Game Notes #10.5: March 14, 2019

[keeperoftales]

GAME NOTES #10.5: MARCH 14, 2019—

Just a bit of a mini announcement and some important things that we'd like to discuss with you guys!


§ schedule changes.

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So for the big thing, we are going to extend the first Act until the end of the month. I think we can all agree that most of us got hit with various things, so might as well make an official extension. So here's the new schedule:

CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE

3/31: Act I ends

4/01-07: Mini Break

4/08: Act II starts

April: Conclusion + Break (exact dates TBD)

May: Full Break

MOD NOTES SCHEDULE

3/31: Notes #11

STORY CHECK SCHEDULE

4/01-4/07

As always, this is a tentative schedule.

§ "skipping" the story check.

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With some recent drops, it's actually pretty easy for us to see at a glance how everyone is doing activity wise, so we won't be making formal Story Check like we have previously. Instead we'll have it after the Act ends as more of a "Yeah I'm still here!" check-in.

§ survey: opening the game to public.

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Continuing off of the last point, because there's so few of us and not many joining in through invitations alone, we'd like to bring up the option of opening this game to public registrations. This has always been a possibility pending how things went, and although we're at a nice and cozy size, we're a little too small to keep things going, even in sandbox mode. So here are a few thoughts on how it would go if we were to try to get some new members in:

• Limited Slots. We don't expect a lot of traffic to begin with, but just as precaution, we'd only open registrations to at max 20 slots. We still want to keep the game small and there's only two of us modding, so we think this is a good number to put a limit on.
  
  
• Registration Cast Cap. Again, kind of depends on how much interest there actually is, but another precaution is to only allow 1-2 characters per canon to register (leaning towards 2). It's a tight number, but with such a limited number to begin with this will help prevent a cast flood. This is only for public registrations.
  
  
• Exceptions: Invitations. Personal invitations will still be a thing and will considered separate from the public registration and cast count. So even if we had 20 public registrations, you could still send in an invite and they can be part of the group as #21.
  
  
• Game Cast Caps Pending. To further clarify, we are not instating a game cast cap yet. The influx of characters hasn't been high enough to really worry about that, and the registration cast cap will help out. But for the future, if we did have to, it would likely be 5-6.
  
  
• Our Registrations vs. Traditional Applications. Instead of the traditional application, we'll be focusing on our current system of the Workshop and Test Drive. The Workshop already asks for a lot of the traditional application fields, so we'll restructure it to require a bit more info and thought process for a character's essence. For example, how would the essence reflect or connect to the character's personality, their abilities, and how the character would handle it. The Test Drive will also be required, and that will serve as samples. (And alternatively if we did need an application, we can just use our Profile Sheet because that's pretty in-depth thanks Laena—)
  
  
• Judging Registrations. Here's the kind of tough part. We're not a big scale game and we already started off pretty lax in terms of "characterization" and "quality." This is mostly because due to the invite system, we knew who would be coming in and what to expect, but it's also because this is a low-key game. For the most part, we still want to keep it relatively relaxed, but we will try to ensure that anyone coming in will seem like they would fit. Obviously, any registration that would be wholeheartedly rejected in a bigger game would be so here as well. Additionally, we will try to keep out any known toxic players out, but we will not mind any input from you guys.
  
  
• Timing. Should this get the greenlight, we're thinking we'll continue the campaign as is since we believe we can finish off with our current numbers. We'll begin advertising during the second Act mainly on plurk and EMP and then open it up near the end of the Act to allow new arrivals during the break.
  
  
• Bonus Character Slot. As a reward for sticking with us, we are considering upping the personal player character cap from the current 2 to 3. This would only be for everyone in the game right now, but can be granted to others later on. this is totally not because Laena wants to bring in a third or anything nope

And that's about it. We'd like to hear your opinion because if you guys would prefer we just stick to how things are now, then that's what we'll do!

And if worst comes to worst, we can always forego the big campaigns and just stick to sandbox mode with the mini adventure stories and random events. So please let us know your thoughts!

§ end notes.

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And that's it! Thanks everyone!

Comments

[scrutinies]

I think that opening the game to the public is a smart move. Right now, our numbers are really small, and while the game being a smaller size means we can do more in-depth and player-influenced story campaigns, right now we have so few players and few invitations panning out that I think it would be difficult to continue on as we are. The cap of 20 player registration sounds good and reasonable so that we can maintain the game's current trajectory without it getting out of hand! In addition, I think the workshop + TDM model is a better fit for this game than traditional applications because it really makes people consider their AU etc before hand and is reasonably low-pressure while still appropriately informative.

[rokubro]

> I think the workshop + TDM model is a better fit for this game

Let's be real this is just me trying to avoid reading real apps— But glad to hear you think so as well! That the Workshop+TDM would be better, that is ah hahaha...

[twilightskey]

I also think opening it up to the public could be a great way to get more people into the game! Capping the game at 20 (with room for invites) is pretty good too, it's a good number of people that's easy to manage (plus if everyone has 2 characters that's 40 characters, which is still a lot of characters!)

Honestly, I really like the workshop/TDM model because not only do you get an example of their IC behaviour, you also get a glimpse into their OOC behaviour as well, which can be just as helpful. Plus, it kinda shows the dedication for those who app in, yeah? Anyways, that's my two cents :3

[rokubro]

> it kinda shows the dedication for those who app in

Exactly! Granted it's still always a hit or miss, but it is more likely for a person to stick 8f they have ideas on what they wanna do.

[chippedsoul]

You totally just want to bring a third.

20 slots + invites sounds like a good number, and I'm still for sticking with using the Workshop/TDM for applying. I personally like to keep it to only 2 characters per player for now (Sorry Lea) because the character count does add up and this was advertised as a small game. Maybe it can be something to consider later on in the long run when there's more activity, but atm, 2 char limit is still fine.

[flamekthunder]

> You totally just want to bring a third.

I do, I have no shame. But I also agree 2 is the best hard cap for general population, which is why I was trying to think of a loophole method that would benefit me the more likely scenario of just a small handful of people who would even want more than 2. Since...... I'm the only one who has 2 characters in the game LOL.

But yeah no I have no shame and everyone knows I'd just throw in a bunch if I could lmfao.