Dancer Archive

Since Esharra asked me to post my ideas about this during the Gathering of Muses, here ya go. Any feedback is appreciated. This is very ambitious and assumes the Devs have nothing at all else to do except thoroughly redo one area of the Entertainer's world. And why wouldn't they? We deserve it!

Player Theaters:

Main Purpose - "Come see what I can do, take a break from the grind, and have a good time."

Other Purposes- Get people to socialize, increase depth of performing arts and the visual arts in SWG, entertain, provide a fun atmosphere.

First of all, I model the ideas for player theaters and NPC city theaters in the tradition of real-life theaters - both live performance theaters, as well as movie houses. I have a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Design and Production, with a focus on lighting design, just to give you a sense of my RL background. I'm certainly not "Mr. Theatre" however I've always wanted more when it comes to player theaters in this game.

The Theater - Structural and Operational Details.

All theaters remain as they are in the game world. The following additions will be made to them:

Theater operations will include customizable scenery for a play or other performance, with a variety of backgrounds and display options. As players will likely not have administrative rights on NPC structures, for NPC venues this scenery may need to be pre-configured to a degree, but should feature not only different backgrounds but also levels that one could walk up onto and around on, and perform from. Things to sit on, perform around, and RP with would be helpful - fountains, chairs, a wrecked ship scene, hovering platforms, a forest scene, a nighttime scene (with dimmed theater lights!), smoking speeders, droid factory, Mustafar scene,Tatooine scene, and so on (please respond with more scenery ideas!). There should be a good variety of scenery, but it should be generic enough to use for a number of different scenarios.

Theater lighting will be available to all Entertainers. These lights will function similar to how musicalinstruments are dropped in the game world, however they will have the option to adjust the angle of the light, and the position of the light. These lighting "looks" will be saved using the standard theater stage dimensions and heights common to all theaters - the only difference being NPC or player theater. Lights can be programmed to change colors when asked, move to a different position, and can be dimmed or brightened as desired. Lighting is a critical part of any performance, can really wow a crowd, and is one sorely missing aspect to the Entertainer experience in SWG. The effects we have are okay, but not nearly as dramatic as dynamic and customizable lighting would be.

Most importantly, these scenery settings and lighting settings MUST have a save function, so that they can be applied at any theater an Entertainer performs at. The Entertainer can practice their setup at an open theater, and apply them before the performance and tweak them if desired.

Event Scheduling.

A theater time slot is 2 hours long.

Entertainers may schedule a performance or movie during an open slot via the Stage Manager NPC. This information is presented to travellers via the Starship Terminals, under a prominently placed "Local Entertainment" button or window. This information should also be prominently placed on Bazaar Terminals. One may see the planet's scheduled events for up to one month, at various player and NPC theaters. Only owners may plan events at player theaters. NPC theaters can be used at a first come, first served basis - only to Entertainers, and only if these times are staggered for different theaters across the planet(s). There should not be a made rush at one given time of the month to snap up a timeslot for all the theaters. Everyone should get a chance to schedule an event at a convenient time, no "theater campers" to just take up slots and do nothing.

Each month, the most prominent Entertainer on the server hosting a theater event will have their event promoted by the planet's NPC cantina bartenders. "Hey buddy, did you hear EntertainerName is putting on another great show? Be there on Event_Date at Event_Time at the Bestine Theater!" This should not be spammed incessantly. I repeat, this should not be spammed incessantly. At most, once every hour. At most. Cantinas are busy enough chat-wise as it is.

Of course, there should also be an event cancellation function. Things happen. Rescheduling should not be an unnecessary burden.

Upon scheduling an event, the player who schedules it is given a code via holomail. Write it down! If you didn't, get to the Theater Manager and request the code again. This is inputted into the theater 1 hour before performance time (can be used for practice or scenery/lighting adjustment). You are then locked into the theater, and no one else can change the settings until your event is over (2 hour time slot).

Performances and Rewards.

Dancer: Upon completion of a Dance performance,a Dancer gets a better chance at learning a new dance or dance move. Or dance prop. Or, a schematic for some new clothing, or jewelry, or any other snazzy Dance-related things players come up with (help me out on this!).

All players in attendance are granted a temporary ability to dance a pre-selected dance chosen by the Dancer hosting the performance.

Musician: Upon completion of a Musicial performance, a Musician gets a better chance at learning a new song, gaining a new instrument, or whatever other players come up with (help me out on this!).

All players in attendance are granted a temporary ability to play a song on an instrument chosen by the Musician hosting the performance.

Movie House function: Player-created videos can be played on a screen that appears when the Entertainer chooses a "Movie" option when scheduling the event. I have seen countless awesome movies produced by players of this game. Move viewing them out of the home PC and into the game. Resolution/dimensions/file uploading to be determined by the Devs. Obviously may be very tricky to implement and could have pitfalls. But this is all about ideas, not how feasible they are necessarily.

Should player-created movies still be too risky to allow, how about the Devs make up some movies and let the players show them? The movie available to show could be based on the Entertainer's fame!

What about some showings of actual Star Wars movies in-game? Or a whole new series of things from Mr. Lucas? The possibilities are there, but need to be implemented.

All players in attendance of a movie are able to watch the movie in-game on their datapads, for a certain amount of time. Permanent in-game copies available only through Entertainers and are No Trade.

Player-created Plays: Ah, now the fun really begins. Let's say someone wanted to put on...oh, I don't know, a Wookiee Life Day play. They have a Tailor make up the costumes, they put up some scenery, everything is great - then the actor forgets their lines! Or, they go AFK unexpectedly! How frustrating. Not any longer, with the Director role in SWG! The Director gets to position actors however they like, very similar to a droid or pet's patrol points. This requires authorization from the player involved, of course. Directors can also make the actors speak any lines from pre-written scripts. Scripts are used to coordinate scenery, actor movements (or "blocking"), lighting effect changes, and actor's lines in a seamless fashion. The Director calls the shots. Players, of course, can disable the "being directed" function to take over their avatars again at any time. If using players for this function is too difficult, let NPC's be created to handle the task - all features, clothing, and species should be customizable.

Why go to theaters?

For the non-Entertainer, this is a valid question. The answer is simple. Fun. This game needs more fun things to do and to see, and these things should be the domain of Entertainers. Theaters are to be the showcase of the Entertainer's art. They are also to just have a good time. Hosting a party for folks in-game? Do it in a theater and decorate it up, put up lights, let them all join in with dancing and playing music, or see the newest video you've made! Talk to a friendly Entertainer and have them schedule something!

Theaters should be the solution to the "I'm bored" problem that inevitably pops up on occasion. They should let people enjoy something in-game when they're not sure what to do next, want a break, or just want something fun to do.

Conclusion:

This is not a final draft. All of this is open for feedback. Please provide it, as it would be invaluable for any Dev who wanders by this thread. I hope you folks like my ideas, but if you don't, please post your own or post suggestions on how to improve mine.

Message Edited by Warryyr on 11-07-2005 04:41 PM

I am new to the game but I love this idea.

I know you mentioned tailors making "costumes" but what about masks? Having tailors make masks and/or wigs to go with costuming (or having masks as a reward for having a play based on attendence? dunno about that).

I love the lighting idea - give someone the chance to have a band or dance routine (or both) with changing lights and light shows would be neat.

I would also like to toss out an idea: food and drink that shows an emote of eatting or drinking. I know they did this in other games - it's nice going to an event and being able to have a toast and everyone drinking or eating. Perhaps it could be special food/drink that the chefs make that don't have any stats other than the emotes.

Perhaps rewards for holding events could be badges - the more badges you have the more comstumes/lighting/scenery choices you have?

I like the choice of new props or instruments as reward too. Perhaps a new title?

I don't know just tossing stuff out there.

Great work Warryyr.

However, you are missing the all important:

Lapdance.

My Kauri friends have spoiled me...mmm Gummi Bears...

Antigone made me do it, I swear!!!

mmmmhmmmm....those legs

Okay. . I know I should be working but. . at this point. .why bother

Here's another thought that I had - regarding scenery. I can't remember what game it was - but you could take a screenshot and use it for a picture. So. . in essence we could have a grand gathering of cool screenshots to be used as backdrops (the developers store them) that way we could take pictures of the falls and the palace and the sunrise and the sunset and the desert, so on and so forth and have a large collection.

You could sort the collection by planet, type of scene (indoor/outdoor) or lighting (morning, evening, day or night). I realize from my travels some places NEVER get really light but this way you have a lot of variety.

And make it a community effort - have the entertainers submit screenshots for review and approval.

(I keep throwing my two credits in like this I'm gonna be broke)

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Warryyr wrote:

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Goldy_Lhim wrote:

Zina

And I like it you flee ridden coff33b33r drinking closet cheese lover

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/wookieehug

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After those hawt lapdance threesomes Goldy gives out...i'd be giving more than a wooke hug...

/bankaccount

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ZinaTheMaker wrote:

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Warryyr wrote:

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Goldy_Lhim wrote:

Zina

And I like it you flee ridden coff33b33r drinking closet cheese lover

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/wookieehug

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After those hawt lapdance threesomes Goldy gives out...i'd be giving more than a wooke hug...

/bankaccount

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Never underestimate the power of the Wookiee hug.

The ability to flash a massive bankroll is insignificant next to the power of the Wookiee hug.