March 2020 Review: Lockdown the World

With the coronavirus exploding around the globe it's a strange world at the moment with many working from home and normally busy public areas being deserted. Doesn't bode well for my current industry but all we can do is just wait and see what happens next. This "social distancing" order has also put our board game sessions on hold, which just leaves more time for the many free games available online - though most of those really old ones from the sudden surge at GOG (because I wasn't paying attention) are a bit too dated for my tastes.

As for the bloggers among you Blaugust has come early in the form of Blapril! Go check it out as it might be something that interests you! :)

On to the task list...

    End 2020 with less weight (+4 kg from last month, running total: +2 kg)
    Make 1 web comic page (you'd think I have the time now but nope)
    hire landscapers for back yard (cancelled for now due to the virus)
    repair roof leaks (done)
    +try make a boardgame now that you "have time"? :P

BACKLOG
How to Survive 2 [gift]
Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain [gift] (done but want more)
NWO: Infernal Descent (2/2) [free to play] (done)
Faeria [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
Horace [free from Epic Games] (second chance) (had enough)
Observer [free from Epic Games] (second chance) (done)
Farming Simulator 19 [free from Epic Games] (second chance) (had enough)
Inner Space [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
+Gonner  [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
+Offworld Trading Company [free from Epic Games] (had enough)
+Mutazione [free from Epic Games] (done)
+A Short Hike [free from Epic Games] (done)
+Anodyne 2: Return to Dust  [free from Epic Games] (done)
+The Stanley Parable [free from Epic Games] (done)
+Tomb Raider (2013) [free from Steam]
+The Lords of Midnight [free from GOG]
+Stargunner [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Flight of the Amazon Queen [free from GOG]
+Jill of the Jungle: Complete Trilogy [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Lure of the Temptress [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Teenagent [free from GOG] (done)
+Postal: Classic and Uncut [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire [free from GOG] (Second Chance) (had enough)
+Ultima Worlds of Adventure: Martian Dreams [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Eschalon: Book 1 [free from GOG] (done)
+Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves [free from GOG]
+Doomdark's Revenge [free from GOG]
+Akalabeth: World of Doom [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Bio Menace [free from GOG] (had enough)
+Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius [free from GOG] 
+Cayne [free from GOG] (done)
+World War Z [free from Epic Games]
+Figment [free from Epic Games]
+Tormentor x Punisher [free from Epic Games]
+Drawful 2 [free from Epic Game and Steam] (nope, no single player)

Board games:
Zombicide: Black Plague Campaign (10/11)
London Dread Campaign (1/4)
Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage (6/13)
Mice and Mystics: Heart of Glorm (0/11)

BLOG STATS

One Year Ago

I began the Dying Light Diary and also said goodbye to the Foundry of Neverwinter Online. Ironic given that five years ago...

Five Years Ago

I was happy one of my Foundry quests got second place! It didn't stop me from hating Neverwinter Online's black ice design though, which has since rightfully been removed. I also made a Photo Story folder which is now defunct thanks to Photobucket, and watched a number of movies - the highlight of which is The Interview.

Most Viewed Posts last Month
LISA: That's RANDO
Enderal: Dead Weight
LISA: What Luck!

Top Search Terms last Month
fish glue ffxiv
runescape enhanced fire cape
darklands tarnhelm e hanover

Sounds like people are looking for stuff in games, which is to be expected with more people working from home. Unfortunately I think this blog only has hints to the Tarnhelm in Darklands...

Developer Appreciation: Impromptu Player Made Content

Another Blaugust themed post just in time for Developer Appreciation week!

As someone who has experience in making content in out of the box mediums for MMOs, I really appreciate the often unappreciated and certainly underpaid effort and creativity taken when random players decide to make quests or run events when the tools for doing so aren't present in game.

In today's example, said tools were actually removed from the game but that isn't stupping Sandukutupu from Neverwinter Online to hold one such event: "The Fires of April" and I for one am definitely planning on participating.

I've often found that sometimes the best content comes from the people who aren't being forced, paid, or are only doing so for a different agenda. It's the ones passionate enough to make content just for the sake of making content that often have the richest stuff.

Neverwinter Online: Goodbye Foundry

Life support: Off.

Cryptic has decided to pull the plug on the Foundry, which is a real shame since that was the one feature that got me playing it in the first place. It doesn't really come as a surprise though as the Foundry has pretty much been "dying" for years due to lack of official support.

This move also affects Cryptic's other MMO - Star Trek Online and much of what Contains Moderate Peril mentions on his post about this rings true for the NWO side as well, with players abusing the system and Cryptic not doing a good enough job to make the program more robust.

Players have until April 11 to enjoy player made foundry adventures for the last time before they are lost to the void. I'll be visiting my ones and DL's for sure, just for one last goodbye.

Blaugust About Me: I Play Games

Today I'll be answering cherry picked topics from Gracie's Moonshine Mansion and Armagon Live. It's so easy to generate blog content during Blaugust. Thank you to Atherne for collating a whole bunch of ideas! :P

Talk about the first game system you remember playing, or a favorite game from childhood.

Battle City on the Nintendo Family computer was definitely a favorite of my cousin and I specifically because it was cooperative (one of the first I had), and had a map editor. It's funny thinking back to that, because now my MMO of choice is Neverwinter Online - which is mostly cooperative and had an editor, which was one of the main reasons my guild moved there. Pity the Foundry doesn't get much dev-love these days.

Single-player or multiplayer games? Why? What are the exceptions?

Single player wins by a tiny margin. Basically in single player games it feels you have more agency compared to an MMO where there are literally hundreds of other people doing what you are doing. Also, I hate waiting which is something that happens ofter in multiplayer. Doesn't stop me from MMOing, just means I'm usually more of a lone wolf when I game.

How do you choose what games to buy?

I don't buy computer games for myself which restricts all my gaming to free to play titles and gifted stuff. Buying others I simply use their wish list, or what I think they'll enjoy / be tormented by - depending on my mood. I never pre-order, and never buy humble bundles.

I do buy board games though, and I try to research as much as possible before purchasing them especially as they are generally a lot more expensive than software.

NWO: The Demon Lord of Gnolls

Hi all! For those who play Neverwinter Online, my brother has spent a long time working on this foudnry quest and is looking to get more plays and feedback.

It's called "The Demon Lord of Gnolls" [NW-DGC43C4KM] by @DragonlordDrm.

Just as a heads up, it is a pretty long adventure so either have an hour or so free to tackle it or plan on hitting each area over the course of a few days. There's an exit door next to the mini-map that lets you do that - which is also handy for resetting an area if needed (might be needed in zone 3 in particular).

Lots of hard work went into these custom maps!

There is also a fair bit of reading and a few jumping bits involved so fair warning! Hopefully you all like it! :)

NWO: Cryptic Abortion

It's too late in the evening to post one of my current running stories, so I thought I'd instead talk about how Cryptic is continuing to "Abort" it's baby Neverwinter Online. They certainly love taking things out of the game.

A: Foundry is too hard to support, lets get rid of that.
B: I know, lets remove some dungeons! Yeah less content is awesome!
C: Oh, and the Sword Coast Adventures! Yeah, no one plays that.
D: What the game will be if this continues: Broken and Dead.

To me, Cryptic has more than a few problems as of this posting which I feel like listing out right here and now.

1) Serious connection flaws on their end prevent me from playing when I want to play. If I could connect right now I would but instead, here I am listing their failures.

2) Greed. More and more things that help players progress either keep getting removed, or put behind a paywall or an incredible grind. Also comparing their real world money conversion into ZAX to say, Mabinogi's Nexon cash is a real eye opener on how much of a premium they put on their pixels.

3) They like lying. Often blaming the slow abortion due to bots, or reclassification of bugs or whatever else. It would probably better if they just went "We need more money". At least that would be honest. There are those also still waiting on the promised reduction of stronghold influence since... last year?

4) They don't listen to their player base. If you saw that 48+ page post I linked to of people raging against that change, or the numerous calls to reduce the required amount of influence (or add methods to gain influence) for Strongholds, I think we're out of luck.

5) There is a disconnect between content designers and D&D. This is one that really pisses me off. A repeatable fishing quest in a level 70 zone and more fishing in a level 70+ zone? So you are sending characters who have likely defeated Baphomet, Orcus, Tiamat, a number of Balors and armies of who knows what else off to catch (regular) fish? If this was a table top session how would you swing that and keep people interested?

6) There is obviously a disconnect / lack of communication within their own company too. The latest module features Frost Giants who seem to enjoy throwing boulders that they pick up from the ground. That's cool and looks neat. But then you fight around 33% of said Frost giants ON WOODEN SHIPS. Of course they retain the boulder throwing attack which is idiotic.

7) They abandoned the one thing that made them stand apart: the Foundry. As a foundry author myself, that really upsets me.

8) Cryptic encourages Elitism. Those new dungeons / zones require some pretty high levels of gear to participate in. I'd personally always favor inclusion over exclusion but I have to let it slide because people asked for it and apparently the few metrics I can see also make it valid in the "majority rules" sense.

Anyway, enough venting for tonight. More regular content will continue tomorrow.

Skyrim: The Boiling Foundry

Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!

The land of gears and pistons...

The Boiling Foundry is a dangerous place, filled with environmental hazards that liked to either spin or push you into the insta-death boiling water below so I let Sofia set out of this mission deciding to tackle it solo. Most of it was guarded by relatively weak robots, but one named the welding soldier was a definite test of patience. His room had pushing mechanisms to force him (or me) into the death hole in the center but that was a lot harder to do than it sounds. Especially since you needed to push him into it four or five times.

His god mode means there's no other way to beat him.

After that challenge I was greeted by an old friend: the steam dragon. He was the final guard to the titanium drill bit and while he did let me just take it, I couldn't leave the room without slaying him. He too had upgraded to god mode armor, but showering him in lava was enough to render him vulnerable to a fast kill. Finally I could take the elevator back to Lull-Mor.

Sorry old pal.

Back at the outpost I was tasked with fixing random things like monitors and clockwork guardians while waiting for Sofia. She successfully sabotaged Archeron's main mining operation while I was busy in the foundry. It wasn't long before Numinar had a job for both of us again: the drilling had run into an unexpected snag - undead fabricants (also cyborgs). This place just gets weirder and weirder.

NWO: Eldarth's First Three

[Part of Odd Jobs of Neverwinter.] 

Been playing more of Eldarth's Foundry quests lately and boy they sure inspire me to create stuff again. Here are three of the ones I ran... :)

Old Magic

Sage Ramiel has tasked you to assist him in finding traces of "Old Magic" in the orc overrun Tower District. Just how overrun it is depends on your choice at the start though with an interesting difficulty setter. Interesting to note that the enemies here respawn indefinitely which can make this benign "fetch quest" a bit of a hassle!

Also on display once more is his creative method of having indoor areas on an outdoor map. For non-foundry people, this means transitions between the two without a loading screen; something not easily done by mere mortals! Definitely worth a play through though it's worth bringing a fast mount for all the back and forth.

Calimport Arena

While visiting the distant land of Calimport, you are tricked (rather easily) into showing your prowess at the arena. While I don't quite like the story in this one, given I couldn't kill all the people I wanted to, it's still a very impressive and very visual quest. The zone seems entirely made from scratch and is beautifully designed, as are the awesome effects during the arena battle. It also looks like Eldarth was experimenting with currency exchange in this one.

Built from scratch!

For those not big on story, you can skip a lot of the optional conversation though and just head in to get your combat on. :)

Under Siege!

You must help defend a dwarven keep in the mountains is under siege by Winter forged forces. In typical Eldarth fashion, the keep, special effects and NPC costumes are great. Strangely there's very little fighting in it which is a bit of a downer as I left feeling the dwarves would have had everything under control. Also one of the ice giant engineers with ridiculously short arms never actually leaves / is killed after the siege is over. A little odd given the care given to the rest of the map.

So much detail...

Still a pretty place to visit, just don't expect much action.

NWO: Tidal Redux #DS#

[Part of Odd Jobs of Neverwinter.] 

The third and final entry in the Drowned Shore Foundry contest is "Tidal Redux #DS#" by Torontodave. You wake up right after being hit by the tidal wave that decimated the area, but unlike in Eldarth's quest where you can go diving (with a horse no less), here you receive a water walking ability early on to stay above the waves. Later on you get to be -very high- above the waves just to challenge those with acrophobia. :P

Impossible engineering is cool. :P

In contrast to Drowned Shore Disembark #DS# and Sage Ramiel goes to War #DS# which throw you into action right away, Tidal Redux has a much slower start of tending to survivors and such before going on the offensive against the Cult of the Crushing Wave - who in this reimagining are more fish folk like.  

One area Torontodave beats Eldarth in, at least for me in this instance, is his ability to hide Easter Eggs though. This is a true explorer's joy in finding all five eggs he has hidden across the map. There might not be any prizes in doing so, but it's worth testing your skill if that's your kinda thing. All up, this is a solid entry and a good map which is definitely worth a play through!

NWO: Sage Ramiel goes to War #DS#

[Part of the Odd Jobs of Neverwinter.] 

Finally, the actual Drowned Shore Foundry contest is underway (though months late), and I can't help but feel regret for not participating. Still, the next best thing is to play the few entries that did get submitted, and since I already ran Drowned Shore Disembark #DS# last time, next up is "Sage Ramiel goes to War #DS#" by foundry master Eldarth.

His attention to detail and somehow making indoor sections from outdoor maps are fantastic, and the same can be said for his reworked paths to get around all the invisible walls that litter the regular maps. There's a fair bit of gravity altered underwater spelunking to be had here too as the Drowned Shore certainly lives up to its name.

Look at all the special effects!

Story wise, you enter the Drowned Shore after the Cult of the Crushing Wave have laid waste to it with a massive tidal wave from their iceberg base that has sent ships and other debris in land. Sage Ramiel (Eldarth's go-to character) has set up base at the local lighthouse and needs your help in driving them back.

Apart from one, unfinished NPC in the last area there are no real negatives to this foundry creation and I highly recommend it to everyone as a good break from your regular, weekly grind.

Neverwinter Online: Rage of Demons

I'm in the minority of people pretty happy with it.

Yes, there is only one new town zone and there are only new open world Heroic Encounters (HEs) and Skirmishes to partake in. The quest line by R.R. Salvatore is too short, and apart from the voice acting and some new models and map(singular?), is around the level of the better foundry works. My brother actually likened it to my stuff but he might be biased. :P

I need to learn how to do cut scenes...

The short quest line also reuses maps half of which were stolen segments from the long lost dungeons the other people have been asking for, but I feel what is needed is MORE quest lines like this. Yah, sure Drizzt is around it doesn't matter. For me storytelling is a big part of Dungeons and Dragons and simply grinding the same dungeons over and over is my definition of "not a good time".

But what about grinding HEs and Skirmishes? Those I don't mind too much. It really comes down to a matter of time. When you queue for Dungeons you can be waiting a long while before you even enter an instance and then if your team is undergeared, not playing optimally, or simply unlucky it could take even longer to get out of the place with a reward in hand for time spent. On epics you sometimes don't even leave WITH a reward if you can't complete the dungeon!

While HEs have no queue because you just show up, Skirmishes do but the player skill requirement in them is much lower (so far) which leads to more successes and most importantly these two have timers. Win or lose, it will take 15 minutes. The end. Having a quantifiable amount of time is important. You can plan other things around it or have a good indication of when you will be free.

Throw in that you can get currencies and rewards for doing a variety of things, this mod gets a big thumbs up from me. Bonus points for all the cool demon fights too!

NWO: Drowned Shore Disembark #ds#

[Part of Odd Jobs of Neverwinter.] 

Created for the Epic Foundry: Drowned Shore contest, this map showcases a different version of how the Drowned Shore could have been. Starting with Omaha landing style combat, the quest leads you through a lot of patiently, well-crafted environments with well placed traps and a LOT of decor.

One of the few quests (outside of my own) that give you an NPC party.

The slight negatives are that it is a pretty long quest and that English is clearly not the authors' first language but it is very passable. There are also a few bugs like people falling through siege towers and unlabelled containers but again these are easily overlooked. I was most impressed with the water effects during the quest and highly recommend it for everyone to play. It's also easy to find with that "#ds# tag.

It's certainly a good deal better than the repetitive vigilance tasks of the regular Drowned Shore, that's for sure!

NWO: Cryptic of Kelemvor [Foundry Review]

[Part of Odd Jobs of Neverwinter.]

Been a long while since I reviewed anything from Neverwinter Online, but with my recent promotion to Foundry Artifex (Rank 6), I got inspired again not only to play more foundries but to create more! This mission was quite helpful in inspiring that, and was made as a comedy during the many changes Cryptic put in during the Stronghold module.

In it, not only do you have to find Rhix the now job-less merchant, but you also have to travel through the gateway to kill leadership armies, acquire a nerf hammer to smash a new class, fight the soulless armies of bots and find a path through the "new content dungeon".

That last bit was the most impressive for me as the design is really cool despite being simple. You can "grind" your way to the top via the large ramps, use the "pay" method and climb the green pillar in the center or simply "bug abuse" and use the clearly visible teleporter to skip to the top, despite the NPC GM telling you not too. All up a pretty fun and funny quest and one definitely deserving of as many stars as it can get. Highly recommended!

Alas, since I didn't take screenshots inside - enjoy this picture of my guildies and I taking down a pair of beholders in our Stronghold instead. :P

Photo Story: Never Adventures (Part 7) - #IntPiPoMo2015

[Part of my photo story folder and part of IntPiPoMo2015!]

Of course there are many other dangers about.

Such as the Thayan invasion at the Dread Ring.

Which is home to my favorite looking dungeon: the Phantasmal fortress.

You can play with cute dragon pinatas!

Or go into Tiamat's Temple...

To fight the dragon goddess herself!

You can also face endless customized horrors from the foundry.

Or more familiar terrors...

Waiting within epic dungeons!

Or play the market where "heroes" sell refugees as slaves!?

Just don't complain when you get lousy loot...

Because I don't think anyone is going to hear you.

Current #IntPiPoMo2015 Count - 78 / 50

NWO: The Cryptic Method

With the release of the latest module "Grindfest" "Strongholds", Cryptic certainly designed a great way to encourage people to grind in all the end game campaigns to acquire various doohickeys to help construct their stronghold. In addition to this (or I only realized recently) that they also placed some item level "barriers to entry" on some content which I am not a big fan of - mainly epic level dungeons.

Needs a lot of work!

Not that I have a burning desire to do that content, but just so I have the choice for if ever I want to participate - I can. Thus began my quest to improve my gear, and I quickly found there were two paths: farming a PvE instance or farming PvP matches. The fastest method to my goal was simply to do both. It probably also helped keep me sane, giving some variety in game style.

Anywho, as a non PvPer, you can imagine how that went for me in the various PvP Domination matches (fancy name for "Hold this Location" which is standard in many other games). Fortunately you still gain currency to buy those higher level items even if you lose, though at a much slower rate than the victors obviously. What it did make me see though is how people use their various characters, and what combos were most effective since I was usually at the receiving end of them.

Using my ultra-narutard Kakashi skills I obviously then respecced my guys to be more inline with what I would encounter there and wow, taking those builds back out into the PvE environment I'm now showing much better performance than before. My alt ranger character in particular, who was pretty rotten compared to my main rogue, I now slightly favor more because of the combat techniques learned from fighting other rangers: I had no idea he could perma root and stun enemy groups with fast enough rotations.

So now, not only do I have the bare minimum to pass all the gear wall levels but I also have the player skill for my two characters to play better. I think that is pretty awesome. Still doesn't mean I like PvP though, and that's a bad thing since it feels like Cryptic is trying to push it to the forefront with the recently released Stronghold Siege patch, which also happened to remove a major source of Astral Diamonds from the game.

See with Cryptic, "fix" is the same as "hack it off with an axe". Usually as MMO's progress there are more and more patches that release ever increasing content. Neverwinter Online is one of the few where future patches actually take away things from the game like dungeons, profession rewards, the foundry, and who knows what else is to come, and unlike the Living Story in Guildwars 2 there's absolutely no lore reason for it happening here.

Today I Smiled: Second Lie of bs-ter

Looks like I've been Liebstered a second time, this time by WolfDragon who generally suggested having a search field somewhere on here... so I've plugged on in on the left, just underneath the Library section! Just like last time, I'm going to kill the chain here after answering WolfDragon's questions. I think I'll have a go at the 11 random facts too, though as I mentioned last time - there are already around 31 facts I put up in last years Blaugust (starting from this post and ending here).

Eleven Facts that you may already know about me:

• I draw and have made cartoons in flash. Kinda bummed with the recent news for that product.
• The pic in my profile is what I actually looked like before.
• I compose music and mainly play piano.
• I love boardgames and want to make my own. So far, this has been unsuccessful.
• Always wanted to make a computer game that was good enough to sell (for the price of a hot chocolate). Will be trying that in the future.
• I wear glasses when on the computer as I am far sighted.
• When I was younger, a german shepherd managed to pounce and pin me to the floor - it then licked my face!
• I sometimes take cold showers just for the hell of it. This is most interesting during winter.
• I'm a chocaholic!
• I watch a lot of movies. (Duh)
• Since March, I've been on a not so strict "avoid carbs" diet. Lost 7 kgs so far.

WolfDragon's Pop Quiz:

If you could have any vehicle of any type from a game, which one would it be?
Giant Robot. One of the humanoid looking ones from either ZMR or Mech Warrior.

Does your current nickname (or character name) have a meaning? If so, what is it?
Yes - a very silly one! My Skyrim actually came from when I was learning to play basketball, during an age where I was so young that I could barely shoot from the freethrow line - it was far! I thought it would be so much easier if I could walk on the sky, upside down no less, because it would be easier, as the only upside down player, to shoot, not need to dribble (because I'm flying right? no traveling violation there) and be able to dunk (jumping is inverted) and touch the ring as my taller and at the time, way fitter brothers could. While the elder scrolls totally "stole" my name, at least theirs had a more awesome connotation to it. :P

Do you like to collect things in game? If so, what is your strangest collection?
Healing potions. Not really a very "out there" collection, but in games that have healing potions I normally use them pretty fast. It isn't uncommon for me to bring 500+ of the strongest type I can get my hands on.

Have you ever been drawn back into an MMO because of an email they sent you?
Nope. If said emails had instant rewards attached to them then they'd have a better chance. Hasn't happened yet though.

What game achievement are you most proud of? (It can be a “real” achievement or a goal that you made up for yourself.)
Playing piano and singing at my cousin's wedding - as the only musician. First time I ever did something like that, and it was awesome. :)

Have you ever lead a group of people in a game (such as a guild)? If not, do you think you could?
Yes, and still do as part of the triumvirate leadership for my guild. It's a lot easier with co-leaders I think.

How do you express your love for games? Writing? Art? Posting on the forums?
All the above PLUS also making content for games that allow me to, such as Neverwinter Online (Foundry) or when I was a GM in various Ultima Online shards.

Has gaming helped your life in any way? If so, how?
It certainly sped up my typing and reading.

Describe a moment where you very badly wanted to do something that went beyond the limits/physics of a game. Such as save a favorite character that was otherwise destined to die.
Any time you are -required- to have more than one person to do anything: from fight a boss to open a door, that is stupidity. True heroes get stuff done on their own!

Ever wanted a pet from a game? Which one?
In real? Well, there are many cool ones in my Mabinogi stable, but if they poop then I don't want any! Hrm, maybe the flamesteeds would be ok - they do seem mechanical anyway. Mechanical and ... on fire. :P

And most importantly: cake or pie?
Cake! Especially the chocolate variety. Pie is often filled with fruits. Bleh!

Neverwinter Online: Beyond Elemental Evil

Neverwinter Online: Module 6 (aka "Elemental Evil") is out and it increases the level cap to 70. While there isn't a "campaign" (that I can see anyway), there are new adventure zones to level up in featuring enemies of the four planes (earth, water, fire, and air). Talk Sergeant Knox at Protector's Enclave to get that quest line started. If you have a free character slot or are new to the game, you may also want to try out the new paladin class.

What it doesn't make clear is that the new level cap also has changed ALL the old campaigns. Sharandar, the Dread Ring, Icewind Dale and the Well of Dragons now have level 70+ enemies. Expect a very difficult time if you decide to continue doing quests there as a level 60!

I also have a feeling we might be seeing a Spelljammer module sometime in the future. Why?

Because of this bald guy behind me.

That's Minsc, who some players may have encountered in Baldur's Gate. He has a pet named Boo.

• Boo is a minature giant space hamster. Giant versions power vessels in Spelljammer.
• Cryptic's other game is Star Trek Online. A space game where players own star ships.
• The air ship in pirates skyhold has gotten a lot of upgrades since I last saw it.
• Owning / Upgrading a vessel would cause a lot of people to invest in more Zen / Astrals / Time. Cryptic likes money.
• Spelljammer is not in the faerun universe? Neither was the base elemental evil (World of Greyhawk).
• Being able to Spelljam might open doors to other D&D realms such as Greyhawk or Krynnspace!

For now though, there are lots of crazy elemental forces that need killing rebalancing which will keep everyone busy. When the foundry comes back up, you can try scratch the Spelljammer fix with this player made quest (not one of mine):

'To Infinity, and BEYOND!'
NW-DSQ39N5SJ

I haven't tried it myself yet, but at least I'm not the only one with Spelljamming in mind! Let's kill some Neogi! :D

Design: Empty / Scaled Maps

[Part of my MMO Design folder.]

Do you like empty maps?

I have a quick test for you all! Picture yourself running through a large zone in one of your games. Of the two versions below, which do you prefer?

A) The map is almost fully devoid of enemies, NPCs, and items to interact with and only serves as "travel time" from point A to B.

B) The map has a lot of NPCs you can interact with. Some to talk to. Some quest givers. Some to fight against.

Personally, I pick option B, because option A is stupid. Even if you are trying to show the scale of something having a player move through an otherwise empty map is not fun. Some good examples of this - Assassin's Creed 3 underground and getting out into the styx in Project Zomboid. There's lots of ground to cover. By walking. And walking. And walking. That's so exci..zzzzzzzzz....

One of the tips when designing Neverwinter Online Foundries is to not scale your maps unless there's something of interest there. You have a huge castle? Awesome. It better be filled with lore, explorable stuff, important details and/or NPCs. If the only room with interaction is a room in the highest tower then screw everything in between. Design it so the player goes immediately there (or at least has a clear option to) or prepare for a low score.

Unlike a tabletop D&D session where time and movement are really dependent on the dungeon master, computer games where you are literally controlling every step of a character takes can get boring and tiring quickly (if that is all you are doing), especially when moving through "purely decorative" environments. What do you think? Do you agree?

Today I Smiled: Second Wind

Sorry for the post frequency slow down, that last daily run really burned through my prepped content (and me) but don't worry, it will probably be back to that in a few weeks when I catch my breath. This is just a small post just to say that one of my Neverwinter Foundry Quests got second place. Woohoo!

I lost by .9? DAMN!

While there wasn't actually a prize for second place, I still got 132,000 Astral Diamonds for tying in the Best Story section. Woo! At least I won something... ;P

I also learned a few things since my last post, such as not counting the word "The" in alphabetical listings (so I fixed my lists on the top right there), that all snakes are deaf (but can "hear" vibrations), and that 3D pens are actually a thing (a must see for artists).

Lastly I'll leave you with an video links for an old but funny Mountain Dew Ad, a talented tight rope artist, and a silly site where you compare meerkats. Hope you all have a great day!

Quests Failed!

Blergh, I know I'm a few days early but I'm going to call this now. I knew there's a reason I don't like writing up New Year's Resolutions. I'm one of those people that obviously just doesn't get them done! So let's take a quick look at that list from the start of this year...

Lose 12 kgs. That's just 1 kg per month!
Fail! I lost just as much as I gained and am back where I started. >.<

Start writing out the guild history, one chapter per 2 months would be good.
*Watches the tumbleweed*

Complete 10 quests for NWO.
7/10.

Make a silly game of my own.
I actually did this! Twice in boardgame form. They weren't any good though.

Continue the Today I Smiled series with 2 per month.
Definitely didn't do 2 per month, but still posted 24+ during the year so I'll give this one a pass.

Finish composing another song.
Neglected. Which is annoying since I had half a new song already...

Score: 2 out of 6.

Retry next year? In theory it should be easier now that I have more XP right? For the most part yes, but we'll see if I'm in a mood to put up another list later! :P

Lastly I am sad to report that I am down to 50 links to other blogs. That might sound like a big number until I remind you that I was on around 150+ at one stage after the previous Newbie Blogger Initiative. Sticking to my rule of "must have new content within 4 weeks (eg. one post a month)" apparently was too much to ask for around two thirds of the population. Is this a sign that blogs are dying? No, probably not. Just that I'm either too harsh on my criteria or I'm simply linking the wrong people.