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Jun-28-2008 08:39

There have been some recent events on this game that warrant some concern. It’s no secret that there has been a lack of interest. Much of this may be attributed to the release of Shades of Mystery. If that is what people want to play, far be it from me to tell them not to play it.

That being said. I am still a paying customer of Sleuth Noir. As a paying customer there are some things that I expect. Ben has done a decent job at keeping the server up and running. We had a slight issue earlier in the week with not being able to travel and Ben did a great job of addressing the issue and getting it corrected. He always has done a great job of taking care of things. He has not however kept the game fresh and interesting. We recently had the expansion of the USS Sleuthetania. There was a buzz before the initial launch of it and we couldn’t wait to see what was in store for us.

Well what did we get? The opportunity to pay $20,000 to get on board of a ship and do nothing more than play cases. Sure there are some new characters and new items along with 2 new “coming soon” links. That’s it! I can’t help but to feel disappointed in the way this has played out. Two weeks later, the links are still coming soon and the interest of the boat has already gone away. I know I have no plans or reason to get on the boat and be cut off from my agency completely. I don’t know this for a fact, but I think a lot of people are disappointed with the boat as well and some may even be irritated and feel cheated by the whole development.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh and we are missing some secret that still needs to be unlocked on the boat, but if people aren’t playing, the secret will not be unlocked. I know that Ben is just one person and can only do so much. He has a lot on his plate right now with running both SOM and Noir. I’m sorry, but SOM means absolutely nothing to me as I don’t play over there.

Jul-2-2008 14:01

Thank you Ben!!

Jul-2-2008 16:24

Thanks Ben, I knew you'd do the right thing and give us some kind of update! :-D

Jul-2-2008 17:22

Well, now I can put my two cents in: I would very much be interested in helping with the editing... as long as others are willing to help; I'm sure with the few players we have left, we may be able to make this grow again. Of course, I may just be a tad optimistic about it.

Jul-2-2008 23:03

I know I never post, but Admin's suggestion of a Scripted Quest Editor brought to mind something that I've always wished was implemented in the game, and I thought would go well in this thread.

Anyways, that idea would be for players to be able to use the textboxes (that you can type things into when you're not doing a case and for the most part only gives the reply "I'm sorry. I don't know anything about that.") to be able to create their own "hunts." Then if the people (that they invited to participate) typed in the particular keywords, they could get the clues to help them along.

I don't know how hard it would be to implement, but if given access to the code, I would definitely be willing to help out (on ideas like mine or other ideas as well). I don't know Spyce, but I did know Python at one point in time...And most languages are really similar anyways, so I wouldn't think it'd be too hard to pick up :)

Jul-3-2008 01:08

Thanks for your response Ben. I love the idea of a Scripted Quest Editor, it would add new flavour to the Scripted Mysteries.

We have wonderful editors but they are too few and I'm sure that they would appreciate some help. I don't offer help with editing because my knowledge of English is too limited for that, but maybe I could help with minor tasks, such as spelling, typos etc.

And thanks for Cairo, whatever you do there will be great. I solemnly promise I'll never mention the subject again :)

Jul-3-2008 04:41

Actually, if I were to throw in my only cent, I don't think that Noir are to be "open code" availiable to everyone. That would take away some of the "yet to discover" things....
On the other hand, I would very much like to involve in helping out with the programming. I am willing to learn to use Spyce/Python. I have downloaded it once, and read through help files, and as a small start trying to use the Spyce engine for calculating and such... I understand mostly how it's working, and the main things about writing code in Spyce, but having not been able to see any fullblown program in Spyce yet, and not tried to do anything difficult, I am still a fairly newbie in that area.
- and I do know programming, and normally learn a new language quite quickly when I have one or more good coaches.
- and I do have some ideas as to what I would like to do, but I am not there that I can do full development of anything.
If I could have some assistance from Ben on doing small tasks at the beginning, and may be also would be allowed to lead a development team (no, I don't want to take the honor from someone else, just offer my services), and then have a "development team message board", I think that we might get to do things quite soon. And, I sure want to involve as many as possible, by making threads like "unsolved issues", "ideas and brainstorming", "current progression", "help to prioritize", "specified things to do".... - and so on. We could make some kind of que, that the programmers who involve, can pick "tasks" from to try to implement...
The difference with the development team, may be that more people would be able to involve and help out, and the extensions to do might not come only from Ben. But, may be it would be wise to have some kind of aprovement system, so that Ben always will have the ability to say yes or no to suggestions? - as I have no interest in threading on his feet.

Jul-3-2008 05:16

Thanks Ben! And thanks to all for the creative ideas

I am not a programmer, but would gladly offer my services in any other area(s) where I may be of assistance.

Jul-3-2008 05:52

Most of the work needed from a "development team" are probably not programming related.
I think there is much to be done that really mean something for the community on areas the involve "writing the stories", "coming up with the ideas", "finding pictures"...
- may be we could make one group whose only goal are to find more items that can be won in some ways. They will need pictures, descriptions ++, and it would be quite fun to get some new items in say doing a favor. At least I think so.
- may be we could make some kind of "group created scripted mystery"?
- if we are some programmers that need easy things to do as a start, perhaps implementing a scripted mystery would be a suitable task?
- but who's going to write the stories? It's the stories that makes most of the content!

Jul-3-2008 07:29

Looking things up again, shows just HOW newbie I am... ;-)
Spyce are the web server, Python are the language ;-)
Ups...
So, what I think would be the first "project" for developers to do are to get an environement up and running on their computer, and get a "hello world" - program to be working, and then being able to expand it to a "hello world, look at me, I am running :-)" - program.
I guess that those of us that are to create content or do programming, in some ways will have to agree on a "not-share-secrets"-thing, because part of the fun with Noir will be to explore and find... - and that's not equally fun when you know where things are ;-)

Oh, and we will for sure need a "technical group" that are able to search the net for solutions on technical issues. I was presented with one recently, and that is how to make secure subscription payments from Asia?

Jul-3-2008 07:50

Seems like I may be just are to throw in an application for becoming a leader of a development team?
I see it that way, that a person having that role are in a service position, where the main goal are to make it possible for others to be growing fruit, and create an environement where people can do so, and get the full honor of their work. My work will then be to help clear the path so that others may walk on it. If people would involve and have fun, be encouraged and inspired, and I would become almost invisible I would have succeeded.
I know I will need all of you to help me, and I hope that one day, things might just run by itself, and I might withdraw from the position with the same kind of smile that a parent has when her child have grown up and become a good person.