Author Topic: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.  (Read 10438 times)

Offline x4000

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(We've got a roster of 7 writers working on this right now, and 2 folks working on commands, so it's moving along well.  But more help is always welcome since many hands make light work, and there's a lot of work.  So here's an email I sent to those folks, also just copied here.)

Hey guys,

This one is tricky, so if you're not sure about it, feel free to either not do any of these, or not do them until later.  The pay rate for these is double the rate for other events because they require a lot more thought -- but in this case also some knowledge of the game.  And there's a good chance that I won't be able to take some of these, because these are extremely much in the territory of direct gameplay.

The tab is ActI on here, and these aren't events at all: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit#gid=70186307

These have no icons, but for their precondition commands those are located here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit#gid=70186307

Note that these are very anemic compared to the commands list.  That said, there's a limit to how many different things we can realistically require of players (but certainly more than is there could be used).

What is this??
The game is now split into five "acts" in the sense of a play or similar.  The first act is called "Arrival," and is by far the simplest of the five.  A lot of the more complex game mechanics are not enabled yet, but everything you do is preparing your civilization for the more dangerous later phases.  That said, you can fly through this if you do it right (and/or are lucky).

How long does this act last?  It's hard to say.  Your citizens will be demanding that you do "something, for some reason."  That's what this tab defines: a series of objectives (preconditions to exit) that the player has to meet in order for the game to automatically transition over to act II.

At the start of the game there are three territories that the player can land in.  Each one of those territories has a different situation in it that the player can read (the demands of their populace), as well as a difficulty level of those demands (1-3), and hints about how to achieve it.  So if the player sees something really hard or unpleasant, they can avoid it.

Brief notes:

1. Pay scale: double as for the other tabs. ($2 fully writing a line, $0.80 writing the preconditions)

2. Overall volume: in general I'd like at least 10 entries for each of the human-playable races (at the moment most have one, and a couple have more), and then 100 entries that are for any race (ForRace None).

3. Note that not all of the service types will be present in act 1: see the first tab here for reference, in case it comes up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l1zPgVQZNLXbGoc9IwWWyaCxYCxajdvun9mVF6HYaTM/edit#gid=1801615012

4. In your DisplayText, please make sure to explain why the citizens want whatever it is, but there is no actual consequence for not meeting those demands except "we don't reach act II until you do."

5. Conditions involving subjugating other races and things of that nature are SUPER hard, because you're not allowed to directly fight yet in this act!  So you have to do things like poison them into submission or other tricky things like that.  Anything that involves taking a huge amount of territory or subjugating other races automatically goes way up in difficulty.

6. With the vast majority of these, the focus should be inward.  Definitely no other races should be mentioned by name.  We might be on a "conquer the faceless natives" mission if we're Burlusts (jerks), but that's about as international as we get with these.  We may well be interacting with other races as part of the gameplay, but we'v just gotten to the planet and right now our first priority is... what? Establishing ourselves, certainly.

7. But actually, that nicely sums up our citizens' demands for act I: "what do our citizens consider 'properly establishing ourselves' as a new city/nation?"

Thanks!
Chris
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Offline nas1m

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2015, 05:18:13 pm »
I really dig the Acts idea. Sounds great :)!
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Offline crazyroosterman

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2015, 05:23:19 pm »
so from the information you've given out on these new things I have to say they sound really interesting.
c.r

Offline x4000

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2015, 07:44:38 pm »
Great! :)
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Offline Taikei no Yuurei

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2015, 01:17:56 am »
Not sure where exactly you wanted these.  The giant spreadsheet of doom scares me, I don't like messing with it.  Just a few possibilities I thought up for the 'need X entertainment' territories.  Hope I understood what you were looking for and provided at least along the right lines.  If not, I'll see if I can adjust.  I'd really like to help with the writing stuff, but I feel like I'm missing a crucial thread or something to understand how best to help.

None - Everyone needs some way to unwind, even the best citizen gets a bit stressed from time to time.  And lets be honest.  New plant?  Very stressful.  Make sure your citizens can cope with the harsh new world with enough soothing entertainment.

Burlusts – Killing is fun.  We can all agree on that.  There are other things that are fun too.  You should make sure to have plenty of those, or citizens will find their fun where they can, even if they can't leave the city to kill others.

Peltians – All work and no play is terribad, so no play means no work.  So make sure there are lots of places to play.  Or enough TVs to watch.  Or open spaces to run around.  Really, playing is easy, but not playing is terribad.

Krolin – Believe it or not, praising you all day isn't enough for some citizens.  They want 'fun' things to 'relax' with.  We should give it to them, it will distract the dissidents.  And you can be featured in all the broadcasts.  Wonderful.

Fenyn – The bliss of Dantalion is wonderful, and Dantalion provides much, but she cannot provide all, we must work, and we must rest.  And while we rest, we need more than the bliss of Dantalion to enjoy, we need something else to groove on.

Skylaxians – Great Leader and Scientist.  Sometimes thoughts need to be taken off science, so the mind can work more while resting, to come up with new paths.  Providing enough things to allow for the mind to rest and work is important.  For science!

Zenith – Last time a citizen got bored, quite a few buildings got destroyed.  There weren't any casualties of course, but those buildings take time to rebuild.  You should really make sure that doesn't happen again.

Offline Captain Jack

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2015, 03:21:29 am »
Hey Taikei, these look great! I'll drop them into the list under your name, if you don't mind me editing the word order some. Maybe not the Skylaxian one, we've got more than ten for those guys already. Of course there's no guarantee Chris will use everything that's up there so don't go deleting anything just yet. Plus this is only act 1 of 5, so waste not and all that.

One thing I'll note is that the planet's name is top secret (even though it's everywhere in the design docs). It doesn't come out until the late game where it does at all. iirc the Fenyn call it "Ivoria" in at least one other place so I'll go ahead and sub that in until someone who knows better tells me otherwise.

EDIT: Hm, having trouble making that Zenith one work. I'll leave it off the list for the time being, but I'll make sure it gets considered.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 03:51:31 am by Watashiwa »

Offline Peons

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #6 on: September 19, 2015, 04:47:50 am »
I've gotten back to adding a few. Haven't really played the game so kinda guessing on some of the act stuff.

Offline Taikei no Yuurei

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Re: For writers (and anyone who wants to join in): "Act I" preconditions.
« Reply #7 on: September 19, 2015, 08:33:26 am »
Yes, I remembered the thing about the planet's name, but I couldn't remember or find what the fenyn did call it.

Offline ptarth

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« Last Edit: September 21, 2015, 02:27:56 pm by ptarth »
Note: This post contains content that is meant to be whimsical. Any belittlement or trivialization of complex issues is only intended to lighten the mood and does not reflect upon the merit of those positions.

 

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