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)

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)

Mission title: The Mayns of Balnar Moon
Author: @alimac30
Project ID: ST-HU34EAKM7
Faction: FED
Minimum rank required to play: Any rank
First published: 22 April 2012

Synopsis:

Five months ago, Balnar Moon was plunged into icy darkness as it began passing through the shadow of a gas giant. The ocean covering the moon’s entire surface froze solid and the only structure – a lonely Starfleet research platform – was left to a small team of caretakers. Now it’s time for Starfleet to return… but are the caretakers the only things waiting in the cold on Balnar Moon?

Notes:

• My third Foundry mission
• Takes around 60 minutes to play (depending on optional dialog)
• Story-based, single-player roleplay mission
• Mixture of story, investigation & ground combat
• Every map is a 100% custom build
• Read the blog of this mission’s creation in my Diary of a Founder at alimac30.wordpress.com

Our first installment of “Founder Spotlight” is an exclusive interview with Alimac30.  Enjoy!

Q:  You’re the author of The Spirits of Ramok Nor and City of the Polmar Ree.  These missions now have a combined total of 16495 reviews from the STO community. These are phenomenal successes.  Were you surprised by this success?  Do you have any advice for other aspiring authors?

Both my published missions have been popular with players and podcasters. I feel very lucky… and I’m very grateful!

 

I had no idea whether The Spirits of Ramok Nor would be popular – in fact, I thought it wouldn’t be. It was my first mission, and it was totally self-indulgent. It was heavily seated in the Bajoran-Cardassian back-story from DS9, it was almost zero combat, it was long and wordy, and it was crammed full of homages and in-jokes to the shows. I created my own dream mission with very little consideration of what anybody else might want. Thankfully it struck a chord; STOked gave it a very positive review and that started it rolling; I’m still awed by the great feedback I get.

 

I expected City of the Polmar Ree to get plays because I knew people were looking to see if I could match (or trump) The Spirits of Ramok Nor. But I still didn’t know how well it would be received. It was a great big folly, even more so than Ramok Nor.  I just indulged my passions to the extreme: huge custom-built maps, incredibly long and involved dialog, weird NPCs, cameos from Ramok Nor, and a story that was huge in scope. Everything was BIG – to satisfy the epic nature of the story’s concept, and also to indulge myself in everything I like spending my creative time on – the Foundry is my hobby, so why not?

 

The best advice I can give an aspiring Foundry author is: spend lots of time learning the Foundry tools and absorbing the community-made tutorials; experiment, play around, and learn what you can and can’t do; and then: build a mission you love.

 

Any Foundry author who says they don’t care about star ratings is lying. But if you’re a slave to the ratings, to other people’s expectations, you’ll take the joy out of creating a mission. Stuff like First Cause Then Effect and The Infinitesimal Frontier are crazily unconventional and inventive, and they’re incredibly popular. So don’t be afraid to experiment. Build your own dream mission, do what you’re really passionate about, and it’ll shine out of the final product.

continue reading…

Hey everyone,

I’ve added a tutorial on map transitions to Foundry 101, my series of Foundry tutorials for beginners.

The only thing you can’t manually insert into a mission’s storyline is a map transition… so how do you do it? This tutorial explains all, with a particular focus on the first map transition of a mission (the trickiest one to understand).

Link: foundry101.wordpress.com

Enjoy!

Ali

Hey everyone,

I’ve added two tutorials on objectives to Foundry 101, my series of Foundry tutorials for beginners.

foundry101.wordpress.com

Mission title: City of the Polmar Ree
Author: @alimac30
Project ID: ST-HJGVZQCX
Faction: FED
Minimum rank required to play: Any rank

Synopsis:
Once every 216 years, every sentient species in the galaxy is invited to the extra-galactic space city of the ancient Polmar Ree. It’s been 216 years and the time of the Polmar Ree has come again. Most will go in peace… but in the shadows of an enemy faction, warriors plan a catastrophic attack. Wormholes are opening in every quadrant, starships are gathering, and your invitation has arrived…

Notes:

• Takes 60 – 90 minutes to play
• Story-heavy, roleplay mission
• Mixture of story, investigating, and some shooting
• Took four months to make
• Every map is a 100% custom build
• This is my second Foundry mission (the first being “The Spirits of Ramok Nor”)
• Brutally honest feedback greatly appreciated!