[Endgame Content Concept] Smuggler's Refuge || Version 7.0 || The Road to Completion, Part 1 - Help Wanted~!

[thewolflord]

I would love this, if only to hear the clem song.

[Rhekemi]

The song was in the film/he made it for the film, yes, but I could not remember hearing it when I watched it (I think I got up!). So this live version on May the 4th was the one I thought of.

Ditto on Lares and I think that might work with regards to Zeribus.

Glad you've got your mojo back.

 

[MissMarifire]

10 hours ago, thewolflord said:

I would love this, if only to hear the clem song.

With more work, art, and potential additions to the concept, who knows. Maybe we could get that Clem song one day.

7 hours ago, Rhekemi said:

The song was in the film/he made it for the film, yes, but I could not remember hearing it when I watched it (I think I got up!). So this live version on May the 4th was the one I thought of.

Ditto on Lares and I think that might work with regards to Zeribus.

Glad you've got your mojo back.

It was in a pretty relaxed part of the film, so I don't blame you for forgetting about it.

I'll probably get to work on writing the quest later today.

[MissMarifire]

Alright, so I think I've got an idea of how the quest mentioned before would go:

The quest would begin similarly to A Man of Few Words, what with the Tenno being requested to come into one of the Relays to talk to him. He'll speak to the Tenno about intel received about an affiliate of his that has been imprisoned and had their ship repossessed by Frohd Bek, and that it up to the Tenno to go in, rescue his affiliate, and take their ship back. 

The first of two parts of the quest begins: A rescue mission, taking place on Metis, Jupiter. In this mission, the Tenno must go in, rescue Zeribus from the holding vault, and take him to extraction. Perhaps there could be chatter between Darvo and Frohd throughout the mission.

Then the second of the two parts of the quest begins: This is a two-part mission, taking place on Anake, Jupiter. The Tenno must go into a Corpus storage facility and escort Zeribus to his ship. From here, Zeribus and the Tenno board the ship and kill off all of the enemy Corpus on the ship, then extract. After this mission is completed, Zeribus will award the Tenno with a sum of credits, an Exilus Adapter, and the ability to come aboard the Virtuous Star whenever it is visiting in the Relays.

It's small for now, but I'm unsure as to whether or not to make it slightly longer.

[Unus]

Good lord mam/sir, your a maestro of the artistic pen here AND with a descriptive style that doesn't create 3 bloated paragraphs to get it's point across! If I had your real talent, people might actually read and comment over at my Moshpit. Three standing ovations and a gilded pen for you sir/mam!

[Plushy]

MARI! 

Congrats on the feature! 

[Tendou_Souji]

Congrats on getting noticed on Prime Time >w<

[operative-verona]

Bless this wonderful post. This needs to happen!

[MissMarifire]

3 hours ago, Plushy said:

MARI! 

Congrats on the feature! 

3 hours ago, Tendou_Souji said:

Congrats on getting noticed on Prime Time >w<

3 hours ago, Amebot said:

Bless this wonderful post. This needs to happen!

I don't know what to say, honestly. I was busied playing Starbound at the time Prime Time happened, so I have watched the Youtube recording. I've made a post about it on Tumblr, but I suppose a more in-depth response is needed.

This concept has come a long way from where it was back in January. It's much, much different than it was before, and the archives of the older versions of the concept show that. I've improved, both as a writer, an artist, and a concept artist, and because of that, I am proud of myself for this. I'd like to thank everyone that's helped and supported this concept of mine, even if it was merely kind words, for it has been a very fun experience that I have no intention of ever stopping.

I'm moreso disappointed in myself than I am proud of myself about this concept being showcased during tonight's Prime Time, however. This concept is incredibly barebones at the moment, and as an artist I can't help but feel immense shame in myself because of the very little art I have for the concept.

One thing that must be remembered is that this entire concept, at its core, is being ran by a one-man band, no pun intended. All the art and writing has been done by myself ever since the very beginning. However, I'm not very sure as to whether or not to seek for other artists to work on the concept, as I have been known to work better alone when it comes to more personal projects such as this one. It's mostly because of the way I develop characters, which are a pretty big part of this concept (In total, this adds 13 unique characters between Zeribus and the three bands): what with Zeribus and Nevdrus, I've grown a rather intimate attachment to the characters, and in turn, I've attempted to make them more whole, as well as interesting, engaging characters in general, and I plan on doing the same for Harktor and Lares when their time comes. I think about these characters, the purpose each one serves, and how they interact between one another, and how they would fit within the current lore and what lore they'd introduce. In general, I spend quite a lot of time developing my characters because of my desire to make them more than just simple NPCs, like the ones we see roaming around the Relays, and making them more distinct. In turn, I'd like to see more involvement between the Tenno and the NPCs introduced in the concept in the future (ex. Quests between the Tenno and a specific band), and to make them worth investing into. Furthermore, I would need to give an artist a lot of trust in designing a character for the concept, and I don't really know of any artists who would be willing to do such a thing. This is the reason why I've been mostly working on this alone.

I'm glad that they enjoyed the concept, however I disliked how they didn't show off the "odd jobs" correctly. While they took it as jobs to take from random characters in the relay, the actual concept describes them as being jobs given by Zeribus Ved in a similar fashion to that of Sorties with a high Credit payout, without forcing the players to play it for MR. The concept itself currently is only related to the ship and everything inside of it. This being said, I do actually like the idea of odd jobs being done throughout the Relays themselves, as opposed to just the jobs given by Zeribus Ved in the bar. This in turn could introduce an all-round thing to do in the Relays aside from standing around showing off one another's Warframes. 

Overall, I still have a lot of work to do with this concept, and what with my senior year of high school coming around the corner, my time to work on The Virtuous Star is being cut short immensely, but I will still try to keep working on it nonetheless. I'm happy about it being showcased, but I don't feel that the concept is at the state whereas it could deserve something like that. I'm sorry about this response being a very big mouthful, but it's something I should probably say after this concept has been showcased during Prime Time.

My current plans for the concept include:

• Finishing the redesigns for Nevdrus. While only two characters have received paints, four out of the five have been completed or are in the process of development.
• Working on developing Harktor's characters. As they are deserters from Tyl Regor's labs, their outfits and voices will reflect this.
• Figuring out extra things to do in the Virtuous Star. The idea of the ability to play minigames in the bar is still up in the air.
• Determining more quests to be done in the concept.

Edited August 19, 2016 by MissMarifire

[Plushy]

This alone is going to easily double the content in relays. 

[Rhekemi]

Congratulations on the Prime Time feature, MissMarifire!

I read your post about how you feel about it and understand.

That said, enjoy it as much as possible. You still deserved the feature. It doesn't stop you from improving the concept in the long run.

[CY13ERPUNK]

yes plz

FFS this sounds about 10x better than what DE have brought to the table so far with Maroo/Baro/etc

[Unus]

Ah, as to be expected of an individual who puts actual talent into their work compared to, say, my random gibberings or some of the nonesense that pops up on here every so often. You put good work in and you get good vibes out. Congradulations Miss Author-Of-The-Month! May you inspire Digital with your spark of quirky musicality! 

Edited August 19, 2016 by Unus

[ToaSirian]

This gives me strong mass effect vibes and I love it!

[MissMarifire]

4 hours ago, Plushy said:

This alone is going to easily double the content in relays. 

3 hours ago, Rhekemi said:

Congratulations on the Prime Time feature, MissMarifire!

I read your post about how you feel about it and understand.

That said, enjoy it as much as possible. You still deserved the feature. It doesn't stop you from improving the concept in the long run.

2 hours ago, CY13ERPUNK said:

yes plz

FFS this sounds about 10x better than what DE have brought to the table so far with Maroo/Baro/etc

1 hour ago, Unus said:

Ah, as to be expected of an individual who puts actual talent into their work compared to, say, my random gibberings or some of the nonesense that pops up on here every so often. You put good work in and you get good vibes out. Congradulations Miss Author-Of-The-Month! May you inspire Digital with your spark of quirky musicality! 

Thank you. I believe that it's among one of the overhauls we need for the Relays: just having more stuff to do without forcing us to do it. There's another Relay concept floating about that I really enjoy that adds quite a lot as well, but I can't put my finger on the name. 

I'll try to throw in one last edit in the main post of the thread, adding in some small character profiles of Nevdrus since I've already solidified them before (They were around in the previous renditions of The Virtuous Star, previously called The Tenno Cantina, whereas Harktor and Lares are newly introduced bands), no bigger than a sentence or two each. After that, I'll update the Google Document and then I'll be heading on over to bed. I'll update their little profiles once I wake up in the morning.

Adding onto that, I do have roleplaying profiles in the process for them as well on toyhou.se, mostly because I like to roleplay with friends as a hobby. They're far more in-depth and provides insight on how these characters are, but they will not influence how they are in the concept aside from what's already mentioned. Once those are done, I might provide them in the concept, or merely link them to those interested in them, but just know that any references to characters that are not canonically in-game, or are not introduced by the concept, are not relevant to the concept and are merely for flavor.

59 minutes ago, ToaSirian said:

This gives me strong mass effect vibes and I love it!

Thank you, but I've never actually played Mass Effect, and I didn't know what [DE]Megan meant when she was referring to the concept as being similar to the Citadel or anything. It's a game I've always wanted to play, though!

However, I am going to mention that Star Wars had a heavy hand in influencing how I created the concept, especially after the release of The Force Awakens. The overall idea was hatched while playing KotOR back in January: I often found myself interested in the Taris dueling ring and the swoop racing minigames, and I really just digged the overall vibes of the swoop lounges or cantinas from Taris, Manaan, and Tatooine, even if they were a bit lackluster in retrospect because of the graphical limitations. When The Force Awakens came out, I actually took a notebook with me and jotted down some notes on the cantina that was in the movie, as a friend of mine who saw it before told me that I'd be interested in seeing what was there and how to incorporate it into the concept. I wanted to see how that would translate onto another sci-fi-esque game such as Warframe.

Basically, an older BioWare game made me do it.

Thinking about it now, implementing Archwing Racing as an option to do in the Relays when the Virtuous Star is there would be interesting. I'll keep it in mind. And, well, rewatching the movies over again.

Edited August 19, 2016 by MissMarifire

[(XBOX)x Deathcraft x]

When I read about the current concept I started thinking about a bar in "Freelancer" ran by a man named Tobias. :D & it's a really cool idea.

[MissMarifire]

9 hours ago, (XB1)x Deathcraft x said:

When I read about the current concept I started thinking about a bar in "Freelancer" ran by a man named Tobias. :D & it's a really cool idea.

The game? I've never played it, but I recall hearing about it before. Thank you nonetheless.

Edited August 19, 2016 by MissMarifire

[MissMarifire]

A little bit of an update. I got around to rewatching the Prime Time via Twitch with the chat, and one particular idea caught my eye from the chat.

A dance minigame.

It's... interesting, to say the least. The first game that comes to my mind that has a dance minigame is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, more specifically the missions Low Rider and Life's a Beach (though there are clubs in-game where you can dance at at any point of the game), whereas the player has to complete a dance competition in order to progress. Because of the purpose of this concept, as well as the idea of having a way to play minigames in the Virtuous Star, it could work.

Here's a YouTube video of the minigame in the clubs from GTA: SA:

However, the problem that I happen to have with it is that it's not exactly the most serious thing to implement, especially considering the current nature of the game. It would be an odd transition from slaying hundreds upon hundreds of Grineer soldiers to going into the relay to have a dance-off as a hot pink Rhino against your friend who's a rainbow-coloured Excalibur. It'd break the overall feel of the game; after all, it'd make more sense for people in a modern-day setting to dance in a club than it is space ninjas in a sci-fi setting dancing in a club. Sure, you could completely ignore it, but at the same time, it'd still exist.

On a better note, though, we could see how the different factions can't for the life of them dance.

In addendum to the idea of Archwing Racing, it could work like this:

At the hangar where the Virtuous Star would be during visits, the Tenno could go to a terminal that would allow them to do practice runs of the courses available to them whenever the bar isn't there. Once the Virtuous Star comes to the Relay, they could talk to Zeribus (Or perhaps another NPC?) about Archwing Racing, and the Tenno can compete for the lowest finish times of that fortnight. The Tenno who are in the top 5 could get plat rewards or something. Or perhaps more cosmetics?

Cosmetics, cosmetics everywhere.

Edited August 20, 2016 by MissMarifire

[MissMarifire]

I've decided to take a break from working on Nevdrus to work on Harktor. Here is some brainstorming I've done:

Once a personal project of Tyl Regor’s, they were cloned to be the three leaders of the “Agents of Regor”, an elite branch of Grineer of his very own, which he believed would be significantly more effective to that of the Nightwatch Corps, while also having his own personal touch by cloning his very own DNA, ensuring that the three clones would be both intellectually and athletically advanced as he was, as well as inheriting the rather soothing voice he has. However, terror struck his labs as he realized that all three clones he had, including Arbis Ceg, the clone he treasured the most out of the three, were ‘defective’ as all three didn’t wish to fight for the Twin Queens. In a rush, the three escaped Tyl Regor’s labs before he could eliminate them all, and now live a more peaceful life as a band. Because of their dislike of Regor, all three have forgone his surname for others with little meaning to the Grineer to avoid association.

Arbis Ceg is the most levelheaded and most intelligent out of the three, and they consider him to be their leader. Because of the rest of the band’s lack of knowledge on other languages, the band relies on Arbis to talk to the Tenno. Arbis is also the most pacifistic of the three, and is rather self-conscious of his appearance, afraid that the large, muscular form that Tyl Regor had given him before portrays him as a big, hulking beast to others.

Ora Tel is the loud, imbecillic member of Harktor. She will often quarrel with Tev Valu, and isn’t afraid to cause hostility the other bands or even the Tenno, although Arbis will hold her back.

Quiet but cunning, Tev Valu is the smallest of the three. He stays silent around the Tenno because of both their personality and lack of understanding of other languages, but when he does talk, he is quite the smart aleck towards others. Tev has a tendency to fight with Ora, because he sees her anger as amusing.

More work will definitely need to be done for them, but I've got to say, I like them.

Edited August 22, 2016 by MissMarifire

[MissMarifire]

I have been thinking about the idea of incorporating Archwing Racing into the concept. 

Instead of a terminal, there could be an NPC (perhaps a Grineer deserter who has their own makeshift Archwing?) standing around in the hangar, offering practice runs for various courses. The fastest times for the courses would be posted as a leaderboard projected on a console right next to them. Also, the Tenno would have the ability to race against a ghost of their previous runs of the course.

Whenever the Virtuous Star comes to visit the relay, this NPC would instead stand behind the bar counter in the ship and offer the courses as races to be ran against other players. This will have a separate leaderboard.

After the Virtuous Star has left the relay, the NPC will send the top 5 of both the singleplayer and multiplayer leaderboards a message in their inbox, congratulating them of their feat and giving them an auxiliary cosmetic of an Orokin brooch that can be used on any Warframe.

[MissMarifire]

Sitting on the three ideas:

Dance minigame is likely a no-go. However, if I do go with it, I have a cheesy quest for it drafted: the Tenno becoming the system's greatest dancer in order to effectively weed out a spy who doubles as a system-class dancer.

Harktor seems fine as of now. I feel everything that there isn't really much that needs to be changed.

Archwing Racing will be added. Like Harktor, I don't feel there needs to be any major things changed.

Edited August 25, 2016 by MissMarifire

[MissMarifire]

Bumping with a fun little comic wagonsketchesagain made for me because I won second place in a giveaway of theirs. It's based on the Relay Jobs part of the concept.

Spoiler

 

[MissMarifire]

50 minutes ago, MarrikBroom said:

I'm gonna be honest here: This is an awesome idea, and you deserve recognition for it.

However seeing ideas like this or random things get a ton of love where me pitching an idea out only to be met with silence? I'm... more than a touch salty over the fact it's like 'hi I exist if my idea is a bad idea at least tell me WHY it's a bad idea.'

Thank you.

Here's how I see it: The Virtuous Star, back in January when it was just called The Tenno Cantina, got very little recognition. Why? It was an early concept that was just recently made at the time, and I was a rather new user on the WF Forums. In fact, throughout the development of the concept, I actually contemplated giving it up several times, and at one point left it entirely for almost two months. However, I haven't abandoned it since, and I'll continue to work on it for an indefinite amount of time. I've grown to love the Virtuous Star and all the characters I've made under it, and it's something that's pretty personal to me.

The biggest thing that I've learned when it comes to making a good concept isn't just the content and quality thereof in the concept, but time. Note how there's four renditions of this concept: Concept 1.0, Concept 1.5, Concept 2.0, and Concept 3.0. Concept 1.0 was first drafted in late December 2015, Concept 1.5 in early February, Concept 2.0 in early June, and Concept 3.0 in early August. I've been committed to the concept, and even now, I'm still revising and developing the concept. My advice to you is to keep working on your concept, and determine what can be changed and how to change it. Avoid making one-off concepts, rather take an idea and think about it and how it would fit in the game, both in terms of mechanics and lore. Take days, looking back at it and tweaking it, before posting it onto the forums or on Reddit. Like many things, it's all in due time, even if it takes months or years even. Diligence and patience is your most valuable trait for concept-making.

Edited August 28, 2016 by MissMarifire

[Rhekemi]

 

On 8/20/2016 at 0:05 AM, MissMarifire said:

In addendum to the idea of Archwing Racing, it could work like this:

At the hangar where the Virtuous Star would be during visits, the Tenno could go to a terminal that would allow them to do practice runs of the courses available to them whenever the bar isn't there. Once the Virtuous Star comes to the Relay, they could talk to Zeribus (Or perhaps another NPC?) about Archwing Racing, and the Tenno can compete for the lowest finish times of that fortnight. The Tenno who are in the top 5 could get plat rewards or something. Or perhaps more cosmetics?

Cosmetics, cosmetics everywhere.

I like this version of AW racing.

On 8/21/2016 at 7:20 PM, MissMarifire said:

However, terror struck his labs as he realized that all three clones he had, including Arbis Ceg, the clone he treasured the most out of the three, were ‘defective’ as all three didn’t wish to fight for the Twin Queens. In a rush, the three escaped Tyl Regor’s labs before he could eliminate them all, and now live a more peaceful life as a band. Because of their dislike of Regor, all three have forgone his surname for others with little meaning to the Grineer to avoid association.

This is the only part of their lore that feels slight, and since it's the catalyst for them leaving, it's significant.

Defective/not wanting to fight for the Queens feels like a shortcut, but it's good for now. Consider going back later and refining how they were defective, why they didn't want to fight for the Queens, and why they left.

Maybe Arbis is the only one able to express all those whys. Maybe Ora and Tev know the whys, can feel them in their bones, but they make them somber/quiet and angry/argumentative (respectively).

Other than that, everything's good. (I feel like Arbis should be more buffed up to reflect Tyl, tho. I dunno. Up to you.)

On 8/23/2016 at 7:53 AM, MissMarifire said:

After the Virtuous Star has left the relay, the NPC will send the top 5 of both the singleplayer and multiplayer leaderboards a message in their inbox, congratulating them of their feat and giving them an auxiliary cosmetic of an Orokin brooch that can be used on any Warframe.

I like this part, but I don't dig the NPC having an AW of any kind. What was your reasoning behind that concept? Maybe I just don't see it.

On 8/25/2016 at 0:59 PM, MissMarifire said:

Sitting on the three ideas:

Dance minigame is likely a no-go. However, if I do go with it, I have a cheesy quest for it drafted: the Tenno becoming the system's greatest dancer in order to effectively weed out a spy who doubles as a system-class dancer.

Harktor seems fine as of now. I feel everything that there isn't really much that needs to be changed.

Archwing Racing will be added. Like Harktor, I don't feel there needs to be any major things changed.

Yeah, I don't know about the dancing. It sounds fun as a concept, but...

Oh, and that comic put a smile on my face (and I appreciate the continuance of the PT hat thing).

1 hour ago, MarrikBroom said:

However seeing ideas like this or random things get a ton of love where me pitching an idea out only to be met with silence? I'm... more than a touch salty over the fact it's like 'hi I exist if my idea is a bad idea at least tell me WHY it's a bad idea.'

On top of MissMarifire's great advice, there's also that thing Hemingway said once: The first draft is always s***. It's hyperbole, but we have to accept that maybe there is something we need to work on to make our concepts more appealing to people.

These things don't come out perfect. 

Even if we think they're GREAT ideas while others that get time in the spotlight are lackluster or "random" to use your words, remember this important fact: the Fan Concept of the Week highlight doesn't mean an idea is great, it doesn't mean it's going to be added to the game, and it dosen't mean it's logical and needed.

It means Rebecca and Megan (or any of their co-hosts) recognized and appreciated a fan's concept.

In that light, let go and be happy for anyone who gets a spotlight, then go back to working on your own concepts to make them the best you can. The rest is out of your control. 

[Rhekemi]

6 minutes ago, MarrikBroom said:

Hey I'm not angry or wanting to diminish this actually being a great idea.

I know, and nowhere in my post did I insinuate you were. But you do feel some type of way about other concepts highlighted.

I know this because I have felt some type of way in the past.

The advice I gave you is what I did, and it helped me stop wondering: "What is so bad about my idea/what's wrong with my concept?" 

6 minutes ago, MarrikBroom said:

I just tend to want to pitch the basic idea first to see if ther'es any worth in going down the rabbit hole further.

Yeah, a lot of people do this. It's normal. I am already long-winded and would rather explain myself as clearly as possible, so I tend toward fleshing concepts out.

That said, many times I want to just float a concept and see if there is interest. I don't because the chances of people being interested are much lower (I think) if I put less effort into that concept.

I believe if I put in effort, I get effort in return. (No, this is not always true. Some concepts with less effort get attention because they just have something, an idea/a look, people want or can easily get behind. Sometimes the depth I put into concepts doesn't change the fact that no one is interested. It's just the nature of the beasts we call humans.)

6 minutes ago, MarrikBroom said:

Actually following through and mustering the giveadamned to bother is problematic for me, so I don't want ot waste effort if the whole thing ends in a resounding 'Meh' and is passed over in favor of nayan-kevat or the like.

I don't know what to tell you here. Find out how to put as much effort into the concept as succinctly as possible, then. Or save it to your PC and keep revising over time. Editing makes everything better.

6 minutes ago, MarrikBroom said:

Personally I want this idea to happen if only to see Clem do Karaoki night, or the syndicate leaders having a drink or something where you can see them when they're not working. Not even talking to them, just seeing them at the bar or in the background doing stuff.

No doubt.