Community Event / Creation Writers pack idea

[Kipper]

So I just had an idea for the writers pack someone might want to take up? It's something I don't think you'd need to be an established author to do, and I'd even offer to do it myself(!).... but it would need some input from FD closer to the release of the game.

Given that games these days tend to come digitally, or in DVD cases with a tiny manual if you're lucky - and remembering the days back when a premium game came in a big box with loads of extras - maybe we could create the extras as a community (and help the KS)?

So with that in mind - a couple of different ideas really:

1. A traveller's guide to the core systems - using data from the actual game when it gets closer to completion, the idea here would be a premium printed booklet in the style of a travel companion, telling you important information about planets and systems - size, climate, who lives there, a bit of history, their politics, what they import and export, and notable places/bases/stations to visit.

2. A spacefarers guide to ships and structures - again, to be good it would need to tie in with actual game data, but using images or artists impressions of the actual ships, real tech specs, a little description of how they came about and what they're used for, how much they cost and where you're likely to obtain/encounter them etc. The information would be available in-game, but it gives people the option of a physical book.

There's probably a ton of other stuff you could do too that actually ties in with the game.

I guess you could offer these as downloadable e-books, or as premium printed copies - though I'd have no idea how much that would even cost....

 

[Susimetsa]

Ah, nice idea - but I think the writers would need a permission from FD as well as some information from them.

I must admit that I first thought that you were going to propose a joint Kickstarter venture to collate a short story collection for the game (although it would also need some special permissions from FD, since their present pledge level only gives the permission to a single author...).

 

[cassius]

One thing i did think of doing was to have some merchandising trinkets made up... badges, fridge magnets, stickers, something like that, and have them as a raffle type thing. People who jontied their pledge could send proof (two KS screenshots maybe?) at the end of the project to prove they'd up'd their pledge and stuck with it to the end. 25 lucky individuals would then be selected at random to get some prizes

I would cover the cost of production myself (they're not too expensive, say £75 in all) so long as the minimum jontied was perhaps £10. I figured i could put that £75 in as my own jonty, but if it were to encourage even 8 people to raise their pledge by £10 we'd raise more than i could alone

At the moment though this is just an idea (i'm quite lazy lol) but also worried how this might effect any upcoming pledge upgrades planned by FD if they have a similar idea, as well as potential copyright infringement :S

 

[Kipper]

I must admit that I first thought that you were going to propose a joint Kickstarter venture to collate a short story collection for the game (although it would also need some special permissions from FD, since their present pledge level only gives the permission to a single author...).

This is not a bad idea either .... most of us probably couldn't write a novel, but short stories? Maybe....

What do you say, Frontier?

 

[Sir.Tj]

One thing i did think of doing was to have some merchandising trinkets made up... badges, fridge magnets, stickers, something like that, and have them as a raffle type thing. People who jontied their pledge could send proof (two KS screenshots maybe?) at the end of the project to prove they'd up'd their pledge and stuck with it to the end. 25 lucky individuals would then be selected at random to get some prizes

I would cover the cost of production myself (they're not too expensive, say £75 in all) so long as the minimum jontied was perhaps £10. I figured i could put that £75 in as my own jonty, but if it were to encourage even 8 people to raise their pledge by £10 we'd raise more than i could alone

At the moment though this is just an idea (i'm quite lazy lol) but also worried how this might effect any upcoming pledge upgrades planned by FD if they have a similar idea, as well as potential copyright infringement :S

It's a great idea, I'd love an Elite badge etc. I'm sort of in that trade and have mentioned it to FD recently, it could cost a bit more though, with artwork costs etc. and in some cases machine tooling etc. and it would be nice to have it as a official licenced merchandise from FD.

 

[Michael Brookes]

So an anthology of short stories would be fine for the writer's pledge. Whoever is the named person for the pledge is considered the editor and is responsible for putting the anthology together. That includes collating the works and getting them approved - we'll need to check all the fiction to make sure it fits in the Elite universe.

The other restriction is that the anthology is limited to 15 contributions.

Michael

 

[Alien]

Michael!!!! Long time no see!

Can we bombard you with questions about Elite: Dangerous?

 

[Michael Brookes]

I still pop by from time to time Unfortunately I can't reveal much more than David is doing with his updates. It's worth bearing in mind that we're still designing the game. Obviously we have a pretty solid idea for the basics, but many of the nuances need working out.

Michael

 

[Sir.Tj]

I still pop by from time to time Unfortunately I can't reveal much more than David is doing with his updates. It's worth bearing in mind that we're still designing the game. Obviously we have a pretty solid idea for the basics, but many of the nuances need working out.

Michael

Spoilsport

Nice to see you on here again though.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Hey - at least I'm not saying "I have no news at this time."

Michael

 

[Sir.Tj]

Hey - at least I'm not saying "I have no news at this time."

Michael

Never seen you post that Michael

 

[Alien]

Hey - at least I'm not saying "I have no news at this time."

Michael

Never seen you post that Michael

I've seen him post "We will say something when we have something to say"
And I ashamedly admit I got quite angry with him (and all at Frontier) at that, for which I apologise and hope you forgive me.

 

[Michael Brookes]

It's an uncomfortable situation knowing what's going on, but not being able to say anything. As a long term Elite fan I understand the frustration

Michael

 

[cassius]

It's an uncomfortable situation knowing what's going on, but not being able to say anything. As a long term Elite fan I understand the frustration

Michael

Go on though, you can tell us... we won't tell anyone! Pinky swear

 

[Kipper]

So an anthology of short stories would be fine for the writer's pledge. Whoever is the named person for the pledge is considered the editor and is responsible for putting the anthology together. That includes collating the works and getting them approved - we'll need to check all the fiction to make sure it fits in the Elite universe.

The other restriction is that the anthology is limited to 15 contributions.

So are there 15 volunteers to write a short story of around 4,000 words?

I'm purely going on Wikipedia for length, apparently a short story is 1,000-9,000 words.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_story

 

[Susimetsa]

So an anthology of short stories would be fine for the writer's pledge. Whoever is the named person for the pledge is considered the editor and is responsible for putting the anthology together. That includes collating the works and getting them approved - we'll need to check all the fiction to make sure it fits in the Elite universe.

The other restriction is that the anthology is limited to 15 contributions.

Michael

Sounds great! Now, we'll just have to find enough people and work out the submission and approval and editing guidelines... And someone to take charge of it all...

 

[Susimetsa]

If we go for this anthology, one of the biggest decisions that must be made is whether we'll just accept everything that gets written whatever its quality or if we set up an editorial team that at least attempts to work with the writer to improve the final products to a level that we can all be proud of.

 

[Ashley Barley]

If you guys arrange this I'm sure we can sort you out some sort of private forum on here to read through each others' work and exchange ideas, etc.

 

[Susimetsa]

If you guys arrange this I'm sure we can sort you out some sort of private forum on here to read through each others' work and exchange ideas, etc.

Sounds good!

Of course, it would also have to be decided what happens with the pledge benefits if there are 15 writers sharing the same pledge level...

I also posted about this to the Oolite forum, since there are several people where who have written pieces of fiction in the past...

 

[Kipper]

One good way might be that if there are 15 authors, that's 14 independent people that can read through each story and provide the initial comments.

And then we'd need someone who actually has a bit of experience in the field to go over the final drafts and make sure the stories are good to go, and be able to help us with getting it out there.

Good point on the KS pledge benefits, no idea how that would work. I'd be personally pretty happy to get in the design decision forum & the alpha/beta phases. Anything else on top of that would be a bonus.