theHedoren

Arc Name: The Fractured Dreamer
Arc ID: 498588
Faction: Heroic
Keywords: Save the World, Drama, Canon-Related
Creator Global/Forum Name: @theHedoren
Difficulty Level: Medium
Length: Long (5 missions)
Other Notes: Story-intensive, 2 AVs, solo-able (tested with Lvl50 Blaster at +0 Difficulty)
Synopsis: "It began as a standard hostage situation. But as the investigation unfolds, you become the only one who can save Paragon City from losing its mind!"

Background (because I like to metaphorically hear myself talk :P )
A long time ago (when AE was still only on Test Server) I wrote an arc that I absolutely fell in love with. It wasn't until after my next arc that I realized how little I knew about MArcs at the time. At any rate, the illusion was completely broken as soon as I started getting feedback. Sure, people in general liked "The Double-Edged Sword", especially some of the little details I threw in at the last minute. But more and more obvious were the problems: tedious pacing, unclear motives, inconsistent characters, and missed opportunities. And so TDES fell out of the way in favor of my other "better" arc.

I recently came back from a two-year break from CoH, and I'm falling in love with the game again. What with Ultra-Mode graphics, Power Customization, and the swarms of former-villain ATs prancing around Paragon, it's like a completely different game than I remember. And yet somehow, that one arc that I never got right was still stuck in my brain.

Rather than go back and re-edit TDES into something I was happy with again, I took a leap and unpublished/deleted without another thought. (Okay, maybe I regretted not re-reading parts of it first before deleting it, but that's neither here nor there....)

So the arc was rewritten from the ground up. Sure, the basics are still there: the overall story is similar, most of the old characters appear, and the tone is about the same. What changed are mostly refinements from the original formula. I added more character motivations. I made the arc contact more personally involved. I upgraded some of the story's internal logic. And I (hopefully) improved what even then was a bittersweet finale.

Is this arc the best one ever written? Probably not. Am I going to look back at this later and decide to scrap the whole thing again? Knowing me, probably yes. But do I feel that the past several days writing and testing my new arc were worthwhile? Absolutely I do.

In conclusion, I'm temporarily satisfied, and I hope you enjoy "The Fractured Dreamer" as much as I do.

Oh, I've seen some rather dastardly villains in far more garish get-ups. At least these pirates avoided the whole neon day-glo theme.

Those really are brain hemorrhages waiting to happen.

I'd agree with Venture: many people (perhaps including myself) are taking a COX break to check out Champions. The recent lack of posting seems to match with the dates for CO's Open Beta.

I wasn't aware of this, but I assume it overrides in-game music files?

Apparently I wasn't finished with the soundtrack yet, so here's my (for now) last addition:

• 12. Hero of the City (2:13)- Heroic theme

I always wanted to try a piece like this, and I think it turned out okay.

Dr. Dave and the Copper Legion
ID: 60280
Author: @theHedoren
The Contact is Dr. David Diaz, who is an archaeologist/superhero. Working in Cimerora, he's found evidence of the Copper Legion, an ancient army of metal soldiers formed from a pact between the god Vulcan and a paranoid Cimeroran emperor. Dr. Diaz is trying to track down the Legion, but we find clues that someone else is searching at the same time. The mysterious third party finds the Legion first and unleashes a full-scale invasion of Paragon City, narrowly stopped by superheroes. Dr. Diaz and the Player Character track down and defeat the person controlling the Legion.

Stylistically, I've pictured from the arc from the beginning as a kind of Indiana Jones adventure. I'm sure there are many other interpretations, but that's how it struck me.

And a link to my very own soundtrack for this arc (tinyurl.com/CLtracks) would be an added bonus for me.

I do love lists and charts.

I'm also marveling at the sheer amount of time this must be taking....

Adding one more review to my list:

• Venture (8/8)

---

Since the arc is almost as polished as I can get it, I'll finally move it to the "Final" state. Still, I'm running out of ways to promote (without seeming pushy). I guess I'll just have to keep nudging people to the soundtrack....

Historical satire might be kinda tricky to find an audience for. If it's a big issue, some people might take offense to it. If it's a smaller issue, it might be too obscure for people to get the joke.

But then... I guess that applies to satire in general.

There's a Thread Tools button near the top, under the page selection part.

I'd have to say my Archery Blaster, Windscorpion.

Now that the forums are back up, maybe I can finally put some proper links into the MArc itself....

Figures. I set up these tracklists in the forums... and the whole thing goes down for three days. If only I'd remembered that was going to happen!

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Wow. This is fantastic (pending listening to it, of course )

could i review it in my thread, perhaps?

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Review away! I always welcome feedback!

[ QUOTE ]
Very impressive theHedoren! Listening to the scores now. That's some great music you've created. Keep up the great work, perhaps someone at NCSoft will hire you to write songs for future video game titles

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that, but I wouldn't feel right getting paid for stuff like this. Maybe if I took some actual classes first, or something....

After months of tweaking and tuning -- I'm glad I don't do this for a living -- I finally feel comfortable presenting my completed 21-minute-long "score" for arc# 60280, Dr. Dave and the Copper Legion. The media forum seems like as good a place as any to show this off a little, so here it is!

• 1. Overture (5:21)
  Paragon City / The Copper Legion / The Hero / March of the Legion / Counter-strike
• 2. Introductions (0:34)- Opening
  Meet Dr. David Diaz -- teacher, adventurer, superhero....
• 3. The Looking Glass (2:13)- Mission 1 general theme
  Dr. Diaz's assistant, Heather Glass, has gone missing. Naturally, it's up to the Hero to find and rescue her....
• 4. Praenuntius’ Legacy (1:57)- Mission 1 clue: “A Cimeroran Legend”
  After her rescue, Heather tells the Hero a story about a minor Cimeroran emperor who was afraid of losing his throne. In a desperate act, he made a deal with the smith god Vulcan to obtain an army of invincible copper soldiers. But the emperor died before the army was complete, and the Copper Legion was lost....
• 5. The Circle Library (3:19)- Mission 2 general theme
  By request of Dr. Diaz, the Hero investigates a lead on the last-suspected location of the Copper Legion....
• 6. Swords at Midnight (1:13)- Mission 3 general theme
  Responding to a distress call, the Hero finds out that the legend of the Copper Legion is quite true -- and that the Legion has been awakened....
• 7. A City Besieged (0:38)- Mission 4 intro
  Reports are flooding in of an invasion of strange metal soldiers....
• 8. Counter-strike (2:02)- Mission 4 general theme
  In an organized counter-attack, the Hero strikes back at the invading Legion....
• 9. Master and Commander (0:38)- Mission 5 intro
  Dr. Diaz and the Hero make preparations to locate the current commander of the Copper Legion....
• 10. Moment of Truth (2:13)- Mission 5 AV fight
  The Hero faces off against the true villain behind the Legion's assault....
• 11. Sealed and Buried (1:19)- Closing
  The villain is defeated, the Legion is sealed away, and the city is safe again... for the moment.

Thank you for your patience. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled program.

Thanks for your reply!

I've definitely decided now: a URL will be put in the arc description and the souvenir. Whenever I can get the chance, that is....

In any case, I've just finished the score, and have put a tracklist on my arc's forum page.

After months of tweaking and tuning -- I'm glad I don't do this for a living -- I finally feel comfortable presenting my completed 21-minute-long* score for this arc. I should use the term "score" loosely, I guess. But still, here it is!

• 1. Overture (5:21)
  Paragon City / The Copper Legion / The Hero / March of the Legion / Counter-strike
• 2. Introductions (0:34)- Opening
  Meet Dr. David Diaz -- teacher, adventurer, superhero....
• 3. The Looking Glass (2:13)- Mission 1 general theme
  Dr. Diaz's assistant, Heather Glass, has gone missing. Naturally, it's up to the Hero to find and rescue her....
• 4. Praenuntius’ Legacy (1:57)- Mission 1 clue: “A Cimeroran Legend”
  After her rescue, Heather tells the Hero a story about a minor Cimeroran emperor who was afraid of losing his throne. In a desperate act, he made a deal with the smith god Vulcan to obtain an army of invincible copper soldiers. But the emperor died before the army was complete, and the Copper Legion was lost....
• 5. The Circle Library (3:19)- Mission 2 general theme
  By request of Dr. Diaz, the Hero investigates a lead on the last-suspected location of the Copper Legion....
• 6. Swords at Midnight (1:13)- Mission 3 general theme
  Responding to a distress call, the Hero finds out that the legend of the Copper Legion is quite true -- and that the Legion has been awakened....
• 7. A City Besieged (0:38)- Mission 4 intro
  Reports are flooding in of an invasion of strange metal soldiers....
• 8. Counter-strike (2:02)- Mission 4 general theme
  In an organized counter-attack, the Hero strikes back at the invading Legion....
• 9. Master and Commander (0:38)- Mission 5 intro
  Dr. Diaz and the Hero make preparations to locate the current commander of the Copper Legion....
• 10. Moment of Truth (2:13)- Mission 5 AV fight
  The Hero faces off against the true villain behind the Legion's assault....
• 11. Sealed and Buried (1:19)- Closing
  The villain is defeated, the Legion is sealed away, and the city is safe again... for the moment.
• 12. Hero of the City (2:13)- Heroic theme

"Moment of Truth" is my personal favorite, but that's just me.

*23:40 after adding "Hero of the City"

I've always interpreted the "Idiot Ball" differently. To me, it's when you (the player) suspect something is happening in the arc, but your character is written as conveniently oblivious. It's not that it forces me to be wrong, but rather that it forces me to be wrong when I already know better.

For example, say the Contact sends me on a mission and Lo! -- a team of assassins is there with an ambush for me. Whatever, they don't pose much of a challenge. I go back to the Contact, who naturally acts surprised, but otherwise disregards my little adventure.

In the next mission, I'm snooping around for some ambiguous clue when Hey! -- more assassins. Coincidence, right? Dispatch baddies and return to the Contact, who sends me into two more surprise ambushes, and acts innocently unaware each time. But I trust him, because he's my Contact -- he's got my back, right?

Final mission: I'm wandering around, minding my own business, when who should show up? The Contact with his own private army of assassins! Apparently he was trying to kill me all along (shocker!).

"Idiot Ball" is when the writer demands that a PC overlook something obvious. The writer had a set plot in mind; to him, there is only one way to travel through the story. Nevermind that I was instantly suspicious of the Contact's furtive eyes or poor acting. I'm written into a state of ignorance with no alternative but to face the final revelation cluelessly. And by agreeing to continue the arc, I end up catching the Idiot Ball.

Admittedly, it's a very tricky thing to avoid in a medium with an uncontrollable character (you!). Since the writer can't make room for every possible reaction from the player, he then decides to force the reaction he needs, which might end up making the player look like a sap.

I'm not a huge fan of being wrong, but I'm even less tolerant of being told to play the idiot.

Here's the deal:

For the last several weeks I've been writing a musical score for my MArc. While it's nothing incredibly impressive, it's a big project compared to my other work -- Allegro software + untrained hobbyist.

Now that the score is nearing completion, I'm having second thoughts on how to present it. What say you, forumites? Should I post links in the arc itself, or would that be bad for story immersion? Would it instead be better to provide a single link to a consolidated tracklist on the forums?

Thoughts? Feedback?

EDIT- All music will eventually be posted online in MP3 format at Soundclick.com.

Now that MA gives the option to manually set the arc's levels, it really helps the overall polish of the arc if it's in a consistent level range -- it just looks less choppy.

Not one of the arc-breaking issues, certainly, but easily one of the first visible signs of the author's attention to detail.

My score project is progressing!

Not very quickly, mind you, but progress is progress. I only have 12-ish minutes completed, but I'm relatively happy with the results. In addition to the Overture (in my sig), I present another piece to keep my thread from stalling:

• Praenuntius' Legacy (1:57) -- From the Mission 1 completion clue; Heather Glass shares the story of Praenuntius, a Cimeroran emperor who made a pact with the god Vulcan to obtain an invincible army made of copper.

I doubt I'll post any more until the entire project is complete, but we'll see...

It doesn't sound like he's low-rating arcs just for his own amusement, so I'm ruling out "griefing".

And he doesn't just 0- or 1-star and arc, make a joke, and move on. He'll take the time to explain why he didn't like the arc -- even occasionally offering some suggestions for improvements.

I certainly have gotten low ratings on my arcs, and I would've absolutely preferred a little constructive feedback -- even if it's disguised in a sarcastic critique -- over no feedback at all. How else can I improve myself?

I'm tentatively for paid slots. I'm not sure what the MA server's capacity is, but when you increase the data from thousands of users by more than double, there could be even more lag and the like.

Not to mention the new deluge of phoned-in farms and bottom-rung origin stories.