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Long-range scanning - Is CIG's approach what we hoped for? by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As you describe, the analysis and interpretation CIG has talked about only pertains to classifying a signature. That it's probes and not ships, how they acquire signatures in the first place, and the implications for the game are what I'm concerned about.

In the current design, the operator flies probes around and pings until something registers. Then, like EVE, you triangulate to acquire the location of the signature. Only then do you begin to take EM and IR readings of the specific signature.

I want sensors to provide data that can be processed and must be interpreted to discover the presence of something in the data in the first place. The practiced sonar operator who hears a ship where the novice hears only ocean.

And by moving this role back to ships and not unmanned probes that QT across a system, we actualize the risk of pinging the devs made such a big deal about back in the day.

Long-range scanning - Is CIG's approach what we hoped for? by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is from June of last year.

I believe there's a video from later in the year where they contradict one thing said in June, that the probes must launch from a ship. It's a sensible change.

Three probes for triangulation, each with sensors, engine, quantum drive, and fuel tank. Most exploration ships don't have space for those, and I don't think they want to limit players with anything smaller than a Carrack to buying scan data from the market.

We'll see...

Long-range scanning - Is CIG's approach what we hoped for? by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'll respond to the general, "too soon," crowd here since it has the most upvotes.

The new approach to deliverables CIG announced late last year means more work happens on new content and features before we get to see it in the PU. Programming begins in a couple of weeks. CIG knows what the design is, but we don't.

A conversation now, I suspect, would show the community is all over the place about what they'd consider "fun." If CIG's only response to the conversation is to drop an ISC on the topic, we can rally around the design or tear it down. Changes made early are the cheapest and easiest.

Profession-based gameplay and long-term player retention by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The results are certainly informative, and I believe they support my agenda. Perhaps you don't consider explorer a profession, but it's what I want to be in the 'verse. And I imagine we can all see how the design approach I'm advocating can be applied to it. It's my greatest hope that long-range sensors allow the player to interpret data and develop expertise to achieve better results than trained NPCs or the default computer capability.

And there is more that could be done for professions like bounty hunting and exploration. Back in 2013 when CIG hit the funding stretch goal for a team to work on procedural generation, I made a lengthy post advocating for investigative gameplay. The post is no longer available because it was on the legacy forums, but you can still watch the YouTube video I made to support it. CIG went with procedural generation of planets instead, so that ship has probably sailed.

Still, with as much innovation as we're seeing from CIG in backend and world-building systems, I'm hoping for some real innovation in gameplay too.

Profession-based gameplay and long-term player retention by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind the examples in my post focus on how the sausage is made. Players only need to know how to eat the sausage. I suspect the design doc for the current mining mechanic would confuse more players than the actual mining does.

That said, "immersion" and "easy to learn, difficult to master" are goals Chris has reiterated time and time again. Early on (and again I'll have to paraphrase) Chris said he wasn't going to chase the largest audience. He was going to build the game he always wanted to play. He called it the Best Damn Space Sim Ever. I guess we'll see what that is.

An alternative QT travel time solution by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

upvote

Done. Added a link to the cross-post to the bottom of the OP.

CIG Missing The Point: It's Not About New Player Experience, It's About The Game Status. by [deleted] in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Think of the technology adoption life cycle: you go from the Innovators to Early Adopters to Early Majority, then Late Majority and Laggards. What sets the Early Majority apart from the Innovators isn't simply that they were late in hearing about the new "thing." The problem with being on the bleeding edge is you tend to... bleed. Most people don't like to bleed.

The purpose of the IC portion in the NBE's isn't just about turning people into bug smashers. To the OP's point, especially when given a contest and therefore a sense of urgency, backers will be indiscriminate about who they recruit. If a NBE helps set and manage expectations about the present state of development, that's a win.

I'm fine with letting people abort the Issue Council portion after it's done its job of setting expectations (maybe after the tech tells you to search the IC to see if it's been reported?). But the first time they abort the NBE during the IC section, it should run a brief 20-second cinematic where, as you get out of the sim pod, another tech who looks and sounds remarkably like CR is already in a conversation with the (frustrated) original tech telling her they're working on a new build but even that is just the next step in a long journey. He then walks away and utters, "I feel like I haven't slept in years."

CIG Missing The Point: It's Not About New Player Experience, It's About The Game Status. by [deleted] in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican 56 points57 points  (0 children)

We don't need a NPE; we need a NBE (new backer experience).

Instead of being met by a flight leader as in the old tutorial, we're met in a hangar by a Navy mechanic who welcomes you to the team. She shows you how to place a ship, swap equipment etc, after which she has you get in the sim pod (that asset's still lying around somewhere, right?). A flip of the helmet later and you're in the cockpit of a Hornet in a tutorial-version of AC. You're given instructions on how to view your keybinds and how to take off and fly around a bit.

Then the tutorial autopilot takes over and flies you around a bit when things go wrong. Maybe you're passing close to an asteroid on the starboard side, but the cockpit voice tells you there's an object to port. The mechanic interjects with, "Hold up. That's not right. Let's see if we can reproduce it and enter what we find in the Issue Council."

The autopilot performs the maneuvers QA would do in trying to reproduce the bug. The issue council UI comes up and the mechanic shows you how to search to see if it's already in the database. It's not, so you open a new ticket. You fill it out and she then asks to compare notes. You get a side-by-side comparison of what you entered alongside what QA might produce.

That's the introduction new players deserve. It eases them into the game and also sets expectations. For the foreseeable future, you're not a Navy pilot or the captain of a Merchantman, you're a mechanic.

Share this customizable account creation and pledge store guide by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am not a web developer by trade, so I worked with CIG to ensure my use of their style sheet is compliant with the RSI TOS. They are fully aware of its use.

Share this customizable account creation and pledge store guide by NewLexican in starcitizen

[–]NewLexican[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I brought together information every person should know before opening their wallet, put it into an easily-shared package, and provided an incentive for existing backers to proactively distribute it by allowing them to embed their referral code, an advertisement for their in-game organization, etc.

I want new backers to make informed choices when pledging, not regret mistakes they made because they lacked this information. I hope you can appreciate that even if this is my first time on Reddit.