[color=#009900]1/ Feedback on randomised rewards: we hear your feelings, we’ll feed it back into our thinking, I’d rather not engage with rant threads so I won’t comment further.[/color][li]
[color=#009900]2/ Noman: can you guys move to a separate thread to talk about this? There is an Arty Point behind the Noman content; there are interesting things to be said, I think, about whether I succeeded or failed in that effect. (I probably won’t weigh in on that, either, because I think the author belongs behind the curtain (EDIT: in this case), but I will say that I didn’t write it as a ‘nice little earner’ or there’d be, you know, Fate branches on Noman’s Progress.)[/color][/li][li]
edited by Alexis on 1/10/2014
So… I was grinding a few clues just a minute or two ago and all my results were mid-range and all multiples of 5.
It could just be chance, but if it isn’t and the devs have tweaked things already then that’s just… wow. I take my hat off to you lot.
(And multiples of 5! Round numbers make me so happy!)
Wow - that was quick. Many thanks for responding to this thread, Alexis.
[color=#009900]eh, um, I hate to say it but I haven’t so much as touched the controls. And here I am engaging with the thread so let me say only: there are Reasons, it may change, it may not. [/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]Also, thank you for your apology on the other thread, appreciated! :-)[/color][li]
xD Just more proof that the RNG is a tricksy and fickle creature. I’m still not convinced that you didn’t Doctor Frankenstein it to life.
In any case, thanks for listening. :3
[color=#c2c2c2]I do agree with somebody else’s suggestion here - it would be nice if there was a ‘failure’ storylet of sorts that happened when you got a very low result. I’m not certain that SN could handle that without turning it into a luck check, though, and it would mean more writing.[/color]
edited by Laluzi on 1/10/2014
[quote=Laluzi]
[color=#c2c2c2]I do agree with somebody else’s suggestion here - it would be nice if there was a ‘failure’ storylet of sorts that happened when you got a very low result. [/color][/quote]
That would be overdesigned, I think. There is a failure text already. It is shown when you actually fail. The reward generator should simply work in a way that does not make you feel like you failed, when you have succeeded (at your check).
For example, off the top of my head, the reward for Unfinished Business could be between 100 pence per action and 100 + Quality/10
This way it’s random, scales with your Quality and you will never feel cheated.
There are rare successes. There should not be no rare failures, or at least those should not play, when you pass your check.
Of course Alexis probably has thought about the solution, I proposed just now. And as he says, there is a Reason it works like it works. It’s a pity, he is not going to disclose it, I have enjoyed reading his explanations before and learned some things from them. Though of course, I understand, why he is not engaging anymore.
Sorry to jump the ratwork maxim gun and make you wade in, Alexis. :)
I love how this thread started out as "A Minor Complaint", then eventually devolved into vicious, anarchic walls of text. [This comment is hyperbole, people. No need to take it seriously.]
If this thread were in London, I would be Closest To it. [This part is serious, though.]
edited by OPG on 1/12/2014
I wouldn’t call this thread vicious or anarchic? I’ve seen much worse, certainly. I mean, we got off topic with the nomen, but people here have been reasonably civil and expressed their thoughts without trying to step on toes.
Yes, I was taken aback a little to find one of the creators interpreted it as a “rant thread” when I, and I suspect many of the other contributors, certainly didn’t intend it as such.
Mostly the long posts were debates about how people would alter the mechanics, really.
[quote=Suitov]Yes, I was taken aback a little to find one of the creators interpreted it as a "rant thread" when I, and I suspect many of the other contributors, certainly didn’t intend it as such.
Mostly the long posts were debates about how people would alter the mechanics, really.[/quote]
[li]
We didn’t interpret it that way either. We certainly didn’t mean our post that way.
[quote=Laluzi]I wouldn’t call this thread vicious or anarchic? I’ve seen much worse, certainly. I mean, we got off topic with the nomen, but people here have been reasonably civil and expressed their thoughts without trying to step on toes.[/quote][quote=Suitov]Yes, I was taken aback a little to find one of the creators interpreted it as a "rant thread" when I, and I suspect many of the other contributors, certainly didn’t intend it as such.
Mostly the long posts were debates about how people would alter the mechanics, really.[/quote][quote=Snowskeeper]We didn’t interpret it that way either. We certainly didn’t mean our post that way.[/quote]My comment was intentionally hyperbolic. I was merely pointing out the irony of comparing the title (A Minor Complaint) to the relatively major posts.
In any case, my post has been edited appropriately.
[quote=OPG][quote=Laluzi]I wouldn’t call this thread vicious or anarchic? I’ve seen much worse, certainly. I mean, we got off topic with the nomen, but people here have been reasonably civil and expressed their thoughts without trying to step on toes.[/quote][quote=Suitov]Yes, I was taken aback a little to find one of the creators interpreted it as a "rant thread" when I, and I suspect many of the other contributors, certainly didn’t intend it as such.
Mostly the long posts were debates about how people would alter the mechanics, really.[/quote][quote=Snowskeeper]We didn’t interpret it that way either. We certainly didn’t mean our post that way.[/quote]My comment was intentionally hyperbolic. I was merely pointing out the irony of comparing the title (A Minor Complaint) to the relatively major posts.
In any case, my post has been edited appropriately.[/quote]
[li]
When you call something vicious and anarchic and don’t leave any indication that you’re not being serious, people are going to take it seriously.
We understand what you were saying, and we would probably have said something similar under different circumstances; we just wish you’d been a little more careful with it. The Internet is a notoriously difficult place to get sarcasm across; that’s why the =P face was invented.
Yeah, that’s a problem of mine. As far as I can tell, I’m the only person I know capable of detecting sarcasm over the internet. As a result, I assume others do the same, and then I usually get banned from forums. (Also I avoid using emote-faces because when I do I feel like I lost part of my soul)
I’ll try and be better, everybody.
[quote=Snowskeeper]… that’s why the =P face was invented.[/quote]I always interpreted that one as "exasperated", what with the tongue hanging out at the side of the mouth in some kind of bleh expression. But apparently it’s supposed to be a raspberry?
And just to throw something in that is at least connected to the thread topic, I have kept record over the last 53 times I’ve played The mechanics of progress, and here are the results:
First 33 times, with Watchful ranging from 161 to 240 (avg 204.5): 3 – 204 Cryptic Clues (avg 95.4)
Total: 3148 Cryptic Clues with an accumulated Watchful of 6747
Last 20 times, with Watchful 241: 16 – 230 Cryptic Clues (avg 128.6)
Total: 2572 Cryptic Clues with an accumulated Watchful of 4820
Together: 5720 Cryptic Clues in 53 attempts with accumulated Watchful 11567 -> 0,4945 Cryptic Clues per level of Watchful
So it really does seem as if there is an even distribution between 1 and Watchful, much like I surmised when at first I never got the 200+ that others were reporting.
As for the randomness, I am fine with it as long as I can trust that it’s a good deal on average. Though it would be sweet if the game could just be open with these things so I wouldn’t have to jot down every CP lost or gained, or in these case, do my own statistical analysis. It’s so old-school, and takes time that I should have spent reading webcomics. But when I have ten minutes between every new action and card, I have time to do these things. Apparently. =Þ
The range is different for different actions.
I just did “Rob a glim shipment” ten times and all the results were in the 100-120 range.
Really the main problem here is the variance which is too high. Especially for the storylets that require more than one action or trade one good for another (like the appalling - whispered secrets one) can become pretty frustrating.
:P is sticking your tongue out of your mouth. Which encompasses a surprising range of feeling.
I use :p all the time to indicate “what I am saying is not to be taken too seriously, I am being silly”, or “this amuses me” or “I’m making of you in a very mild and friendly way, but hoping you will also be amused” :) That seems to be how people I converse with interpret it as well, but perhaps I should clarify to them at some point too suddenly paranoid