148978-player-created-content-examples

== Content ==
			
The Temple of Dak-Bunn
Expedition (Level 30), Expedition (Vet)
Whitevale, Icy Cave Maps
 
SYNOPSIS
The Lopp of Wigwalli Village have been tasked in creating a local Temple to Dak-Bunn, the Lopp guardian spirit. In order to bring the spirit’s blessing to all Whitevale - but especially to the Treasure Hunters of Wigwalli - the Lopp have scouted out a perfect location. The up-side is the location is a short hop (ahem) from the village and the Skeech caves have only recently been cleared out through the efforts of local heroes.
 
To that end, the industrious Lopp have already spent several months setting up the required altar and various “Tests” specified by what passes for Lopp holy texts. But what is ever easy on Nexus? Their zeal to connect the main cave system to a nearby tunnel resulted in a massive cave-in, which scattered Lopp workmen, Kurg and a shinies in every direction.
 
To make matters worse, the activity has awakened an ancient, slumbering beast and her “children” - a fearsome creature that has begun terrorizing the newly-dedicated complex and brought the entire area under threat of destruction.
 
Can the Lopp of Wigwalli count on your help in ridding the Temple of these threats and help them get their affairs back in order - or will the pall of doom overtake the fair village?
 
ROUGH OUTLINE
Opening in Wigwalli Village: The area is deserted except for Young Migisi who anxiously runs up to PC and gives Intro Text. (Click on Migisi to start mission)
Encounter One: Countdown timer begins. Holdout plus mob packs, start of “Collect Shinies” Optional. 
Encounter Two: Defeat Yetis and fight your way across the room, location of “Rescue Kurg” Optional. 
Encounter Three: Rescue Lopp Laborers and navigate them through the fires to safety.
Encounter Four: After falling down a hole in the cave, the PC must battle through giants while dodging both falling rocks and whirling blades of doom! 
Encounter Five: Boss Fight and Ending
 
 
INTRO
Welcome Back, Wigwalli
Zone into the Expedition. PC is standing in a nearly-deserted Wigwalli Village. Young Migisi hops up to the player and gives the Intro.
 
Mob Assets
Migisi
Assorted Lopp
 
(Re-purposed map.)
 
ENCOUNTER ONE
Into the Caves
Mission begins at cave entrance. The former Skeech village is in burning ruins behind. Inside the cave are several packs of Yetis and a Lopp totem surrounded by several slain Yeti at the far end. Toggle the totem to begin Yeti Holdout (4 Waves: 2, 3, 4, Boss). 
 
 
Optional:
Timer Countdown begins at Zone in. 
 
The “Collect 20 Shinies” optional starts in this room and ends before final boss fight. Shinies are scattered randomly throughout, much like the Golden Skulls from The Gauntlet. Just jump through these to collect. (This is a Vet-Only Optional)
 
Mob Assets
Frostmaw Yeti
Frostmaw Yeti Shaman
“Small” Giant
 
ENCOUNTER TWO
Corridor of 1000 Knives
This would have been the start of Dak-Bunn’s challenges, but the work was interrupted by the cave-in and following invasion by the Yetis. There are five groups of Yeti for the Optional quest, as well as two groups on patrol.
 
AREA 2A: The Safe Zone for the Non-Optional Goal in Area 3 “You Big Help” Goal.
 
Optional:
“Rescue Five Kurg” optional is in this area (and the alcove to the north). Each of the Kurg is surrounded by 3-5 Yeti and/or Yeti Shaman. Beat down five groups to rescue the Kurg, who immediately run toward the cave entrance and vanish.
 
 
Mob Assets
Frostmaw Yeti
Frostmaw Yeti Shaman
Pack Kurg
 
ENCOUNTER THREE
Chamber of Flame
This area has several braziers that send out telegraphs of fire at regular intervals.  There are four Lopp Laborers stranded in this room, afraid to attempt escape. Toggle each one in turn and escort them passed the flaming braziers to a “safe spot” back in Area 2.  If the Lopp are hit by the flame, they run back to their position and must be rescued again.
 
AREA 3A. The way is blocked with fallen ice-rocks. A crater in the floor of the cave. Jump down to proceed. (“JUMP DOWN THE HOLE? YES. NO.”)
 
Non-Optional Goal:
“You Big Help” Goal must be completed in order to proceed to Area 4.
 
Mob Assets
Lopp Laborers
 
 
ENCOUNTER FOUR
(Re-purposed map.)
 
Labyrinth of Whirling Blades
Triggering the Cave-In Event in Area 3, transports the PC to the far side of this room. Player must navigate falling rocks, whirling blades and defeat three juvenile giants who have taken to living here. Reach the other side of the room and toggle the rock pile to “climb” up into Area 5.
 
Optional:
“Lopp-Hopper” optional. Take no damage from blades or rock falls. (This is a Vet-Only Optional)
 
Mob Assets
Whirling Blades (Dominion Arkship)
“Small” Frost Giants
 
ENCOUNTER FIVE
The Temple of Dak-Bunn
The Ice Giant, Jotenaar, has awoken and taken up residence in the nearly-completed Temple. Luckily for the PC, the Spirit of Dak-Bunn is none too happy about it.
 
 
Jotenaar is a tough fight (should have some interesting telegraphs and a decent amount of armor and/or damage resistance). At three regular intervals, the Spirit of Dak-Bunn appears somewhere in the room. Jump through Dak-Bunn’s form gives a short buff that nullifies Jotenaar’s resistance.
 
Optional:
Timer Ends when Jotenaar dies. 
 
Mob Assets
Spirit of Dak-Bunn
“Large” Frost Giant
 
 
OUTRO
Return to Wigwalli
Once Jotenaar is defeated, the screen goes black for a couple of seconds, when vision clears, the Spirit of Dak-Bunn has materialized in the chamber, along with a mostly-completed and restored alter.
 
Speak with Dak-Bunn to return to Nexus with your hard won prizes.
 
Medals:
GOLD: Complete all Optionals, No Deaths
SILVER: Complete All Optionals
BRONZE: Complete at least two Optionals
 
Loot Table:
Should be mostly Lopp-themed decor items, pets, in addition to the standard drop tables. If there were ANY new item created for this, I would wish for a trinket that turns the player into a Lopp for a short time.
 
(SCREENSHOT OF THE DOCUMENT I USED TO MAP THIS OUT)
			
				
	Edited January 14, 2016 by Tex Arcana	
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So, this is what I cooked up over a couple hours this morning.
 
My plan was to show Carbine that using nothing but re-purposed assets, that new and unique content can be created without reinventing the wheel.
 
Please forgive any typos or oversights. Like I said, this was just a couple hours this morning waiting on clients.	
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			I really like this Tex! Though as devils advocate I am legally required to repeat the adage "easier said than done"... But seriously, I hope they do something like this... And good job... this is a really cool concept in terms of both content and recycling assets for execution :D	
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I really like this Tex! Though as devils advocate I am legally required to repeat the adage "easier said than done"... But seriously, I hope they do something like this... And good job... this is a really cool concept in terms of both content and recycling assets for execution :D
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			Will come back to read in full when I've got a chance, but the effort is obvious. Would love to see more creativity like this on the forums~	
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Will come back to read in full when I've got a chance, but the effort is obvious. Would love to see more creativity like this on the forums~
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Given the amount of awesome Housing players, the knowledgeable Add-On community and the assorted Lore hounds out there, I can almost promise there are more people out there like me who can come up with ideas and then execute those ideas with the proper tools.
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			And just think... If you spent less time playing MMOs you might find the time to actually make your own games!  Blender and Unity are both free and better than ever.eehhh... I just saw the quote where you say could do this stuff in only a few days.  How wrong you are.
			
				
	Edited January 14, 2016 by Paterk	
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eehhh... I just saw the quote where you say could do this stuff in only a few days.  How wrong you are.
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Honestly, I bet I could crank out something like this at least once every few days. As I said elsewhere, I've been a Dungeon Master for an excess of three decades now (shut up, I'm old) - and this is really little more than just putting those long-earned skills to use.
 
I keep pushing this idea because I *know* NCSoft has allowed other games to have player-created content. I can't imagine that WildStar's tool-set is much more difficult to learn than that was or Housing currently is.
 
Really, I could see the Housing interface being a WONDERFUL jumping off point for them to create share-able tools for us to use.
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Infinite. Content.
 
Someone at Crabine needs to read those words and then go have a cup of tea and ruminate on the possibilities.
 
And look, even if we don't get actual Loot, we could still earn XP, Elder Points, pocket change ... or even an all-new type of Player-Specific Currency that Crabine could support with an in-game vendor. That Vendor could SELL LOOT using currency only earned through player content. Win-win.
 
Also, lock this ability behind Signature Service and/or Cosmic Points, so if you want to be able to post content, you have to have some kind of financial accountability. Talk about the most awesome Perk in the history of Perks.
 
Finally, I suppose this could entirely be incorporated into Housing with no actual player reward other than a job well-done and the adoration of the community. So no XP or anything, just basically glorified role-playing. Which doesn't offend me ...
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Infinite. Content.
 
Someone at Crabine needs to read those words and then go have a cup of tea and ruminate on the possibilities.
 
And look, even if we don't get actual Loot, we could still earn XP, Elder Points, pocket change ... or even an all-new type of Player-Specific Currency that Crabine could support with an in-game vendor. That Vendor could SELL LOOT using currency only earned through player content. Win-win.
 
Also, lock this ability behind Signature Service and/or Cosmic Points, so if you want to be able to post content, you have to have some kind of financial accountability. Talk about the most awesome Perk in the history of Perks.
 
Finally, I suppose this could entirely be incorporated into Housing with no actual player reward other than a job well-done and the adoration of the community. So no XP or anything, just basically glorified role-playing. Which doesn't offend me ...	
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First, let me state that I really appreciate the creativity on display. :)
 
Player-created content is an interesting concept, but it generally requires a few core things:
Tools designed around consumer use
The infrastructure to support completed creations
A curation system of some sort
All of which are pretty big asks that require a great deal of work when a game hasn't been designed around the concept from the get-go, as in WildStar's case. We'd most likely need to present you with a different set of tools than the ones we currently use -- not only because they're designed for internal use, but there's also the notion that people could break the game pretty hard if they were just handed what we use to make things. ;)
 
This isn't something we're focusing on for the time being, but we definitely appreciate the suggestion!	
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			City of Heroes managed a pretty great system, though it did have some flaws with regards to experience and curation. I think Wildstar has some built in advantages already that could solve at least a few of those problems. That doesn't mean I don't think it would still be a ton of work, just saying on some level there's precedent and some serious advantages to be gained if the time is put in. The MA was a fantastic outlet for telling stories in an interactive way. A player could take their own heroes and generate them as NPC questgivers or participants in the story, and flesh out their identity within the game further, or just explore ideas and areas of the game lore that weren't given as much time by the developers (I used to have fun making stories based on all the silly throwaway names for fictional corporations that supplied the tech in Paragon City).1) the idea of simulation based content is already built into the Lore, it isn't a stretch (from the player perspective) that some scientists could unlock the keys to a Caretaker interface that would work with a player to create simulations for others to run.2) raw xp exploitation would be easier to throttle down on in Wildstar. Instead of getting raw xp during a sim encounter, the design of the Sim would grant points based on goals, time involved and kills, and whatever else the system could handle, and that could fill a bar similar to the Contract system, then players could (if they desired) get a "bag of xp" for completing a tier, and that would be a fixed amount based on level.3) CoH did have one advantage in that small to large instanced maps were a core part of their content delivery, and it wasn't too unreasonable for them to cobble a system that let players pick from those existing assets, link them together, then populate them.CoH did a pretty solid job with profanity filters on the written dialog and character names, so the lewdness level was overall kept pretty low. The rating system and listings didn't really work out, players had to use more ad hoc methods to sort through the mass of published adventures, but it was still fun. I never thought player content could work, until I saw it executed reasonably well, so I'm a convert and supporter now. If Carbine chose to complete this task I'd be behind it 100%. Even if it weren't as open sandbox as the housing system, it could still be a fantastic addition to the game. Great post Tex, thanks for prompting me to dive into memory lane for the Mission Architect.	
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			Pretty sweet ideas minus the "same loot tables" plus decor items because once people (who actually give a toss about decor items) get the decor items, what's the incentive to play it? Any new content REALLY needs to have something like major pure/divine foci drops, just SOMETHING that is actually meaningful to the player.	
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Tex - Very well deigned, even if the build and scripting would take a good bit longer than a couple of hours.  Still, gotta respect the effort and mentality.  
Caydiem - a shame, but understandable.  Maybe one day :)	
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Even if not a full toolkit, it would be really fun to have natural critters as hostile NPCs on skyplots. Maybe could include a whitelist/blacklist function so that they don't attack some or always attack others. Possibilities are pretty endless there.
 
That said, really nice work Tex. For a couple hours? Not bad!	
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Massive applause for the creativity!
 
I also believe the game could greatly benefit from player created content and it definitely is something that should be given a serious thought. With the amount of customization already seen in player housing, making a limited player content toolbox with a set pool of available rewards useful to majority of players to choose from would likely pay for itself in tenfold. I hope you guys consider it at some point, it's very likely a hidden goldmine that could add a great deal to the game. 
 
I honestly believe the community is mature enough to be able to rate, bug test and improve on such content without much moderation needed from the devs. And there's a massive amount of creativity floating around.	
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Thanks, everyone.
 
Full disclosure, the inspiration came a couple of days ago over in the Coffee thread. So it's been *ahem* percolating in the back of my head for a couple of days. I *did* just sit down and hammer all this out today though, between projects and waiting for client approval. The template just kind of grew organically and all the screenshots came from official Carbine sources. I thought about going full-crazy-mode and making a list of decor items and whatnot, but I figured since it was just a creative exercise, that was pushing the boundaries of the effort I was willing to expend.  :lol:
 
Still, since I started mulling this over last week, I went through about six other half-baked ideas before settling in on this one. The Lore is already filled with unexplored dead-ends, so picking out a corner and fleshing it out was a lot of fun.	
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Very cool tex!
 
 
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First, let me state that I really appreciate the creativity on display. :)
 
Player-created content is an interesting concept, but it generally requires a few core things:
Tools designed around consumer use
The infrastructure to support completed creations
A curation system of some sort
All of which are pretty big asks that require a great deal of work when a game hasn't been designed around the concept from the get-go, as in WildStar's case. We'd most likely need to present you with a different set of tools than the ones we currently use -- not only because they're designed for internal use, but there's also the notion that people could break the game pretty hard if they were just handed what we use to make things. ;)
 
This isn't something we're focusing on for the time being, but we definitely appreciate the suggestion!
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I'd be in pig heaven if we could get some configurable NPC's with combat AI, trigger volumes, and active decor (lockable doors, movable platforms, teleporters etc.).
 
There is one big fat problem with player made content: Abuse.  Where you (and I) see creative possibilities somebody else will use it for exploitive gain (powerlevelling, market flooding).  Worse, it could introduce unintended synergies that could lag out player clients or even crash server instances.
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Player-created content is an interesting concept, but it generally requires a few core things:
Tools designed around consumer use
The infrastructure to support completed creations
A curation system of some sort
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I've been thinking a lot about this topic, because WS would be a great game to do this given its best features are housing and combat/instanced content.
 
To make it happen you'd need two things:
-Carbine would have to invest a LOT into creating a good tool for creating this content. A really well polished tool that players could use.
-Incentives for content designers that rewards designers when players run the content as well as rewarding the players who run the content WITHOUT introducing exploits. This is the hard part :(
 
As someone has said, players will run what is most efficient, and it is the goal of the designer to make it fun. If you have players out there creating content, you have to incentivize them to create content that is both effecient and FUN. Those that are will get run the most, and provide infinite emergent gameplay to WS. This could be the silver bullet.
 
So what could players/designers earn that would provide great incentives while preventing exploits? I don't know. I have my own MMO design in mind (that will never happen) that would address this, but the systems would be fundamentally different to what happens in WS.	
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-Carbine would have to invest a LOT into creating a good tool for creating this content. A really well polished tool that players could use.
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			That would work too :)	
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			Neverwinter does player generated content better than any other MMO through it's Foundry system. It truly is endless content. If I remember correctly the player generated content scales with level as well. Implementing a system similar to that would ensure that that there is always content to do. 	
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The Foundry and the City of Heroes Mission Architect are the direct inspirations for this idea, Horse. They are the reason those games were as great as they were - and the one thing that kept in playing CoH for months after I'd really lost interest.
 
I guess I'm just tired of riding the rides in this theme park and I'm ready to start being a ride operator or even a ride designer. :lol:	
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			You know, the cheapest, fastest way to implement this would just be to hire Tex.I'm just sayin'....	
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You know, the cheapest, fastest way to implement this would just be to hire Tex.
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The most naive statement a person can tell a prospective employer is "I'm more of an idea rat".  That's not just funny, that's milk out the nose funny.  Companies of all industries are chock full of "good ideas" the problem is that they're hideously, chronically short of the grunts that can make those ideas a reality.
 
Should they hire Tex?  Abso-freakin'-lutely... their marketing is a disaster but I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant :lol:
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Which isn't to say I wouldn't LOVE to get my hands on the tools to create content! 
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http://carbinestudios.com/jobs/#design
 
Just saying...   ;)
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I really, really love the idea of player made content. As a person with a great interest in building things, I've always enjoyed playing around with map-editors and other custom content creators that games have provided over the years. Over a decade ago I used to make levels in Duke3D (The provided tools were the exact same ones used by the dev team) and it really allows you to expand your creativity and overcome the limitations of the content that was built by the dev team.
 
Player made content is a very big thing these days; the steam-workshop is probably the best example of how players are both extremely willing to create and to play content made by other players, outside of steam people have been making mods for decades. Player made content is (imo) often higher quality than the content provided by the devs because players aren't limited by timeframes or any other bias. Nehrim is a shining example of how some dedicated fans can create a game that is vastly superior to the original in both terms of gameplay and story.
 
To me, player made content seems like a logical step for WildStar (it's already made the first step with player housing) The only problem is like Caydiem pointed out, creating a system would be a colossal undertaking; this game has far more pressing issues at the moment which desperately need addressing before they can even consider implementing anything experimental. Realistically it would be many years from now (maybe part of an xpac, if we make it that far) and would have to start off small, such as an expedition creator.	
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To me, player made content seems like a logical step for WildStar (it's already made the first step with player housing) The only problem is like Caydiem pointed out, creating a system would be a colossal undertaking; this game has far more pressing issues at the moment which desperately need addressing before they can even consider implementing anything experimental. Realistically it would be many years from now (maybe part of an xpac, if we make it that far) and would have to start off small, such as an expedition creator.
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While I don't disagree with what you've said, for me, right now, I desperately need something to do in WildStar to keep me involved.
 
Making my own content to share is about all there is left I want to do.
 
Which is one reason I've been writing all these big posts in the evening instead of gaming.  :lol:
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			 Something like the old Architect edition of that cancelled ncsoft game. Players were able to make their own stories. 	
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http://carbinestudios.com/jobs/#design
 
Just saying...   ;)
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Just popping in to say thank you Tex.
 
Also as a potential middle ground...
 
What if for implementation it was a housing mode you enable and put that old invasion system they had back in beta to use(I think most people have not seen or remember it even existed at this point)? Probably make the spawn point(s) movable and give it a controller that pulls from a library of preset monsters with catered loot tables, and put restrictors suchj as spawn rate,number, etc...OR even hitch off the NPC placement 
 
iono, just a thought. Carry on and good work Tex.	
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Well, I went ahead and sent my resume in. What the heck, right? I'm not too old to change careers and man, I just really want to help.
 
Here's hoping! 
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Honestly, there is nothing in that post (or Reddit thread) that I couldn't have guessed.
 
I don't think WildStar (or Carbine) is doomed. Not yet. They are (have been) flirting with near-disaster for a long time, though. But this is a quality product, it just needs to love and attention and for there to be less goofing around and more buckling down. Which isn't to say they aren't working hard - I am sure they are - but the public face of the game needs to move past the "WildStar is goofy and so are we! See!" mentality and start taking itself more seriously from the head, down.	
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I don't think WildStar (or Carbine) is doomed. Not yet. 
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