buzzie71

I was actually half-expecting to bring Dr. Sign back into the story, but the opportunity never really arose outside the cameo appearance he made in Endgame. If I were to guess, I'd say he took a break to go...plotting. As for whether he will return, I can't answer that that will depend on whether he stars prominently in future server events. (That reminds me, I need to post the tentative story bible I have...) If your comment about being red is what I think it means, that is admittedly not related to the story at all. It's also something I am reluctant to discuss here, but find me in a PM or something and I can explain.

It actually doesn't date back that far, only to rev 10 :P. I probably had a mix of influences somewhere in my subconscious when I was drafting the first part of the story, which eventually became the logs found at spawn, but at the moment I can't point to a specific one. I imagine Star Trek, of which I am a fan, was one source of inspiration; in retrospect, the homeworld that Unity comes from and the premise of its construction and its mission feels as utopian as life on Earth as portrayed in the show. The Endgame story was largely inspired by Halo; for that one I intentionally wanted to put players (and the sponge) on an ancient installation similar to what happens in the Halo games. Other than that, the seed that I had started with was a sign hidden away in the spy cage in the corner of the End segment of the rev 10 glowstone quest. It suggested that Unity would be a cruiser much larger than the Destiny (the crashed shuttle that was in the same room - the nameplate on the shuttle was admittedly in an obscure place, my fault :S), and that it was "lost". With that, I just sat down one day to type a backstory for Unity, and ideas for how I could explain certain things (how Unity was powered, why Unity was devoid of crewmembers, how players on P came to be on this map for example) became clear as I was typing. (Apologies if you've been watching this post and seeing it change over time; almost as soon as I post I think of something else to add :P)

Well, almost all will be revealed, but please read on first: Hello PvE and all who are interested! As promised, with the conclusion of the Unity storyline, I'm opening up this thread for any and all questions you may have about the story that pervaded this rev. There is plenty of unreleased material and I'm sure a lot of places in the story that weren't made very clear, so ask away, whether it be a question about something you found on Unity or what parts of the story you were missing. In the absence of questions I can start typing about my experience writing the story, but I am eager to answer long-standing questions that I have previously answered with the accurate but unsatisfactory "I can't discuss future storyline". I say almost all will be revealed in the very rare case that there is something that I overlooked and cannot actually reveal, for fear of revealing spoilers or for breaking confidentiality. However, at this point, I have not heard word that another Padmin is planning to pick up the story, and the story itself is largely over, so I should be willing and able to answer pretty much any story-related question you have here. That said, send forth your questions! As the primary writer of the Unity story, I hope you enjoyed following it as much as I have enjoyed putting it together, and I am eager to share much of what went into its development :D.

Endgame was launched last night and...omg it was found in 3 hours :D. Thank you tompreuss and totemo for your assistance in setting it up. Requesting now for this thread to be declassified (ie moved to The Archives) when rev 11 concludes.

Announcement signs have been added, clues have been planted and tompreuss is setting up the gate room. Revising the subreddit post and posting below...

http://i.imgur.com/p7iZ9cY.png http://i.imgur.com/ZAFWLaX.png You placed these cobblestone blocks directly above rails, which would have dealt suffocation damage to anyone who rode them. That, as well as your prior warning for general grief, was what got you banned. I'm glad you read the rules and have agreed to abide by them. You are now unbanned, so play fair and play well :D

I've placed six signs around the playable map (4 in overworld, 1 in Nether, 1 in End). They are all placed on top of a gravity-independent block, and both the sign and that block are protected by a region name I created by mashing the keyboard (to prevent anyone from guessing the region names and finding out their locations that way). The warps to each of the signs are set up as "er<1-6>", so the first clue sign can be reached at /warp er1, second at /warp er2, and so forth. Currently the signs are blank, but I intend to place the six clues to the door from the previous post on each of them. These are the six clues to clues to the door that I propose, which will be placed in the subreddit announcement post when the event goes live: Look on the peak of a tall sand dune. Dive to the floor of a deep trench. Seek on top of the seismically disturbed snowy lands. Hunt among the floor growth of a jungle under an iron highway. Scour the barren landscape of the World Between the Worlds. Check an alcove hidden within the former realm of the Pink Ender Dragon. There are many places on the map that correspond to some of these, and I worry the area to search is too large for the given time frame. I have faith in PvE players, who have time and again surpassed my expectations, but at the same time I don't want this to be overwhelmingly difficult. Opinions? Suggestions? Are my clues reasonable? :P

I've carved out an area with the entrance to the endgame sets and a piston door that will admit players inside. The door does work, so if you are checking the area out, PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THE DOORS for fear of revealing spoilers! Beyond that, I invite anyone to check to make sure the six clues I've written for the door's location are actually concise enough to lead players to the door. These are designed such that every clue on its own is near-meaningless (each of these will be placed on a sign somewhere on the map - overworld mainly, but possibly Nether and End, with clues that lead to those signs given on the subreddit announcement post). Clues to point to the door: It is hidden near a major junction in the highways of iron and wood. You seek it in an underground cavity dug out long ago. It is hidden in the shadow of a mighty vessel of teamwork. A button or lever key is needed to reveal the gate. On the bottom lapis, the key you must place. In the direction you face to enter, the sun rises on the left. If you do check these clues, please place a block (not a button or a lever or anything else that can trigger redstone) on the spot you think the button/lever should be placed, and right-click with a wood sword. If you see a region named "codrex", then you've found the spot. Please remember to remove the block after you are finished, and more importantly, please ensure no players are around before you check that location!

Carrying good armor and weapons is not required to capture the flag. Sometimes all you need is stealth and speed, though this becomes harder as defense around the flag increases.

Perhaps you have been mining for an hour (I watched you mine for less than 20 minutes), but for however long you have been mining, you produced these tunnels. You seem to know where to go for ores; each of the tunnels you dug ended in ores except for the last tunnel you dug, which you stopped digging when your iron pick broke. http://i.imgur.com/5UF1csr.png You broke 222 stone for those 18 diamonds, an unusually low number of stone for that many diamonds. http://i.imgur.com/2h0ZLHL.png You turn while tunneling or dig from an arbitrary point in your tunnel for no apparent reason, coincidentally uncovering ores at the end of your tunneling. http://i.imgur.com/37xXzYV.png http://i.imgur.com/83x3YwY.png http://i.imgur.com/GyTQ0eb.png http://i.imgur.com/WMgE2H8.png While observing you mine, I noticed you also seemed to take particular interest in the walls of your tunnel, frequently looking around as you mined. This led me to suspect that you were looking at something beyond the tunnel walls. I and two other members of staff examined your tunnels after you logged off and agreed: we think you were xraying. In addition, you also have a rather high number of carrots that you did not replant: http://i.imgur.com/TCNUQvJ.png http://i.imgur.com/ZO6Uxtr.png Not replanting in someone else's farm is griefing. I'll leave this appeal open for a few days if you have any questions or can reasonably explain your mining. Otherwise, you are banned for one month. In the meantime, please review the rules and make a new appeal on October 11th stating you have read the rules and agree to abide by them from then on to be unbanned.

The four sets are complete, barring any minor aesthetic changes of the sets themselves. For this to be playable, the last things to do are to pick a spot in the overworld for a portal gate, link that to the sets, link the sets back to that spot in the overworld, write clues to its location and announce. I'm thinking about launching this as the end-of-rev event for P (to exaggerate, it wouldn't make sense for someone to find the sponge core and then watch Unity sit on the ground for another three months) - so maybe a week prior to the rev's end date? There is one thing in particular that I would like to ask about - I'm unsure what to write for the Molon Lord that would sound characteristically like the Molon Lord. At the moment I have: ...which was lifted directly from the sign on the Molon Lord in the original 5K. Does it sound like the Molon Lord? Given where I got this from, almost certainly, though I am worried that it would not strike a chord with current players. Any suggestions for this line? (EDIT: Changed this line to mention something about salvation and potato/carrot heretics. Should be more interesting.) Also, and probably more importantly, what would be a good prize for this quest? I have a few random logs lying around that I could probably give to the winning player or party, perhaps a mention in a future log that depicts the departure of Unity (after the rev ends),...anything else? I feel items at this point would not be very useful :S

That one's amazing ROCKONN :D. I remember planning to write a series on written books in rev 8 PvE - ended up stopping midway because I wrote myself into a wall (didn't know how to satisfyingly and convincingly resolve the plot I started, I think). More recently I've left bits of text on signs around Sanctuary, which I frequented last Survival rev. They're meant to be more of brief windows into something I'm writing about (in this case, one team and two events) rather than long, elaborate novels. I'll share them below: Far wall of the Pleiades observatory: Beacon shrine: In front of the Gate outside the city's west wall: BTW, I do have a story (or at least its skeleton) that revolves around Unity. You've seen some of it already through the logs, but the story is far from over. And after the rev ends, unless another Padmin decides to pick it up, I will be happy to declassify it all (look for it on the forums!).

Get well, JohnAdams. May your recovery proceed quickly and without incident.

My opinion is that it sounds like a good idea, but I don't feel P has a pressing need for a fourth admin, so if we are unable to find a candidate I wouldn't be too concerned.

I managed to spawn normally in that room; maybe the room just didn't load quickly enough? As for the hole, perhaps it could be moved to the corners of the room? I'm guessing the center of the room is going to be more populated as players look around/read the signs than the corners, and it should be less likely to accidentally stumble across the pressure plates and fall into the hole. Or perhaps make the door open by something triggered overhead (like a button over the door?), though that might get hectic quickly. Maybe the door/hole can be replaced by an easy-sign-warp that teleports players just under the center of the floor of the first join spawn area?

Tell me the whole plan! ...please?

Decided to separate the communcations console (/warp telephone) from the sign placing area/victory area (/warp conduit). Also with lack of good ideas about a Guardian AI, I'm thinking of having John Smith be the player's companion instead. Should be more interesting to write, since John Smith doesn't know the workings of the structure and would be mostly as confused/clueless as the player. Also drafted this announcement subreddit post for when the event goes live: Left to do for now: - Add in regions with greeting flags that will display messages to the players as they walk through the sets (see /warp Molon_Vessel for an example of what I mean) - Link the four sets, either with easy signs (certainly can be done) or command blocks (possibly can be done) or with an alternate solution (I had a conversation with totemo and he was interested in looking for a plugin to control teleportation - maybe Multiverse, maybe a custom plugin...) - Set (and warn) the entrance and exit signs (into and out of the four sets) to clear inventory. - Add build regions to the endsphere basement so torches can be removed/placed. - Brainstorm a third character to contact with the communication console - if nothing, then ignore (three contacts are enough if push comes to shove). - Implement contact rotation and communcations in the telephone set. - Add glowstone glyphs to the outside of the conduit set (?). - Add in any extra easy signs for messages/announcements as they are needed. For example, depending on how much is revealed in the precursor set, I might add messages on the walls in the room with the glass Unity to explain things a bit more. - Alter perms on all lwc-locked containers in the sets and regions so they belong to "Guardians" (this will likely be the only mention of them during the quest) - Seek aesthetic opinions and revisions of the sets. - Wonder if there is a way to allow players free movement within the sets without being able to carry the source sponge block backwards into the overworld (as envisioned, there is no way to go backwards and return to the overworld; the only way out is by going forward through the quest). Before the event goes live: - Pick a location for the gate in the overworld; protect and build that region and link that to the precursor set. - Revise subreddit post, add in clues to the gate location, and then post it.

Given the current timetable set out here (http://redd.it/1j2pae) the new P rev can be expected to launch after CTF happens. Beyond that, we really do not have much of a guess on when the next rev will launch, and I apologize on behalf of the Padmins for the apparent lack of info. The next rev's map and spawn are currently being worked on, but beyond that, there really isn't much other news. We will, of course, update with more concrete news as it becomes available, but until then, hang tight...

If we have clear enough requirements, perhaps we could lay those out up front and leave judging to the players through voting - maybe once all the submissions are in, we can go through and approve entries that do fit the requirements and put those up for a vote. I am wary of us (staff) having full control over choosing the winning entry via judges.

Just to provide an update with how/where this is going, since I realize I've been slow and it seems like this has gone cold: It's starting to come together; I'm getting a better idea of how/what the physical structure should be. My intentions for how this scenario will play out as soon as a player (or a team of players) finds the portal location in the overworld is as follows: Soon as the player/team traverses the overworld portal (assuming they follow the clues to get there, etc.) they will be placed in a long-ish corridor with a room containing a small model of Unity, with maybe some status reports/information on the walls of this room (warp: precursor). Along this corridor will be regions with greeting/farewell flags that will trigger messages to the player. This is mainly a scene-setting area; nothing is required of the player/team as of yet. Storyline-wise, this will be the resident AI of the Guardian structures being visited (still thinking of names, see below), or John Smith from Unity; either way, they will brief the player on what's going on (no blocks in the Overworld rare enough to provide power to the REGE and Unity, but there is an auxiliary power core in <name of Guardian superweapon> that has been sitting in the presence of the powerful energy generator contained within for millennia, which has soaked up enough power that it could be used for a one-way trip, ie, Unity can use this to return home. After passing through this area, the player/team arrives at the Guardian superweapon itself (warp: endgame). They need to remove the four redstone torches from the chamber under the grass and place them in niches on the four walls (disabling the superweapon, so to speak); this will retract a piston and reveal a dropper, which then dispenses the auxiliary power core (a renamed sponge). This is then taken to a hopper-locked piston door, where dropping said sponge in the hopper will open the door and lead to the exit portal. Taking this exit portal will bring the player/team to a room (currently unbuilt, but thinking about just a sphere) with a return portal to the superweapon, an exit portal to the overworld (perhaps back to the place where the player/team entered in the first place?), a place to put down victory signs (similar to the 5K/glowstone quest), and a communications console-looking thing. Using the console to contact John Smith about the location of the source block will earn the player/team a novelty prize for completing the time loop (given either on site or later) as well as announcing their deed. Some things I haven't figured out yet, and would like to hear your suggestions on, in addition to anything else that comes to mind that I have missed: Storyline: - What is the name of the Guardian AI? I am envisioning this AI to have been present for millennia (if you know the Halo storyline, think Guilty Spark without the humanizing in Halo 4/rampancy in Halo 3), who has seen the rise and fall of the Guardians, is aware that the Unity crew will be coming to take the auxiliary core, and will assist them in doing so. The AI can, and probably should, speak with a bit of emotion similar to John Smith, and I'm thinking would sound more poetic/cryptic/obtuse (where John Smith would say "kill the Ghast and take the Ghast Tear it drops to Unity", this AI would say something like "relieve the demonic airborne jellyfish of its sorrows and bring them to the Vessel of Unity"). If John Smith is instead briefing the player/team, this point becomes moot. Structure: -Is there a better place to dispense the sponge block? Right now I have it positioned in one of the four corners of the basement near the ceiling, which, for an auxiliary power source, is a rather odd place to hold it. I can't really think of a better spot without disturbing the spherical shape of the structure, though since the bottom is never seen by players going through via the portals, I suppose I can add more space there to support dispensing from the floor/closer to the beacons. -Should the communication console be contained in a separate room, and if so, where in the sequence of rooms/areas should it be placed? Or should the console only have one possible contact (John Smith) and be sitting in a corner? I am wondering if it would be cool to give players a chance to rotate through possible contacts (say, a list containing Retrieval Team Echo, the Molon Lord, Pony, or John Smith on Unity) and contact each of them. Only a communication to John Smith will trigger the announcement, but the others could just send the player (via easy sign msg) some sort of humorous message. The way I'm thinking of implementing this is for the sign for changing the contact to be an easy sign warp to an identical room containing the same console but with different actions on console use, and this is a bit difficult to replicate if the victory signs are in the same room as the console. -Should the redstone torch removal/placement be dropped, and the dropper with the sponge block instead placed on a figurative/metaphorical pedestal? -Still need to build everything after the superweapon area before rechecking that all the mechanics are working. -Still need to find a location in the overworld to hide the portal - been holding off on this until the other areas (all in the End) are ready to prevent premature accidental discovery. Other: -Should there be a physical (in-game) prize for the player/team that reaches and completes the area first, besides the novelty prize which is just a named clock? I've been thinking that perhaps the ultimate prize would be mentioning the player/team in the final log entry that describes the Unity taking off and returning home; would that suffice?

Something I want to add; seems like there are issues surrounding leads right now (can't place them on a protected fence, anyone can smash leads regardless of protection, leads disappear on restart/chunk unload) - could we look into fixing those as well?

POST-EVENT EDIT: Removed spoilers of potential future events. (Sorry, but you know what the answer is when it comes to future storyline :P) EDIT: Moving the list of stuff to do up here so it's more visible: Left to do for now (condensed): - Seek aesthetic opinions and revisions of the sets. Before the event goes live: - Pick a location for the gate in the overworld; protect and build that region and link that to the precursor set. - Obfuscate region names. - Update clue signs with clues to the door. - Redecorate the entrance room. Need to think of something other than two gates and two signs. - Set (and warn) the entrance and exit signs (into and out of the four sets) to clear inventory. - Revise subreddit post, add in clues to the gate location, and then post it. ===== Just wanted to at least announce this to the admins that this is happening - I've staked out a spot in the End for a structure meant to hold the logical conclusion to the Unity storyline: a sponge block (named something to be determined) that will provide Unity with the necessary power to return home. Practical things first: I wanted this as a way to give players a chance to conclude the Unity story - it would be a bit of a let down (in my opinion) if players had spent time piecing together the story of how Unity arrived on this map and then not be presented with a conclusion to the story. Originally I was going to make the way in (maybe a room with a warp sign in the overworld?) closed with a door that opens by way of tossing a named item in a hopper lock, ...[spoilers redacted]... I was thinking instead to place a (fake) portal to this site in the End in the overworld and announce a scavenger hunt for it. Once someone (or even a team) finds the site, I'm hoping to make them look around a bit (not too much) for the said source block, which they can then bring back to spawn. I admit that right now this is a bunch of idea fragments, but that is what I'm aiming for at the moment. The site can be reached with /warp endgame. In terms of the story, I am thinking about making the site a weapon built and used by a long-dead ancient superpower (the so-called Guardians). The way I have ideas fleshed out at the moment, the Guardians were the dominant species in the (Minecraft) universe in ancient times, before Steves, testificates, the Endermen/Enderdragon, etc. Like us, they conquered their home domain of the End and then branched out to master the Overworld and the Nether as well, building a massive empire spanning all three dimensions. Their downfall came from internal strife within the species - many of the Guardians established independent factions which then attempted to assert their dominance over the empire. The superweapons they have built were then used to fight their civil war, and the Guardians, as a species, eventually became nearly extinct due to their use. The scavenger hunt ends at one of these superweapons (hoping to make it look like some sort of a giant laser). The players who make it here will arrive via portal, following the advice and clues of someone from the future who has found the source block required for Unity (this will be the premise of the subreddit announcement post). Not sure about this part - was thinking about writing in a prophecy for the Guardians such that they knew that someone from Unity in the far future will come, and would thus leave more instructions on how to deactivate their weapon/obtain the source block under the reasoning that they (PvE) have overcome their differences and avoid internal struggle, while the Guardians could not (which meant that Unity would be a worthy successor to the Guardians and thus worthy to retrieve the source block). If this doesn't work out, I could probably just as easily have John Smith (Unity AI) accompany the players somehow and give instructions that way. Once it is found, the players will have an opportunity to communicate with the map population in the past (and thus a chance to close the loop, since they came because they were tipped off by themselves from the future); doing so will reward them with a novelty item prize (say, a named clock). Questions, concerns, suggestions, leave them all below! Just for the record, I would like to propose that this be declassified after the end of the rev, as well as any spawn (ie, Unity)-related topics from the archived forums, if possible.

Padmin here. I know Denevien and tompreuss have both been working separately on creating the basis of the new map (map and spawn, respectively), and I'm hashing ideas out for an end-of-rev event for the current map and (starting to build/thinking about how to build) arena prototypes for the new map as well. We don't have a checklist floating around among us at the moment (I don't think?), though certainly we could probably draw one up - maybe I'll give it a shot later today. We currently still have no plans to reset P anytime soon. which admittedly translated to an apparent lack of transparency - it's a bit hard for us to offer information about something that we have none about :P. That said, if the other Padmins are okay with a publicly viewable spreadsheet similar to the ones used for the previous updates during interim Chaos, maybe that will allay some fears that we are keeping secrets? The downside I immediately see is that with a progress spreadsheet for the new map, players would think a reset were imminent and it would kill the life still present in the rev.

Just a reminder that even though you can now see pet owners, this still does not give you the right to kill pets of inactive players. We, the staff, consider any unwanted pet killing to be grief, regardless of how active the pet's owner has been at the time. On another note, if you find pets purring or barking obnoxiously in public places, I highly encourage you to use /petowner to contact the pet's owner and ask the player to move them.

From a completely ideological perspective I would be against the voting system; the way I see it, every opinion is worth considering and should not be made less worthy of such because it has a highly negative score. Perhaps the post really is lousy and deserving of it, but I've noticed perfectly good posts on Reddit that attain negative points because of the Reddit user who posts them, and that is something I do not wish to see happen here. Admittedly that was my concern from even before these forums went live, but as time passed I've actually not minded them as much as I worried I would.