Soulgemmed Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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griefseeded2016-05-24 02:37 am
soulmods) wrote in griefseeded2016-05-24 02:37 am
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STATE OF THE GAME » MAY
Hello everyone! It's been a little while and we apologize for that. We'll return to having monthly State of the Game/Feedback posts to keep up communication with everyone! These posts double as a Mod/Event HMD so if you have any concerns then please don't hesitate to speak them!
That being said... On with the show!
» As you've noticed, we've introduced OOC theory posts! From now on during events, these will be going up. While we adore the plurk discussions we find that they can be difficult to navigate and leave some people missing out on all the theory fun! While we're not going to stop you from plurking, we strongly encourage everyone to make use of these posts as much as they can!
» We've been hearing concerns about the pacing of the boss fights and how difficult it is to keep up with. We absolutely want to ensure that all players get ample opportunity to participate in these events and have been wracking our brains on how to shift our format to be more accessible for all parties.
From here on out, we will be aiming for BOSS EVENTS to go up at 12PM EST. If there is a delay due to a mod not being around at this time we will let the playerbase know in advance what the amended time will be. All in all, events will be now begin on daylight to early evening hours.
Another major issue with the boss fights we've run into is that they are difficult to monitor from our end. We do keep tabs on every thread and try to jump in accordingly, however with the faster events it's confusing for both players and mods to navigate. Henceforth, we want to adopt a new header system for boss fights. Things that do not require the NPC's attention (conversations with other characters, just reacting to things that happen, forming and changing battle strategies) should have a header of "REACTION" while actions directly affecting the fight with the boss should be labeled as "INTERACTION".
Here is an example of the format! We believe that this will help with the overall coherency and flow of boss battles, and make them easier to manage for both players and mods!
While we absolutely want to preserve our current free-for-all way, if it proves unwieldy and people continue to feel left out or left behind, then we may turn to a different format to ensure everyone gets a good kick at the proverbial incubator. Naturally, we're are open to other suggestions as well!
» James has stepped down as a mod. Please give him a big thank you for all his time, he helped get the game off of the ground and has been a solid rock for us during his time as part of our team! He'll still be here as a player!
» Bee has accepted a mod position! You'll know Bee as the player of Lilith and Taiga and all the fun she brings. We're excited for all she's bringing to the table!
» If anyone has any other concerns or criticisms, please feel free to address them here or on our anon enabled game concerns post!! No concern is too big or too small. We value all of your opinions and want to make this fun for everyone.
Stay tuned for June, friends. It's gonna be a doozy.
That being said... On with the show!
» As you've noticed, we've introduced OOC theory posts! From now on during events, these will be going up. While we adore the plurk discussions we find that they can be difficult to navigate and leave some people missing out on all the theory fun! While we're not going to stop you from plurking, we strongly encourage everyone to make use of these posts as much as they can!
» We've been hearing concerns about the pacing of the boss fights and how difficult it is to keep up with. We absolutely want to ensure that all players get ample opportunity to participate in these events and have been wracking our brains on how to shift our format to be more accessible for all parties.
From here on out, we will be aiming for BOSS EVENTS to go up at 12PM EST. If there is a delay due to a mod not being around at this time we will let the playerbase know in advance what the amended time will be. All in all, events will be now begin on daylight to early evening hours.
Another major issue with the boss fights we've run into is that they are difficult to monitor from our end. We do keep tabs on every thread and try to jump in accordingly, however with the faster events it's confusing for both players and mods to navigate. Henceforth, we want to adopt a new header system for boss fights. Things that do not require the NPC's attention (conversations with other characters, just reacting to things that happen, forming and changing battle strategies) should have a header of "REACTION" while actions directly affecting the fight with the boss should be labeled as "INTERACTION".
Here is an example of the format! We believe that this will help with the overall coherency and flow of boss battles, and make them easier to manage for both players and mods!
While we absolutely want to preserve our current free-for-all way, if it proves unwieldy and people continue to feel left out or left behind, then we may turn to a different format to ensure everyone gets a good kick at the proverbial incubator. Naturally, we're are open to other suggestions as well!
» James has stepped down as a mod. Please give him a big thank you for all his time, he helped get the game off of the ground and has been a solid rock for us during his time as part of our team! He'll still be here as a player!
» Bee has accepted a mod position! You'll know Bee as the player of Lilith and Taiga and all the fun she brings. We're excited for all she's bringing to the table!
» If anyone has any other concerns or criticisms, please feel free to address them here or on our anon enabled game concerns post!! No concern is too big or too small. We value all of your opinions and want to make this fun for everyone.
Stay tuned for June, friends. It's gonna be a doozy.
no subject
After lengthy conversations about it we ended up coming to the realization that it wouldn't really solve the core of the problem and would most likely cause others. There would be nothing stopping the same characters from replying over and over again, which might encourage some to send in rushed tags just to have a slot, while others may feel that they don't have anything worthwhile to contribute to a limited amount of replies and opt out. It would also make threads more mechanical and less organic, which we feel would probably be a detriment to the overall experience. Moreover, a big thing we strive with events is to make them as malleable as possible: we try our best to make sure that the way characters react can make a big difference in the outcome. By limiting character interactions in such a way, we feel that we would be making events too rigid. Railroading is something we absolutely want to avoid.
We do agree that we could be doing more. And trust us, we want to. We know it's discouraging to come on and see that a puzzle has been solved or a solution has been been decoded.
Which is why we want to stress that while the boss's mystery may be "done", as in someone in one thread has figured out the way to a certain outcome, it doesn't signal the end of the log. NPCing will continue until the day listed and the boss will not be dead until that day. Someone could tag in and alter the course of the ending - we often make things up on the fly to accommodate player action!
There is an unfortunate sentiment that as soon as the mystery is solved the log is done, and that is not at all what we want to promote. Our events are purposefully flexible and are created with multiple endings in mind - nothing is set in stone until the ending date.
Future boss fights will have more going on to better illustrate this, but even now, we want to stress that we have no issues with tagging or throwing something unique to people who may not have had a chance to tag in or felt they fell behind. We are more than willing to throw curveballs at players or give them something creative and dynamic to do within the log, but to do this we need everyone to continue tagging into the log and tagging each other. The ending is only locked in if there is no more player interaction to change it.
At the end of the day, we want everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves. There is probably no solution or format change that will guarantee everyone can do something significant in every boss battle, but we want to stress that these battles are not done until the date posted. The boss is not dead until that time, and the ending is still up in the air - so long as people keep tagging and trying new things, we will continue to adapt and update how things will pan out.