Another huge episode of PrimetimeUGC featuring the conclusion of our exclusive with
Al Rivera, Penned in Primetime with Alimac30, Christine Thompson, and Terry Shull.
We’ve also got our Guest Author interview with RogueEnterprise.

Contact us at mailbag@PrimetimeUGC.com. Follow us on Twitter @Primetime_UGC

The Bitesize Boys review a pair of missions by WoodyValley called Katra and Katra: Continued.

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Some Star Trek Online (STO) Foundry players do not want to be told how to play. The idea of developing a specialized mission (which could be rejected by the player community) becomes a truly daunting challenge!

The developers at Cryptic Studios have the ability to augment game play. If they want players to enter a mission with a shuttlecraft, then they can force the code base to only accept players in their shuttles. Foundry authors do not have that luxury. But there are other options, such as role playing (RP). In this case, Foundry authors are incorporating the EV (Extra-Vehicular) suits into their work.

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For this week’s Founder Spotlight, we sat down with Duke of Rock.  Enjoy this detailed interview!

Q:  You are the author of the five-part series called “Spawn of Medusa.” If I recall, this series took nearly a year to complete, due to the massive work involved. Can you tell our readers more about the series, how it developed, and what inspired you to devote so much work to a single story arc?

Yes, it took about a year to complete the series. I had hoped to have it done quicker originally, but the Season 4 bug bit and like many other authors, I pushed away from the table for fear of publishing something broken due to the issues from its release. However, I did work on the maps a bit through the “dark times” and when I was able to get the fire back, so to speak, it helped me get the latter episodes published faster.

A lot of the early development time was taken more trying to make cool tricks with the Foundry tools. In the original Spawn of Medusa, getting the Halon system visual on the Klingon ship took me a little while. I still was breaking the ice on the Foundry tricks, and object placement was still basically “dots” on the map, so it took me time to get the hang on it. When I worked to place the different objects in the Medusik Imperial underground chamber map, I had to factor in the different levels stacked to get everything placed right, but as I finalized the map, it was a bit of a breakthrough for me. It inspired me to try something original for the 2^nd episode. I found I could place objects outside the windows of the ship map, and I was able to place debris spewing plasma onto the outer hull of the ship as viewed through the window. As a good deal of this episode dealt with repairs to the ship, I came up with the idea to expand my “Halon” system trick in a unique way using a shuttle. It took a good deal of time, as it was before we could see the objects we placed on the map, but I set up the scenario so you went to the window where the plasma was damaging the hull and could make visual contact with the shuttle. I next set it up where the shuttle would fire two Halon streams at the plasma, extinguishing it, but only after you gave the order to do so. Setting up the triggers was easy, but getting the blinking lights on the shuttle in the right location and the Halon Streams to appear to fire from the bow of the shuttle took time. A lot of place object, preview map, back and forth, etc.   It was a task, but when I succeeded, I felt it was well worth it.

I got the story title and idea from the Clash of the Titans movie that happened to be on as I was pondering what to do my next Foundry mission on. I always liked the story of the Medusa and how she had the power to immobilize men by turning them into stone. I saw it as an opportunity to create a similarly powerful alien species with a matriarchal society. As I worked on the mission, the ideas kept coming on expanding it, using old Earth myths regarding Atlantis, as well as pulling something from a TNG episode with the Argus Array and blending it together. The Argus Array map was my proudest achievement as far as custom builds. This all basically required the series to expand to 5 parts, which was not my original intention.

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Every Tuesday, PUG TV with Jaedrian brings you his first impressions and walkthroughs of Star Trek Online (STO) Foundry missions. As he writes, you can enjoy “feedback and opinions from a casual gamer point of view as I check the F2P MMO Market. I’ll throw in some other games as well to keep it interesting.”

Jaedrian’s latest review: PUG TV takes on “City of the Polmar Ree” by alimac30. Prior reviews can be found within Jaedrian’s site, including his recent review of Tucana‘s mission, “Dreams of Salvation and Glory.”

Learn more:
via PUG TV with Jaedrian website
via Twitter

(PUG TV = Pick Up Gaming TV)

STOked Episode 121 is online! Red alert! STOked briefly discusses the recent security warning released by Cryptic Studios, plus teases an upcoming segment on STOked.

This is a short episode, due to Jupiter Broadcasting’s coverage of LinuxFest Northwest 2012.

Watch now:
via http://bit.ly/Ils76n

In Part Three, we talk with two Star Trek Online (STO) Foundry authors. Learn more about their missions as they endeavor to get their work recognized.

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Over the past week I have send my crew to find and deliver new foundry missions to show case and here they are:

Fed side

Jump Training by PortgazD

Defend Earth Space Dock by Hartbirt

Infection (Infected STF Variant) by Xavier_Q

A New Agenda (Part 1) by claivain

The one world part III by adamboyen

Code-Borg by burn61

KDF side

They are planning a raid to stop the Feds launching their new ship

Now if you have a new mission coming out this week please let us know by leaving a comment below or go the thread in the forums called promote your foundry mission. And now remember a peaceful race will still defend them-self if provoked

Caitian Carriers and Fleets Galor! We talk about the newly revealed Caitian Carrier and the implications it has on Star Trek Online’s Federation gameplay. We also talk, a lot, about Primetime UGC’s second part to their interview with CaptainGeko (its cross-advertising, you see). The Galor Contest is coming to and end as we put in last calls for plots, and we talk a teenie tiny bit about our experience with Foundry Spotlight Missions so far with BranFlakes.

Click here to listen to the Podcast!
Right click and select “save as” to download the mp3

Show Notes
-New Recording Method
-Caitian Carrier
-Geko’s Interview – Fleet Starbases, DOFF Assignments
-Galor Contest
-Spotlight Foundry Missions

Reviews
When the War Began by Chooch99
When the War Began Again by Chooch99
Own Worst Enemy by Rogue_Enterprise
The Mayns of Balnar Moon by alimac30

Mailbag – Email us and send us mission recommendations to podcastugc@starbaseugc.com !

END OF SHOW

Podcast UGC is distributed for free in mp3 format on www.starbaseugc.com and iTunes. Podcast UGC is syndicated on Trek Radio and Subspace Radio. It’s aired live on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern on www.trekradio.net and www.justin.tv/podcastugc. Any other distribution or airings of Podcast UGC is strictly prohibited without permission. Star Trek and Star Trek Online are the rights of their respected owners.

The “UGC” in StarbaseUGC.com stands for User Generated Content. Most often, we associate that with Star Trek Online (STO) related podcasts, broadcasts, Foundry mission development (announcements, tutorials, reviews, interviews), guest blogs, even general news items.

We apologize, as we have neglected another category: Fan Fiction.

Brandon “PWE_BranFlakes” Felczer, community manager at Cryptic, has announced the two-week run of their 18th STO Literary Challenge: The Academy Days.

Tell us a story from your days at the Academy. Maybe it was your favorite moment, the most embarrassing moment, or it could even be both! What happened? Did it help influence who and where you are today? Do you wish you did something differently? Let us know through a personal log entry.

Learn more:
via the official STO Forums

The fan-based Star Trek Online (STO) 12th Fleet site features Daniel Stahl of Cryptic Studios in its latest “Valhalla Vanguard” online magazine. Additional coverage of STO Foundry missions, new player perspectives and more are highlighted in this issue!

Adobe Flash is required for viewing.

Read more:
via 12th Fleet’s site

Elijah and James @ the Priority One podcast talk with Cryptic’s Content Designer, Chris Dods! Chris was responsible for the recent Star Trek Online “Alpha” mission for the Klingon faction!

Learn more:
via Priority One podcast (Episode 78: “Dods Does”)

Star Trek Online (STO) Foundry author alimac30 validates a growing concern within the STO community: the severe lack of good etiquette in Foundry mission ratings.

From alimac30′s blog post:

The interesting, exhilarating, and — frankly — terrifying thing about publishing a new Foundry-made mission for Star Trek Online is that feedback can be received almost immediately.

Unlike publishing (or self-publishing) a new book, play or piece of art where reviews can take weeks or even months to appear, peer reviews of a Foundry mission in STO start to appear within hours of it being published.

And the news is not always good. (READ MORE)

We encourage all STO Foundry authors to “move forward and carry on”, regardless of the ratings received. We also ask STO players to please be fair and constructive with STO Foundry ratings and reviews.

Learn more:
via DIARY OF A FOUNDER (“The first few hours” post)

In this Special Episode of PrimetimeUGC, we bring you Part 2 of our Exclusive Interview with Al Rivera, Lead Designer at STO.
We also have a new segment called Penned in Primetime. It is a writer’s panel to discuss a single Foundry mission and it’s storyline.

Send any comments, requests, or feedback to mailbag@PrimetimeUGC.com
Follow us on Twitter: @Primetime_UGC