Dancer Archive

Personally, I don't see why we should limit outselves to 5 or 10 things that we think would make performing better. I think we are selling ourselfs shout and we should start a master list of little things like what Pan picked, then just keep expanding on it.

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Esharra wrote:

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--Qilue-UCW-- wrote:
Personally, I don't see why we should limit outselves to 5 or 10 things that we think would make performing better. I think we are selling ourselfs shout and we should start a master list of little things like what Pan picked, then just keep expanding on it.

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Yes. Please!

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Panthu wrote:

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Esharra wrote:

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--Qilue-UCW-- wrote: Personally, I don't see why we should limit outselves to 5 or 10 things that we think would make performing better. I think we are selling ourselfs shout and we should start a master list of little things like what Pan picked, then just keep expanding on it.

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Yes. Please!

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Oooh, good idea. Yay for master lists!

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I am just of a mind where..

These are not in any particular order

1) Meta Game -- We need one. I would enjoy something like this "system driven game" added to these professions very much:

a) Half hour shows every hour. The bottom half of the hour is free play. Free play continues until a band or performer "books" a venue. How?...

b) Sign up for the venue for up to two hours in advance of "showtime" in advance at the local terminals, listing every venue that has an open slot, with the band or troupe you want. Name your band, and have it on every starport terminal in the galaxy...including a listing in the scrolling marquee outside the venue.

c) Play for 30 minutes straight, and get BIG credits...on the order of 20,000 or more. Many have argued that since we do not have credit sinks, we don't deserve high pay. And if that is the reason we do not have good pay and a game to play, than I say we get some. Union cards, rentals (costumes and instruments that must be returned at a set time), and other imaginative sinks may be possible with a bit of thought.

d) Venue control is in place. No more sitting around and "existing" waiting to be needed. Performers are allowed "open stage" for the bottom half of the hour, and whenever a venue isn't booked. But when the venue is booked, and the performers begin their "shift," then everyone else stops performing until the show is done. Performers who are "unplugged" in this way can always go to the other venues to perform in the city, or to another city, or find a venue to book themselves.

e) The audience? They get DOUBLE of what we usually give in terms of a bonus (10% XP bonus becomes 20%, etc) when they see a real, booked in advanced show. This stresses the need for entertainers to be active, at the keys, and always moving and on the go to get "the big draw"...much like it is in the real entertainment business.

2) Falls. I miss them. Too bad we can't get them as an option. They really added variety to my otherwise predictable dance patterns.

3) Costume rentals! Grande things we do not have now.

4) Photography. I would LOVE the ID profession to be able to take poster sized screenshots and make art prints we could hang on our walls...but it sounds like a technical hurdle and a half.

5) Studio recordings. The ability to record dance/and or music performances to create "recordings" for the jukebox.

Agh! So many good Ideas! I love them all and so will just add a few of my own.

1) Pets, pets, pets. I still think we should be able to get bonuses for having pets entertain wiht us. Some could make a dance look better, others might sound beautiful and help a musician, or they could dance for a musican or sing for a dancer. I mean why not? This last 4th of July weekend I saw a guy playing music that his monkey danced to. Of course he drew a crowd!

2) Props. Hmm...looks like they already did that one.

3) Learn the Hutt Language Quest. I remember my first mission saying "Learn Huttese." It said to go to X spot, point at yourself, say a word and start dancing. If anyone tells you to stop (or something else I forget) call them something else. I was thrilled! Imagine, I thought, barely in the game and I can start learning other languages already. Well to my lament, there was no Hutt language and all I got was a loosy 100 credits for dancing in an empty cantina for 10 minutes. Why not add more odd languages and make all languages quest items. Non-combat learn them one way, combat can learn them another, through missions.

4) Entertainer only content. No that's not a good idea. Just sounds spiteful. I don't want it to become us vs. combat (although things already look that way).

5) ummm....I'm spent. You all have way too many great ideas!

This is my personal top five "easy" wishes for Dancer to encourage performance. These aren't huge things like "get rid of afk" or "totally revamp the dance animation system so we can really make our own dances" - even though I know these are things most of us want, I was just thinking of easy things Esh might be able to ask for now. Then I started wondering what everybody else's list would be. Soooo...

What are your top five wishes for smallish changes or additions that would help foster a performance environment?

XP for being Band Flourished
Taking part in a group performance is a valid Dancer activity and should be encouraged while leveling. Even if you are not the one calling the band flourishes, you are enhancing the performance through synchronization. Allowing all group members to receive XP for taking part will encourage more group performances and help engrain the entertainment focus from the first stages of leveling.
Suggestion: Give XP to all group members when anyone calls a band flourish

Group Change Dance, Start Dance, Stop Dance
We need this to actually perform as a troupe. We have to use goofy work-arounds now that aren't reliable at all. We've been told these commands can be added in for Dancer, now would be a great time to get them.

Access to all flo anims
We need to be able to use any flourish animation from any dance that we know no matter which base dance we are performing. Let us pick our Basedance/Flourish combination just as Musicians can choose any instrument/song combination. This will greatly expand our performance possibilities.
Suggestion: /bandflourish 1-8 Dancename and /flourish 1-8 Dancename

Group Tech Effects
Allow the particle effects from the techniques line to be called with a bandflourish type of command.

System Payment for Dancing in Cantinas, Hotels, and Theaters - Active Sign In
This one covers a lot of needs, the most basic being that everyone wants Dancers to be in the Cantinas. The current reward for hanging out in a cantina waiting for patrons to show up is nil though the Dancer player is doing what they are supposed to be doing - enhancing the cantina setting. The game's goal is to have Dancers in these venues, so the game should reward the Dancers for complying.
Suggestion: Put an Entertainment Manager NPC in all venues away from the performance zone (like the stage in the Theater Quest). Allow Dancers to sign up to be on the Entertainment List. Give them two minutes to get to the "stage area." If the Dancer starts dancing in the designated area in the set amount of time, pay her 200 credits per 10 second dance tick for up to 20 minutes or until the Dancer stops dancing, whichever comes first. Have the dancer leave the performance area and go sign up again if they want to continue drawing a salary after the 20 minutes have passed.

Alternate: Dancer Meta Group
Allow Dancer to combine in a "raid group" so that bandflourishes can be used for more than 8 people. (We really need this one and the Devs have said something like this would be done for us, but I don't know how "easy" it's going to be.)

Message Edited by Cindal on 07-13-2005 01:39 AM

One important thing was to have color pallettes for crafting the new props. For the effects the props generate that is, not for the props themselves.

Those glowsticks are nice, but you have to use an outfit that works with this neon green...

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Cindal wrote:

I like and agree with Panthu's suggestions. Some additional thoughts...

After working with the new props, it is apparent that some of our cantinas are too bright to show these effects to advantage. Perhaps if we were able to control ambient light for a performance - something that would go in the Master Ent/Dancer/Musician slot.

Crowd control - the ability to eject duelists from the venue - two knights dueled once during one of our weekly performance, the duel went on for about 20 minutes and was quite blinding. I understand that the NPCs attack overts in the cantina(s) and while Ben and Han did deal death and destruction in the cantina in Mos Eisley, the cantina should not be a dueling center.

No parking zones - making the entry area of the cantina a no parking/stopping area.

A random letter generator that must be entered by hand before a buff can begin - similar to what voting sites use to ensure that votes are not automated.

Message Edited by Cindal on 07-13-2005 01:39 AM

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What's a bar without a bar fight or two? (Although, I will agree, most bartenders would toss you out on your ear within the first couple minutes...Depending on how well you know the bartender and how you were doing in the fight. )

As for the buff code to start, the mechanic for that is already in place and could easily be adapted. You have to do essentially the same thing when you want to redeed a structure/harvester.

Make AFKers unable to perform light effects or equip props (of course I'd prefer they be removed from the game and rendered unable to procreate...)

Really hard to coordinate flourishes and effects and props when you've got an AFK tumbler/lyrical-er zooming through your "personal space" every 30 seconds trailing sparklers and spamming smokebombs.

I don't know what is deemed smallish in coding terms but here's some of mine. I do want you to know that I do like the other ideas but I wanted to think of extra ones to just have on the list

1. /paused to work. Right now it stops me from dancing. I want to be able /paused # for a set number of secons for dramatic effect or to save my current location to start a new series of flourishes. BEST would be if /paused during a flourish would freeze my currentaction to hold that position. Not that i just stand still for a second or two. Think of the dance videos!
   
   


2. If my job is to entertain give me the tools to do it. Those Player Event Perks should go to entertainers. Lose the vendor that's just a credit blackhole atm. Have people pay us to create a pavillion for their wedding or place a downed tie fighter for their event or put a jukebox in their house for a party. Etc. It'd be a way for us to charge for something those afk most likely will not do (their owners can do it for their friends I suppose but then they'd be out of the cantina!)
   
   


3. Inspirations are requested of us not leeched. Clicking on a performing entertainer gives us an extra radial menu (apart from watch or listen) to request inspiration. To the performer,UI box comes up and says soandso is requesting a xx inspiration. We have to physically click that button (no /acceptrequest command!) to get it to apply. We can apply to anyone at any time not limited to one at a time or group members only. UI box appears in random location on screen to stop a mouse simulator fromdoing the work. Entertainer has a/offdutycommand to stopthe spamming of request if distracting.We can please everyone that needs it and they need someone alive to do it. Right now the buff isn't so fantabulous that they'd have any right to cry (not that they won't anyway) if they can't find a live entertainer.
   
   


4. Give Goldy cookies. I'd dance better if I had cookies.

Message Edited by SkySCREAMER on 07-13-2005 08:29 AM

I would really love to see a variety of Dancer / Entertainer quests integrated into various popular lairs and locations, like Jabba's Palace, as well as into future additions to the game. The DWB might be difficult, but a combat team escorting a helpless or low-CL dancer into a lair to complete a side mission would be extremely interesting, as it is with DE's/Artisans in the DWB now.

Message Edited by Schardour on 07-13-2005 02:11 PM

Message Edited by Schardour on 07-13-2005 02:13 PM

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Panthu wrote:

This is my personal top five "easy" wishes for Dancer to encourage performance. These aren't huge things like "get rid of afk" or "totally revamp the dance animation system so we can really make our own dances" - even though I know these are things most of us want, I was just thinking of easy things Esh might be able to ask for now. Then I started wondering what everybody else's list would be. Soooo...

What are your top five wishes for smallish changes or additions that would help foster a performance environment?

XP for being Band Flourished
Taking part in a group performance is a valid Dancer activity and should be encouraged while leveling. Even if you are not the one calling the band flourishes, you are enhancing the performance through synchronization. Allowing all group members to receive XP for taking part will encourage more group performances and help engrain the entertainment focus from the first stages of leveling.
Suggestion: Give XP to all group members when anyone calls a band flourish

Group Change Dance, Start Dance, Stop Dance
We need this to actually perform as a troupe. We have to use goofy work-arounds now that aren't reliable at all. We've been told these commands can be added in for Dancer, now would be a great time to get them.

Access to all flo anims
We need to be able to use any flourish animation from any dance that we know no matter which base dance we are performing. Let us pick our Basedance/Flourish combination just as Musicians can choose any instrument/song combination. This will greatly expand our performance possibilities.
Suggestion: /bandflourish 1-8 Dancename and /flourish 1-8 Dancename

Group Tech Effects
Allow the particle effects from the techniques line to be called with a bandflourish type of command.

System Payment for Dancing in Cantinas, Hotels, and Theaters - Active Sign In
This one covers a lot of needs, the most basic being that everyone wants Dancers to be in the Cantinas. The current reward for hanging out in a cantina waiting for patrons to show up is nil though the Dancer player is doing what they are supposed to be doing - enhancing the cantina setting. The game's goal is to have Dancers in these venues, so the game should reward the Dancers for complying.
Suggestion: Put an Entertainment Manager NPC in all venues away from the performance zone (like the stage in the Theater Quest). Allow Dancers to sign up to be on the Entertainment List. Give them two minutes to get to the "stage area." If the Dancer starts dancing in the designated area in the set amount of time, pay her 200 credits per 10 second dance tick for up to 20 minutes or until the Dancer stops dancing, whichever comes first. Have the dancer leave the performance area and go sign up again if they want to continue drawing a salary after the 20 minutes have passed.

Alternate: Dancer Meta Group
Allow Dancer to combine in a "raid group" so that bandflourishes can be used for more than 8 people. (We really need this one and the Devs have said something like this would be done for us, but I don't know how "easy" it's going to be.)

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Panthu, I hate you!

Why do you always get the simple and smart ideas I never had!
/flourish 8 basic
Smart and simple.

However.
The idea with payment for cantinas should not be implemented on the fly.

• The major problem with this idea is, that one can 24 kcr within twenty minutes by running a macro. If you use a very complex macro or even party tools to run from the manager to the stage area you can do this 24/7, generating 1.738 Mcr per 24 hours.
  And even if using just a simple macro, characters needed attention only every twenty minutes for half a minute or so. Cantinas would be packed with afk dancers and musicians.


• Actual entertainment of the audience would no longer be required.


• An automatic cantina owner who would accept just anything would not ensure quality, but the absence of it.


• It is quite unclear what player building be like then.... do they work the same and generate money?


• Dancing in other places than entertainer places (places a dancer/muscician can register with) would become more difficult. For example, a player city hall is far more useful for stage events than theaters or cantinas are...


• Introducing money in this amount into the system would nescessarily lead to a serious inflation. (As said before, up to 1,728,000 credits per 24 hours)

I thought similiar systems before... but that would require a voting system, where one could elect a politician (not nescessarily dancer) who owns a cantina. Owners can give rights directly to entertainers, or pass the right to assistents...
The money however must somehow come from within the game system. So, in large public cantinas entertainers might get only a very, very small amount of money for a contract, but virtually everyone may entertain there.