Season 6 Dev Blog #21
By PWE_BranFlakes @ August 13, 2012 at 12:00pm
Season 6 Foundry Updates
Star Trek has always been about exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new lifeforms and new civilizations. One thing that makes this possible in STO is the Foundry – a tool that allows players to create their own worlds to explore or destroy. Hi, I'm Zero. You may remember me from such podcast interviews as Priority One and BroadcastUGC. I'm a producer on the STO team, specializing in ships, FX, and the Foundry.
Since the Foundry launched last year, more than 60,000 projects have been created. Now Season 6 brings with it an update to the Foundry that gives authors new options and new maps to use in their missions. When the Foundry first launched, the toolset was more limited. There were no triggers. No branching dialog. No way to customize the body and face scaling options for custom costumes. Since then we've added all of that. One of my favorite improvements is the ability to leave a Dilithium tip for an author.
Season 6 sees us updating the Foundry toolset even further. We've added new behaviors, like Timid Creature, for authors to use with their NPCs. The addition of multi-select means no longer do authors have to select items one at a time. Most objects in the editor will now show 3D image previews, instead of 2D. There are also more customization options, like the ability to specify display names for interactive objects and dialog windows. On top of all of the above we've updated the flow for creating a new story, and improved the UI by adding things like character limit displays and sorting. On top of toolset improvements, we've reached out to the authors and added a number of new maps and props that they requested, such as the banners from Utopia Planitia and Drozana from Night of the Comet. (I can't wait to see all the TOS-era missions that are created!)
For those that don't know me, "No spoilers!" is pretty much my catch phrase. I don't generally talk about upcoming changes that haven't already been seen on one of our test servers. And this is no exception.
Ok, just one thing. We're working on implementing the ability for authors to create patrols. We have been working on it throughout the Season 6 development cycle, and now we're polishing and debugging it so we can get it to Holodeck soon. (Some of the NPCs wanted to go patrolling off into the horizon. We've sent them back to the Academy so they can relearn how patrol routes work.)
Another upcoming feature I can talk about is our upgraded Foundry Spotlight. Each week the Community team and I work together to manually update the Spotlight information using our bulletin system, but we'd like to see a more elegant solution that allows us to show off more than one mission per week. To that end, our development team is working on a way to incorporate the Foundry Spotlight into the mission journal. This is still under development, but we're planning to get it out in the near future.
The Foundry holds a special place in my heart; I've worked with the Foundry team for almost as long as there has been a team. We're all very passionate about the project, and have been so eager to see what new stories our Foundry authors will create. The authors have been a great group of people to work with, and the tool wouldn't be what it is now without their feedback, testing, and dedication. From the early closed beta up through the recent Season 6 testing on Tribble, they have proved invaluable. Anyone who wants to help the Foundry improve is welcome–nay, encouraged–to get on our test server when we're rolling out new features and help us try to break things. The feedback we get from our Foundry authors is taken very seriously and helps us improve the editor for everyone.
If you've not used the Foundry and you want to, there are myriad resources available! The best place to start is the Foundry section on our own website. From there you can read the FAQ, view a brief photo walkthrough, and get access to tutorial videos created by some of the dedicated author/testers. If you want to discuss the Foundry and get even more help, there's a section of the forums dedicated to it. Also, make sure to check out this Guest Blog on the Foundry — it was recently written by StarbaseUGC and featured on StarTrek.com. The whole of the STO Foundry team regularly checks the threads there, even if sometimes we're too shy to post.
So, why are you still reading this? Go make a mission! Create a world. Tell a story. Build an intricate combat scenario. Or just give me some more space mobs to kill in my tricked out Prometheus. Whatever appeals to you most, jump into the Star Trek universe and use the Foundry to bring people into your final frontier.
ZeroniusRex
Assistant Producer
Star Trek Online
admskyhawk @ Aug 15th, 2012 9:53PM
Gotta admit its getting better. Now if we could only load our saved costumes and save costumes so it is easier for multi episode arcs with reappearing characters it would be amazing, as well as easier. Maybe also a feature to make finding every episode in a story arc easier. Maybe make a folder creation in the list of your foundry missions and the folder is the Arc name that people search for. It would organize the chaos a little better.
masterjp123 @ Aug 15th, 2012 6:34AM
Great changes! But.........Toturial !!! And I can't Find my mission when I search for it why not ?
drogyn1701
If you cannot see your mission, first make sure you are on a character that is high enough level to play it. Second, if it is a newly published mission, It needs 5 reviews by people who have chosen to become reviewers before it becomes visible to the general public. Becoming a reviewer is easy though, when you go to the community authored tab to search for missions, there should be a button at the bottom of that window that says Become a Reviewer or something to that effect. As for tutorials, pretty much every one ever made is here http://starbaseugc.com/index.php/noob-guides/tutorials-guide/
mgmirkin426 @ Aug 14th, 2012 9:15AM
I agree with others that a better way of specifying object positions in the map (an actual real-time 3D map creator where we can specifically place objects as they appear in the game and move them around, etc.) is necessary. And the ability to properly orient things in 3D space, not just X,Y but X,Y,Z axes if necessary. With appropriate physics (if something's in mid-air, it should move down until it touches something below it, unless we specify otherwise ["weird physics" ;) ]). Then maybe we could correct issues where certain objects are in the floor or otherwise oddly positioned...
mgmirkin426 @ Aug 14th, 2012 9:09AM
I haven't visited the foundry in ages. Do we have the ability yet to specify how different NPC groups interact with our toon and/or with each other? That is, can we specify NPC Group 1 is passive, aggressive, neutral toward our captain, or passive, aggressive, neutral toward NPC Group 2, etc. Or can we set it so that NPC group 2 spawns at some time after we engage NPC group 1 and they are specifically aggressive toward NPC group 1? I think that would be cool for making certain missions where you have to wait for reinforcements. Maybe with an optional objective of defeating the Group 1 BEFORE group 2 gets there, and the failure condition being your entire [away] team dying BEFORE your allies arrive to help. Have they implemented this level of granularity
majorsmith1 @ Aug 14th, 2012 8:49AM
Sounds great, I just hope there will be new costumes to add
zeuxidemus001 @ Aug 13th, 2012 8:37PM
I can't wait till we can make patrols where the KDF Players can start destroying freighters instead of disabling or defending them :)
sean2448 @ Aug 13th, 2012 8:05PM
when is beta on crafting of stf store how come you civing them so much now nothing to crafters or players that soon to have 3 300 medals and no 12 set space or ground where are 12 chips for space gear
jengoz @ Aug 13th, 2012 5:08PM
Woot Hoo! it has taken more than a year and a half to move from Beta version 0.5 to beta version 0.8!! let's have a party!
kritheaxenos
You try making something this big work reliably, for every possible permutation that players and editors might come up with.
darramouss1 @ Aug 13th, 2012 4:28PM
Is there any word when we're going to be able to rate missions again? I know you're a "no spoilers" person, but I'm hoping you can break your rule to let us know when this will be fixed. Thanks!!
zer0niusrex
Soon. :)
daveyny
You forgot the 'TM' Zero... 8-P
mrdarksabre @ Aug 13th, 2012 4:26PM
What I would like to see next for the Foundry is either the Contact limit extended or prop versions of all the stock contaacts you can get, I'm trying to make a heavily garrisoned base in a mission and the limit as it is just doesn't cut it. I'd also like to se a change to a 3d map editor view, nothing annoys me more than having to go in and out of the map (which is buggy for me as it is) just to find out something is a little bit off where it should be and I have to go back and fix it and check it again (this can potentially be repeated ad nauseum). I feel the Foundry can only benefit from this change. Also, for making patrols, can't you just put down waypoints and change the path between them? Like how you can set down points for a line in Photoshop/Flash and drag the line to curve it.
red01999 @ Aug 13th, 2012 1:19PM
I may have missed something, but can someone explain the idea of Foundry-created patrols to me? Is this a particular kind of mission, some kind of wandering mobs, something that works like regular patrol missions (e.g. visit a random planet, get a single-play mission), or what? And if it's like the regular patrol missions, can we replay them? I really dislike the non-replayable patrol missions being... well, non-replayable.
drogyn1701
What I believe she means is the ability make NPCs walk along specific routes.
zer0niusrex
What drogyn1701 said. It will be the ability to set a path for NPCs to follow. It's still in development, so further details aren't yet available. :)
drogyn1701
I heard a while back that you were having problems adapting it for space NPCs, is that still the case?
cedricophoff @ Aug 13th, 2012 1:15PM
There are people that will never, ever, bother doing player designed missions. And for me that does not count as exploration, or boldy going. Its just shit. Ide prefer normal content like every other normal MMO out there thats made by devs that we all pay, one way or another for. Because its relevant to the stories that we already know and have going in the game. What some random person imagines in a basement somewhere wearing a "kirk is the best" T-shirt i dont give one f*ck about.
neoakiraii
the go play something else
cedricophoff
i thank you for your comment, like so many smartasses on the forums before you on many different subjects, i do hope your tiny brainpan stays around to bring amusement to the masses.
rheatitan
Have you played any of foundry missions? Some of the best mission content in the game has been made by players though the foundry and I include feature episodes. While I agree that there should be far more dev made story missions you would be doing yourself a diservice to ignore this feature just because its made by "some random person imagines in a basement somewhere wearing a "kirk is the best" T-shirt"!
drogyn1701
Most of us do not have "kirk is the best" on our shirts.... Mine says "You better Trek yourself before you wreck yourself."
firavel
For the record I will say that I am all for more "official cannon" missions from the devs. However, I will point out that games and game models that have supported user made content often hire some of the best from the community as devs or find some of those community made maps so well done that they wish they had made it themselves (most recent examples being Cold Stream for Left 4 Dead, and DayZ) I would wager a pretty penny that some, if not most, of the devs on this game cut their teeth with the Aurora Tool Set that was available for Neverwinter Nights and similar software. The modding community and what I've seen of this Foundry system, are what set PC gaming apart and continue to push it forward. And as a final note, this is an MMORPG and the foundry allows users to put a bit of the RP back into the game that a lot of players tend to forget about.
neoakiraii
sorry, but when you insult people like a brainless child and assume that all trek fans live in their parents basements,since you are simple minded enough to just follow the one stereotype. you get a smart*ss comment. i figured i keep is dumb down as much as possible so you could understand since you like just playing normal MMO's and don't like it when one tries something different.
burn61
*sighs* you cant please everyone huh? If thats how you feel, then as Neoakiraii said "then go play something else"
nyxadrill
Kirk is best isnt he? *grins* sorry ...couldnt resist it....anyway my Tee-Shirt says "Worf!! Eaten any good books lately?" :D
cedricophoff
Any sane person will realise that Picard is the best Captain. :P
scottaprice @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:56PM
I have not used the NEW Foundry Assets yet, but I am looking forward to doing so. Any ideas for when the creation and management of linked Episodes will be available or how they will work?
mayormcchese @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:52PM
Or you could just make more content. . .
unionmaster
Second that the foundry is just to get us to do there job and pay to to do it
chivalrybean
Some of us exist to make and tell stories. Having the ability to tell a story, and put it in a video game, and in Star Trek, is just fantastic. It's not doing someone else's job, it's having an opportunity at awesome.
cedricophoff
i only care about stories that matter. Content made by devs is content you should and can remember for future reference in other mission. Foundry missions are just a temporary thing, they have no impact on anything in the game, or even in the universe. if it has no value on the overall story line, i also dont grant it any value to play. its simple realy.
diogene0 @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:49PM
The 23rd century assets will give us many more opportunities. I was waiting for that foe one of my scenarios. Good job and thanks!
nemesischiken @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:48PM
Very exciting stuff !! Great news Zero ... keep up the good work :)
drogyn1701 @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:37PM
Nice blog Zero. Just one thing. You were on PrimetimeUGC. BoradcastUGC is the one where they play through Foundry missions and act out the dialogue. Though I'm sure Baz and Galactrix would love to have you as a guest :)
cerberusfilms
She was on Broadcast a while ago I believe... (whisky)
drogyn1701
Really? Well that's what I get for not watching lol
zer0niusrex
I linked to it! :D (And I've been on more than just the two podcasts I mentioned, but listing more than two wouldn't work with the reference I was trying to make. ~_^)
drogyn1701
Classic Simpsons reference FTW! R.I.P Phil Hartman.
galactrix
Drogyn hasn't watched the episode where we had Zero on? Bad Drogyn! :D
drogyn1701
Well remember I was on a looooong break from STO when you guys started :)
kagasensei @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:29PM
You should NOT use the TOS bridge as an illustration^^ It's still not available as a Foundry asset due to remaining bugs^^
kingofhearts888 @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:26PM
the TOS style stuff will be cool
cerberusfilms @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:13PM
I love our Borg Princess :P
poopbang @ Aug 13th, 2012 12:06PM
Cool
Showing 46 of 46 Comments