I can dump in minerals fine, but I don't get any sense of how close the gate is to completion. I see colored columns, and I guess those are piles of minerals that others have created, but I don't see anything resembling the "trays" that the documentation talks about.
The Arcade gate-creation interface is kind of confusing.
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:20
Tue, 10/05/2010 - 15:58
#2
I see. When do batches of
I see. When do batches of color get dropped from the tray into the tower?
Fri, 10/08/2010 - 02:48
#3
I think the spirally tower
I think the spirally tower things could use some work. Although I can see my minerals added in some way to the top of the tower, it would be helpful to see them actually interfacing with the pre-existing rings, perhaps by dropping or filtering rainbow haze or specks down into the middle or into open slots. I guess that degree of animation might not be feasible once you open beta again and are mobbed with lines of players adding minerals, however. I like that the tower is a spiral, but would love to see the addition of some steamy gears/clockwork elements into the creation process. ;)
Mon, 10/11/2010 - 11:23
#4
Just chiming in - gate
Just chiming in - gate creation was confusing for me too. Grohac explained it, but I don't know that he's the standard for your average player. ;)
Fri, 10/15/2010 - 11:59
#5
Another voice in the mix. I
Another voice in the mix. I *like* the idea of player's contributing to the world that is available... I'm lost on how exactly I'm contributing. Do certain materials contribute to certain level types? (ie. Crimsonite makes more Infernal/Scarlet Citadel-type places. Valestone makes more Wolver Dens/Overgrown Paths.)
A lot of my understanding comes from the description in the Dusk Drop recipe:
"A special alloy that is unnaturally heavy. When used in tower generation it moves minerals deposited with it down to the bottom.
How to use this item:
This item is used to generate new levels in the Arcade. A Dusk Drop is very heavy and weighs down a tray, forcing any minerals with it to the bottom. This means that those minerals will be used to generate the deepest levels in the gate. A tray with the most Dusk Drops appears at the bottom followed by the tray with the next most and so forth."
Does this mean that a gate will have as many levels as there are trays with different amounts of Dusk Drops?
If I made 20 deposits, each one with a different amount of Dusk Drops. Let's just say 1 to 20. Would that result in at least 20 different levels?
If I were to put in a deposit with 20 dusk drops and 1 Crimsonite, would that level only get added to if someone else put in 20 dusk drops with their deposit as well?
Fri, 10/15/2010 - 15:22
#6
No, trays do not equal
No, trays do not equal levels. They are simply a grouping of minerals that will be used at the same time. So rather than minerals deposited being thrown into a big bucket, they're organized by numbers deposited in a short time frame (a tray).
So if you want a particular level type and you're aware of roughly what makes it, you add those minerals into a tray at once.
A dusk drop is used to push the tray to the bottom of the tray stack, allowing those trays to be used to create levels at the deepest levels of that gate.
I know it's a lot to take in, and we're working out better ways to explain this very important system to players. But at the end of the day it's always simply 'add minerals, get content!'
Sun, 10/17/2010 - 12:38
#7
Honestly.
I think you should just remove the arcade system, the premise is cool, but it's execution is flawed, I mean, the new dungeon that opened today is has "The Haunted Passage" ON EVERY SINGLE LEVEL. It's so annoying that one person can't organize the dungeons, so they end up being the same levels repeated, and none of the levels you guys worked on ever get seen. I liked preset dungeons more.
Sun, 10/17/2010 - 13:14
#8
I'd suggest having a few
I'd suggest having a few premade dungeons be static (or a rotating premade dungeon section), a few character-generated dungeons and then... add one (or a couple) to a guild hall. This would allow a guild to increase its social interaction toward a guild-level goal.
Sun, 10/17/2010 - 21:26
#9
Amusingly that gate being
Amusingly that gate being mostly the same (mostly haunted passage) should be expected. Me and others were dumping all red in one gate and all green in another. That one was about 70%ish green minerals. Looking at it from afar it is mostly green with the random other colours muddying it giving the level format we got. The next gate is majority red, it'll be interesting to see what that gate pulls up. Hopefully lots of firestorm citadel. Those were fun! :D
In other words, execution not flawed, working as intended, and working well, we just don't know what we players are doing yet :P
Sun, 10/17/2010 - 21:30
#10
The game's in beta, the
The game's in beta, the amount of content is tiny compared to what will be coming in the final release.
The maps are only being repeated because they haven't really got a big enough sample of maps to cover for players just adding one kind of Mineral into a tray.
Sun, 10/23/2011 - 17:46
#11
The game's in beta, the /answer/
so later we could see more maps in the clockworks. firestorm maps are HOT and fun.
Sun, 10/23/2011 - 17:53
#12
why did you bump a year old
why did you bump a year old thread?!
Gates will complete on a pre-determined timeline. Currently, the only location this is communicated is on each gate's control panel: an unlaunched gate should have a 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the GO button. That number determines how many shifts before it activates. Currently, the gates shift once every two days.
As for the tray concept: when you deposit minerals into a gate's dropbox, watch near the top of the tower. You should see an update of some sort within the topmost ring. That ring is the tray, and determines the next batch of color that will be dropped into the tower.