Guest Blog: Foundry Academy
By PWE_BranFlakes @ March 5, 2013 at 12:00pm
By CerberusFilms
Have you ever wanted to create your own Star Trek episode or story? If so, the Foundry could be your new best friend! If you are not sure what the Foundry is, check out this previous Guest Blog entry.
If you play Star Trek Online, you may already be familiar with the Foundry, STO's User Generated Content (UGC) creation tool, however many can feel overwhelmed from the moment they launch the editor.
Hi, I'm CerberusFilms, Producer and Co-Host on PrimetimeUGC and a long time contributor to StarbaseUGC.com. We strive to help people of all abilities and experience levels achieve everything they have ever dreamed of creating using this incredible UGC toolset.
This is why PrimetimeUGC, Cerberus Films and StarbaseUGC are partnering up with Cryptic Studios to deliver the Foundry Authors Academy!
What is the Foundry Authors Academy (FAA)?
The FAA consists of a series of live streamed video events spread over six weeks. The goal is to bring people into the Foundry, play with the toolset and share their own stories with the other players. The Academy 'classes' will guide users from the very first moment they press the "Create Content" button, on through to more advanced editing tricks and techniques.
- Week 1 (Saturday the 23rd of March) – Join experienced Foundry authors in a live streamed Q&A session as they guide you through how to create a Foundry mission and listen to as well as see the various design methodologies used. No question is a stupid question, not even "Where's Sulu?"! (well.. maybe that one.)
- Week 2 (Saturday the 6th of April) – Building on the previous weeks experience, attendees for this 'lecture' will have the opportunity to speak directly to experienced Foundry authors in a smaller group setting; allowing them to follow along with individual authors and ask questions.
- Week 3 (Saturday the 20th of April) – It's competition time! You've seen how it's done, you've asked your questions, now it is “Kobayashi Maru” time. On the Friday before, April 19th, participating authors will be provided a brief from which to create your missions. Participants will then have twenty-four hours to build a mission from scratch. During the final three hours of the competition PrimetimeUGC will be livestreaming the event, featuring special guests, including authors from the community, podcasters and maybe even a Developer or two.
Once time has elapsed, PrimetimeUGC's guests will go forth and play the published missions in small groups. You'll be able to watch each of the groups and listen to their feedback as they play on individual livestreams. They'll rate the mission based on various criteria, and after they have all been played the scores will be tallied and awards given for different categories. The winners will receive prizes provided by Cryptic and generous community members. The winning missions will also be honoured by the Foundry Spotlight*.
We are aiming to make these fun, informative and accessible events for everyone; so, whether you have never touched the game before or you're a seasoned STF veteran, come along! You never know… you might just enjoy it.
For more details on the events, including provisional starting times, please bookmark this thread on the STO forums, or keep an eye out on StarbaseUGC.com.
I can't wait to see you all there!
- CerberusFilms
Twitter – @Primetime_UGC and @StarbaseUGC
*Must meet certain criteria.
tommas8 @ Mar 27th, 2013 2:29AM
I like foundry but should be better. I found out that I can't give no items at all. you can't make your own in-door map or out door map. I like to make my own episode with out pre-made map, and why can't I give an item to those playing my episode?? those episode you can't play them in the foundry till that the foundry is to bad to do so. I can't put on data samples or dilithium or other items in the game that have something to do with the episode. and why only 15 maps with only 25 npc/character to help in the episode. So the only I can make is space what a f****** why so little things to do. my episode need free space like cryptic it self to make them. am very good to make episode and found out that foundry give to you is very bad or it's not working at all. whay not give us good tools so we can make a good episode to the STO?? or why give us foundry at all!!!! are cryptic scared us player to make better episode what cryptic can do!!????
cerberusfilms @ Mar 12th, 2013 6:30PM
Hey everyone, thanks for all the comments and positive Feedback. We've just opened signups for the General Attendance (Optional) and for the Author "Tutors". Information on both can be found in this post http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=8434361
solochris @ Mar 8th, 2013 12:18PM
Well I started a foundery mission and even got some feed back on the basic version i posted for that reason, My problems started when I tried to implament the changes that where asked for. I managed to completey crash out the whole mission and had to scrub the whole thing. I would like some help to start over but have been afraid to try. Maby this will help me.
cheroj @ Mar 8th, 2013 8:42AM
This sounds less like an opportunity for budding savants to craft epic stories and more like giving a crowd of illiterate fools enough pointers to fill the Foundry list with horrible piles of unmitigated failure. The difficulty of the toolset is there for a reason. It keeps people who don't have the intelligence to write stories from filling the game with mis-spelled mind-numbing spam.
tehphillzor
Wow, aren't you a bundle of optimism. So let me get this straight, you think that most people would create crap, so therefore they should not even be allowed to try? I have a word to call you, but I'd be banned for it.
wombat140
I'd say people who are good with level editing software are no more or less likely to be good writers than anyone else. Actually, at a guess, people who'd bother to actually take LESSONS in how to write this stuff might be more "desirable" as Foundry writers than most people - shows that they at least have an idea that they're keen enough about to go to a lot of trouble for.
drac0s65 @ Mar 7th, 2013 8:51AM
Will the Delta Quadrant ever be available for use? I have a story line in mind but it would involve that quadrant of space.
wombat140
I always thought that in STO the Delta Quadrant was still pretty much out of Starfleet's range, accessible only by freak accidents or weird Borg transwarp technology, same as in "Voyager". (Is that right, anyone know?) So if it could possibly fit in with your story, you could just start it from some point in "known space", write in some way to transmit your hero to the Delta Quadrant, and off you go. Any good?
drac0s65
@wombat140 - thanks. that works. I guess I just thought because we were using transwarp and this takes place after Voyager returns that there might be some way of travelling to and from now.
captainfry420x @ Mar 6th, 2013 8:39PM
I am looking forward to this. I've always been interested by the Foundry, if only for building my own RP zones, but find the concept quite daunting. Hearing about some of the tips and methods used in the tool should do a lot to alleviate this.
patchoulol @ Mar 6th, 2013 6:21PM
I've been away from the Foundry for a long time waiting on features to catch up to the sorts of things I want from it, so I might just hang around for this.
captpfdennis @ Mar 6th, 2013 1:22PM
Not to worry, PrimtimeUGC will be available on Youtube afterwards as usual. We hope as many who can attend will attend. Thanks for your interest. See you then.
mattachine @ Mar 6th, 2013 9:26AM
The different times I've dabbeled in this I've either broken the projects or the tool haven't allowed me to do what I want to do. I'd be interested in attending. Depending ou what time it is held GMT on Saturdays. I would love to get my two projects off the ground.
superskipper @ Mar 6th, 2013 8:19AM
Yeah I have found using the foundry overwhelming myself and I would be very interested in this, and hope that this will be made available on youtube as well. Good job guys.
lowieke @ Mar 6th, 2013 1:42AM
Just another vote for putting all events on youtube or UGC.
wolfpacknz @ Mar 5th, 2013 8:11PM
Hope they plan on fixing some of the foundry bugs before then
koppenflak @ Mar 5th, 2013 6:20PM
I hope you plan to upload these to YouTube afterwards for those of us outside US timezones, and those who cannot watch it live.
tangent8472
it's not just the U.S. it's all of the america's
blagorm @ Mar 5th, 2013 4:30PM
LOVE IT... but HATE THE DATES d: Talk aout putting on every Saturday I am at my Dad's (Split Time Family) where I can barley look at the Computer! Save it on videos.. and I will hope for the best.
sethpower121 @ Mar 5th, 2013 3:23PM
I would love to do this, I just can't join till I can stay logged in the game.
jaguaro70 @ Mar 5th, 2013 1:30PM
I, for one, would love to participate in this. I have dabbled some with the Foundry and I would think I might learn more.
darramouss1 @ Mar 5th, 2013 1:03PM
Will the videos be made permanently available for the community? Some people may not be able to make the allotted times, plus this sounds like it could be a valuable long term resource.
blu3drag0n1977
I would also like to know if the videos will be available at a later time for people that cant make the live events?
falcon3000prime @ Mar 5th, 2013 12:23PM
Impressive. I hope to be able to participate; there are a lot of stories I'd like to tell in this universe, and being walked through the process will open a lot of doors.
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