Luceti Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lucetimods) wrote2013-11-29 11:03 pm
lucetimods) wrote2013-11-29 11:03 pm
Entry tags:
Announcement!
Hey everyone, Akai here with some word-vomit for y’all to have a look at. There are several very important announcements and modly business to sort out, so please, eyes here for a few minutes.
First, the boring normal stuff:
A) Friend Add/Remove for this cycle! Copy-paste here.
B) Applications will be opening on December 1st, so now is a good time to start recruiting/kidnapping your friends! As always Reserves are already open. The Test Flight Meme from last month seems to still be active, but if people would prefer, we can certainly post a new one. Just let us know! It might be helpful to run them bi-monthly, anyway.
C) I’m sure most of you have noticed, but in the last week, Masa and Bayley have unfortunately left Luceti, which means that on top of losing two wonderful long-term players, the mod team has lost some heavy hitters in the plot department. Masa especially has been a huge driving force to Luceti’s plot and development over the last couple of years, so while his departure was not entirely a surprise, it has left the rest of us somewhat flummoxed over how to fill the void his presence has left. A lot of the plot developments, NPC interactions, and mission systems were organized by him. So now that it’s up to us, where does that leave the game?
Well… it’ll be interesting.
Okay, here’s the thing- those of us remaining have talked, and we wanted to open up the floor to general discussion regarding the format/function/nature of Luceti itself, get some feedback, maybe rework a few things to help us get organized. If we’re going to rework things, might as well start from the bottom up, no? First of all, though, let’s just clear the air with a few things:
no, the game isn’t ending.
no, we’re not hiring new plot mods to replace them. yet.
yes, you should think about whether or not you’d be interested in such a position in the future should the need arise.
no, really, the game isn’t ending.
With that out of the way, what is happening?
1) We’re pondering another tech/app mod. Maybe two. We’ve got a lovely bunch of App Helpers (that only we can see, ohoho) that have kindly volunteered to be available for aid, but that only works when players have volunteered the canons they know. We’d like some steady folk to help update all the fun things that need to be updated. It’s a bit of a dry job but I imagine Kyo could tell you that it’s not a very taxing one most of the time. So think about that, too. We’ve taken applications for both plot and tech mods before, so
2) The meat and potatoes of this announcement: when Masa told us he was stepping down, the first thing that popped into my head was, "what in the world did he have planned?" The truth is that due to a lack of proper organization that we all take responsibility, Masa had the majority of the plot on the go himself, and that’s no way for a team to work. We’re hoping to fix this. Delegation and fair division are going to be key, and we’ll be taking turns with the plot/events and supporting one another. Hopefully that will prevent any one mod from becoming overloaded.
However, before we can do any of that and carry on with the plot, we’d like to reorganize a few things within the game, sort out what was going to happen and what will happen from here on out. Instead of trying to do both at once, we’d like to let the plot take a backseat and open up some space for players to run their own goings-on, at least temporarily. What does that mean?
Player plots! That’s right, the calendar is 100% open to your plots right now. Let’s say you had an idea for getting something big going, but weren’t sure about when to do it- YOUR TIME HAS COME! Want to create a big ruckus with an evil character or two? Want to run a holiday event, like a big party to celebrate the season? Want to do something wacky with the school or organize a festival? Let us know, sign up, and go nuts. We’d love to get some cool stuff from you creative bunch penned into our calendar.
Alternatively, if no one has any player plots planned or on the go and enough time has passed, we’ll poke at the Event Suggestions post for something to fill the void, so feel free to make suggestions there, as well! We’ve been busy-busy with everything else that the poor thing’s a bit old and dusty. Let’s change that!
3) Another thing we’ve been discussing as a team is that Luceti has gotten really complicated over the years. We have such a rich and lengthy history developed, and so many features and functions and plotlines going on, that the whole experience must look awfully intimidating to newcomers, right? Heck, even I look at the game sometimes and go “wow remember when it was just some evil scientists kidnapping people?”
Obviously, change is good, and natural development is great. But when it becomes a detriment to the game’s growth, when it intimidates those who are a part of it, it’s too much. Trying to decide how much is too much is, however, much too big of a job for just us. Thus we are turning to you, the player base. Is there a part of Luceti that confuses you? That seems too complicated? That doesn’t interest you at all? That seems unnecessary? Please, please let us know. We want to make your lives easier, and our lives easier in the process, as well as remove or alter features that could be turning off new players or even older veterans who’ve had enough of this or that. We know that not everyone is going to agree on what should stay or go, but if enough people have something to say about a certain aspect of the game, we’ll know that it needs some work.
Now, here’s stuff that we’ll keep because it requires little to zero maintenance:
established voluntary missions (they’re there, they’re written, let them be used)
involuntary abductions (a Luceti standard, come on)
the recently-introduced random in-village Shifts (because why introduce it just to remove it immediately?)
And here’s stuff we are considering revamping:
the FAQ/guides need updating. god do they ever.
mission sign-ups, points, organization - the requirements OOCly are a bit over-complicated for what it actually accomplishes ICly. It would be helpful to simplify it somewhat so people make better use of the system already in place.
NPCs. We kind of have a lot, and we’ve lost a few of the players who played them! So we’re going to decide their fates and murder them all reorganize a bit.
the main plot - how often should it develop? where do we go from here? do we like the direction? what are we working towards accomplishing?
Lots of fun stuff we can’t talk about in detail yet, naturally, and there are still some plans that have not changed despite everything that’s happened and despite what is potentially going to change. But your feedback for the game, its plot, and various game features is absolutely vital in this transition-y stage. Let Luceti be your clay; mold it, change it. ...Or at least tell us what you’d like to see it become c:
We’d prefer that this discussion happens here so that you all can discuss amongst yourselves as well as with us, but if you feel that you have something you can’t say publicly, feel free to PM the mod journal or private-plurk myself, Aly, or Kyo. (Don’t PP the mod-plurk, we don’t track it.)
That’s it! Thanks for reading all of this, guys; your attention and feedback will be muchly appreciated and can only be used to make the game better for all of us! Go forth and discuss. Thread for mod questions can be found below.
...And seriously, the game isn’t ending. Over my dead body, my lovelies.
First, the boring normal stuff:
A) Friend Add/Remove for this cycle! Copy-paste here.
B) Applications will be opening on December 1st, so now is a good time to start recruiting/kidnapping your friends! As always Reserves are already open. The Test Flight Meme from last month seems to still be active, but if people would prefer, we can certainly post a new one. Just let us know! It might be helpful to run them bi-monthly, anyway.
C) I’m sure most of you have noticed, but in the last week, Masa and Bayley have unfortunately left Luceti, which means that on top of losing two wonderful long-term players, the mod team has lost some heavy hitters in the plot department. Masa especially has been a huge driving force to Luceti’s plot and development over the last couple of years, so while his departure was not entirely a surprise, it has left the rest of us somewhat flummoxed over how to fill the void his presence has left. A lot of the plot developments, NPC interactions, and mission systems were organized by him. So now that it’s up to us, where does that leave the game?
Well… it’ll be interesting.
Okay, here’s the thing- those of us remaining have talked, and we wanted to open up the floor to general discussion regarding the format/function/nature of Luceti itself, get some feedback, maybe rework a few things to help us get organized. If we’re going to rework things, might as well start from the bottom up, no? First of all, though, let’s just clear the air with a few things:
With that out of the way, what is happening?
1) We’re pondering another tech/app mod. Maybe two. We’ve got a lovely bunch of App Helpers (that only we can see, ohoho) that have kindly volunteered to be available for aid, but that only works when players have volunteered the canons they know. We’d like some steady folk to help update all the fun things that need to be updated. It’s a bit of a dry job but I imagine Kyo could tell you that it’s not a very taxing one most of the time. So think about that, too. We’ve taken applications for both plot and tech mods before, so
2) The meat and potatoes of this announcement: when Masa told us he was stepping down, the first thing that popped into my head was, "what in the world did he have planned?" The truth is that due to a lack of proper organization that we all take responsibility, Masa had the majority of the plot on the go himself, and that’s no way for a team to work. We’re hoping to fix this. Delegation and fair division are going to be key, and we’ll be taking turns with the plot/events and supporting one another. Hopefully that will prevent any one mod from becoming overloaded.
However, before we can do any of that and carry on with the plot, we’d like to reorganize a few things within the game, sort out what was going to happen and what will happen from here on out. Instead of trying to do both at once, we’d like to let the plot take a backseat and open up some space for players to run their own goings-on, at least temporarily. What does that mean?
Player plots! That’s right, the calendar is 100% open to your plots right now. Let’s say you had an idea for getting something big going, but weren’t sure about when to do it- YOUR TIME HAS COME! Want to create a big ruckus with an evil character or two? Want to run a holiday event, like a big party to celebrate the season? Want to do something wacky with the school or organize a festival? Let us know, sign up, and go nuts. We’d love to get some cool stuff from you creative bunch penned into our calendar.
Alternatively, if no one has any player plots planned or on the go and enough time has passed, we’ll poke at the Event Suggestions post for something to fill the void, so feel free to make suggestions there, as well! We’ve been busy-busy with everything else that the poor thing’s a bit old and dusty. Let’s change that!
3) Another thing we’ve been discussing as a team is that Luceti has gotten really complicated over the years. We have such a rich and lengthy history developed, and so many features and functions and plotlines going on, that the whole experience must look awfully intimidating to newcomers, right? Heck, even I look at the game sometimes and go “wow remember when it was just some evil scientists kidnapping people?”
Obviously, change is good, and natural development is great. But when it becomes a detriment to the game’s growth, when it intimidates those who are a part of it, it’s too much. Trying to decide how much is too much is, however, much too big of a job for just us. Thus we are turning to you, the player base. Is there a part of Luceti that confuses you? That seems too complicated? That doesn’t interest you at all? That seems unnecessary? Please, please let us know. We want to make your lives easier, and our lives easier in the process, as well as remove or alter features that could be turning off new players or even older veterans who’ve had enough of this or that. We know that not everyone is going to agree on what should stay or go, but if enough people have something to say about a certain aspect of the game, we’ll know that it needs some work.
Now, here’s stuff that we’ll keep because it requires little to zero maintenance:
And here’s stuff we are considering revamping:
Lots of fun stuff we can’t talk about in detail yet, naturally, and there are still some plans that have not changed despite everything that’s happened and despite what is potentially going to change. But your feedback for the game, its plot, and various game features is absolutely vital in this transition-y stage. Let Luceti be your clay; mold it, change it. ...Or at least tell us what you’d like to see it become c:
We’d prefer that this discussion happens here so that you all can discuss amongst yourselves as well as with us, but if you feel that you have something you can’t say publicly, feel free to PM the mod journal or private-plurk myself, Aly, or Kyo. (Don’t PP the mod-plurk, we don’t track it.)
That’s it! Thanks for reading all of this, guys; your attention and feedback will be muchly appreciated and can only be used to make the game better for all of us! Go forth and discuss. Thread for mod questions can be found below.
...And seriously, the game isn’t ending. Over my dead body, my lovelies.
Event timing
Now that apps are open every month again, I feel it's important to note how the pacing of the game has changed in the last few years. Most of us who've been here a while are slower taggers than we were. Part of the thing I see many tell people on places like ATP is that we're more medium-paced, and back-tag friendly. It's something that's becoming more and more true as time goes on.
SO considering all of this, I think spreading out the events might be a good idea. A lot of the time I feel like I'm just barely catching up with the last event before a new one starts. I'll have no closure from it, or anything to show from the in-between. I know a lot of others are the same - you see plurks all the time asking for event tag amnesty as a new one is about to begin.
The game being open to player plots while you guys think things over really excited me, actually. I remember that summer when apps were closed and we had nothing BUT player plots. It was a really productive time. I'd encourage keeping things like that, actually. Maybe a mod event every other month, with some breathing room for player plots.
no subject
I think if more people were aware that it existed and used it, the mods could then schedule events around player plots-- for example, if someone had a player plot with a widespread effect, the mods could then choose not to have an event that month to give the player plot more time and attention. It would allow for a good balance of mod-run and player-run events.
no subject
Which is a good idea, but I don't know how much it'd help with the main point of the problem I mentioned - ie that it often feels like too much is happening to keep up with the way the pacing of the game has changed.
It was starting to feel like a lot before, but with new feathers and an event every month on top of unforeseen things like reacting to and coping with drops, there's no time to absorb things anymore. I think the time to wind down is necessary. When you finish the last big thing and want to start something new and there's not an event right away, that's not necessarily a bad thing! It's time to make a player plot, explore your character - have them do something crazy like bulldoze a house! An interim, so it doesn't always feel like we're rushing from one thing to the next.
Whoops, I tl;dred again my bad. But to offer a solution that maybe satisfies both crowds: I've liked this fear event. Having a subtle even that lasts for as long as this one has felt really clever to me. It has the easy, outside-the-normal accessibility you favor while being downplayed enough someone like me can take their time with it. Maybe more things like that in the future could work well.
no subject
I do like the idea of having more things like the fear event too (even if I haven't done anything with it yet WHOOPS)-- something that's passive rather than active, but that allows people to do a lot of things with it. How it plays out is entirely up to the individual player, as is the length it affects the character. I think more events like that would be great because they satisfy the people who want something to play around with while also allowing the people who would rather take a break to do so without having all of their CR going wacky all around them from a more obvious event.
Basically, what I'd like is to have things to play around with if you so choose, but I also want those things to be just as easy to opt out of if you're not interested for whatever reason. Because, let's face it, sometimes you're really just not feeling an event.
no subject
no subject
+1 and an opinion
But My main thing on this would end up being to try and make the events more plot related than just whacky/hilarious fun times that in the end really have no effect on anything.
Not that I don't mind those kinds of events, I loved the theme park one. But, lately it seems we've had more of those events that it's just there to do something silly or whacky with a character. I mean, our last real serious event that I can remember was when everyone was put under Cultists hypnotism and could've been the cultists slaves and such.
I just feel if we were to implement a system of having an event every other month it should offer some impact on the setting/story. I mean, of course we wouldn't have a plot event every time but I'm sure there's a happy medium in there somewhere between plot and just having fun.
That's just my two cents though.