Issues with NPC/Item Surveys

[Bryy]

Not here.

[Answermancer]

Any chance we can get a little more detail about how the feedback on our items will work?

 

If a designer will actually be able to respond with direct feedback and suggestions for our item I can be more general in my ideas and provide several possible ways it could work depending on balance concerns and what is actually possible for an item's power, for instance. And I won't have to worry too much about coming up with something that makes no sense in the lore since we can just fix that in feedback with suggestions of something that would make more sense.

 

It would be more collaborative, and personally I'd prefer it, but if that sort of thing is not realistic (which I totally understand since I'm sure the team is going to be very busy all the time until you're done) I'll feel like I really need to find out as much info about the lore as I can ahead of time, so it'd be good to know.

[Bryy]

I have a feeling, much like the Wasteland 2 backer content, they are not going to get around to it until the game is in done.

[Chaos Theory]

Any chance we can get a little more detail about how the feedback on our items will work?

 

If a designer will actually be able to respond with direct feedback and suggestions for our item I can be more general in my ideas and provide several possible ways it could work depending on balance concerns and what is actually possible for an item's power, for instance. And I won't have to worry too much about coming up with something that makes no sense in the lore since we can just fix that in feedback with suggestions of something that would make more sense.

 

It would be more collaborative, and personally I'd prefer it, but if that sort of thing is not realistic (which I totally understand since I'm sure the team is going to be very busy all the time until you're done) I'll feel like I really need to find out as much info about the lore as I can ahead of time, so it'd be good to know.

 

I'm guessing here, but...  As they start polishing quest trees, which is probably one of the last things they do, they'll start looking to add the MacGuffins.  At that point I'd hope they'd look at the 50 or so items submitted by their admiring fans to see if any of them work well with the specific quest.  Perhaps then they'll start contacting folks to see what tweaks should be made to fit the story.   The rest of the items I'd imagine will be drops.

 

...and then those who refuse to tweak their designs will find that PCs will need to dig through <enter creature here> fodder, in-game, to find it.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[Jumble Murdersense]

For the love of The Gods, will one of you Gold people please invent a magic firearm of some description?

 

Don't forget THE GUNS.

 

Excellent opportunity for someone to work in The Gonne from Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms.

[Guest Matt Sheets]

Since there's a lot of information provided by Josh in this thread and now that we have a date that Surveys need to be done by, I figured I'd bump this up.

[Chaos Theory]

Since there's a lot of information provided by Josh in this thread and now that we have a date that Surveys need to be done by, I figured I'd bump this up.

 

So...  As I understand it from the update:

 

1) Due date for surveys is March 31

 

2) All NPCs must be named using an anagram of "Matt Sheets". 

 

Copy that.

 

Thetas Stem, at your service.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[IndiraLightfoot]

Another Matt Sheets anagram, but now of a different gender:

Tess Hamett

[Bryy]

Another Matt Sheets anagram, but now of a different gender:

Tess Hamett

Okay, guys, if you have not uploaded your NPC Surveys by now, we need to get every single one of these in game.

 

(Now I'm annoyed I did mine already)

Edited February 13, 2014 by Bryy

[Mannock]

Since there's a lot of information provided by Josh in this thread and now that we have a date that Surveys need to be done by, I figured I'd bump this up.

 

I sent my item some weeks ago. Will there be any sort of feedback?

 

Atleast I'd like to see a confirmation message that they've got all the info and there is no problem with it.

[Guest Matt Sheets]

 

Since there's a lot of information provided by Josh in this thread and now that we have a date that Surveys need to be done by, I figured I'd bump this up.

 

I sent my item some weeks ago. Will there be any sort of feedback?

 

Atleast I'd like to see a confirmation message that they've got all the info and there is no problem with it.

 

 

We're still working out the pipeline about how we'll be giving feedback to the surveys.  It's probably going to be close to, or after, March 31.

 

 

 

Another Matt Sheets anagram, but now of a different gender:

Tess Hamett

Okay, guys, if you have not uploaded your NPC Surveys by now, we need to get every single one of these in game.

 

(Now I'm annoyed I did mine already)

 

 

...now I'm afraid there's going to be someone with an adventuring party filled with anagrams.

[Lephys]

...now I'm afraid there's going to be someone with an adventuring party filled with anagrams.

Replace "afraid" with "hopeful," and you've got my feelings on the matter.

[Bryy]

 

...now I'm afraid there's going to be someone with an adventuring party filled with anagrams.

 

A justified fear.

 

However, Kroze is not an anagram, so sleep tight, Mr. Sheets. You are safe from my discovering fingers.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

A justified fear.

 

However, Kroze is not an anagram, so sleep tight, Mr. Sheets. You are safe from my discovering fingers.

 

Or perhaps it is an anagram, after all? Heard of the classic game Zork? It could be Zorke, or even some modern-day eZork.

[Bryy]

 

 

A justified fear.

 

However, Kroze is not an anagram, so sleep tight, Mr. Sheets. You are safe from my discovering fingers.

 

Or perhaps it is an anagram, after all? Heard of the classic game Zork? It could be Zorke, or even some modern-day eZork.

 

But how does that translate into Matthew Sheets?

[Ffordesoon]

Here's a conundrum:

 

I'm thinking of using the NPC survey to put a character I've had a lot of fun playing as in D&D and Pathfinder into the game. My hope is that people who have been in a gaming group with me at one time or another will see her and have a laugh as well.

 

The problem is that she's, uh, not exactly a nuanced and multilayered character. In fact, as I play her, she's pretty much the Gold Digger/Bimbo/Lusty Sorceress stereotype to a tee. Which is a lot of fun to roleplay, but I worry that the character might come off as offensive when removed from the context of being silly with my friends on Skype.

 

Which may not bother most of you, but it bothers me. I'm pretty damn serious about being inclusive and not playing to lazy stereotypes and all the rest of the stuff some of you might associate with "Tumblr SJWs" or "Biodrones" or whateverthecrap. I also have to live in the world, mind you, so I've learned to pick my battles, but this is content that I have a hand in creating, and I'd rather not put anything in the game I personally would find offensive if I encountered it as an unsuspecting player. I know I sound defensive, but I've learned the hard way that some folks have... issues with certain opinions, even when those opinions aren't anyone's business but my own.

 

I do have other character concepts, of course, but this one is the most developed, not to mention the most, er, "showoffable." I also have ideas about how to give the character some more depth, but I don't know if they're out of scope for the amount of time the character will be onscreen, or difficult to convey, or whatever.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[Bryy]

New survey on Kickstarter asking if you've completed the survey or not.

 

Here's a conundrum:

I'm thinking of using the NPC survey to put a character I've had a lot of fun playing as in D&D and Pathfinder into the game. My hope is that people who have been in a gaming group with me at one time or another will see her and have a laugh as well.

The problem is that she's, uh, not exactly a nuanced and multilayered character. In fact, as I play her, she's pretty much the Gold Digger/Bimbo/Lusty Sorceress stereotype to a tee. Which is a lot of fun to roleplay, but I worry that the character might come off as offensive when removed from the context of being silly with my friends on Skype.

Which may not bother most of you, but it bothers me. I'm pretty damn serious about being inclusive and not playing to lazy stereotypes and all the rest of the stuff some of you might associate with "Tumblr SJWs" or "Biodrones" or whateverthecrap. I also have to live in the world, mind you, so I've learned to pick my battles, but this is content that I have a hand in creating, and I'd rather not put anything in the game I personally would find offensive if I encountered it as an unsuspecting player. I know I sound defensive, but I've learned the hard way that some folks have... issues with certain opinions, even when those opinions aren't anyone's business but my own.

I do have other character concepts, of course, but this one is the most developed, not to mention the most, er, "showoffable." I also have ideas about how to give the character some more depth, but I don't know if they're out of scope for the amount of time the character will be onscreen, or difficult to convey, or whatever.

Any thoughts on this?

It sounds like you already know the answer. You made an incredibly sexist character and now both want to include her and don't, right? 

[Lephys]

Any thoughts on this?

Just give her some anchoring attributes. Don't make her 100% stereotypical lusty bimbo. Make her surprise people who assume they've figured her out after 30 minutes in her company.

 

Pretend you're that character, and imagine how you would react to how everyone thinks of you, and what you'd play up as strengths, and what you'd hide as weaknesses, etc.

 

I don't think having a flirty, gold-digging character is automatically sexist or actively offensive or anything. I mean, some people are going to be offended by the merest existence of any particular thing, but I realllly wouldn't worry about that.

 

Just... like I said, round her out a bit. Think Transformers. She's apparently single-layered, but that doesn't mean she's actually single-layered. Why does she have the attitude she has? No one's just hot and likes men and gold, and poof, becomes a one-dimensional hot gold-man-loving sorceress. How does her magic/ability affect things? How did affect her growing up (even if just brief/specific snippets of her past, and/or general descriptions of spans of formative years, like at some academy, or before a parent's death versus after, etc.)? What led to her current perspective on things?

 

*shrug*. I'm not trying to imply that you haven't thought about any of this. I don't really have any info on your character, specifically, so, I'm just trying to toss brainstorming notions out for fleshing her out a bit.

 

There's a character that's very much like that in the Stormlord Trilogy (by Glenda Larke), and she's ULTRA manipulative. Borderline "evil." She doesn't really wish anyone else harm. She just simply puts her own comfort and position of power at the top of her list of priorities in life. She's actually QUITE intelligent and capable. But, she definitely could be described as a gold-digging lusty bimbo. Well, maybe not "bimbo." But, yeah... she's even a "sorceress" of sorts, as she's one of the people in that land with what amounts to powers of hydrokinesis (they can control water).

 

*shrug*. I'm no expert or anything, but, if you'd like someone to bounce ideas off of, I offer whatever help I can.

 

But, if you ask me, the flaws of character design (in terms of "oh no, is this character just sexist/offensive/shallow?") lie in extremes rather than just in characteristics/style: if she's TOO (proportionately) gold-digging, and TOO lusty and TOO bimbo-ish, then you've got a problem. She doesn't have to be devoid of these properties to be approvable.

[Ffordesoon]

@Bryy:

 

That's, uh, pretty much the long and short of it. I mean, there's a bit more to her that got grafted on later, and I could mine that for depth, but she's more or less a joke character designed to let me do a silly voice and be horribly inconsistent in my roleplaying and make dirty jokes. Which is fun, but not exactly putting my best foot forward in terms of character-building.

 

@Lephys:

 

That helps, thanks! :D

Edited February 26, 2014 by Ffordesoon

[Lephys]

That helps, thanks! :D

Just glad to be of some help. Also, this may sound silly, but I recommend sort of cross-referencing the specifics of traits/mannerisms/perspectives with people you know/have-met in real life. Obviously, it's possible that you just haven't met anyone who thinks/acts like what you're thinking of. But, if you think to yourself "Suzie's one of the most malicious people I know of, and even she wouldn't quite do something like that," then it can help you decide what's overboard and what isn't, for example. It can serve as a check, AND as inspiration from which to draw (especially specific experiences and/or stories as told to you by others, or just experienced by yourself, that relate to that character's mindset/behavior/personality/situation.)

 

Also, maybe run her through scenarios you could imagine occurring in PoE (even if they're not super specifically fitting to PoE, since we really don't know enough to make sure that's the case anyway), and see what you think of the outcomes. Kinda like running a car some laps around a track, then running performance diagnostics. 8P

 

Annnnd I'll shutup now.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Lephys

[Chaos Theory]

Here's a conundrum:

 

I'm thinking of using the NPC survey to put a character I've had a lot of fun playing as in D&D and Pathfinder into the game. My hope is that people who have been in a gaming group with me at one time or another will see her and have a laugh as well.

 

The problem is that she's, uh, not exactly a nuanced and multilayered character. In fact, as I play her, she's pretty much the Gold Digger/Bimbo/Lusty Sorceress stereotype to a tee. Which is a lot of fun to roleplay, but I worry that the character might come off as offensive when removed from the context of being silly with my friends on Skype.

 

Which may not bother most of you, but it bothers me. I'm pretty damn serious about being inclusive and not playing to lazy stereotypes and all the rest of the stuff some of you might associate with "Tumblr SJWs" or "Biodrones" or whateverthecrap. I also have to live in the world, mind you, so I've learned to pick my battles, but this is content that I have a hand in creating, and I'd rather not put anything in the game I personally would find offensive if I encountered it as an unsuspecting player. I know I sound defensive, but I've learned the hard way that some folks have... issues with certain opinions, even when those opinions aren't anyone's business but my own.

 

I do have other character concepts, of course, but this one is the most developed, not to mention the most, er, "showoffable." I also have ideas about how to give the character some more depth, but I don't know if they're out of scope for the amount of time the character will be onscreen, or difficult to convey, or whatever.

 

Any thoughts on this?I would really be surprised if the majority of NPCs designed by KS backers will have more than a line or two of dialogue.  (shrugs)  In that sense, you will have very little

 

I would be really surprised if KS backer-created NPCs have more than a line or two of dialogue, meaning your complex character ideas will likely not come across to the player very well with that limited exposure.  IMO, if you have reservations about your NPC's place in the world of Eternity, I'd go a different direction considering how little information we're being given to complete these surveys. 

[Ffordesoon]

That's another problem, yeah. I don't know how ambitious I should get.

[Labadal]

I know we'll barely see our characters, but I when I did mine, I even wrote down some notes on what type of quest he/she/it could be involved in. Said quest would have no happy ending.

 

Hubris.

 

[Mannock]

Hubris.

 

Eerily, Hubris was the name of the super awesome longsword I created. ^^

[Mannock]

Any thoughts on this?

 

My thoughts of you creating a sexist NPC?

 

Don't.