actual ETA. Thanks!
I'll update if I hear back from Kael (poked him about this on twitter.) For the time being, sit tight and if you want to help out then just try to confirm if the Foundry isn't quite back yet.
Update: Got a hold of Kael, they'll be looking into the new bug and working on a fix ASAP. Given that this is an issue that's come up before I doubt it'll take very long (it's late on Friday ATM, so no chance of getting a quick turnaround today.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I still have "Enter a search term....." on all Foundry tabs.
That's something that happens in general IT fairly frequently. I work for HP in Elite tech support (mandatory disclaimer at the bottom) and I see this kind of thing happen often enough with my customers. It can be much worse, like when the user's doing something generally ill-advised like hacking on their registry, they select a few hives and sneeze, deleting everything they had selected with a BSOD immediately following. Or their cat/dog/child pull out the power cable or undock during a BIOS update, killing their BIOS.
And unlike an OS or a BIOS, game server files generally don't have easy to use recovery/restoration media. Accidentally selecting and deleting three files is nowhere near as bad as it can get, trust me.
Seeing the foundry up at all today, even if we can't yet play missions is nice though. I was hoping it would be this weekend, over on the ESO side of things they're doing an event for content I just finished two weeks ago so its sort of meh, even if it takes til Monday to actually play something foundry-wise I'm pleased.
Ibi cookies for everyone involved. Preferably freshly cloned.
(I am an HP Employee at AMS-PPS-CSS. The views expressed are my own and not necessarily those of HP Inc., its suppliers or contractors)
Original Join Date: 19 December 2010