[crossfire] Project: New Intro

[Mark Wedel]

  Going back to original topic now

Alex Schultz wrote:
>I propose that we focus on what content the player sees first
> in the game because after all, it not only is the first part to leave an
> impression, but also how effective it is at teaching the player impacts
> all of their other experiences while new to the game. I believe we
> should redesign the intro of crossfire, and expand it beyond the newbie
> house and such we have now, I believe into it's own island or walled
> town. Scorn was in some ways intended to be a newbie town, but really
> many areas of it require level 10 or higher to be effective and it has
> become a transportation nexus. Scorn certainly needs reorganization, but
> instead of turning it into a newbie town I believe it would be more
> effective to make a brand new one of the first two or three levels in
> which the player would be taught alot about how the world works and how
> to play.

  First question on this:  It has been suggested that the character creation get 
completely redone, with spiffy interface, etc, instead of the the current 'in 
game' method.

  Does this proposal address this at all, or is this more based on what the 
player does once the character is created, and leaves the creation aspect itself 
still on a TBD list?

> 
> On the maps mailing list one new newbie house was created though didn't
> really finish being polished: This could be used as part of it but much
> more would certainly be needed. We should create a checklist of things
> to do for this new introduction to CF and should have a clear listing of
> who is working on what. Teamwork and organization would be key in
> achieving this. I propose the following as a checklist to start with
> though it would be expanded as things go along:
> 
> -Decide on what newbies need to learn before getting into the game
> -Decide how to sort this into the different maps, and add each of these
> maps to the checklist
> -Decide how to lay the maps out in a small isolated (island or walled) town
> -Integrate with the CF world.

  That all looks good to me.  A small town on an island works out really good. 
A few questions remain:

Is this just an island for tutorial purposes (this is how you cast a spell, this 
is how you search for a trap, etc), or is this more designed as a low level area?

  In both cases, does one see a 'ship to mainland' type thing which is a one way 
ticket off the island to scorn (or perhaps other towns?  Maybe replace the nexus 
with this town, and experienced players can hop right over to the ship to navar 
city if they really want to).