[UGC] "The Dweomerkeepers" Campaign - Feedback

[elthuzar]

Zebular, just a quick question regarding the foundry as I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
Are you able to script boss encounters yourself under the advanced foundry tools or are you just given generic bosses to place?
How complex is the foundry regarding what you can/can't do?

Oh, and I'm really looking forward to running through your campaign next beta

[thrynsyst]

Zebular, just a quick question regarding the foundry as I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
Are you able to script boss encounters yourself under the advanced foundry tools or are you just given generic bosses to place?
How complex is the foundry regarding what you can/can't do?

Oh, and I'm really looking forward to running through your campaign next beta

He obviously cannot answer that in detail atm, as the Foundry is still under NDA in many respects. That said, I obviously have something to do during the upcoming BWE, as well as general playtesting, and that is to at least start this UGC campaign. I am definitely looking forward to doing so, to see The Foundry in action, even though I will still not be able to see 'the nuts and bolts' of content creation myself...

[zebular]

Yeah, as Thrynsyst said, I'm unable to answer that specifically as the Foundry is under separate testing and has its own NDA. What I can say, is that if you're cleaver enough, there is so much you can do. I keep learning new ways to do things almost every time I work in the Foundry. It is very awesome, indeed - and just keeps getting better.

The only way I, and a few others, are able to even acknowledge our foundry creations and get feedback on them is because PWE let it slip who were Foundry Testers and what their Foundry Works are by allowing our works and names to be shown in publicly released demo videos and the live streams. I think this was intentional though because they had always planned on having "good" UGC ready for players to test. And boy, there sure are a lot of good ones!

[thrynsyst]

I was churning some ideas in my head for my *own* Mystra-related campaign using the Foundry, and I'd like to see how what was implemented compares to what I was envisaging.

[optimates]

I played the first mission in your campaign and I thought it was very well done. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to play the other two missions, but I saw a video of the third one and it looked really good. When the next beta starts, your missions are going to be some of the first I'll be playing through.

I did want to tell you that on the first map, I thought the balance was great. It's always hard to make it challenging without it being overly difficult (UGC seems to be really prone to making it way too difficult), but I thought you did a fantastic job with it. The fights were challenging, but not frustrating. Looking forward to seeing where it goes!

[zebular]

Thanks, it will be some time yet before Acts II & III are ready again for testing and playing. They had to be taken down due to some issues that prevented me from being able to maintain them properly. I'd rather have them be unavailable than have them be up, buggy, causing people issues and aggravating folks at them not being fixed. So, I thought it would be better to take them down while I redo them from scratch, if needed.

Act I is ready and waiting for Beta and should be in its "final" state - unforeseeable future events not taken into account.

[kalvorak]

Not sure if this has already been asked (I didn't want to read the thread since it went into great detail about the encounters etc and if I do play the campaign I'd rather save that ) but how long roughly have you spent on the campaign so far? Can you it down a bit, e.g. time taken for each encounter/zone etc?

[zebular]

A Discovery in Neverwinter Wood has seen significant changes and updates since last beta weekend and should be in a "mostly" final state! It should now be version 1.3.4b. Thanks for all the feedback so far, hope you all continue to enjoy.

In addition to the 1.3.2b changes linked above, here are some notes for the 1.3.4b (current) version:


It is now version 1.3.4b - A Discovery in Neverwinter Wood, Act I

• There are far too many small things I did to mention them all clearly. Suffice to say, I did a lot of small tweaks to almost every use-able object and mob spawn.
• I also added functional doors in the Inn. This should stop unintentional out-of-the-room aggro from other Mobs.
• I toned down the angered Lolth spider spawns. They now only happen three times in the Inn, once with a small group and then two times each having just one large special spider (you won't see these large two if you leave the inn right away after killing the Priestess, they're optional special encounters).
• In the Wood map however, there are a number angered Lolth spider spawns. These don't seem over-the-top out here because of the size of the map. Inside the Inn, with how many I had prior and the close quarters of an interior small building, it was turning into nothing but a spider killing spree. So I removed most of those inside.
• No spiders should speak drow anymore. If one does, please let me know where it was.

Not sure if this has already been asked (I didn't want to read the thread since it went into great detail about the encounters etc and if I do play the campaign I'd rather save that ) but how long roughly have you spent on the campaign so far? Can you it down a bit, e.g. time taken for each encounter/zone etc?

I'm not too sure how much time I put into the mission, as I worked on it a little here and there for quite some time.

[kagetempest]

Hello, I tried the first part of your Campaign this morning and boy was it great. I specifically loved your level design in both the forest and the Inn. How much time have you spent making this section of your campaign? And... if you can answer this if it isn't restricted, can you set up cut scenes and animate them? The very first section of the Neverwinter Woods there was a campfire and objects you could examine. It had me thinking, what if we could see the person getting attacked by the Drow before the hero arrives?

[razorrxgdb]

Zeb, I have to say that yours has been my favorite foundry quest so far. I like the way you have used current lore and tied the quest chain into what is currently going on in the realms.

The environments were nice, the mobs were well placed and very much in tune with the setting. I do have one question - can you set it to be day or night? It would be cooler if it were dark when you first arrive.

Again - kudos for a great adventure - I look forward to the rest of it!