Recollé Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
recollecters) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
recallings2018-12-08 10:12 am
recollecters) wrote in recallings2018-12-08 10:12 am
Entry tags:
STATE OF THE GAME/DISCUSSION/FEEDBACK
STATE OF THE GAME/FEEDBACK
PREMISE • RULES • FAQ • TAKEN • RESERVES • APPLICATIONS
REGAINS • HIATUS/DROPS • PLOT SUBMISSIONS • CALENDAR • MOD CONTACT • NAV
REGAINS • HIATUS/DROPS • PLOT SUBMISSIONS • CALENDAR • MOD CONTACT • NAV
Hi guys! As notated on the calendar, we come to you today with a "State of the Game"/Discussions post! We'll be going over a few topics, discussing some things from a mod perspective, and ultimately asking for feedback as a playerbase.
We truly appreciate you taking the time to read over this and provide any thoughts that you may have.
Recollé is, due to the time of its conception, is a little over two years old now and will officially be two come February 2019. This was a game that has always been designed to run anywhere between two and a half to three years (erring more on the side of three) because we as a mod team wanted to tell a concise, consistent story. We initially had a very concrete beat map of where we were going, what specific plot points would happen when, and in a perfect world all of these beats would have been followed.
And then the most beautiful thing happened when all of you apped in and surprised all of us with your creativity and ideas and changed the trajectory of the game. The game has changed and we've presented ideas that we had never originally talked about, opened opportunities we hadn't thought about and the game has shaped into what it is today.
As mods, Lucy and I have dedicated ourselves to running this game and keeping it going for as long as there are players who want to keep playing in this setting. Though our initial story was set to be wrapped within the three-year timeframe, we do have ideas to continue on after that.
For the purpose of organization and this post, we're going to break down a few things into sections, open up the floor for discussion and chat with you guys so we can go forward in 2019 with a clear mind and a fresh start!
FACELIFT
First thing's first. Let's talk about the facelift the game's received as of lately since this is the easiest to discuss and tackle. As you may have noticed, a few days ago we rolled out with updated game pages, a new layout, and new codes for all of these pages. We've received some feedback over on the mod plurk (mostly regarding that the layout is a bit difficult on mobile and thoughts regarding the drop-downs on Taken and FAQ pages), but we would like to hear from you what works best! What are you liking or disliking about the new look? Are there any suggestions you'd like us to try and implement for a compromise? We want the game to be as easy to navigate as possible, so please let us know your thoughts.
EVENT STRUCTURE/TYPES
The next thing we really want to touch base on is how events are run in Recollé. Due to a suggestion brought to us back in July, we started creating two event logs per month along with the Retrospec monthly mingle. We offer freebies in all three of these posts and we have spaced them out to hopefully give players time to get ahead in threads they've started before the second wave rolls out. We would love to hear feedback on the following:
-Structure! Does the posting schedule on the 1st, the 5th, and the 17th work? Does it not work? What do you like and dislike about it?
-Do you feel that the events are varied enough from each other in each month that each log is bringing something new?
-And finally, the big one: what sort of other events would you like to see?
As mods, we have our reasons for choosing to roll the TDM and event logs into one log during app months. We feel that this allows players to jump right in without the weird "gap" between the TDM and receiving the Retrospec app for the first time upon game acceptance. We also feel that this fosters a sense of community and provides a better view of what the gameplay will actually be like. However, we are also always open to suggestions and adjustments.
One of the things we hope to try and do in 2019 is become better at balancing plottier events with lighthearted events to set a tone for the game that's even-clipped but also doesn't lose traction of the game's main story. August, September and October are examples of the kind of events we wish to pursue where characters will spend time outside of the city of Recollé, exploring and fixing mechanics of the game ICly and unraveling puzzles that have been created 100+ years before the characters' initiation to the Retrospec app.
Our plan going forward in 2019 is to really focus on the idea of the worlds being split, delve more into the history of the Founders and their broken pact, and explore the more mystical and surreal side of life that forces characters to ask if their instincts can be trusted and which side of the story they're on. Events will not be necessarily darker, but they will have varying options for those who wish to play it lowkey and those who wish to fully embrace what the events have to offer. We will be designing more exploratory events and may even open another arc in which characters are somewhere outside of the city itself for an amount of time.
One of the things we will not return to, unfortunately, are the team events such as August 2017 and February 2018. With the game the size that it is, we feel that these are unnecessary and instead will focus on incorporating elements of these team events into future game events.
As mods, we would love to hear about what sort of challenges and mishaps you'd like to see in the future. What parts of the metaplot would you like to really delve into? Are there things you wish to go back and explore? While we, again, have a skeletal structure of what can come for the rest of the game we want to work directly with players to provide game events that are not only fun but provide a story to support characters' growth and development. Please let us know in the comments below!
Gamesize and What This Means To You
As many of you have noticed, the size of Recollé has shrunk significantly. At its height, the game used to have about 200 characters, but right now we're looking at a little over 70. While it's sad to lose so many characters (especially those who were close CR), we do feel that a smaller game size also allows us to be a little more hands-on with players, utilize game mechanics, and offer more customized, fun bonuses during events.
At this time, we do not plan on bringing back individual quests via the NPC quest system, but one of the things we're hoping to implement going into 2019 is giving characters the ability to really impact and change the world outside of purchasing back world regains. We're hoping to take elements from canons in-game to shape future events and effects, and we're excited to give each canon a chance to be in the spotlight for a little while. How? We will be revising the Player Plots section a little to allow for players to submit one or two aspects from their character's canon. These will be aspects that we blend together to create unique scenarios to throw characters into and tie into the story element of soul energy that shapes the world around them.
Our main question for players: is this something you would be interested in? Do you prefer having something customized that your characters can draw back to, or would you prefer brand new aspects only? With the game the size that it is, what would you like to see happen to ease the generation of new CR and encourage tagging out, etc?
We understand that it's become a bit of a challenge to play characters that have been here for so long especially when it comes to dropped characters and the nature of the way we handle drops (i.e. NPC status, followed by a rewrite if the character is apped in by someone else.) Likewise, we understand that with a smaller pool to draw from it's much easier (and therefore much more likely) for CR to overlap, especially for players who have more than one character. We hope to combat this issue with some small elements that will divide the game (think the Alpha-Beta system) and encourage characters ICly to reach out to other groups, but if you have further suggestions or things you'd like to see to help alleviate this issue please leave a comment below!
MODDING, GAME ELEMENTS, ETC
As mentioned above, Rec's almost two years old. When we first created Recollé and started hammering out mechanics, etc, we came up with a solid idea of what gameplay would be based on and what elements would have the most impact. Initially when the game started, we had a set AC of 10 comments and regains could be applied whenever.
Things changed within six months after that; we implemented a slightly higher AC (the AC we have now) and added the requirement of one memory regain per month (and in doing so began offering freebies every month so people weren't scrambling.)
Recollé entire premise and structure is based solely on memory mechanics and regains. We review regains and items (and world regains) and use the pacing of characters' growth to determine when certain events will happen and certain effects that will come from it. However, with the characters spending longer and longer in game we also understand that several of you are approaching a point where so many of your main memories have been regained. It can begin to feel pretty stagnant if you're playing with almost a full set of canon memories in an AU setting with nowhere to grow!
With that said, one of the things we'd like to do in 2019 is incorporate new elements for players to utilize their memory regains in different ways. Rather than just receiving memories/items/abilities/etc, we would like to take a proactive approach to how these are received. One of the things we have considered is, again, personalization/customizing when it comes to certain regains such as involving a certain scenario that's triggered when your character receives a certain power or item, or some effect that will happen upon receiving a memory. These are simply to add an extra layer to things rather than have characters fall into a stagnant pattern of "oh, the same old same old regains" after being here for several months (or in some cases, years.)
We feel there are pros and cons to this! The pros, of course, are refreshing the process, giving characters more to play with and adding more mystery and surprise elements back to the game for characters to work on unraveling. The cons are that depending on the regain itself, customization may take a little longer especially if there are several regains in the queue. As mods, we try to be as on top of regains as possible for the sake of playability (sans the Gmail issue notated here from last month, which we still extend our deepest apologies about!), but there are some days there is a stack of 10+ regains to get through and organize on our end. We're more than happy to do this, but we also want an open conversation with players about realistic expectations, wants, etc. At most, since the customizations would be brief, we anticipate tacking on maybe an extra day to processing which puts regains processed within 1-3 days.
With that said, is that something you would be interested in having us implement? Again, it's solely to add another layer and give a fresh spin on the regains process for gameplay, and this is not an idea we will implement without player feedback. Please let us know in the comments below!
Another thing we'd like to discuss is the bonus points system. We know it's...immensely tedious to count your comments and points every single month even with a spreadsheet doing the tallying for you and we would like to see how we can ease the counting system. One of the ideas we've had is capping the amount of points a character can receive per month and reworking the tiers for certain items, powers, etc. Another idea we've had is simply eliminating the points system all together and implementing a new system for earning regain buybacks, such as linking certain threads, thread requirements, etc. Essentially this would be a written form rather than a numbers spreadsheet. Do either of these options sound like they would be better? Do you have other ideas you'd like to pitch to us? Please let us know!
Finally, we'd like to touch base about modding. We are a mod team of three with two head mods and one helper mod. As a team, we hope to be as open and communicative with you guys as possible, address concerns as quickly as possible, and make your overall gameplay enjoyable. We'd like to use this post also as a feedback post for us for anything you'd like to note (good, bad, neutral, whatever) that you'd like us to know! Please remember: we cannot fix any issues in-game that we aren't aware of! As mods, we are not without our own faults and our own lives/other hobbies/etc. that sometimes come up while modding Recollé. We are always grateful for feedback from you guys, especially as we are not mindreaders and may not realize something is afoot. Once we are aware of suggestions, we will do our best to implement them and we rely on a solid mod-player line of communication to keep the game afloat.
We chose not to be anon mods when the game first opened for the sake of transparency and to allow players to put names and faces to who's flying the plane, so to speak. We want our players to be comfortable talking to us and know that we're listening and available. If you would rather leave questions/comments/concerns elsewhere we have the mod contact post that is always open and does allow for sock journals, and our PMs are open. Thank you in advance for anything you may have for us.
ENDGAME PLANS
Here it is. Let's talk endgame. Endgame, thankfully, isn't anytime soon per our plans. The earliest we would ever consider endgame is August of 2019 and that's if everyone goes turbo and wraps up the arc we're about to enter. We don't anticipate that happening, but for the sake of clarity we do want this on record that this possibility exists! Ideally, again, our goal is to wrap up Recollé's main storyline in February of 2020, three years to the day of when the game opened.
What happens from there though? Well, that's up to you, dear players.
While we anticipate Rec's main story will wind down around February 2020, we would like to float the idea of leaving the game open after that as an exploratory sandbox kind of setting. Modding would be a little more hands-off (i.e. ideally, a mod post would go up at the beginning of each month outlining a few basic effects/things players can do and expect in the setting that month) and players would be free to use the game communities as their own sort of dressing room, so to speak. We would no longer require applications, though we would encourage characters to come in and out of the city as they please like a permanent fourthwall setting.
Alternatively, if the playerbase was interested in the idea, we could start a new arc after the original three wrap up and continue gameplay as usual. The story would change and the structure of the city would change, but the game would continue.
Are these options something the playerbase would be interested in seeing happen? Would you guys rather have a nice and tidy ending so that once the game wraps that's the end instead of an open-ended world or creating something new from scratch? We are happy to do either for anyone who wishes to continue playing, but we'd like to hear your thoughts so we can start planning in advance!
In addition, we would be closing applications to the game permanently around ~six months prior to endgame. We feel that six months is a decent amount of time for memory regains and CR building, especially with the way we hope to structure 2019. Until then, applications will remain bi-monthly as they have been starting with opening late January 2019.
FINAL CLOSING NOTES, REMINDERS, PLEASE STOP TALKING, MODS.
Okay, if you say so.
In all seriousness, we know this is a very lofty update to read and we appreciate you guys bearing with us! It's a lot to digest and a lot that Lucy and myself have discussed in private while assessing the game itself and addressing how we're going forward in 2019. Again, if you have any questions/comments later you do not wish to post here please hit us on the mod contact post or via PM!
Above all else, we really want to thank you guys for being such an amazing playerbase over the last couple of years (or months, if you've just joined us!) We are grateful to be able to create and foster a fun environment for everyone who's joined us and we love being able to see the fruits of your labor, so to speak. Recollé isn't just a game that Lucy and I created, but rather a game that has gone through several expansions and been shaped by so many creative and talented players.
Comments to this post will be unscreened, but please keep comments to each other civil and polite. The gamewide Love Meme will go up on the 10th, so please keep that on your radar and spread some love to your gamemates. We hope you have a fantastic holiday season and we look forward to stepping into 2019 and creating the next chapter of our story with you ♥
-Ty, Lucy and Megan
We truly appreciate you taking the time to read over this and provide any thoughts that you may have.
Recollé is, due to the time of its conception, is a little over two years old now and will officially be two come February 2019. This was a game that has always been designed to run anywhere between two and a half to three years (erring more on the side of three) because we as a mod team wanted to tell a concise, consistent story. We initially had a very concrete beat map of where we were going, what specific plot points would happen when, and in a perfect world all of these beats would have been followed.
And then the most beautiful thing happened when all of you apped in and surprised all of us with your creativity and ideas and changed the trajectory of the game. The game has changed and we've presented ideas that we had never originally talked about, opened opportunities we hadn't thought about and the game has shaped into what it is today.
As mods, Lucy and I have dedicated ourselves to running this game and keeping it going for as long as there are players who want to keep playing in this setting. Though our initial story was set to be wrapped within the three-year timeframe, we do have ideas to continue on after that.
For the purpose of organization and this post, we're going to break down a few things into sections, open up the floor for discussion and chat with you guys so we can go forward in 2019 with a clear mind and a fresh start!
FACELIFT
First thing's first. Let's talk about the facelift the game's received as of lately since this is the easiest to discuss and tackle. As you may have noticed, a few days ago we rolled out with updated game pages, a new layout, and new codes for all of these pages. We've received some feedback over on the mod plurk (mostly regarding that the layout is a bit difficult on mobile and thoughts regarding the drop-downs on Taken and FAQ pages), but we would like to hear from you what works best! What are you liking or disliking about the new look? Are there any suggestions you'd like us to try and implement for a compromise? We want the game to be as easy to navigate as possible, so please let us know your thoughts.
EVENT STRUCTURE/TYPES
The next thing we really want to touch base on is how events are run in Recollé. Due to a suggestion brought to us back in July, we started creating two event logs per month along with the Retrospec monthly mingle. We offer freebies in all three of these posts and we have spaced them out to hopefully give players time to get ahead in threads they've started before the second wave rolls out. We would love to hear feedback on the following:
-Structure! Does the posting schedule on the 1st, the 5th, and the 17th work? Does it not work? What do you like and dislike about it?
-Do you feel that the events are varied enough from each other in each month that each log is bringing something new?
-And finally, the big one: what sort of other events would you like to see?
As mods, we have our reasons for choosing to roll the TDM and event logs into one log during app months. We feel that this allows players to jump right in without the weird "gap" between the TDM and receiving the Retrospec app for the first time upon game acceptance. We also feel that this fosters a sense of community and provides a better view of what the gameplay will actually be like. However, we are also always open to suggestions and adjustments.
One of the things we hope to try and do in 2019 is become better at balancing plottier events with lighthearted events to set a tone for the game that's even-clipped but also doesn't lose traction of the game's main story. August, September and October are examples of the kind of events we wish to pursue where characters will spend time outside of the city of Recollé, exploring and fixing mechanics of the game ICly and unraveling puzzles that have been created 100+ years before the characters' initiation to the Retrospec app.
Our plan going forward in 2019 is to really focus on the idea of the worlds being split, delve more into the history of the Founders and their broken pact, and explore the more mystical and surreal side of life that forces characters to ask if their instincts can be trusted and which side of the story they're on. Events will not be necessarily darker, but they will have varying options for those who wish to play it lowkey and those who wish to fully embrace what the events have to offer. We will be designing more exploratory events and may even open another arc in which characters are somewhere outside of the city itself for an amount of time.
One of the things we will not return to, unfortunately, are the team events such as August 2017 and February 2018. With the game the size that it is, we feel that these are unnecessary and instead will focus on incorporating elements of these team events into future game events.
As mods, we would love to hear about what sort of challenges and mishaps you'd like to see in the future. What parts of the metaplot would you like to really delve into? Are there things you wish to go back and explore? While we, again, have a skeletal structure of what can come for the rest of the game we want to work directly with players to provide game events that are not only fun but provide a story to support characters' growth and development. Please let us know in the comments below!
Gamesize and What This Means To You
As many of you have noticed, the size of Recollé has shrunk significantly. At its height, the game used to have about 200 characters, but right now we're looking at a little over 70. While it's sad to lose so many characters (especially those who were close CR), we do feel that a smaller game size also allows us to be a little more hands-on with players, utilize game mechanics, and offer more customized, fun bonuses during events.
At this time, we do not plan on bringing back individual quests via the NPC quest system, but one of the things we're hoping to implement going into 2019 is giving characters the ability to really impact and change the world outside of purchasing back world regains. We're hoping to take elements from canons in-game to shape future events and effects, and we're excited to give each canon a chance to be in the spotlight for a little while. How? We will be revising the Player Plots section a little to allow for players to submit one or two aspects from their character's canon. These will be aspects that we blend together to create unique scenarios to throw characters into and tie into the story element of soul energy that shapes the world around them.
Our main question for players: is this something you would be interested in? Do you prefer having something customized that your characters can draw back to, or would you prefer brand new aspects only? With the game the size that it is, what would you like to see happen to ease the generation of new CR and encourage tagging out, etc?
We understand that it's become a bit of a challenge to play characters that have been here for so long especially when it comes to dropped characters and the nature of the way we handle drops (i.e. NPC status, followed by a rewrite if the character is apped in by someone else.) Likewise, we understand that with a smaller pool to draw from it's much easier (and therefore much more likely) for CR to overlap, especially for players who have more than one character. We hope to combat this issue with some small elements that will divide the game (think the Alpha-Beta system) and encourage characters ICly to reach out to other groups, but if you have further suggestions or things you'd like to see to help alleviate this issue please leave a comment below!
MODDING, GAME ELEMENTS, ETC
As mentioned above, Rec's almost two years old. When we first created Recollé and started hammering out mechanics, etc, we came up with a solid idea of what gameplay would be based on and what elements would have the most impact. Initially when the game started, we had a set AC of 10 comments and regains could be applied whenever.
Things changed within six months after that; we implemented a slightly higher AC (the AC we have now) and added the requirement of one memory regain per month (and in doing so began offering freebies every month so people weren't scrambling.)
Recollé entire premise and structure is based solely on memory mechanics and regains. We review regains and items (and world regains) and use the pacing of characters' growth to determine when certain events will happen and certain effects that will come from it. However, with the characters spending longer and longer in game we also understand that several of you are approaching a point where so many of your main memories have been regained. It can begin to feel pretty stagnant if you're playing with almost a full set of canon memories in an AU setting with nowhere to grow!
With that said, one of the things we'd like to do in 2019 is incorporate new elements for players to utilize their memory regains in different ways. Rather than just receiving memories/items/abilities/etc, we would like to take a proactive approach to how these are received. One of the things we have considered is, again, personalization/customizing when it comes to certain regains such as involving a certain scenario that's triggered when your character receives a certain power or item, or some effect that will happen upon receiving a memory. These are simply to add an extra layer to things rather than have characters fall into a stagnant pattern of "oh, the same old same old regains" after being here for several months (or in some cases, years.)
We feel there are pros and cons to this! The pros, of course, are refreshing the process, giving characters more to play with and adding more mystery and surprise elements back to the game for characters to work on unraveling. The cons are that depending on the regain itself, customization may take a little longer especially if there are several regains in the queue. As mods, we try to be as on top of regains as possible for the sake of playability (sans the Gmail issue notated here from last month, which we still extend our deepest apologies about!), but there are some days there is a stack of 10+ regains to get through and organize on our end. We're more than happy to do this, but we also want an open conversation with players about realistic expectations, wants, etc. At most, since the customizations would be brief, we anticipate tacking on maybe an extra day to processing which puts regains processed within 1-3 days.
With that said, is that something you would be interested in having us implement? Again, it's solely to add another layer and give a fresh spin on the regains process for gameplay, and this is not an idea we will implement without player feedback. Please let us know in the comments below!
Another thing we'd like to discuss is the bonus points system. We know it's...immensely tedious to count your comments and points every single month even with a spreadsheet doing the tallying for you and we would like to see how we can ease the counting system. One of the ideas we've had is capping the amount of points a character can receive per month and reworking the tiers for certain items, powers, etc. Another idea we've had is simply eliminating the points system all together and implementing a new system for earning regain buybacks, such as linking certain threads, thread requirements, etc. Essentially this would be a written form rather than a numbers spreadsheet. Do either of these options sound like they would be better? Do you have other ideas you'd like to pitch to us? Please let us know!
Finally, we'd like to touch base about modding. We are a mod team of three with two head mods and one helper mod. As a team, we hope to be as open and communicative with you guys as possible, address concerns as quickly as possible, and make your overall gameplay enjoyable. We'd like to use this post also as a feedback post for us for anything you'd like to note (good, bad, neutral, whatever) that you'd like us to know! Please remember: we cannot fix any issues in-game that we aren't aware of! As mods, we are not without our own faults and our own lives/other hobbies/etc. that sometimes come up while modding Recollé. We are always grateful for feedback from you guys, especially as we are not mindreaders and may not realize something is afoot. Once we are aware of suggestions, we will do our best to implement them and we rely on a solid mod-player line of communication to keep the game afloat.
We chose not to be anon mods when the game first opened for the sake of transparency and to allow players to put names and faces to who's flying the plane, so to speak. We want our players to be comfortable talking to us and know that we're listening and available. If you would rather leave questions/comments/concerns elsewhere we have the mod contact post that is always open and does allow for sock journals, and our PMs are open. Thank you in advance for anything you may have for us.
ENDGAME PLANS
Here it is. Let's talk endgame. Endgame, thankfully, isn't anytime soon per our plans. The earliest we would ever consider endgame is August of 2019 and that's if everyone goes turbo and wraps up the arc we're about to enter. We don't anticipate that happening, but for the sake of clarity we do want this on record that this possibility exists! Ideally, again, our goal is to wrap up Recollé's main storyline in February of 2020, three years to the day of when the game opened.
What happens from there though? Well, that's up to you, dear players.
While we anticipate Rec's main story will wind down around February 2020, we would like to float the idea of leaving the game open after that as an exploratory sandbox kind of setting. Modding would be a little more hands-off (i.e. ideally, a mod post would go up at the beginning of each month outlining a few basic effects/things players can do and expect in the setting that month) and players would be free to use the game communities as their own sort of dressing room, so to speak. We would no longer require applications, though we would encourage characters to come in and out of the city as they please like a permanent fourthwall setting.
Alternatively, if the playerbase was interested in the idea, we could start a new arc after the original three wrap up and continue gameplay as usual. The story would change and the structure of the city would change, but the game would continue.
Are these options something the playerbase would be interested in seeing happen? Would you guys rather have a nice and tidy ending so that once the game wraps that's the end instead of an open-ended world or creating something new from scratch? We are happy to do either for anyone who wishes to continue playing, but we'd like to hear your thoughts so we can start planning in advance!
In addition, we would be closing applications to the game permanently around ~six months prior to endgame. We feel that six months is a decent amount of time for memory regains and CR building, especially with the way we hope to structure 2019. Until then, applications will remain bi-monthly as they have been starting with opening late January 2019.
FINAL CLOSING NOTES, REMINDERS, PLEASE STOP TALKING, MODS.
Okay, if you say so.
In all seriousness, we know this is a very lofty update to read and we appreciate you guys bearing with us! It's a lot to digest and a lot that Lucy and myself have discussed in private while assessing the game itself and addressing how we're going forward in 2019. Again, if you have any questions/comments later you do not wish to post here please hit us on the mod contact post or via PM!
Above all else, we really want to thank you guys for being such an amazing playerbase over the last couple of years (or months, if you've just joined us!) We are grateful to be able to create and foster a fun environment for everyone who's joined us and we love being able to see the fruits of your labor, so to speak. Recollé isn't just a game that Lucy and I created, but rather a game that has gone through several expansions and been shaped by so many creative and talented players.
Comments to this post will be unscreened, but please keep comments to each other civil and polite. The gamewide Love Meme will go up on the 10th, so please keep that on your radar and spread some love to your gamemates. We hope you have a fantastic holiday season and we look forward to stepping into 2019 and creating the next chapter of our story with you ♥
-Ty, Lucy and Megan
no subject
Anyway I won't cover every topic but I'll hit the ones I have thoughts on.
Facelift
Overall I really like the new layout/theme! I really like how much easier it is to read (thank you for the bigger font!), and it seems really clean to me. That said, I usually view this stuff on a laptop via Chrome - so I can understand why some others might be having issues. The tag you used for the drop down taken list (details) isn't actually supported by a lot of browsers, so that's a huge part of the issues that are being raised I'd imagine.
A good reference I use to check if a tag is supported by most browsers is caniuse.com. And in regards to making sure things are formatted for mobile, I highly recommend (if you code using Chrome and haven't found that feature already) using Chrome's Inspect feature. In Inspect, you can toggle a device viewing mode that gives you a preview of how a website will look on different devices. Otherwise yea, ask players who use mobile to test the site for you since every mobile screen is different.
Basically coding is a pain in the ass and something always breaks - but I like what you're going for!
Event Structures
First I will say I love having the event log happen on the 5th rather than the 3rd, since it makes me feel much less rushed to wrap up my retrospect post threads. I also really like the mid-month event post, since it gives me even more to work with as usually many of my start of month threads are getting a little stale by that point.
That said, when figuring out the plot schedule it'd be nice to keep in mind to make sure there's plenty of time for players to do their own thing. I feel sometimes there's a month plot (like September and October) where the plot COMPLETELY dominated the city to the point that it was hard to have your character do anything else besides the plot. Which that's fine for some months, but having month after month of that got a little frustrating. So either make sure there's calm months between big events (like November and December are), or there's more Opt-Out options since my biggest frustration with September's is that there was NO WAY to opt out of it.
Player plots
I'm sad to see the quest system go, but it's understandable. As for the idea, I'm intrigued by it but I'd also like the option of utilizing other canons - even if it's just other player canons for these elements. I'm happy to share aspects of my canon, but also if I just wanted to play Cold Steel scenarios all the time - I'd just play the games. So I'm wondering what your thoughts are about mixing up canons would be like.
Bonus Points
Not sure I'd be for eliminating points or capping them because I feel it'd hurt characters who have a LOT to gain back more than anything, and wouldn't really fix the core problem of players with lower activity (but still make AC) not having enough to buy things back.
I'm wondering instead if it'd be possible for players to donate points to other players to buy back things. There's a good number of us older players who had a dragon's hoard worth of points that aren't being used for anything at this point, and there's only so many world regains to donate points to - so I think this could be a good way to help with the problem? There might be the issue of players only donating to their friends/castmates, but maybe that could also be solved by having a point bank that players can donate to, and the mods decide who the points go to? idk just tossing out ideas here.
Endgame & Apps
I'm okay with you guys closing apps 6 months before end game for new characters, but could there be an opportunity for returning characters to come back in that time? I know with games with proper end games, there's plenty of players that like to come back and experience the end game with their character. Since they don't have to worry as much about building CR, could there be some exception made for them?
That's all I got for now. Might have more thoughts later, but overall I'm looking forward to the next year!
no subject
Re: event structure and variation, I think this is one of the most important things for keeping the game healthy and fun, as well as accommodating the people who want to play things lowkey as well as the people who are up for Hardcore Plot (and these people aren't necessarily the same all the time! some months you're just not up for doing anything heavy). So I'm glad that's being worked on going into 2019!
Re: gamesize, my #1 concern with the shrinking game and dealing with dropped CR is that normally, drops happen and new characters come in to take their place, so you don't feel the loss as much. The thing where apps were suspended for several months made sense from a story perspective - but Recolle is a game where drops will inevitably happen for some reason or another, and those months where people left were a pretty substantial hit. So. Basically just don't do that again and we're good.
Re: bonus points, one of the things I hear most from people who would be willing to app to Recolle but is the complicated AC. A change would definitely not be amiss. The written form sounds nice, but anything you run by us you'd have to give us the details before we voted yea or nay.
...also let us cash our bonus points in stockpile first, I do not have 6000 points for them to disappear suddenly.
Re: endgame, the one thing I absolutely do not want is for you guys to try to stick in another arc after the storyline is done. One, that's a great way to get mod burnout and you guys deserve better :< and two, so few long-term games actually reach a satisfying conclusion in the first place. I'm fine with sandboxing post-endgame!
Re: final notes, I love you and all of you are superstars.
no subject
I think the new layout is looking good! And well, I saw some issues already being mentioned and you said you were going to look into that, from the Plurk I saw regarding it. It's got a bigger font (I think?) which makes it easier to read now and I myself at least, haven't had issues navigating around when I've been poking at things.
Events:
I like that things are sort of more spaced out log/event wise. It gives us time, like you said, in between to get some threading/plotting done and then we can move on from that to the next one. (at least, in theory. I know some are slower, aka me since I have my odd timezone to contend with as well, but.)
Gamesize/Player Plots:
ngl part of me is a little :l with this, considering I've also lost some close cr for my characters here, so I would understand that kinda affecting motivation some. And I'm probably not the only one. In some ways I find the way drops here are handled to be easier, in the characters not just completely being gone at least? Somewhat. Though I know that isn't exactly what is being asked/addressed here.
But I would definitely be interested in the idea of taking aspects from character's canons for events? That sounds really interesting and would help the characters get a better sense on what each other remembers/went through in this 'other life' of theirs.
Modding/Game Elements:
I kinda like the idea of personalizing the regains some? Shake things up a bit, though of course this is only if others are cool with it and it doesn't put too much work on you mods. You guys already do a lot with running this game as it is with the regains, points etc on top of the usual apps and ac and events.
As far as points go, I'll admit that counting them up can take a little more time in regards to ac. Obviously, even writing up a form for it might take a little more time as well, but as long as you guys let us know what's required, I wouldn't mind trying that? But otherwise, I like the idea proposed up above with players being able to donate extra points to a pool of sorts that can be delegated to whoever might be a little short or something? But I'm not sure how much more complicated that might be for you guys to figure and maintain keeping track of.
Endgame:
I am not sure which I'd prefer? I wouldn't want this to give you guys burn out in drawing things out longer than you plan/intend to. That usually never goes well at all and I wouldn't want that for the game. On the other hand, maybe in regards to apps, having/allowing returning characters might be neat so they can come back for the last hurrah as it were if they wanted? Definitely understand closing apps for newer characters closer to endgame though, that makes sense in giving them time to settle and make cr and get their regains too.
I know personally that I myself have vague ideas on aus for characters but the only thing really stopping me is dealing with more ac/time restraints in apping them, so something more chill is also kind of tempting as much as I do also say I wouldn't want things dragged out. In that this might actually let me try those ideas out. So, sorry, I'm kinda on the fence/waffling some here on this one.
no subject
I'd love to see a regains system that would help out people who have nothing but regains that are very costly in the current system, and haven't been able to get their fun toys yet. As for the proposed more customized regains, it sounds great, I'd be patient in trying it out, so long as the mods don't get burnt out from doing it.
Metaplot-wise, my answer is everything, I want to know it all. This is an amazing mystery, and I have no idea where it's leading. I'm confident you're going to hit the story points I am most hungry for, but I want to know everything anyway.
Thank you so much for running this game for so long, and I look forward to everything that's coming up!
no subject
Facelift: I like the sleek look, but less so the drop-down menus. They make things less convenient to navigate, especially if you want to just get a general idea of what characters are still in the game or if you can't recall what area of the city a particular location is in - doing a lot of clicking to see what you want to see may be a minor issue but it's still tedious. I know nothing about coding, but I wonder about adding an option to open all drop-down menus on a page at once? Could that be a compromise?
I'm having trouble pinning down my feelings on the Event Structure front... I'll throw in another comment if I manage to get some thoughts properly gathered.
As for the personalized aspects thing, I'm a fan of it already, and I think it could be really fun to implement! And a good way to deepen CR. (I actually have been hoping from the beginning that one day there could be a way to bring in a Sentinel attack or something). As for the thing about the fate of bonus points, I don't feel strongly either way, although with the game's shrinking, it does seem like it makes sense to replace the bonus point system with something less complicated.
Endgame: It does feel a bit early to be discussing much of this, although I guess considering that it's there's a possibility of happening as early as next August (when did it become almost the year 2019) and if you want to give six months' notice, then it kinda makes sense to discuss this now. I feel that some of this will probably best be decided as we go along. If you mods get to the point of nearing the end of the arc and want to do more, and players still want to play in the game, than yes it should continue on. But we won't know for sure until we move onward and get closer to that time. The sandbox idea is also one better left discussed towards the end. Though my general opinion on is that I like the idea of it, but people tend to move on from closed games fairly quickly, and I haven't heard of a post-game sandbox ever truly thriving. But hey, maybe we could be the first to pull it off.
I think that about sums things up. Thank you again for arranging this!
no subject
Post Code/Comm Layout
So I was one of the ones who expressed displeasure at the changes, and I don't feel like I gave good reasons why I dislike the new layout/overall code. As mentioned in the Plurk, I tend to visit the game comms on mobile more often than not. DW has never been great about integrating responsive design, so I know there will always be things that are difficult for me to view on my phone.
That being said, I'm not a fan of the collapsing text options for one big reason—and this extends to both mobile view and non-mobile. You cannot search text in collapsing menu items. In a game that's so heavily reliant on large info posts, I can see why you would go with this option. But for someone who is searching for a specific setting element, for example, it can be a headache figuring out a) what post it's in, and b) which collapsing link it's under.
Yuff already mentioned that not all browsers play nice with this feature, and while they work on my Chromebook, that might not be the case for others.
If you want to keep the collapsing menu items, I would suggest linking to a full text doc (copy paste into Pastebin perhaps?) linked at either the top or the bottom of the post. It's an easy enough solution that lets people search text, as well as browse the info if their browser doesn't like to play nice with the code. Just something to consider!
As far as the taken page, I liked it better the way it was. It was a good way to find characters at a glance, and given the issues that collapsing them does have with other browsers, there's no elegant work around.
Finally, thank you for adding a more clear nav portion to the comms. This has been an issue on mobile, and while it was something very minor, I appreciate that you've added a work around. Again, DW sucks when it comes to responsive coding, so while it still looks wonky on mobile (for me), I can at least access everything.
Moving forward, I think it might be better to give players the option first before doing a big code push like this. Speaking from experience, you're never going to make everyone happy, but it goes a long way to bring your players into the conversation as well.
Regains
I'm going to be devil's advocate here again, and caution against highly customizing regains. Since you're working with such a small mod team, and there are times when you get slammed by requests (I assume toward the end of the month), this is only going to slow the process down. Especially since memory regains are a part of AC, I don't see this being a wise choice. It creates a lot of extra work, and while the added flavor text or customization can be fun for players, I wouldn't suggest that for a game of this size.
Re: points, I'm all for getting rid of the system entirely—as long as there is something else added in its place. It sounds like you have some ideas, but I would want to see what that would entail first. Would the criteria change every month based on events/what's going on in the game, or would they be static? There was also a mention of donating points, which I think is a great idea if you do keep the general points system.
I personally don't have an issue with keeping track, but I've also been in more heavier bookkeeping games, so I realize that I'm an outlier. tl;dr the options posed here are great and I'm fine either way, but I would be very clear what counts and what doesn't.
Endgame
Agreeing again with Yuff here about allowing for characters formerly in the game to be apped in for the last six months of the game. I don't care either way if you continue the game as a sandbox after the resolution, but the endgame burnout is real, for both players and mods. I wouldn't start a new arc, both for your own sanity, and because I feel like it would cheapen the idea of endgame as a whole.
I think this is everything. You guys are doing an amazing job, and I could not stress that enough. Thanks for all of the love and hard work you put into this game!
no subject
Are there any contingency plans to expedite the eventual endgame if the player base shrinks substantially over the course of the next few months? I will admit that I am not as optimistic about the game itself sustaining itself with the current pace of apps/drops as evidenced over the past several months. Even when apps re-opened after being closed for so long, the influx of new characters has not nearly made up for those who were dropped during that time period.
I was sitting on this suggestion for a while, waiting for this post so I could make it, so perhaps it could be of some use. But I was thinking that a combination of shifting the application/testing cycle around to better line up with the monthly EMP community's posting schedule could help give players more of a chance to find prospective players to join in, since previously it would come around every month right around the time reservations would close and thus anyone would have to wait one full month to app, and could potentially lose interest in that time.
Secondly, perhaps easing up the requirement that only players that have put in a reserve can apply. I admit that I haven't seen the need for this requirement in quite a while, assuming it has to do with avoiding app challenges? Which just can't be such a big deal anymore (again with the dwindling influx of apps in the first place).
Again, it is not my intention to sound negative or anything. I am just very solution-oriented in my thinking, and while a lot of the ideas in the post and other's suggestions and feedback are all very good, I just cannot shake the feeling that it's putting the cart before the horse to anticipate how things may go in 2019 and the eventual endgame without first addressing what's been happening the past few months. Here's to hoping we can figure something out, together!
+1
in addition to everything cid suggested, i also like the idea of restructuring the bonus system to make it less work, tbh. being more generous with paid regains in general would really help because the game, as it is now, feels like an investment and investments aren't actually that attractive to new players once the shine's gone from the apple, which is the state we're in in now.
giving new players better leeway into fast tracking their characters into potential paid regains and plots they can do with those will be a better carrot to dangle.
no subject
First, I want to say I really like the current mechanic of combining the event log and TDM on months with open apps! It sounds like you were planning to keep doing that either way, but yeah. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And second...
I really, really don't think closing apps for six months prior to the finale is going to work unless, as Yuff suggested, former characters are able to return during that time. Honestly, even if they are, that seems like way too long; it sounds like a recipe for death by attrition before the plot even has time to wrap up. If the issue is that it would be too labor-intensive to worry about going through the whole AU workshop/TDM/onboarding/etc. thing with new players while also keeping the plot moving along, maybe it would make sense to pare down the process in some way? If the reasoning is IC / somehow inextricably connected to the story y'all want to tell, then of course that's its own thing, but... I'd still kind of want to encourage you to rethink it.
tbh, the supposed plot reasons for the summertime app closure never completely made sense to me, either; like, obviously there was interference going on with the app, but there always kind of is, and the IC justification for why that particular aspect wasn't working even though stuff like item and memory regains worked the same as ever seemed flimsy. That said, it's possible I myself just wasn't paying close enough attention to the explanations. Still, I think everyone can acknowledge that was a rough time for the game, so I can't help feeling wary of what seems to be an announcement that we're going to be doing the same thing again, but even more so this time. You know?
no subject
re: facelift -- I think it looks good! I like having the nav at the top of posts, it's really nice to be able to click onto whatever page I need for further reference right off the post, rather than having to go to the comm profile. It's a super minor thing, really, but it's nice.
re: plot types/event structure -- I might be in the minority here but I actually kind of prefer event posts going up on the 3rd now, I think. It feels like the game is a bit of a dead zone between the Retrospec post and the first half of the event--no one wants to put up anything new right before plot stuff happens, and that kind of dead time is okay for 2 days, but it feels like it drags on when it's 4. But I might be in the minority on this. Really, it's not THAT huge a thing, I think.
As for plot types, I like what we had in November a lot! It gave you the opportunity to just dick around and have fun in the various areas, or just stay in the city, or really use the event as a chance to dig in deep to the plot. I know that's a hard sweet spot to hit, but I felt like that really nailed the balance that lets people play in both the game plot as well as their own individual related plots/development.
re: new regain effects -- I like the concept, but it sounds a little vague so I'm not sure exactly what you mean by it and how it would play out in practice? But it sounds like a fun way to shake things up. Maybe to ease things on the mod side (because lord you guys do A LOT of work and I don't want this to add to that!), there could be like a set of guidelines or stock options on what effects could possibly happen, and then let players use that to come up with them on their own?
Also, I like the idea of using bits from characters' canons for actual game events! I think that could help integrate them a bit more, because I know there's a lot of world regains around but they tend not to get noticed too much by characters outside of the canons that the regains came from. Maybe this could also be used to regain things from canons that are a little less physical! I'm not sure exactly how, but I know the Marvel players have struggled with world regains because there's definitely a lot TO be regained, but we don't know what to put in because it's so weirdly integrated into the world separately from the characters. If they're incorporated into events, it could actually be used to maybe mirror actual things that take place in certain canons (within limits), rather than just physical items.
re: bonus point system -- I don't like the idea of capping the points after a certain amount. It would still require some amount of counting anyway, and the counting process itself has been eased a ton by the Google Sheets docs/scripts created by Yuff (I think?). I don't remember if those are linked in the official game info pages, but if not, they should be. I think either keeping the point system as is works, or, like you mentioned, removing the point system altogether and regains are done based on a "is the thread relevant/long enough" system. That might allow for people to put in for bigger regains at a faster rate, but as we head into endgame, that might be okay.
re: endgame -- I'm okay with either August 2019 or February 2020 for endgame, so long as either end date allows for personal plot lines to continue at least until like....the last month or two maybe (where I can understand the game plot completely taking over). I don't think I could focus on all game plot all the time for a longer period than that, personally! As for permanently closing apps, I don't like the idea of doing it 6 months in advance...I think part of the game's shrinking was due to those months where characters were dropping but apps were closed so no one could 'replenish the supply', so to speak, and I worry that closing them again will lead to that happening faster than the remaining playerbase will actually be able to PLAY to endgame, especially if it's for a period as long as 6 months. Like Yuff mentioned, there may be returning characters who want to come back for endgame, and even if not many new characters app in, test drives are a nice chance for people to at least play in the space and temporarily inject some more fresh material.
(That said, I also have no idea what endgame will be like, so who knows if these suggestions will even work with what will be happening ICly.)
As for post-endgame....I almost kind of want to let the characters keep the ending that they earn, so no further plot after that! I think a sandbox post-game could be fun, like a permanent testdrive setting or a dressing room, but in my experience, those things tend to be very slow. And that's okay! It's there for those who want it, at least. I also don't think it needs to be modded beyond a few ground rules. Please, mods, don't make more work for yourselves after endgame, you have done so much already! (#FreeTheMods)
no subject
The new design is quite pretty. That being said, I don't think it's really necessary at least on the Taken page to have everything compressed? Sure, you have to scroll for miles, but it's kind of easier to get a feel for the game's cast as a whole when you're able to scroll through and see how many characters are in each canon. Especially considering our biggest casts are only 4 characters each.
event structure
I do like the posting schedule. Having five days to mess about with the Retrospec post before we start diving into the event means I feel less rushed to bash out something the minute the post goes up. And I think it gets backtagged more since those of us who don't boomerange can get threads properly established. Having the first event post on the 5th, again, I don't feel like I have to bang out something right then and there. I can read the post over and sleep on it if I need to (which sometimes I do, b/c they can be pretty meaty). Sometimes they seem a bit too meaty, but that's mostly just me wanting to do ALL THE THINGS.
Having alternating months of game plot vs more fluff stuff is good, b/c half the fun of an AU game is actually playing out my characters' AU lives, and usually during game plot months that gets pushed to the side either by the plot itself or time limitations.
In regards to the plot months though, I do have one criticism. Usually, the characters are presented with a problem they need to fix. But they then usually end up running around the first half of the month fighting the problem with little direction on how to go about finding the solution. And finally at the end of the month when the solution is presented, ICly it feels like it's out of nowhere and that the characters have very little to do with the solution coming to light. A good example of this is October. The search for the cures during the first part of the month was fine. There was a familiar mechanism fueling those searches that made sense ICly to the characters. The pillars in the second half of the month felt very out of left field. Even though I knew OOCly where some of the vials came from, the pillars themselves didn't feel tied to the characters actions. Instead, it just felt like the problem semi-solved itself.
player plots
This is an interesting idea, but I'd have to see a more fleshed out example to really say yay or nay. Some canons aren't going to really be usable, like Tatsuo's, as they're too mundane. But I enjoy getting to see more of other characters canons and getting to play with other people's legos, so to speak. Like playing around with the Combat Links from ToCS.
While I'm not too sure I like the idea of dividing the characters, I do understand the desire to facilitate new CR, especially for older characters. There are times I look at the Retrospec post and I'll see a character that I know has been in the game for as long as (or longer) than me, and yet I've never tagged them, or maybe only had a thread or two ever. Conflict can breed CR that might not have happened otherwise. That was part of the fun of the team events.
memories/bonus points
I'm very much for shaking up how characters regain memories, but again, I feel like I need a more fleshed out example of the customized regain experience. And at the same time, I don't necessarily want to make a bunch of extra work for the mods, as I'm one of those jerks that dumps four to six regains one right after the other.
I'm not in favor of capping bonus points, but reworking the tiers and pricing might help. Li-Na's regains are a bit pricey and I know there are characters whos powers have an even bigger price tag. TBH, keeping up with my spreadsheet helps me keep up with my threads. I worry less about losing a thread b/c I know they're there in the spreadsheet. And I find it's an easy way for me to go back and find old threads.
That being said, I know there are players who find the spreadsheet a struggle. And if you've never played in a game with bonus points before (me, when I first joined with Tatsuo), the learning curve is a little rough (luckily I'm good with tables), and I can see how that would be off-putting to potential players. So while I'm not in favor of capping bonus points, I would be okay with doing away with the bonus points system altogether in favor of a written form.
It could still end up just as tedious for players though. Like, if in order to regain a characters's fighting ability, they needed to submit three threads where they discuss the memory they've gotten of said ability or were they try to practice said ability... Having to arrange for those threads feels like a lot more work than just plunking down 200 bonus points.
endgame
I'd really prefer a tidy ending with the option to sandbox afterwards. I really enjoy the setting and the mechanics of the game, but at the same time, I don't want you guys to get burnt out. Nor do I want to get burnt out. I probably wouldn't stick around for a new arc, but sandbox? Hell yes. And closing app six months before endgame makes sense, but I do really like Yuff's idea about allowing for returning characters.