MarinaNova Mods (marinanova_mod) wrote in marinanova_ooc, @ 2012-06-17 18:47:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | mod: info |
Marina > MarinaNova
First of all, we want to thank you all for your support, help, and your ideas. You certainly left us a lot to read, and it's clear this game inspires a lot of passion.
There is a lot of information to cover, and I am sure we're going to miss things, so for anything you don't see, please feel free to ask. If we have an answer ready, we'll tell you, and if we don't we'll work on getting one ready.
In making these decisions we really wanted to look at the playerbase's varying input, maintaing a balance between embracing and making the best of the opportunity/challenge before us while not going so far as to make the game no longer "feel" like Marina, and working with a revised narrative for the game. Some decisions flowed naturally from that. Some decisions were made to help streamline modding. We'll start with some of the fun stuff!
Premise
To uphold Kay and Li's wishes while also continuing the game, we had to adjust the game's plot. There were still elements that had yet to unfold from the original game's plot that didn't have adequate time to finish. So, we created a way to pull us from Marina and take us to MarinaNova. Some elements of this will remain hidden for the purposes of new game plots, but basically, Marina was just one of many domed asylums throughout the multiverse. Our dome will have it's own set of engineers, but you won't be meeting them just yet. However, you will meet Veridical and Conscienti—your new AI co-wardens. They will be doing things a little differently in some respects. You'll find revisions to some of the IC-rules. These are also open to IC negotiation, and are likely to evolve over time.
You'll also find you are once again without weapons, and the wardens will no longer be supporting any IC organizations. However, some don't really need support like the baseball team and some will have no trouble getting it back like the school. The Defense Force will not be able to read lifesigns in the dome and joining is not an instant pass to getting a weapon. There will be ways to earn them back!
I'll make a long story a little bit shorter by saying we want to play a little more with the prison theme. Apartments will have retractable bars on the doors and windows used at the AIs' discretion. Everyone will arrive in an orange jumpsuit with an anklet monitor. And we will now feature solitary confinement! We also want to do more with rehabilitation. There will be community service projects and incentives for working and studying. We also have a lot of future events brewing—some involving danger—but we don't want to spoil all the surprises!
It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the FAQ again, as we've made lot of minor changes and adjustments. Naturally, not everything is completely finished yet but there's already a lot of new information out there!
Setting
MarinaNova Asylum is still an underwater dome, but it's in an entirely different ocean. Possibly with giant, tentacled sea creatures! Who said that? The insides of the dome have changed as well. There are still six sectors, but you'll find some things missing and some new things to take their place. The water tower is gone, but now we have a floating island equipped with giant loud speakers. (Who needs water?) There will be a museum with rotating displays similar to the way library books seemingly magically change. The variety of restaurants and shops has increased and there will be more architectural diversity.
There will be no houses when people arrive. Instead there will be a few different LARGE apartment complexes. It is completely possible to request housing or try to take over empty offices or museums. We hear park benches are nice this time of year too.
There's also a little something strange about sector 6. It's walled off completely. No getting around it or teleporting or phasing inside. Probably no reason to pay any attention to it at all. Except...does it sound like something is scratching at the wall from the other side?
Art!
We may not have the Locale information up to date yet, but we do have a crazy person artist on board and can show you a few concept scribbles of what your new home will look like!
The Dome || Dome Structure + speaker island || A sense of scale + Sector 0 Kiosk
IJ vs DW
Technically the poll is still going on, but IJ has been in the lead the whole time with no signs of that changing in the next few hours. If it does, we'll announce it and import everything! Otherwise, consider IJ our site!
Applications
We did replace the multi-fandom test with a question about how your character would adapt to the asylum. There were no other major changes to either app, but please make sure to read through everything next time you are apping! Which could be soon because we are crazy! Apps will be open for July.
Hiatuses
We have created a hiatus page to house them. Everyone is encouraged to use this page. Only hiatuses on this page will count toward AC reductions or exemptions. However, we are not banning hiatus notices on the OOC comm if you feel it is merited. The comm is for all of us to use to the best of our ability. Please keep them brief, and please reconsider any notice that's only to warn people of slow tags or less than a week's worth of delay. Everyone is entitled to a life away from the RP. Even if it is a major change for your regular speed and availability, doesn't mean you need to warn, apologize, or justify it. Likewise, please be respectful of what people choose to post and the information they share.
Activity Checks
You gave us a lot to think about. First of all we want to state for the record there will be no June AC. Everyone passes. Also, when responding to the AC in the future the form will be very simple and short, consisting almost entirely of linking your activity and nothing else. As for the system itself, we have gone with something new that was not suggested, but we feel it is simple, hopefully easy to understand, fair, and flexible. You will be required to have 30 comments that must be over at least two posts, but no more than five. 25 comments may come from the same post whether it's your own or a mingle, but the other 5 have to be from a different post. It may not be your personal ideal system, but we would like to try it out. Please live with it for a couple of months. We'll have an opportunity for more feedback on our quarterly HMD which leads us to...
HMD
Since it's inception Marina has had a commitment to a mandatory "How's My Driving?" We don't want to lose that commitment, but in separating the HMD from the AC and moving it to a quarterly system where we hope it will generate more feedback, we also lose some of the ability to enforce it. Instead, the quarterly HMD is highly encouraged. While a contact/HMD post will now be required for all characters and will be linked to the taken pages.
1:1 vs 7:1
The community will remain on a 7:1 pace. We felt any change to this was larger than we were ready to take on currently. We think a significant amount of this game's chemistry is informed by it's pace. There are certainly advantages and disadvantages both ways. If there ever seems to be a need for change on that scale, we will certainly hold a poll for a decision like that one.
Questions
Lots of issues were discussed. If you'd like a definitive answer you didn't see here, please ask below! Some things are still being considered. Just not necessarily for the game's launch.
Visit this link, discussing the actual practical steps to making this move as smooth as possible! Please read it through carefully and go through the easy steps as soon as possible, so we can get this show on the road in time!
We're really excited about everything and we hope you are too. Change isn't easy, but we'll get through this together! Raptors!