Those of you have been paying attention to Bahamas have probably seen the idea Klick proposed that I posted about in my confessional(which has since made it's way into the thread itself). If you haven't, that's fine because this is the updated fleshed out version anyways.xofelf, in a Bahamas Confessional wrote:Alright, so Klick and Nya have had this idea regarding future games(Nich also gave some input), and once this ends, I'm going to push for it. I love you mods, but some of this game has been poorly designed. I'm sorry, but it has. With the survivor queue as long as it is, we need a review system. Former mods who players can all agree on as being rather good, players who don't plan on playing for a while and then at least one of them reviews game setup before it can be run. Have them as a spectator or a sort of backup mod, whichever. You run two games that are reviewed and there aren't any huge mishaps like mod flaking or severely unbalanced challenges or twists that are beyond cruel(barring another purposeful bastardish game like Arkham) and then you can be added to said list of good mods. Just.. I feel lately there's been too many games that have glaring issues at one point or another and we need to get on top of that. Sorta use the system MS already has(or at least had last I knew) for mafia modding. New mods are great, really, I just think we need to make sure that their games aren't complete trainwrecks or used as the next measure of "Okay how bad is this game? Is it *insert game name here* bad?"
And also, for the love of god, can we PLEASE get some new challenges in these games? Some of them are great, but some challenges are overused and not changed at all. If you're going to recycle a challenge, please tweak it so it's something new or different. At this point I don't think I'm the only player who thinks that if they never have to see RAF again the world would be a better place. Want challenge/twist ideas, look at your theme(if you have one), look at old MishMash games(and by old I mean like super super old. There were some nice challenges/twists there that have been forgotten). We can do better.
So there's been a handful of games lately where either the players or the mods just stop caring about the game. Often that's due to pacing, but slightly more often it seems to be because of challenges and game setup. What I propose is this: A group of people willing to review future games so they can avoid some of these issues. The point of a game is to be fun for everyone isn't it? Yes all games have moments players don't particularly like, that's an inherent part of these kind of games. I'm not saying let's have all games be these fluffy handholdy things. No. What I want to avoid is games where for whatever reason people just give up, whether they stop trying or just keep going because they feel obligated but just couldn't care less.
Who should be part of this review board? Well that's where the community comes in. You can volunteer to be a part of it, or people can nominate their favourite mods/spectators and they can choose to take part. I think there should be a requirement of having successfully modded a game, or played a specific number, or spectated a few. As it's a community thing, discussion on that would be fantastic.
But it would work like this. Congrats, you have a game you want to mod and want reviewed. You would come here to the board and someone who wasn't going to play the game will volunteer to review it, if you have a preference of reviewer that's okay too. The reviewer could comod with you if you and they were both willing, they could also spectate to be around to help you during game, or they could just review and go on their merry way. That's between you and your reviewer. What sort of things would they be looking for? Well, Ani had a few good ideas on things he would be looking for in games he'd be reviewing, and I think they're all things that should be covered in games.
From personal experience I can say having challenges written out and planned way in advance is a major help. You can look over things multiple times to make sure they're balanced and worded correctly, flavour can be added in easier or not if you wish, if for some reason you have a crisis, a comod/backup can post the challenge for you and it's exactly what you want it to be and they aren't scrambling around trying to figure out what should be done.animorpherv1 wrote:When you're getting your game reviewed, it will be sent off to a reviewer - that person has the liberty to check for anything they think could help your Survivor become even better than it was before. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
- Clarity
- Your reviewer may want to check any and all posts and PMs (things like TC posts, challenges posts, and reward PMs). Have this done beforehand so your reviewer can look into it. This is good for 2 reasons. Firstly, it's less things for you to have to worry about during the game. Secondly, it'll make sure that your posts aren't completely vague, and that you don't spend the entire deadline clarifying.
- Looking for backups
- No site is up 100% of the time, and sometimes you may accidentally delete a file and lose your stuff. Having any and all important things in multiple different spots that all mods can access (ex. Google doc and MS PMs) will decrease your chances of losing all of your info.
- Challenges & Rewards
- In addition to checking for clarity, these also have to be checked for balance, and fun. If one thing ends up becoming drastically overpowered, then the game is no fun for anyone.
- Twists
- Any twists that you do include should be fair. This means that EVERYONE can access them at the appropriate times. Examples of such would include redemption island (where everyone who is eliminated competes in challenges to return), and HIIs. Feel free to come up with your own twists and have your reviewer look at them!
- Co-mods or Backup mods
- Co-mods or a backup mod is a fantastic thing to have. Whether just there for the off-chance real life comes up and limits your modding capabilities, or just for a second pair of eyes and to assist with punctuality. Comods are always great things to have. You can look for your own or perhaps your reviewer would be willing.
Also, if people wanting to run other Mish Mash games want a review, I don't see why this couldn't be used for that as well.
I would be willing to be a contact person for this. I wouldn't be reviewing any games until I have a few more under my belt. I have quite a bit of time on my hands and usually I can be contacted easily in a multitude of ways.
Finally, Survivor: Game of Thrones has already volunteered to be reviewed by Ani, so if there's any other suggestions of things he should be looking for, I'm sure he'd take them into consideration.
So thoughts? I want this to be a community thing that is agreed on. Mafia games get reviewed frequently, why couldn't Mish Mash games?