Hi, I'm a new player here and really like the game, I'll probably buy a subscription within the next few days.

I'm really excited about how few people are here, and how relevant suggestions are to the mods. Ill start simple.

The opening tutorial has a major flaw: In my zeal to get started, I clicked the leave station button before bothering to read the tutorial message. I figured I'm leet enough to figure everything out on my own, but I really wasnt. THe problem is that the instructions become completely unhelpful if you do this. They instruct you to click the field that only exists as such in the station, and if you manage to figure out how to get it in space, it says only that the tutorial is suspended until you get back to where you should be. I think the tutorial should just jump forward if you leave the station early, and explain how to get back in. Im certain that other potential players have been lost in this first thirty seconds of game play, it took a lot of figuring to get back in the entrance after being shoved out the exit.

Just a thought.

If ever VO starts putting in audio-voices, the tutorial is the first thing that I think would really benefit from having a voice actor.

Thanks for pointing this out. After you have been playing for awhile it is easy to over look these things. Are there any other things that could be adjusted in the opening tutorial?

I hope that after Ray has finished reworking the mission generation system all current missions will get a review including the tutorial. Now would be the time to start thinking about how to improve it for new players.

Some of my suggestions are :

-Set the stage better by telling the player they are a new recruit for their nation and have just been given a free ship and will have to earn licenes to gain access to better equipment.
Maybe make this part a bit longer and nation specific? Like: "Welcome new recruit into the Serco Military. You have been called upon to defend your nation against the Itani agression. You will be provided with a free ship and basic equipment. If you prove yourself on the battlefiled you will be granted access to better ships and weapons. Long Live the Serco!" etc.

-inform the player about joining and leaving channels and let them know about the help channel (1), Nation channel (11) and general (100)

-inform the player there are other tutorial(s) available on different topics: mining (and add tutorials in dueling, grouping or even chatting?)

-figure out a way to make the chat system more intuitive so a noob can call for help as they need it.

-explain ion storms

Have you also done the mining tutorial? It is found at mining stations. Any comments?

Yes, all of those excellent ideas. The little ion storm alert at the top was plenty for that, so you don't need to go into it with any more detail.

One thing I do like about the beginning with the licensing system is that it forces you to buy ships below your means, and while this might seem like a bad thing, I was being way too reckless, so it was good that I had to train a bit before i was alowed to spend a significant amount of cash on a ship.

The channel thing is definately very important. I still don't really understand it :P

Sorta like bnet protocal, but not really, It would help it a bit if there were tabs at the top for each channel, and a prefix wasnt required. The '!' '@' et cetera for labling channels is a good idea, but I keep trying to tab to the other channels. I suppose its a bit too late to move boost to an other default, but thats not really a big deal.

Immersive storytelling from the beginning is critical, perhaps showing you a few cool splashes with the story (like ever played EVnova by ambrosia?). Its been mentioned before, but station descriptions would really help the atmosphere.

And this is somewhat minor, but ideally, the mission dialogue would all be on one pane. You click on the mission, and the discription pops up in the right half, and you can accept it with a button just below. That would streamline that a little bit. I woudlnt mention it if my computer didnt lag for a moment every time i selected info on a mission at a station.

Ive not done much mining, but I'll check the tutorial out.

Heres a question of ethics: Is it stealing to register for a new free trial if you are doing it to help the developers? :P

Bump, if we;re going to get an influx of new players we should have a proper welcome mat.

Most of the current missions will have to be scrapped, at the least they will have to be transposed to the new mission system. We should take this opportunity to revise the current missions.

I know we have a thread for mission ideas but I don't think it has been touched in awhile so I'm going to bring it up again.

If you only had time to add 10 missions, what 10 would they be?

If the ability to create player-written missions ever materializes, I will bend my writing skillz toward making several introductory missions, with relevant stories, to help get new players acclimated. The current tutorial isn't bad, per se -- I just think it'd be nice to get through a larger set of the game's functionality over the course of, say, an hour or so (rather than the 4 minutes required by the current tutorial), doing a lot of different kinds of missions within a story framework.

Beolach said:
If ever VO starts putting in audio-voices, the tutorial is the first thing that I think would really benefit from having a voice actor.

I think there was some recent SAG business about having voice acting in games be classified as "real acting" and therefore subject to SAG rules and rates. That means something like $700/hour minimum, and really no option but to use SAG members to do it. Too bad. I didn't appreciate voice acting until recently -- it really adds a lot to a game, but now it's expensive as all get-out.

Edit: I didn't read Sara's post before bashing out my own. Maybe I'll spend a few minutes putting together a plotline that could carry a new player through 10 missions or so.

ugh... bloody Unions...

is it still an issue if it's not hired out?

So just call it voice over work and call your self a voice over fabricator and your good to go.

Mind if I cross-link to threads on various missions I'd like to see?
Assassination mission: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/11314
Repair/Pirate mission: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/8747
Trade Contract/Station Blockade: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/11684 (Note that these would require that Guilds can take missions)
Lots of suggestions in the "Proposal: Mission Design Contest" thread: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/10725

Most of those are oriented towards more mid to high level players. It's kinda hard for me to think up really interesting low-level missions, because characters aren't really low-level for very long. The best way to make low-level missions interesting would be to have them as the beginning of a story-arc that would later include higher level missions. But story-arc missions take longer to design & implement than one-off missions. Here's a couple basic story-arc ideas that could include some low-level missions that would later lead to higher level missions: Corporate Competition storylines, which could start with the current "Corporate Espianage" mission we have now; Romeo/Juliet Itani/Serco romance storylines; Itani players might have a choice to take a Diplomatic mission to the Serco for the Order of Eo, or else a Sabotage mission against the Serco for the Order of Akan, and depending on which mission(s) they took they will be limited to working with one or the other Order later on.

Regarding Voice-Over stuff, I direct people's attention to this thread in Community Projects, specifically the post linked to: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/9/8567?page=2#148354

In a nutshell, it wouldn't be difficult to do voice-acting as a community project. I just never really finished the project, and at this point if I do finish it, I'm leaning more towards doing voice-overs for missions, rather than general communication.

I'm available for voiceovers. I'm cheap (free) and I offer up Ghost as my business reference. As long as you don't mind your voice actors to have a strange mix of Wisconsin Yoooper accent & Texas drawl.

Missions that I like:

1. All the trading missions
2. Assassination mission/Corporate espionage mission
3. The "Bots are annoying" mission. (Love it!)
4. Hydrospanner mission
5. Basic/Adv combat missions

The rest could go away, and be replaced with any of the wonderful mission suggestions that have been on these boards for the last year and a half. I would especially like to have:

a) Mission "threads" that lead into each other, and...
b) Being able to take multiple missions at once, as long as they do not conflict.

I banged together something mediocre for an Itani newbie. It needs another 30-60 minutes of work, though. When I finish it up I'll post it here, and hopefully get some community editing. In my imagination, there would be 2-4 different starter missions for each nation, probably selected at random (to avoid making a new player choose something s/he knows nothing about).

My focus was on exposing elements of the backstory while teaching the new player a wide array of tasks including navigation, target selection, basic combat, wormhole usge, trading, and mining. I don't think the Itani/Serco conflict is an appropriate subject for a newbie mission, and it's not story matter that needs to be "revealed" (it's probably obvious from the get-go), so I want to stick with subtler intra-nation themes.

It would be clever if bit-players in the tutorial(s) made repeat appearances in later missions. However, this is trickier than it sounds from a continuity standpoint, mainly because "regular" missions will almost certainly be repeatable. Also, I don't want to have a strict story arc, because players will adopt many different kinds of roles, and I wouldn't want the story to be something that gets in the way of their enjoyment of the game.

Anyway, that's enough rambling about objectives. I really like the missions you linked to Beolach, but you're right: they're fore higher-level players. (There's more you can do with repair missions too, like go into a battle zone and play medic.)

Stricly speaking, I think even donating your voice acting talents to a game would be considered SAG competition. Such a blemish could prevent Guild from having productive discussions with publishers in the future.

Good thing I'm not a member of SAG. But I understand your concern. There are PLENTY of folks willing to do voicework for contract that are far superior to me at it, but they'll cost SOMETHING. (I was kinda joking about doing the voiceover work anyway.)

As far as being "Blacklisted" by SAG, Guild can just say "Oh, this guy? He's some hack we used when we didn't have any money, Mr. Jones. Now that we've got wheelbarrows full of CASH..." <Incarnate drops load of cash on James Earl Jones' desk> "...we think we're ready to hire some decent talent."
<James Earl Jones, who is no fool, signs contract>

If we do it as a community project, then SAG or whoever can't say anything against Guild Software, they didn't assign us to do it, we did it on our own. But a community project wouldn't be as tightly integrated as it would be if Guild had voice-acting built into the game.

Capital Ship/Station construction missions: When a Guild begins construction on a Capital Ship or Station, a set of missions becomes available to all Guild members to gather the required materials. At the Guild's discretion, they may also allow non-guild-members access to the missions, based on criteria such as Home Nation, Standing with certain faction(s), and license levels. Guild members taking the mission would get little or no XP & monetary reward from the mission, other than owning the Capital Ship or Station; for non-guild-members, the Guild would pay a specified monetary reward, and Trade XP would be awarded based on the same calculations as in the Trade Guild delivery missions. This would allow the Guild to construct their Capital Ship or Station faster, as more characters would help with building it, but the more characters they allow to help, the less likely they will be able to keep it a secret (and the more expensive, as they'd have to pay the non-members).

So for example if SKV was constructing a HAC, they could allow the construction missions to be available to all characters who met the following requirements:
1) Itani Standing >= 700
2) Serco Standing <= -700
3) Home Nation == Itani

Then, a character who met those requirements would be able to help SKV construct the HAC. This would be a cool mission for newer players, as it has a definite impact on the game, and introduces them to guilds and player interaction.

Okay, so, several things:

The openning tutorial introduction text should definitely be nation-specific. I also like the idea of having nation-specific government supplied ships/equipment: http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/10996#144316 .

What/where is the "Hydrospanner mission"?
sarahanne, do you mean additional missions, or simply 10 missions that need to be in the game?

Also, FYI, my uncle directed/produced a short independent movie not too long ago, and I am QUITE sure he did not spend too much on it. I know that he had 1 actor, and the other help came from some local college students as part of a "class project". If someone wants, I can ask him what he did for that.

yes once again, some n00b suggests a small improvement that would reduce confusion by leaps and bounds, take 20 minutes to implement.... and the 'brilliant experts' come in with a design for a 5 million dollar voice acting project.

you guys dont work for the government do you?

Alright, here is Act I of a proposed mission sequence for an Itani newbie. (Edited to fix a few minor errors. I'll try to post up the second act pretty soon.)

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ACT I

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MISSION 1 - CULL THE HIVE
The Hive is a robot mining collective gone awry. It is always sending its scouts into new territory in search of valuable minerals. Culling its scout ships helps keep the Hive in check. Therefore, we need you to go out to sector X-Y and destroy two Hive scout bots.

Mission objectives (the bots are unarmed):
a - Launch.
b - Open your nav-map.
c - Click on sector X-Y to set your destination.
d - Fly out to 3000m.
e - Engage your hyperdrive.
f - (Explanation of radars)
g - Select an enemy (there's only one at this point)
h - Approach to within 150m.
i - Fire weapons and destroy the bot.
j - Collect the scrap metal by flying over it.
k - A second scout has warped into the sector. Target it and destroy it.
l - Set a destination (home).
m - Dock.
n - Sell scrap.

MISSION 2 - THE ROGUE SHIP
Thank you for disposing of those Hive scouts. There is always a need for pilots to fly against the encroachment of the Hive. For now, however, we need you for a different sort of task. An unknown ship is flying through Itani space, headed toward the Serco border. We want you to intercept this ship, hail them, and order them to return from whence they came. A route has already been programmed into your nav computer.
Mission objectives:

a - Warp to sector X-Y
b - Select the rogue ship and press 'h' to hail (the hail command will be temporarily bound to say "Stand down and return to your homes")
c - The ship responds: "We are of the Order of Akan. Do not interfere with our mission!" They attack! Defend yourself!
d - When Akanese ship is down to 40% health it will flee. Player receives a message: "Let them go. The important thing is that they won't be going into Serco territory today. Return to base for debriefing. A route has already been programmed into your nav computer."
e - Return to base.

MISSION 3 - A SPECIAL DELIVERY
As you may have noticed, the ship you intercepted belonged to the Order of Akan, a separatist group of Itani who wage a secret war against the Serco. We have recently uncovered Akanese plans to attack a number of Serco convoys. Even our must trusted coded channels are not secure enough for transmitting this kind of information. It must be hand-delivered. We need you to take a datapad with the plans on it to System Z, sector X-Y.
Mission objectives:
a - Load the datapad into your cargo hold.
b - Plot a course to the wormhole in sector A-B.
c - Fly toward the wormhole marker on your HUD. When you reach the marker, wait until your battery is fully charged, then press the Activate key to enter the wormhole.
d - An unknown ship waits on the other side of the wormhole! Defend yourself! (Once again, they fly off when damaged to 40%. It's not supposed to be a lethal battle.)
e - Fly to sector X-Y and dock.

MISSION 4 - DILEMMA
Your service in delivering this datapad has been invaluable. We will certainly need your help in the near future. While we consider how to counteract these plans, there is something else that you may be able to help us with. We have picked up a distress signal from a ship in sector X-Y. The ship has indicated they can make their own repairs if someone will bring them 2 cu of xithricite. Buy the needed materials and jettison them near the damaged ship.
Mission objectives:

a - Buy 2cu of Xithricte.
b - Fly to sector X-Y.
c - Fly to within 100m of the damaged ship.
d - Hail them. (Response: "We are of the Order of Akan. Do not interfere with our mission to destroy the hated Serco!")
e - (Player recieves text) "You have three choices: Continue carrying out your mission, leave them be, or destroy them. If you want to keep trying to help, press 'j' to open the jettison screen. Otherwise, return to base or destroy this threat here and now."
f - This is the end of Act I. If jettison, start Act II(a). If return to base, start Act II(b). If destroy the Arkanese ship, start Act II(c).

* Note about the final mission in Act I: There is no indication whether the Itani command knew the distress call was from an Akanese ship. This is supposed to be uncertain.

No, ananzi, we are too inefficient even for the government! ;) But seroiusly, I agree that some simple text changes and fixing whatever mission bugs still exist. That is a bug because it impedes the proper operation of the initial tutorial -- to guide one through everything for the first few minutes.

wylfing, those are EXCELLENT!