Should Frontier Create A Position Called "Game Master Technical Advisor"?

[Ralph Vargr]

We all know the ordinary coders at Frontier are good people.

It's in the "game" part of the game that Frontier falls down, like Wile E. Coyote, off a cliff.

How many of us here are pen and paper, face-to-face Game Masters, who could hep Frontier with therapy, about being a Killer Dungeon-Master, and railroading the game, etc?

I have only been running Traveller since 1978, so I'm a rookie. I need some of you, with more experience, to help the leadership at Frontier out of the Pit Of Despair.

 

[shadragon]

Not sure if one person can do that job.

A small select community group for bouncing concepts off would be great. Put them under an NDA and have frank discussions and maybe Alpha access.

BUT, the outcry from those not involved would be horrific. Like in Beta, but worse. The "My opinion counts too" screams would create enough salt to cover the winter roads of Canada several times over.

 

[Knightshark]

I don't think that this is the problem. I think there are a few good GMs at Frontier. I would bet Michael Brookes is a good GM. (I know he left ED dev)

I think the problem is the lack of proper GM tools. There are no good ways to communicate with the player, to inject mystery and start quests. Everything is metagames in the forums or in livestreams, whereas it should be presented in-game and allow the entire player base to participate. Instead, only forums guys with math background and loads of free time participate in the actual progression of the story. No GM can fix that.

 

[Whitehair]

I don't think that this is the problem. I think there are a few good GMs at Frontier. I would bet Michael Brookes is a good GM. (I know he left ED dev)

Michael Brookes moved to run the development on the Jurassic World game.

 

[Knightshark]

Michael Brookes moved to run the development on the Jurassic World game.

I know, like i say, i am aware he left the ED dev team.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I don't think that this is the problem. I think there are a few good GMs at Frontier. I would bet Michael Brookes is a good GM. (I know he left ED dev)

I think the problem is the lack of proper GM tools. There are no good ways to communicate with the player, to inject mystery and start quests. Everything is metagames in the forums or in livestreams, whereas it should be presented in-game and allow the entire player base to participate. Instead, only forums guys with math background and loads of free time participate in the actual progression of the story. No GM can fix that.

*I* fixed it, without computers. I think they have things like "GalNet" they could start with...

Maybe being better story-tellers could help as well. There is one person at Frontier who writes decent books, and is a major developer, y'know.

Michael Brookes moved to run the development on the Jurassic World game.

See the part of my post, about management attention being shifted elsewhere.

 

[Knightshark]

*I* fixed it, without computers. I think they have things like "GalNet" they could start with...

Maybe being better story-tellers could help as well. There is one person at Frontier who writes decent books, and is a major developer, y'know.

Well Michael Brooks is a decent author and a dev.

And i very much hope the GalNetAudio will be a big step towards better presentation of the story. But still, i think the main gameplay mechanics are too disconnected from any story telling. If they could use the mission system and the BGS to engage players in the story, well that would be something else.

 

[Stealthie]

Funny thing is, it's usually the "top dog" at a games studio who's the driving vision behind a game like ED.
Somebody like Chris Roberts (for lack of a better example) will have very specific ideas about what he wants from Star Citizen and he'll direct his team to make it happen.

It sometimes feels like that's missing from ED.
David Braben seems to get his jollies more from creating the ED universe, itself, rather than from creating a video-game set in that universe.
Beyond that, it probably wouldn't be kind to name names because some of the questionable decisions currently showcased in ED suggest they're not especially suited to game design.

 

[Whitehair]

See the part of my post, about management attention being shifted elsewhere.

?
I see nothing in your OP about management attention being shifted elsewhere?

 

[wenkman]

We all know the ordinary coders at Frontier are good people.

It's in the "game" part of the game that Frontier falls down, like Wile E. Coyote, off a cliff.

How many of us here are pen and paper, face-to-face Game Masters, who could hep Frontier with therapy, about being a Killer Dungeon-Master, and railroading the game, etc?

I have only been running Traveller since 1978, so I'm a rookie. I need some of you, with more experience, to help the leadership at Frontier out of the Pit Of Despair.

Rule #1: don't talk about your character.

 

[Riverside]

If they did I hope they'd offer it to CMDR CosmicSpacehead.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

?
I see nothing in your OP about management attention being shifted elsewhere?

OOPS. My mistake.

 

[xzanfr]

Not sure if one person can do that job.

A small select community group for bouncing concepts off would be great. Put them under an NDA and have frank discussions and maybe Alpha access.

This sounds a lot like the DDF contributing alpha backers (and their godlike powers) from way back in the olden days!

BUT, the outcry from those not involved would be horrific.

... and this is the reason why its best kept in house.

 

[Darkfyre99]

We all know the ordinary coders at Frontier are good people.

It's in the "game" part of the game that Frontier falls down, like Wile E. Coyote, off a cliff.

How many of us here are pen and paper, face-to-face Game Masters, who could hep Frontier with therapy, about being a Killer Dungeon-Master, and railroading the game, etc?

I have only been running Traveller since 1978, so I'm a rookie. I need some of you, with more experience, to help the leadership at Frontier out of the Pit Of Despair.

I'll take that position!

Right now, Frontier is in full Monty Haul mode. Rewards are way too high, various industries throughout the galaxy are sitting on vast stores of goods and keep producing more despite lacking the raw materials to produce them with, and they keep fudging rolls to keep their players from reaping the negative consequences of their actions.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Not sure if one person can do that job.

A small select community group for bouncing concepts off would be great. Put them under an NDA and have frank discussions and maybe Alpha access.

What?

Like a private forum where certain members of the community would be able to provide feedback to Frontier about new mechanics that they're thinking of adding to the game?

Madness!

BUT, the outcry from those not involved would be horrific. Like in Beta, but worse. The "My opinion counts too" screams would create enough salt to cover the winter roads of Canada several times over.

True.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Funny thing is, it's usually the "top dog" at a games studio who's the driving vision behind a game like ED.
Somebody like Chris Roberts (for lack of a better example) will have very specific ideas about what he wants from Star Citizen and he'll direct his team to make it happen.

It sometimes feels like that's missing from ED.
David Braben seems to get his jollies more from creating the ED universe, itself, rather than from creating a video-game set in that universe.
Beyond that, it probably wouldn't be kind to name names because some of the questionable decisions currently showcased in ED suggest they're not especially suited to game design.

Execs, who greenlight things, are money/sales people, not writers. Harvey Weinstien got busted, not because of sexually harassing actresses for decades, but because he wasn't making money anymore.

Conversely, writers are crazy, and cannot be trusted to run any large project/need adult supervision. Orson Welles is the examplar. JJ Adams is one of the current ones.

See: Hollywood.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Rule #1: don't talk about your character.

Let me tell you about my ship.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Well Michael Brooks is a decent author and a dev.

And i very much hope the GalNetAudio will be a big step towards better presentation of the story. But still, i think the main gameplay mechanics are too disconnected from any story telling. If they could use the mission system and the BGS to engage players in the story, well that would be something else.

Wrong gender.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Some points from me:

* FD had this idea during KS as one of rewards for DDF backers but it was left on table later. I would certainly welcome that. But I will guess FD just reads tons of forum posts to get picture. So yeah, keep constructive posts about problems with story, CGs, GalNet, etc.coming;
* I personally enjoy CG writing - they have always been quite good. CG as mechanic is in dire need of improvements - some very low hanging ruits - but overall I read CG news just to get kick off of some universe happenings;

Do ED needs mastermind GM? Maybe, only if he or she has given good tools. We aren't there yet, but I would enjoy season of let's say Kate or Drew written story line.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

If there were a story to tell, then I'd say yes, most definitely.

Frontier isn't telling a story in Elite.

They generate events.

The only story is your own - and only you can tell it.