Where to Begin (The Game)

[Baron]

The (admittedly anecdotal) feedback from the prior online versions of Uru suggested that a lot of people want that. "If this is supposed to be an MMO, why am I stuck alone looking for these cloths? Why can't I meet up with my friends now?" Etc, etc.

Those of us who loved Myst and Riven for what they were probably do prefer a one-person Cleft. And indeed, Cyan seemingly designed the Cleft-Relto-Neighborhood-Nexus-City sequence to gradually expose solitary players to the idea of encounters with other people.

If Uru starts with the player alone, it is off-putting to many people. If it starts in a shared area, it disappoints others. Do we want to let the new players choose the "alone or together" option from a menu before showing them any scenery?

And yes, if the game starts in a shared area, it would be better if experienced players are there to provide guidance and handle abuse. I still like the idea of starting in a Greeter-staffed area. For efficiency's sake, it'd probably be best if players can also link back there to ask questions at later points in the game.

[Tweek]

I would, but then I'm a fan of having a public cleft.

[Dot]

If Uru starts with the player alone, it is off-putting to many people. If it starts in a shared area, it disappoints others. Do we want to let the new players choose the "alone or together" option from a menu before showing them any scenery?

This sounds a good idea.

[T_S_Kimball]

I also like the 'alone or together' menu idea, as I would use both over time.

--> If I'm arriving at a shard for the first time, in my role as Guardsman (for example), I'd pick 'Together' and get in right quick for whatever the event was.

--> If just wanting to explore for exploring's sake (and in particular if I wanted to do so in a quiet setting - for many different reasons), choose 'Alone' and continue at a relaxed pace.

This idea also allows an 'easier out' to the issues we've had in the past with the Vault. The common solution to an individual's Vault issues was to usually delete that character and start over. That was an infernal pain, to be blunt, and many just didn't do it - they instead created new characters and dealt with whatever existed on the old one (which has its own problems).

If something akin to 'Together' mode was available, I suspect that some of the more social folks (like myself) would be more inclined with starting over to fix individual character corruption.

--TSK

[Mac_Fife]

Do we want to let the new players choose the "alone or together" option from a menu before showing them any scenery?

Sounds like a good idea. I guess when UL was first conceived, everyone was coming from the "alone", Myst-style background, so the current start was no biggie. Through the GT era, some new players would be coming from WoW, SL, etc., and have different expectations. I can see both as valid.

However, given the recent info from Cyan on the MO:UL site (I'm at work right now so can't access the link ) we won't be gifted the Cyan game assets, so we don't appear to have the option to modify the cleft for either The Stranger's proposal or some of the others I've seen touted.

So the "together" start needs to be somewhere different. The cleft provided the back story to Relto so can you change that without breaking some logic if you then come back and complete the cleft at a later time? A 'hood or Nexus without Relto seems reasonable, but how do you explain how you got there? How do you cope with panic linking without a Relto book? The Stranger's idea of an area that's effectively an "ante-room" to the cleft means you still have to go through the cleft?

I dunno. It's getting complicated. And my head hurts now (but it's probably work doing that ).

[Tweek]

The best bet is, instead of automatically canceling ideas out because of what the MOUL site now says, to create a well thought out proposal and submit it to Cyan for permission to use, you never know.

I like the idea of the menu, I feel somewhat stupid that it hadn't occurred to me before. All it needs is a simple "Alone or together?" line of text, an indication that alone and together are clickable, perhaps a small line underneath explaining what happens when you click that choice.

The hole I find in this is, how do you get back to a public cleft if you pick together? Or do you not (I feel there should be a way to get back to it myself)?

[teedyo]

The hole I find in this is, how do you get back to a public cleft if you pick together? Or do you not (I feel there should be a way to get back to it myself)?

If we use the "ant-room" model... Everybody starts in this "ante-room"; public or private depending on the initial choice. From there, one proceeds through the cleft or possibly an alternate method. The scope of this cleft would follow the scope of the ante-room. (Personally; I prefer a 'shared' cleft to an openly public one; but that's just me.)

Returning to the (dry)cleft would also be done through this ante-room. Private/shared if going through Relto and public if going through the nexus.

[Gehn, lord of ages]

This would require a few slight changes at the cleft, but I think it would work.

Beginning players are told (before the game) they will start in an empty cleft. They are told they will meet a man named Zandi, who will help them get started. They are also told that there is a box/pedestal/whatever that has an easy access Relto book (and maybe also a link to a populated area, like the GoG neighborhood, or somewhere) and that they can use this and come back to the cleft later.

Then they get placed in a single-player cleft. Everything is the same except for the presence of the aforementioned box/pedestal/thing (and one other thing mentioned later). There is a note/sign next to this telling them IC that this is the quick way out, probably by Zandi (Zandi telling you about it would be even better, but...). If they chose the book, they put it on there and link (or, if there was a book to a populated area, they could automatically link there to make sure they don't get confused).

They can still go back to the cleft at any time to start the journey. I don't think Zandi would be there (because it would mess up his lines, I think). Instead of the Relto book, the tree includes a Relto page (that would automatically be in the Relto book if you did the journey first). If there are no Relto pages to be spared, maybe this page brings the original journey Age pillar things (Gahreeson, Kadish, etc.) so you can't go to those Ages (privately - you could still go by public means or by someone sharing them) before starting Yeesha's Journey.

This way
1) The cleft is still special and mysterious.
2) You can quickly get to a public place, but you start in a private place.
3) It makes logical sense and requires a minimum of changes (the page or Relto journey pillar things, and the box/thing)
4) Newcomers know that the emptiness is by design and how to get to a place where they can get help.
5) There is still the cleft's position as the beginning of Yeesha's Journey, as well as it's position as the beginning of the alone sections.

I would still encourage a public and/or night version cleft for pure community gathering, nostalgia, and maybe more Relto pages. This, however, I believe should be something reached later.

[Mac_Fife]

If we use the "ant-room" model... Everybody starts in this "ante-room"; public or private depending on the initial choice.

Yes, the kind of thought I had would have been to have something like a DRC porta-cabin dumped just by the desert fence at the sign post. Depending on your alone or together choice, one of two doors is open. For "alone" the door leads out the cabin to the traditional desert start. The other door (open only in the "together" mode) leads to another room with a linking book to *somewhere* in the cavern (I never claimed this was a fully worked out plan ). The cabin could have manuals, guides lying about to help people get started, and as the "together" version is public you could expect (hope) to have GoG-like people around too, at least some of the time.

The problem I have with the whole idea is history (but I guess we can change history, too ) - I originally started Uru from an ABM Collector's Edition which came with an extra booklet, which was titled "Prologue, Draft v.1" and this starts off by giving you the storyline of being dropped off from a truck at the signpost by a "slightly manic DRC volunteer" before he drives off on some other mission.

But not everyone would get that back story, and those who have only ever encountered the online version would have even less to go on, so I'm not surprised at people have differing expectations here. In any case I always considered the cleft as a "practice ground" (and the rest of that Prologue booklet is basically a walkthrough of the Cleft).

[Baron]

To what extent are we trying to avoid the creation of a new Age for this purpose? After (finally, because I am lazy) installing the Uru Library Manager, I have been impressed by how good fan-created Ages can already look.

It solves a number of problems at once if we drop new Explorers in a place where the Guild of Greeters already meet Explorers who have questions. It could be, let's say, the Minor Guild of Pastry Chefs' former showroom Age. (Everywhere that the Minor Guild's original emblem appeared on a wall in bas-relief, a Greeter banner will hang in front of it.)

It could be organized so that new Explorers (who arrived via the "Together" button) are deposited in a different corner of the room from Explorers who link in from anywhere else in Uru. That would alert the Greeters that the new arrival needs the appropriate briefing.

And of course, the room would have to have self-explanatory posters and journals throughout it, just so players have something to work from if they arrive at a time when no one else is online.

It wouldn't have to be a huge Age. One room would do. It could be a large room, its windows could offer spectacular views, but there wouldn't need to be any additional navigable areas. Would that (and a lack of physics-enabled objects) sufficiently help with lag?

Ideally, though at a cost of stealing Gahreesen's thunder, there should be a KI-dispenser and Nexus terminal right there in the greeting area. (Use of the terminal would have to be predicated on having a KI.) That would simplify things for people who only came to Uru to participate in Spoken Word Night at a friend's invitation.

The hole I find in this is, how do you get back to a public cleft if you pick together? Or do you not (I feel there should be a way to get back to it myself)?

I guess you link back to the Guild of Greeters hospitality showroom and they point you to a Cleft book? I think the showroom should have one anyway, since some people, after being oriented, will want to try the Cleft after all. (Even if Cyan doesn't let us modify the Cleft, they will let us link to the beginning of their copy of the original game, right?)