Dear Nick,
Is it possible to tell us if there is any other levels available from the ones we've currently seen to be made from the right combination of minerals? Because its kinda disheartening to organize big group mineral dumping efforts to see gates that still have the same 6 or 7 levels.
Levels Possible From Gate Creation
Mon, 12/13/2010 - 21:10
Mon, 12/13/2010 - 22:34
#2
> but at the moment, it feels
> but at the moment, it feels like we're a mob of spoon-wielding munchkins tasked with field-testing a particle accelerator. A user's manual would not go unappreciated. :)
Tee hee. "The computer appreciates your contributions to Alpha Complex, citizen".
Tue, 12/14/2010 - 00:30
#3
Isn't dusk drops figured out
Isn't dusk drops figured out already? On the wiki it states that drops with the highest amount of dusk drops will create the bottom most levels first (and so on for less dusk drops - drops), compared to regular drops which will create levels at the top first and so downwards?
I do agree on the minerals issue, it's impossible to really figure that out well just by testing, especially if it takes days for a new gate to be constructed.
Tue, 12/14/2010 - 11:28
#4
Evolution: what you're
Evolution: what you're describing is the in-game description of a dusk drop. But what happens when you drop in many minerals (thereby creating more than one level)? Or too few to create a level? Our experiments with heavily dusk-dropped mineral deposits haven't always resulted in the best single-mineral levels appearing at the core, and certainly, the totem diagram doesn't seem to reflect the order in which minerals end up. (it instead shows a simple time ordering, from Haven going down)
For that matter, at 200 crowns per dusk drop, what incentive is there to spend the crowns on using them? Does more dusk drops (~= deepest levels) = more rewards?
Tue, 12/14/2010 - 12:34
#5
Some basic guidelines would
Some basic guidelines would be apreciated, but maybe the devs just want it to be this way, us slowly trying to figure out what makes things tick while they smile on from a distance.
Tue, 12/14/2010 - 13:22
#6
If we are intended to slowly
If we are intended to slowly tinker until we figure the things out, there needs to be more clues or hooks. We all seem to be reaching the conclusion that determining what we put in to get the desired levels is impossible (see reasons above). If it were nearly-impossible-but-I-just-need-one-more-fact!, then that would be entertaining, but it's actually impossible which makes it tiresome and annoying. You wouldn't want to go into an arcade blindfolded and have to determine where your favorite machine was by dropping quarters randomly around the whole mall, would you? If you could get a random game by dropping your quarter in one of 5 buckets, ok. If you could hunt for clues (possibly even spending a few extra quarters) and put them together to discover where to put your quarter to reliably play the game most of the time, ok. Having to use trial and error (and thousands of quarters) while other people are also using trial and error that is possibly voiding your trial and error and may even have a secret interfering random component? Just go to another mall that lets you put the quarter in the slot on the front of the machine.
Agreed- we know very little about the process, and lack the experimental control to determine even the most basic mechanisms like dusk drops or how to build mineral deposits. Pure mineral gates have bordered on cool-but-repetitive (all red) to awful (green/yellow), and in cases where more interesting levels were produced, we're not really sure what combination actually went in. Likewise, since drops are still largely individual, we don't know which deposits end up where. I'm all for testing, but after 2-3 months, we can't even answer simple questions, like: why can two gates both reach the core on their totem, yet differ in the number of playable levels per tier by a factor of 3 or more?
We know how many minerals produces a ring, but rings can vary in the number of levels, and dusk drops can shift what minerals go where. (deposits with more drops can supposedly also displace earlier deposits, in whole or in part)
And, on top of that, gates with no redeeming virtue in deposits sometimes show awesome new boss content at random, suggesting that aside from our experiments, there's a separate and unknown amount of dev tinkering layered in too. I wish they'd tinker more, because the results are generally better than what we make on our own.
This is a feature that I think we'd all dearly love to beta test- providing important info to the devs on, among other questions, how feasible it is for the player community to coordinate towards certain goals- but at the moment, it feels like we're a mob of spoon-wielding munchkins tasked with field-testing a particle accelerator. A user's manual would not go unappreciated. :)