Please mark stuff like that as spoilerish… :)
I’ll talk design stuff in a couple days!
sorry. spoiler warning added. I wish I knew how to use spoiler tags in this forum, if they even exist
Spoiler tags do not exist currently, though there are plans to add them, I’ve heard.
Unfortunately I cannot participate in this slew of content, as, when I finally buy Nex, I want to buy it in bulk – so, the $50 option. Alas, that is outside of my budget right now. Maybe next month.
@Tamir - That design discussion might boil down to the fact that we are just not nice writers. :)
@Little The - The content will certainly remain around, whenever you want to buy it. Let us know what you think when you do!
DAY 2 DESIGN DIARY #1 – ANTAGONISTS
Right now, the Opportunity deck is a pretty friendly place. By the end of Day 1 it looks something like this:
- 3x grind cards (these appear at twice the “normal” rate)[/li][li]1x Skunk Brothers Farm[/li][li]6x Ally cards (these appear at half the “normal” rate)
An average draw might look like: one or two grind cards plus Skunk Brothers Farm or an Ally.
In the course of Day 2/Morning, you’ll add three more cards to your Opportunity deck: a set of Antagonists. You’ll earn two through your subplots and one through the main plot. They’ll act just like Ally cards – generate from an Antagonist quality, appear about 25% as often as the grind cards – but with a few key differences:
- Antagonists can’t be discarded. You’ll have to play them eventually if you want them out of your hand.[/li][li]Antagonists will lower your Qualities. Specifically, they’ll lower either your two subplot Styles by a medium amount (for subplot Antagonists) or all of your Styles by a small amount (for your main plot Antagonist).[/li][li]All Antagonists will have a “bribe” branch – a way to get rid of the Antagonist without losing Style points. Some might want Dollars or Revolver Bullets. Others might have more esoteric tastes.
We’re still testing the numbers, but we think this will add a little more uncertainty – a sense of risk and reward – to the Opportunity deck.
Stay tuned for previews of our Antagonists, and more design diaries as we get closer to releasing Day 2!
[quote=Becks]@Tamir - That design discussion might boil down to the fact that we are just not nice writers. :)
[/quote]
I’m not sure I’d classify this as “not nice”. I mean, I don’t know what the loss result is, and I certainly don’t know what effects it will have on the main story (if any), but I really can’t see you guys penalizing a character long term over it.
So it’s mostly just a question of the satisfaction derived from winning. (Also, damn it. now you got me wondering about the loss results. I want to know what they are!) :)
Also, congrats guys. You certainly deserve that 2nd place. At least that 2nd place.
edited by Tamir Buchshtav on 10/22/2012
Is it possible to just … get stuck? I’ve traveled to every area multiple times, and I don’t have a card left to pull that isn’t a grind card. I chose the Harvestmen and Hallowed Ground subplots. I’m trying to transition from Morning to Afternoon, for day 1 I assume, and it tells me I have to have the postmaster’s right hand, levels 13, and time to move on x 3. However, I’ve only got two and can’t seem to acquire a third one.
@Simah: first, welcome – and thanks for playing!
The content has all been playtested, but bugs are unavoidable. So let’s diagnose! What are your current levels of Harvestmen, Hallowed Ground, and Ministry of Black Powder?
edited by levineg85 on 10/22/2012
[quote=Gordon Levine]@Simah: first, welcome – and thanks for playing!
The content has all been playtested, but bugs are unavoidable. So let’s diagnose! What are your current levels of Harvestmen, Hallowed Ground, and Ministry of Black Powder?
edited by levineg85 on 10/22/2012[/quote]
Not the OP, but also stuck in the same way, so:
The Ministry of Black Powder 14
Hallowed Ground 9
The Harvestmen 7
(Also there is an oddity that I have a pinned card, “The Wall Market,” at the Wall Market, which has no options.
@an_ocelot:
Welcome to you also!
There is a Must card lurking at the end of Harvestmen that won’t fire until your relevant Style is high enough. I suggest you work on getting them to 14, then check in with the Jackrabbits…
I suspect Simah is having a similar issue.
The Wall Market card has branches; they’re just invisible unless you have the relevant Qualities. The options there will expand significantly during our Day 2/Morning update – so stay tuned!
Because we’re SO EXCITED to have come second in the World of the Season competition, we’d like to share a special treat with you folks!
Just click right here to receive your in-game treat. It can be claimed by new players and existing players! Feel free to pass this access link along to your friends. We’re sure they’ll enjoy it, too!
But be warned: this link won’t last forever. Make sure to click while it lasts! Or you could miss this one-of-a-kind goodie… and we wouldn’t want that!
Ah, I think that’s the issue, mine are right at 13. I’ll give it a go, and then check back in. I love the game so far, really well written, I’m completely sucked into the story.
@Simah: glad you’re enjoying it! Tell your friends! ;)
And of course there’s always our Facebook page…
At the cusp of advancing time for the first time, but I can’t figure out how to get the third time to move on. I think it might have something to do with the Harvestmen, but I can’t find where to advance that. Up to 7 in that, if that matters
@Roaven: thanks for playing! There’s a card at the end of Harvestmen that will only trigger once your relevant Style is high enough. Try checking with the Jackrabbits once you’ve leveled up a bit.
Thanks. That fixed it but I’m going to respectfully suggest that if this many people are confused at this point, some signalling at the prior Harvestmen storylet might be useful?
@an_ocelot and others - A suggestion carefully considered and taken. Some verbiage has been added in to hopefully clarify what the next card in the Harvestmen subplot requires. Thanks for the head’s up. If anything else comes up, give a yell. :)
edited by Becks on 10/23/2012
Regarding the Action Refresh Change
You may have seen Alexis’s post today about how the action refresh rate is dropping.
We think this is a good thing. Here’s why:
[ul][li]If you wanted a long story to gulp down all at once, you’d pick up a book. There are a lot of great books out there! We could even recommend some. But Zero Summer isn’t a novel. It’s more like a TV series. (Actually it’s more like a long serialized novel – but magazines don’t really do that any more.) Zero Summer is meant to be sipped, not glugged. Taken in small coffee break-sized mouthfuls. That’s why the storylet structure works so well for us: we want the game to feel drawn-out and therefore immersive, even though – for the Protagonist – it happens all at once.
[/li][li]Reading too much at once can make you skip words (or sentences, or paragraphs, or storylets). Every one of us has done it: got into a book, spent an hour or two reading, and ended up skipping ahead to get to the good part. We don’t want you to do that here! Certainly Zero Summer is juicier in some places than others. But we want you to have fun with the whole thing. You don’t have to read every word we write – that would get exhausting – but we don’t want you missing something good because you’re tired from playing a hundred actions in a row.
[/li][li]Too much episodic content at once can be numbing. Think of any TV series you’ve ever watched all in a go. It seems like a great idea at the time, but a week later you can’t remember anything but the season premiers and finales. We want Zero Summer to be memorable, not a blur! A lower action refresh rate will help us all play Zero Summer at the rate it’s meant to be played.[/li][/ul]
So: kudos, FBG! We think this is a great change for Story Nexus and for Zero Summer.
And if you’re really hurting for actions? Many of you have a few Motes of Inspiration in your back pocket. Now’s the time to start using them. And worse come to worst, you can buy an action refresh. We promise, every cent goes to a good cause!
A small patch today:
- Replaying Nex-locked content is now available! Want to see what the road untraveled looks like? For a fraction of the original price, you can replay “New England in November” and “Fifty Miles South of Lexington.” Check in with Absolom the Tinker to play! Note that this will remove any rewards you received in your first playthrough.
Our plan is to continue releasing lower-priced “replay” branches for our Nex-locked content going forward. Enjoy!
I know that this is old news - but I just want to confim that FBG have turned on monetization for Zero Summer - the first of our creator worlds to be monetized. Congratulations!