A blog I discovered recently is by Ryan Shwayder, ex-Game Designer at ill-fated 38 Studios. His site features a regular ‘MMO Development Lessons‘ series of articles, and the latest one struck a nerve with me.
Time is a player’s most precious resource. Use it wisely. Do not create time-sinks for the sake of taking up their time. Don’t make them waste their time doing things that aren’t fun in order to get to things that are. Don’t arbitrarily create timers that will be likely to spend a player’s time. […] This is a fairly straightforward lesson, but it’s easy to violate if you aren’t careful.
Some time-wasters are fairly obvious. […] Some are a little more subtle. For example, if you make a daily instance run/quest/whatever have a 24 hour no-repeat timer, you’re going to waste a player’s time. Why? If I complete the quest at 8:00PM on day 1, I can’t do it until 8:00PM on day 2. It takes me 10 minutes to do it, so on day 3, I can’t do it until 8:10PM. I might also fail to start the quest instantly, so I will slowly push the time I can do the quest later and later. How do you solve it? Either make the daily timer actually correspond to once a day (e.g. you can do it on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and so on) or adjust the timer back from 24 hours (to something like 22 hours). […]
*cough* Jump Clones *cough*
As a player with not a lot of free time, the absolute last thing I want to be doing is waiting around pointlessly because I’m stuck in high-sec after jump-cloning to inject some skills after yesterday’s playing time. The strict 24-hour jump clone timer is a prime example of bad game design.
It doesn’t even need a lot of work to fix. Just add a skill like
Infomorphic Resilience (4x)
Reduces the jump clone cooldown timer by 2% per level.
I know some industrialists like spreadsheets, but I prefer something a bit more automated. Heck, some people don’t like the fact that manufacturing and research are largely hands-off activities, but frankly I don’t have the time to babysit reaction chains and other time-consuming tasks.
However, I have recently encountered a web site that does pretty-much everything I want from an industrial planning perspective. It’s called DRK Industry Tracker and it’s exceptionally cool.
Some cool features are:
Turning loot logs of a mining operation into mineral reports
Making quotes or projects spanning multiple blueprints and runs, and linking them to specific buy orders you’ve made so it knows the exact cost price and resource availability for your job
Being able to assign jobs to other people
Much more
The site is run by Raath Nambode, who I talked to about the site.
DRK the corporation did implode but the domain and website are safe for a long time to come. I have had thoughts about rebranding it but tbh the domain is paid for and I run it as s free service so am letting it just sit where it is.
I always have done, still do and will continue for years to come maintain the site personally. While I was sad to see my old corp go, I’d put too much work and love into the site to just let it sit there doing nothing. I’m working on a bunch of features atm which I’ll be adding on over the next few weeks and one of my fav things in the world is honest feedback on features and bug reports.
So if you see things that you think could be done better or bugs that get on your nerves, let me know through [evemail].
This is a really good tool for budding industrialists and established corporations alike. Check it out.
So, I was made director of my alt’s corp, and one of the first things that need doing is to increase our numbers. Drop me a line if you’re interested in what we do.
Setenta Corp is one of the oldest corporations in New Eden, being formed just days after the Eve cluster was opened to capsuleers. We have been involved in many of the great wars that have shaped Eve’s history, both in an industrial and combat capacity. In recent years, Setenta has returned to its roots as a research corporation building weapons of war for discriminating customers.
Who are we looking for?
Scientists (immediate needs: 3 x experienced researchers)
Manufacturers
Miners
Requirements
While being self-sufficient is not a requirement, the desire to be is. The corp is here to help you achieve your goals, not to achieve them for you.
The ability to be a team player is essential.
No trial accounts please.
An email address and API key will be required in your application, for forum and voice comms access.
What we offer you
Setenta offers a wide range of players the opportunity to achieve their in-game goals whether it be in research, production or mining. We have the tools that will get you to where you want to be.
Some perks to being in Setenta are:
A relaxed atmosphere
Extensive blueprint library for members
Ore and mineral buy-back program
Access to capital ship construction facilities (to approved applicants)
Alliance mining operations in high-sec and null-sec
Low corporate tax
Access to low-tax customs offices
Skillbook reimbursement program for newbies
Want to know more?
Join channel stc-public and ask a friendly recruiter for more info.
Serpentine's Eve 
