Arcen Games

General Category => Stars Beyond Reach... This World Is Mine => : x4000 August 26, 2015, 01:27:46 PM

: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: x4000 August 26, 2015, 01:27:46 PM
Hey guys!

So, the events stuff is coming along really really well, and I'm super pleased with it.  That said, it's a gargantuan task.  We have three writers working on the writing aspects of this right now, including myself.  John and Erik are doing a great job, but they are only part-time and there's only so much that they can thus do in a timely manner.

I'd love to be able to have an incredible amount of variety in the text of all these events so that you aren't seeing the same thing going by too much.  The tinyness of the writing in some strategy games is just staggering, to be frank.  We'll already be able to top that, but I really want to make this feel truly alive.  And part of that comes down to creativity of what happens, not just throwing a bunch of different words at the same thing.

What I'd love is if some folks want to donate their time to this and write a few lines, that's always a help.  Or if you'd like to do some contract work for us and do a larger volume for pay, then that's also something I'm looking for at the moment.  Feel free to PM me.

You don't need an encyclopedic knowledge of the game to do the sort of tasks I'm throwing out here for the public stuff.  This is all meant to be bite-sized, twitter-length sort of stuff.

Key Resources
Quick info about the races (https://docs.google.com/document/d/16aFkzqb_BNNddaXVbSzkCuSaEAl40GgnV1f05ewB_pU/edit?usp=sharing)
Descriptions and list of all buildings valid for general events (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit#gid=202978034) (there are more buildings, but not relevant).
Explanation of the commands that can be executed along with text (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit#gid=1538297653).  Please note that you do NOT have to use these at all!  If you feel like it you can, or you can use them as inspiration for things that I might turn into commands based on your text.

The Document Where Text Goes
SBRPublicWritingWork (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d3pL_cz8vkCmvkt5Ly63asvd2rHPqPKVoS2_ytCTxiE/edit#gid=0)

Basically if there are red lines in there, please feel free to write something and then change it to yellow.  After I've reviewed it and made any changes needed, I'll mark it as green.  There will also be stuff from myself in there. 

If you'd like credit for helping out with the writing for the game, reply to this post and let me know how you'd like to be credited.

Important Notes:
1. Please make sure and mark your name in the Author column if you want credit or to be paid or both.  Please put it in the style you want to be credited.
2. This spreadsheet is editable by anyone now!  I forgot to do that before, I'm really sorry.  So if anyone wants to just pop in and edit any time, you can do ahead and do so.
3. Humor is not required.  A variety of tones is perfectly acceptable and in fact encouraged.  All sorts of different things should be happening here, and that's part of the idea of getting multiple people involved.  These are not monocultures we're describing

Task 1: GenericResults tab, CitizenAnger section
There are 8 races that the player can control, and right now there are 20 rows for each of them for the CitizenAnger GenericResultType.  If all the existing rows get filled up and you want to add more than just the 20 for a race, feel free to insert them.

Basically the idea here is that you have just done something (or refused to do something), and this has made the citizens of the race in question angry.  For the Burlusts, which I've given a number of examples for (they are also real data), those reactions are always pretty violent and involve property damage or deaths or what have you.  For the Evucks, I see their reactions as being more passive-aggressive and buildings shutting down or productivity lowering or other things of that nature.  I've given one example of that so far.

And so on.  There is a Commands column there that you can put entries in if you wish, and you can see the formatting from my example ones.  But that is absolutely not required at all.  If you want to just write a brief note in english there (instead of code) about what you'd see happening, then please feel free.

Oh -- the BuildingType column is the type of building that is the center of this angry reaction.  So when the Burlusts turn farm combines into jousting steeds, this notes that that needs to actually happen on a farm.

Task 2: GenericResults tab, CitizenStupidity section
These are cases in which citizens make some sort of mistake, probably having bad outcomes -- but having good results from a big mistake is also fine!  In general I would see these as being the results of things like neural implant malfunctions or simply the fact that all these citizens are young -- born within the last few weeks, rapidly aged, and now functioning as adults with an adult level of knowledge and skill, but not with a lifetime of personal memories. 

The Burlusts are very daring, so that leads to some "hold my beer" type of antics, but for some of the others it's more about plain mistakes.  In the case of the Zenith, their "citizens" are actually these little miniature golems who have hardly had time to mature, so they're just as vulnerable as anyone.

Pay Rate
The pay rate that I'm putting out there for this is $0.60 per line, with the assumption that you're not doing the Commands (but if you want to, that's fine).  Overall these take me about a minute or two to write each time, so if you're  working at a similar rate that's between $18 to $36 per hour.  Keep track of which ones you do (in fact, I just made an Author column for that very purpose), and I'm happy to pay via paypal.

Please bear in mind that I am looking for proper spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation.  A mistake here or there I don't mind, but if they're riddled with english errors I'm going to be spending a lot of time cleaning those entries up, and that makes the value of that line a lot less to me..

The main problem that I have with these is not that they individually take all that long, but that the sheer number of these required to be effective is very high.

Note About Speaking Style
These are all written in the voice of the computer, speaking in kind of a dry fashion.  Granted, he's going to change his manner some based on who he is talking TO, so having him reference kisses and boo boos when talking about the Peltians to the Peltian leader (you) is pretty hilarious and works well for me.  Anyhow, there are other places where the races directly speak, but not on this spreadsheet.  Here the computer narrator is talking about what they are doing, and so the voice should be narrator-y.

Last Notes
I'll be adding more tasks on here as time passes.  If anyone wants to help out on a volunteer or a paid basis, either way I am super grateful.  It lets me spend more of my time on coding and testing and design, while still not having the amount of writing suffer simply from the fact that our other writers have other jobs beyond this one and thus are part-time.

Thanks!
Chris
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Captain Jack August 26, 2015, 05:14:34 PM
I'll sign up. It's a bit close to what I do for work, but this would be fun, rather than work.  :P
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: crazyroosterman August 26, 2015, 05:17:32 PM
ehh ill have to think on it but I probably won't the things id write would probably confuse people.(seeing as how I've never really been that great at explaining things)
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: x4000 August 26, 2015, 07:44:22 PM
I'll sign up. It's a bit close to what I do for work, but this would be fun, rather than work.  :P

Awesome, thanks!  Well, if you want to do any as a volunteer, just feel free to pop in and start editing.  If you want to do them as a contractor, then go ahead and PM me.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Captain Jack August 26, 2015, 07:57:38 PM
I'll get back to you on the contract work, my current slate of contracts is about to change drastically, plus I know I'll be unavailable in the middle of September. Still, I'd absolutely love to so I'll try and nail things down before the weekend.  :D
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: x4000 August 26, 2015, 07:59:04 PM
Great!
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Bluddy August 26, 2015, 09:42:13 PM
It seems like the tone of all the existing messages is facetious tending towards sarcasm -- a little Douglas Adams like. Is this the format expected of the remaining messages? Also, they're also not very specific about the effects -- there are only small hints of what the effect is in the text itself. Just checking if that is intended.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Captain Jack August 26, 2015, 10:32:56 PM
They're all Burlurst events. Hilariously egregious violence is their entire shtick.

Also, if you notice, there's three cells that are being filled in by us. What building was effected, the flavor text, and on the far right just off-screen on my widescreen monitor is the actual effect. In game I imagine you'll get the first and third visually along with the text.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: crazyroosterman August 27, 2015, 03:57:14 AM
okay I have to say I am very much amused by what has been written.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Shrugging Khan August 27, 2015, 06:10:41 AM
I could pitch in a bit (or a lot, if that contract thingy is still open), but I'm not too big on humour. Can offer historical references and parallels, though.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Misery August 27, 2015, 08:49:54 AM
I have nothing but free time and am bored out of my mind, I might be able to help a bit... not sure.  I dunno how I'd do at something like this.  It wouldnt be a contracted thing this time around; I have the time but I dont have the skill for that.

I can manage amazing amounts of sarcastic sarcasm, if that's useful.  Or a general "dark" attitude.  Good at stuff like that.  I cant do cheerful at all, nope.  Pretty sure reality would crack a bit if I tried that. 

I dunno if that sort of thing fits what you're going for here for any of these given races though.

Still, if there's anything you think I might be able to assist with, just lemme know.  It'd give me something to do. 
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: Coppermantis August 27, 2015, 10:16:25 AM
I can lend a hand too. Writing is one of my favorite things to do. Ordinarily I'd be interested in the contract position but I'm starting university in a few weeks, so I'm not sure how much free time I'll have in that regard, but I can still give the crowdsourced writing a shot.

I've not played the game so I can't really do anything with the commands column, but I can write flavor text, of course.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Knowledge of the game not required.
: x4000 August 27, 2015, 10:32:18 AM
Hey guys, thanks for all the notes and offers of help!

Various responses:

1. The Burlusts are indeed painted in super broad strokes, pretty Douglas-Adams-like.  That is pretty much their thing, as someone noted.  The Peltians are broad strokes in kind of the opposite way, cuddly and stupid.  For the other races, things would be much dryer, and any hilarity that happens would be much drier and more understated.  And they don't all have to be funny, not remotely.  In fact, it's probably good if a lot of them are not.

2. Yes, the in-game effects will be shown to the player based on the commands column on the far right.  So the player will be getting concrete info back on this, not just the broad explanation.  Having your displaytext be a bit on the broad side is good, though, because it allows for me to then tailor that to game mechanics without your explanation getting too technical (in the sense that it starts losing its thematic feeling).

3. I realized that I completely forgot to make this spreadsheet actually be editable!  Gah!  It's now editable. 

4. I put two on there from Cinth, under a new CitizenStupidity category.  Those are (as he put it) "hold my beer" sorts of moments, for the Burlusts in particular.  But in general I would see these as being the results of things like neural implant malfunctions or simply the fact that all these citizens are young -- born within the last few weeks, rapidly aged, and now functioning as adults with an adult level of knowledge and skill, but not with a lifetime of personal memories.  The Burlusts are very daring, so that leads to some "hold my beer" type of antics, but for some of the others it's more about plain mistakes.  In the case of the Zenith, their "citizens" are actually these little miniature golems who have hardly had time to mature, so they're just as vulnerable as anyone.

5. The pay rate that I'm putting out there for this is $0.60 per line, with the assumption that you're not doing the Commands (but if you want to, that's fine).  Overall these take me about a minute or two to write each time, so if you're  working at a similar rate that's between $18 to $36 per hour.  Keep track of which ones you do (in fact, I just made an Author column for that very purpose), and I'm happy to pay via paypal.

Thanks!
Chris
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Misery August 27, 2015, 11:10:06 AM
Okay, reading through the descriptions of the various personalities of all of these guys was.... very entertaining.    These are well thought out.  And hilarious. 
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: x4000 August 27, 2015, 11:13:42 AM
I'm glad!  That was actually work that John did, although the content of it is about 60% ideas from me, and then lots of awesome extra details he came up with.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Peons August 27, 2015, 01:30:28 PM
I wrote a small set of Zenith ones, I'm not sure if they are what you are looking for. I figured the Zenith when pissed off would go and make weird contraptions or things would just "get weird". So some of them have small bonuses, others have bad bonuses. If they look ok I'll write some more tonight.

: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack August 27, 2015, 01:41:54 PM
ptarth, do you mind if I edit some of what you wrote for the Peltians? The racial notes say that they're supposed to talk like kids, not adults. Need to loosen up with them!
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: x4000 August 27, 2015, 02:19:44 PM
@Peons: I definitely like what you have written, although it is extremely wordy.  That could be a nice trait for the Zenith in terms of them being long-form and thoughtful, but I wouldn't want it for any other race, and that's pushing the patience of what the player can tolerate (and what can fit in the allotted screen box) a bit already.  Keeping these closer to tweet-length or a bit more is a good idea.  But conceptually those are great.

@Watashiwa: One thing to remember is that these are all written in the voice of the computer, speaking in kind of a dry fashion.  Granted, he's going to change his manner some based on who he is talking TO, so having him reference kisses and boo boos is pretty hilarious and works well for me.  But he shouldn't be talking like a kid -- he should be talking TO a kid, although let's not go too completely overboard with it.  Moderation should serve that really well, and the kisses and boo boos bit had me really laughing.

Anyhow, there are other places where the races directly speak, but not on this spreadsheet.  Here the computer narrator is talking about what they are doing.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: crazyroosterman August 27, 2015, 02:33:49 PM


@Watashiwa: One thing to remember is that these are all written in the voice of the computer, speaking in kind of a dry fashion.  Granted, he's going to change his manner some based on who he is talking TO, so having him reference kisses and boo boos is pretty hilarious and works well for me.  But he shouldn't be talking like a kid -- he should be talking TO a kid, although let's not go too completely overboard with it.  Moderation should serve that really well, and the kisses and boo boos bit had me really laughing.

Anyhow, there are other places where the races directly speak, but not on this spreadsheet.  Here the computer narrator is talking about what they are doing.
I admit I find it rather interesting that a race with a childish mind-set would be the only race to resort to suicide bombing in their wars(in the last federation for those who don't when they fight a war with enougher race in that game usually their chief method is suicide bombing as in literally firing themselves of in pods at a planet)
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack August 27, 2015, 02:39:00 PM
@Watashiwa: One thing to remember is that these are all written in the voice of the computer, speaking in kind of a dry fashion.  Granted, he's going to change his manner some based on who he is talking TO, so having him reference kisses and boo boos is pretty hilarious and works well for me.  But he shouldn't be talking like a kid -- he should be talking TO a kid, although let's not go too completely overboard with it.  Moderation should serve that really well, and the kisses and boo boos bit had me really laughing.

Anyhow, there are other places where the races directly speak, but not on this spreadsheet.  Here the computer narrator is talking about what they are doing.
You know, I don't think I knew this. Thanks for the heads up Chris.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: ptarth August 27, 2015, 02:40:36 PM
I'm following a strategy of write down a lot of rubbish and let Chris sort it out (adding rows as necessary). I'd advocate others having a similar policies thus freeing us from having to edit and allowing multiple interpretations of Racial Tendencies. It also encourages the less brave to write something in without worrying about it taking up a "good" idea slot. Hence beyond correcting grammar and sentence structure, I'd suggest duplicating the line and making an alternate version, and then hand it over to Chris while looking the other way.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Aklyon August 27, 2015, 04:50:39 PM
Krolin Dissidents are the kinda amusing answer to all their problems, it sounds like. :)
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Peons August 27, 2015, 07:43:24 PM
I wrote a few more, tried to keep em shorter. Got my friend that I play AI War with to write a few as well, he chose zenith as well apparently.

Ptarth: CitizenAnger   Skylaxians   HistoryMuseum   Activities have changed displays in the History Museum to better reflect the true events of history. Worst yet, the citizens like the new exhibits more.   ptarth

Did you maybe mean Activists?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: x4000 August 27, 2015, 07:59:29 PM
Thanks, as always, guys!

I'm following a strategy of write down a lot of rubbish and let Chris sort it out (adding rows as necessary). I'd advocate others having a similar policies thus freeing us from having to edit and allowing multiple interpretations of Racial Tendencies. It also encourages the less brave to write something in without worrying about it taking up a "good" idea slot. Hence beyond correcting grammar and sentence structure, I'd suggest duplicating the line and making an alternate version, and then hand it over to Chris while looking the other way.

I absolutely agree with this.  Also, there are some things that people have written that are a bit unsuitable for the place that they were put, BUT that would work fabulously in some other area that I haven't even thought of before then, or that I haven't fully specced out yet, or whatever.  So it's definitely good having a large volume of stuff to be sure.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: x4000 August 27, 2015, 08:36:26 PM
The re-definitions of buildings, and reorganization of them, is now complete here, just FYI: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit#gid=202978034

Mostly the stuff you would have been messing with before has not been altered (aside from being renamed and possibly shifted between categories), but there are many new things.  There are some spoilers (if you want to call it that) for upcoming features in the near future, too. :)
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: ptarth August 27, 2015, 09:13:06 PM
I wrote a few more, tried to keep em shorter. Got my friend that I play AI War with to write a few as well, he chose zenith as well apparently.

Ptarth: CitizenAnger   Skylaxians   HistoryMuseum   Activities have changed displays in the History Museum to better reflect the true events of history. Worst yet, the citizens like the new exhibits more.   ptarth

Did you maybe mean Activists?

Yes. If it is something that is blatantly wrong like that go ahead and fix it on my account. Thanks for the catch.

Chris & Co are going to have to do a lot of editing to all of the prompts to fix grammar, frequency, building numbers, referents and such. Setting them up with an idea and then letting them focus on mechanical and placement applications is the best we can probably do.

If SBRv 3.0 runs like SBR v1.0, then I'm going to be seeing a citizens are unhappy message every turn. I think we are going to need many, many more messages than the current list.

Dissidents are suspected.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Histidine August 28, 2015, 08:25:57 AM
Tried my hand at doing a few of the Skylaxian CitizenStupidity ones, and one for the Fenyn.

... Er, the stuff about a spontaneous mass orgy isn't too ribald, is it?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: x4000 August 28, 2015, 09:36:37 AM
Haha, they look great.  Orgy itself is not a word I'd want to use, and I'd like to overall keep this pretty PG.  But sometimes being opaque about something is funnier than just saying it outright, and I love the idea.  I've been talking about how much the Peltians breed like rabbits in various opaque terms for quite a while now.  I shifted your wording to be "A spontaneous "spirit of nature" mass... birth rate increase... has broken out at the park."

I like the idea of the computer coming to tell you this, almost kind of blushing.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Peons August 28, 2015, 12:16:42 PM
On a side note, any chance myself and my friend Mission can get an early beta invite? I know you've been wanting to hold off on the next beta wave because you're still trying to implement these events but being able to understand some of the existing game mechanics might help a bit more. As it stands I've just been leaving generic instructions in for what I feel the event would do to the player.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Tolc August 28, 2015, 06:22:50 PM
Cool stuff so far. I'll see whether inspiration hits me over the next few days. My contributions might need some grammar (and phrasing) checking, though, as English is not my mother language.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: NullDragon August 28, 2015, 08:29:33 PM
I plugged away at a few burlust stupidity events. Not sure how good they are, I tried to write in the style of the computer like in The Last Federation. The commands are probably horribly unbalanced, as I haven't actually played the game yet and don't know proper values.

Yes, the fighting arena event is intended to be 'good', and the science lab is supposed to be a mix. I'll try to write some more later.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack August 30, 2015, 11:59:03 PM
Hi Chris, two questions: Can one building have multiple events with a single race? I'd really, really like to throw in some more Shrine events for the Fenyn (they're just begging for someone to find their lack of faith disturbing). Second, should any of the anger events have good primary results?

More of a mechanics question, is there anything in your code that prevents a player from destroying and rebuilding a structure that is shut down for event reasons?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: ptarth August 31, 2015, 11:53:27 AM
In Chris's examples he uses buildings multiple times for the same race, so I'd say that it is fine.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Peons August 31, 2015, 01:49:29 PM
Could we get some more feedback on the stuff written as well?

I've written some new skylaxian ones, my friend Mission would also like some feedback on the ones he's written. I've tried to keep my later ones a little less wordy.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: ptarth September 16, 2015, 12:07:26 PM
As a gawking busybody, I've been checking up on the events doc and was amused by some of Chris's interpretations. First, some background, as a running gag for the Krolin I wrote up every event as being the result of potential dissidents, regardless of how accurate the claim was or the nature of the event. This was my best guess as to how a restrictive government might act. I had written the event "Fishing boats have reported greater than normal yields. Dissidents are suspected." which was a play on the idea that the fish were just easier to catch for a time.  However, Chris interpreted it as "Food:100:10,KillPlayer:100", which translates as 100 of your citizens were turned into fishing bait or were reprocessed as food. That was a lot darker than I had expected.  :P

: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: crazyroosterman September 16, 2015, 01:31:01 PM
As a gawking busybody, I've been checking up on the events doc and was amused by some of Chris's interpretations. First, some background, as a running gag for the Krolin I wrote up every event as being the result of potential dissidents, regardless of how accurate the claim was or the nature of the event. This was my best guess as to how a restrictive government might act. I had written the event "Fishing boats have reported greater than normal yields. Dissidents are suspected." which was a play on the idea that the fish were just easier to catch for a time.  However, Chris interpreted it as "Food:100:10,KillPlayer:100", which translates as 100 of your citizens were turned into fishing bait or were reprocessed as food. That was a lot darker than I had expected.  :P
well I suppose that sorta makes séance in society were new citizens can get shit out at will to replace the ones you've repurposed.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: nas1m September 16, 2015, 01:35:34 PM
As a gawking busybody, I've been checking up on the events doc and was amused by some of Chris's interpretations. First, some background, as a running gag for the Krolin I wrote up every event as being the result of potential dissidents, regardless of how accurate the claim was or the nature of the event. This was my best guess as to how a restrictive government might act. I had written the event "Fishing boats have reported greater than normal yields. Dissidents are suspected." which was a play on the idea that the fish were just easier to catch for a time.  However, Chris interpreted it as "Food:100:10,KillPlayer:100", which translates as 100 of your citizens were turned into fishing bait or were reprocessed as food. That was a lot darker than I had expected.  :P
Oh man, that's good stuff :D.
I am really excited to see the new Events stuff in action in real magnitude!
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 07:13:16 PM
So, I just stumbled on this new game (How I missed a new game by Arcen Labs I don't know) and this thread in particular.  There seems to have been a half month lag in posts, and the original post said to edit the red stuff, but there isn't any any more.  Is it still okay to add new things or are the events full for now?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: ptarth September 17, 2015, 08:56:15 PM
Add away.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 17, 2015, 09:49:28 PM
So, I just stumbled on this new game (How I missed a new game by Arcen Labs I don't know) and this thread in particular.  There seems to have been a half month lag in posts, and the original post said to edit the red stuff, but there isn't any any more.  Is it still okay to add new things or are the events full for now?
I don't think anyone ever used the red haha. Just find a blank space and add something, and try not to get upset if someone edits it hard! Try taking a look at the events that Chris wrote, he's the lead dev so he's probably the most right.  :D
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 09:51:22 PM
So, I noticed that there are a lot of buildings that don't seem to have any events for them written.  Is that just people focusing on simpler ones, or are the others not supposed to be used?  I'm just a bit confused since I'm a late arrival and not sure if I'm supposed to add new lines or what.  I don't want to waste a bunch of time (mine or Chris') on putting up useless events.

Upon seeing someone ninja my question from my brain: Okay, going to sort through what is still needed and do some writing... likely tomorrow.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 17, 2015, 10:03:36 PM
Did you see the list of buildings that have events (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit?pli=1#gid=202978034)? There are some that don't have any at all. Furthermore, the building list has been added to over time, and I know a couple just went in within the last few days, so of course very few events are using them.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 10:49:22 PM
Yes, I saw the list, but there are only like half a dozen of the 100+ buildings that don't have events, and no race seems to have more than 60 or so events done for it yet, and most of those 60 were of the same handful.  It was why I was wondering if I could add new lines and such or not.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 17, 2015, 10:59:54 PM
Well, coincidentally there are six building types that aren't supposed to have anger and stupidity events. Are you referring to those or something else?

EDIT: Though, now that I look at it, you're right, the events are way too stacked towards certain kinds of buildings.

And wow, someone just reorganized the document and I can't tell who's got what anymore.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 11:07:01 PM
No, I mean how there don't seem to be any events for the geothermal power plant, the Hazmat Station, and some others I'm sure.  And several only had them for a single race.  Seems clear to me that we're just supposed to add them as we get to them.  I'd thought it would be set up with all the race/building combos and just leave space to fill in the actual event.  It is a bit disorganized as it is now is all.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 17, 2015, 11:13:12 PM
Oh no, not at all. We're not looking to put events in for every race and building, we're looking to come up with a wide range of events. If some buildings wind up being event heavy, so be it. The one rule is that you really shouldn't delete someone's event, because some people are paid contractors here. If you come up with an idea just add a new row.

The current order is going to make that a lot harder to parse going forward if you care about that, especially since anger and stupidity got mixed up. Different motivations for the different races expressing those sentiments differently, etc.

Also mission, fair warning, I am going to edit most of your posts into unrecognizability.  :P
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 11:16:09 PM
Ohhh, I see.  I thought the goal was to max it out.  Would that be a problem if that did happen?

Edit: And I think I messed up the order.  I can change it back though... give me a second...
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 17, 2015, 11:22:10 PM
Ohhh, I see.  I thought the goal was to max it out.  Would that be a problem if that did happen?

Edit: And I think I messed up the order.  I can change it back though... give me a second...
Which part? Adding events or deleting them? Like, if you think the Burlurst should have a stupidity event where they play rugby with nuclear waste, but their 20 idiocy slots are taken up by military barracks events, then just add a row in the middle for it. If you just think a race has too many events with one building type, PM the authors.

Like I said, the one no-no is outright deleting someone's event yourself, because some people are drawing pay from this. We don't want to mess up that up for anyone.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 11:31:21 PM
Oh, no, I meant maxing out the events, getting one for every building for ever race.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 17, 2015, 11:32:49 PM
Oh, no, I meant maxing out the events, getting one for every building for ever race.
Nope. Focus on what makes sense given the race's personality.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Taikei no Yuurei September 17, 2015, 11:36:52 PM
Alright.  Also, is there any particular difference between the anger and stupid events?  Like does one only happen when the population is upset, or is it simply flavor between the two?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Captain Jack September 18, 2015, 12:02:42 AM
That's pretty much it. Anger events happen when your people are angry at you/the government for some reason. Stupidity events start at turn 50, basically represent your people getting complacent and, well, stupid, about living on the planet.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Misery September 18, 2015, 03:06:43 AM
Just so that it's known, if for some reason it's important/relevant to anyone doing the writing, I am now beginning the work on getting the rest of the commands in there.  Meant to start yesterday, but derp happened, so I didn't.

I'll attempt not to explode the game's balance into a million jagged shards.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: nas1m September 18, 2015, 07:13:43 AM
Just so that it's known, if for some reason it's important/relevant to anyone doing the writing, I am now beginning the work on getting the rest of the commands in there.  Meant to start yesterday, but derp happened, so I didn't.

I'll attempt not to explode the game's balance into a million jagged shards.
So you have been drafted into Service again ;)?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Misery September 18, 2015, 07:37:32 AM
Just so that it's known, if for some reason it's important/relevant to anyone doing the writing, I am now beginning the work on getting the rest of the commands in there.  Meant to start yesterday, but derp happened, so I didn't.

I'll attempt not to explode the game's balance into a million jagged shards.
So you have been drafted into Service again ;)?

Pretty much, yeah. 

Should be interesting.  And entertaining.  Alot of the writing in here is pretty hilarious. 

I aint done all that much yet; today's session with it was mostly spent poring over the various lists and looking at examples that are already in the main writing document.   So there hasnt been all that much changed in there yet.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Mission September 21, 2015, 09:23:29 PM
If you need to re-do some of my older event messages go for it. I have a better understanding of how things work now and when I was working on those I knew.... nothing. Exactly nothing.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Mission September 22, 2015, 06:14:49 AM
i fixed up a lot of my old existing events as well as did their commands and added some icons (Quinn Beltramo pitched in as well). Hopefully most of them are more usable now.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Misery September 22, 2015, 09:32:33 AM
i fixed up a lot of my old existing events as well as did their commands and added some icons (Quinn Beltramo pitched in as well). Hopefully most of them are more usable now.

Ahh, that explains a few things.   Do you think you could go in there and just write down your name under the editor tab for the ones that you finished yourself?  Confused the heck outta me when I got down to that section just a bit ago.

The help is certainly appreciated though.  There's looking to be, oh, I dont know, a few bazillion of these events by the time this is all done...  so many.... individual ones dont exactly take much time, but still, there's tons of them.   Pretty good progress being made though, overall.

: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Mission September 22, 2015, 08:18:11 PM

Ahh, that explains a few things.   Do you think you could go in there and just write down your name under the editor tab for the ones that you finished yourself?  Confused the heck outta me when I got down to that section just a bit ago.

The help is certainly appreciated though.  There's looking to be, oh, I dont know, a few bazillion of these events by the time this is all done...  so many.... individual ones dont exactly take much time, but still, there's tons of them.   Pretty good progress being made though, overall.

And I'm more than glad to pitch in. It's quite fun actually and find myself chuckling at some of the stuff others have made as well.
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Misery October 06, 2015, 08:07:08 AM
Well, I'd been unable to jump onto this and have a go at it for a few days (sorry!), but popping back on now for a quick look.... it looks like it's all nearly done?   Really?   That fast?

Or is there more of this coming?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Rythe October 07, 2015, 01:49:06 PM
I get the feeling there's more coming given I'm not seeing Act 3/4 stuff and it appears we're just getting started with ability based responses.

You did just miss out on all the fun of filling out responses from races having garbage and corpses dumped on them, though. :p
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: tombik February 19, 2016, 12:49:16 AM
Is this still relevant?
: Re: We need more writers for small things! Game knowledge not required. updated 8/27
: Rythe February 23, 2016, 02:56:07 AM
The task was basically complete for what had been requested in the doc, except perhaps some act progression stuff where game knowledge was kinda required.

But they're retooling the game currently, so I'm not even sure if what's in there now will continue to be relevant without some updates and changes.

When testing resumes, check back again, I'd say.