How's the Game?

[wearethecrystalmods]

HOW'S THE GAME?

Welcome to Cosmographia's second "How's the Game" post! This is essentially an open forum for players to discuss the game and where they feel it should be taken from its current point. Anything you think needs changing? Anything you want more, less of? Just want to air your opinions in a space with your fellow players? That’s exactly what this is here for! This also provides a place for players to air ideas for the game to the mods in a more broad sense than player plots and location ideas. In essence, we’re asking you guys to tell us exactly what you want from the game! Let us know what you’d like to see to make Cosmographia a fun, engaging experience for you.

Please note that this is not a place for criticism of specific players or characters. This is purely about the game itself. Please save player specific criticisms for HMD posts or private contact. Any disregard for this or out of hand conduct will be frozen or deleted.

How’s the Game is a space for all players to participate in a discussion. This includes current players as well as also past players that have left and new potential players considering the game; we’d like everyone to pitch in and gives us their thoughts! Please also not that for the time being, we will not be allowing anon commenting or sock accounts, though this may change in future HTG posts.

How’s the Game is a completely open forum. We have a list of topics we want to discuss (listed below), but after all those have gone up players are completely free to start their own threads with anything not covered by the other sections.

Current sections:

The Staff
Excursions
Setting & World
Game Plot
Future Event/Plot Suggestions

Comments

THE STAFF

[wearethecrystalmods]

Your current mod team consists of Holo and Claire!

Do you have any feedback for the mod team specifically? Anything you'd like to let us know? Feel free to tell us right here!

EXCURSIONS

[wearethecrystalmods]

So, here's the little announcement some of you may have remembered seeing me mention on Plurk a few days ago. We'd like your feedback on something we're hoping will massively overhaul the game in terms of player and character agency; something we're calling Excursions!

While we're not quite ready to whip off the tablecloth and unveil all the details just yet, here are the basics of what Excursions are currently planned to be -- this may change based on player feedback and further discussion!

★ Players will be able to unlock an area of the Temple that will allow them access to a huge number of warp pads that can take them all over the world!
★ Players will be able to take on missions and go out on Excursions to complete them. These will involve anything from fights to retrieving items -- any kind of quest you can think of!
★ Players will be able to unlock permanent additions to the game world through Excursions and may even make big changes to the existing setting depending on their actions.
★ Players will be able to freely explore these newly unlocked areas and may even stumble across metaplot elements or other interesting items!
★ Players will be able to run their own Excursions and submit their own areas to explore similarly to player plots and player-run areas in the game.

We're super excited to get this feature rolled out for you guys but before we do, we'd like your feedback! What do you think of Excursions? Do you have any suggestions for us regarding them? Give us your two cents!

SETTING & WORLD

[wearethecrystalmods]

What sort of settings or areas would you like to see added to the world? With Excursions on the horizon, what areas would you guys love to explore most?

GAME PLOT

[wearethecrystalmods]

Exploration of the big wide world naturally means the Gems are going to come across some more clues as to their purpose here than they would in Waverly Bay. As it stands, metaplot integration is limited to mod events -- would you guys like to see more of it? How would you like to interact with it?

FUTURE EVENT/PLOT SUGGESTIONS

[wearethecrystalmods]

Are there any kind of plots in the future you guys are dying to see? Any kind of events you'd love to play out? Let us know here!

[lifeisfun]

Okay, couldn't figure out where to ask this so I decided to just go for it: Can there be a secondary way to earn points for new powers? As it stands, one power every two months/a single regain every four months feels really restricting. I'm not asking for some kind of Monty Hall Powerstravaganza, but some way to earn, say, an extra half-point a month through Excursions or Player Plots would be nice.

Re: EXCURSIONS

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I think this is a really great idea! I think the only thing I can add to it would be breaking into three man cells or squads for excursions? And maybe have a way to group people together at random to help players get some new CR!

[domeinion]

That sounds fun! So basically new missions unlocking areas?

[lifeisfun]

HELLO YES I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLORE A SECONDARY TEMPLE

maybe one with, like, a shattered heart and it's overrun by gem monsters?

basically hi i would like to do a d&d-style dungeon exploration

Re: FUTURE EVENT/PLOT SUGGESTIONS

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I've been wanting to do a plot involving Darin's 'other half' getting out via gem corruption/cracking. I don't really have a ton of details on it yet considering this has been a very very slow build, but the long and short of it is:

Darin hasn't gotten any new gem powers since he returned to the game and I've been doing that intentionally. He's been suppressing any and all powers out of fear he's going to change into an Archfiend and destroy the world. Suppressing his powers like this is obviously not a good thing and eventually, the strain is going to cause his gem to crack, corrupting him and releasing the Archfiend soul inside of him. This is a big deal because he has half the soul of a god of destruction inside of him! So, aside from all of that, that's all I've got and I'd love to have some CR build up towards this!

[lifeisfun]

I second the random squad formation idea!

[fixi]

Essentially, yeah.

We're still working out the system, but the idea is to give you guys setting-related things to do between bigger events, which hopefully you can use to kick off player plots and character arcs.

Not all Excursions are going to unlock new areas specifically - the ideas we have for content are pretty diverse - but a good number will have IC rewards or effects of some kind, from weird gem artifacts (think the Wailing Stone or the Desert Glass) to jamjar-curse-style effects to useful objects and information that characters can use to spruce up the neighborhood. Some "good", some "bad", all things to give players ideas and keep characters occupied.

Striking a balance between "giving players things to interact with" and "being on-call to DM all the time" is one of the major challenges we have to work out mechanics-wise, but I think we're headed towards a good system.

[fixi]

Noted and agreed. There's going to be a good amount of diversity in what Excursions involve; some are combat-related, some are more heavily DMed puzzle sort of things, some have failure conditions and others are just exploration games. CR-building through RNG sounds promising and we'll add that into consideration.

[fixi]

Yeah so this is what I've been grinning all over Plurk about.

The keywords here are "character agency"! We want to give you guys some tools to help shape Cosmographia's world, and Excursions are going to be the toolbox. Think of them as being like the missions Garnet takes the Crystal Gems on in SU canon.

This month's event will be run kind of like a more heavily-moderated (and more heavily-attended) Excursion, so keep an eye out for that for a preview of where we're headed!

[fixi]

Noted and considered.

Speaking as a player and only sort-of-kind-of as a mod, I think it'd be neat to have Excursions that reward specific types of power upgrades or regains, like "you can add one (1) cool effect to the default gem weapon summon" or "regain an article of clothing (no armor)". It'd reward engaged players with cool stuff, while the limitations would offset the higher frequency of regains/powers.

[lifeisfun]

That is basically exactly what I wanted anyway!

[torya]

Piggybacking off Holo to say that the original change to the event schedule was made because not only was one event a month giving people little breathing room for their own plots but also because we were all getting way too many powers too fast. While this was originally what we felt was the smoothest option, I'd hate for it to start feeling more restrictive than helpful.

Obviously, we'd like a middle ground between too much and too few but I also think having to save and really think about your power is pretty fun. I like the idea of Excursions having specific quest loot reward types, so it's definitely something we'll discuss!

[torya]

We should have some dungeon crawly areas for you guys to explore sometime soon :3c

[torya]

Aaaand fourthing this! Randomizing Excursion squads is definitely something we'll be considering doing for you guys.

[lifeisfun]

Mostly the reason I feel it's restrictive (please note the 'I', this is strictly my own feelings) is because it puts equal weight on both 'gaining' new powers and 'expanding' old powers, and extra weight on regains.

Let's examine the case of Mr. Mealtime: he has a power to create soft-boiled eggs - the way the system works, it takes exactly as long to upgrade that to making hard-boiled eggs as it would to gain the ability to create juice. Or he could live off of nothing but soft-boiled eggs for four months and get his pet dog Cookie Crisp back.

I am bad at coherent metaphors.

[torya]

Item regains actually only cost a single event... let's call them 'tokens'. Pets and familiars may cost extra and things such as vehicles will also be more expensive. But your basic item regain from home will rarely run you more than one token!

On the subject of power costs though, the current costs in the system were originally set in place because we wanted there to be some weight to choosing powers, both in picking new ones and choosing to get rid of old ones. The idea is that the way the system is set up should encourage a player to focus on upgrading and improving their current powers to show how they're growing as a Gem!

Essentially the idea is to encourage upgrading without cutting off players from picking new powers or making it inconvenient for them. While I personally feel the current system works okay, if players are feeling restricted by it, there's definitely room for improvement! More immediately, I think additional power upgrades or regains from a successful Excursion would definitely help towards that.

[lifeisfun]

...I am not sure why I thought item regains required two points, but that is on me. Thank you for the clarification!

And I really do enjoy planning out upgrades and gaining new powers; in that sense the current system is really good! It's just that while I was saving up to get Namine back for Amelie I had so many other ideas for upgrades but I knew I couldn't do them until I had two points. Basically for an entire third of 2016 Amelie's powerset was on complete lockdown.

Fusions and Fusion-related questions

[nailed_it]

Hey there! This is something I've been wondering about for awhile now and I think it might also help out players both in-game and prospective.

Would it be possible to have an info page about Fusions and how they generally work in-game? Either as an off-shoot of the Powers FAQ or even its own thing?

I'm specifically thinking of something detailing how fusions are achieved (which the helpful SU video covers), and then additional information about how their mechanics generally work in-game, and then perhaps some links to sample fusion threads so that players can get an idea of how they can be threaded? I've noticed people coming into the game completely canon-blind or even just generally unsure of how fusions are supposed to be played out and I think this might help with any confusion from that as well as encourage fusions in-game (because let's be honest, that's the coolest gem power X3 ).

I'm actually still a little unsure myself as to what the limitations/guidelines are for fusions and their powers. When the game first started, I believe fusions essentially worked as follows (Disclaimer - the only place I can specifically recall this being said was in a Plurk ages ago so I may be super wrong ^^; ):

> Fusion appearance and weapon is generally left up to the players involved.
> Fusions have all the same powers as the Gems they're comprised of, PLUS one additional special power unique to that fusion.

Mostly I'm just wondering if that's still the case? And if so, I was wondering what, if any, are the limitations on the unique fusion power. I would assume probably the same restrictions as regular gem powers but perhaps with an added power boost? Basically I just want to know what guidelines there are since fusions are supposed to be generally "more powerful" than regular gems but, as we've seen in canon, not all fusions have the same degree of power behind them. XD I think this might be helpful to clarify for new players too.

And my sincerest apologies if there already is something like this with this information on it. I checked around on our FAQs but I definitely could have missed something and if so, my bad!

[torya]

This is actually something we've got in the works right now! We're working on page that will serve as an introduction to fusions for those who are canonblind to SU and also to outline exactly how fusions work in terms of powers and mechanics in Cosmographia. We're still chewing over some of the details, but it's definitely being talked about!

There also haven't been any changes to the way fusions function in-game! So it should essentially continue to be played as it always has, though if you have any specific questions or concerns about a fusion or something fusion related then just zip it right to us!

[nailed_it]

Oh perfect! Thank you! I think that'll really help players both old and new as well as encourage more fusions, particularly when excursions get started.

And that is good to know! I didn't have any other questions about fusion mechanics short of the ones above (do they still get one unique power, restrictions, etc) but if nothing's really changed game-wise and there's a guide on the way for them, then I think I'm pretty set.

[torya]

I think with this in mind then the idea of smaller buffs or regains with certain Excursions would definitely be beneficial. It's absolutely something we'll talk about when we're solidifying the final details!

[nailed_it]

Just like how the crystal flower garden got a re-visit in May, perhaps there might be something plot-worthy to be done with all the creatures encased in crystal that are hidden in the cavern underneath that gazebo? Especially since the Griffon was being kept in that room, it makes it super mysterious. What are all those creatures doing down there? Were they monsters/animals that the Temple, for lack of a better term, "ate" by trapping in crystal and draining their life energy? Are they the pets of other long-gone gems, like the Griffon was? Can they also be released? And if so, would they be helpful or harmful? There's probably lots of different avenues a plot involving those creatures could go.

Also, similar to how the Mole Queen event played out, plots that involve the town and/or local NPCs and that maybe explores how they feel about all the Gem activity, or even just their reactions to how assorted events are handled? That always makes the setting feel more inhabited. I know that's also a lot of extra work probably so to lighten the load on the Mods and any NPC-playing, perhaps events that affect the town could be followed by a sort of NPC "post"/statement from the Mayor/Mayor's Aide or maybe a "Census" of the population of some kind with optional quotes from citizens or the like?

[nailed_it]

I am so many kinds of excited for missions excursions.

It sounds like these might be more dungeon-y and/or retrieval-related events but has the idea of "rescue" and/or "defend the town" excursions been tossed about yet? Players could be informed of somebody that's gone missing in a certain area or a distant town that's being bothered by a particularly troublesome gem monster that they then need to warp to and aid.

Granted, the above would probably mostly be a new spin on what Gems have already been doing for Waverly Bay but in a new location (with potential meta-plot findings) could be really cool!

[fixi]

I love that you brought up the gazebo stuff because that actually did come up when we were sorting out the metaplot progression. No specific plans on when or how that'll be revisited yet, but an answer to the mystery is out there...

Part two here is something we haven't talked about specifically, but I like your idea and we'll put this on the list of things to address.

[fixi]

Not specifically, but these are great ideas that are going promptly into the pot. Excursions can and will cover a whole range of possible activities that follow a basic format of "prompt/challenge -> character action -> mod-tracked IC result for the setting"!

[nailed_it]

Aha, that's awesome. The creature cavern's such a nifty little secret room. I'm honestly still half-expecting that gazebo itself to be a gem monster in disguise or something. Just so somebody can actually "anger the gazebo". XD

And cool, thank you! I always liked how the citizens in Steven Universe itself were included in the various weirdness that happens in their town so to have it be a part of Waverly Bay, especially with some of the nifty NPCs we already have would be so neat.

[korekara]

fretting honoka noises

Re: GAME PLOT

[dangerous_cakeboss]

I'd like to see some of the mod plots being stumbled upon, if all possible. OOCly we'd get a heads up but a trigger of some sorts could be discovered by our characters, especially with the Excursion system in place.

More affecting the other, so we can get a nice, clear sense of why we're here in the first place.

[torya]

That's essentially what we're hoping Excursions will do! As well as providing players with more things for them to get their teeth into, Excursions will unlock new areas for players that will give them clues and bits of plot to chew over as they wish.

[keronardo]

Awesome! This ought to be fun.