Author Topic: Holiday Event Ideas?  (Read 6988 times)

Codewalker

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Holiday Event Ideas?
« on: November 28, 2016, 09:59:02 PM »
Hey COH community!

Throwing together a barely tested last-minute patch to add a holiday event is becoming something of a Paragon Chat tradition. I'd like to do something fun for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus season but am coming up short on ideas, so I'd appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions. Obviously some ideas may end up being more feasible to implement in the next week or two than others.

The snowfall will of course operate the same as it did last year; with small flurries starting to appear in December and increasing in frequency and duration as we get closer to New Year's.

To get the ball rolling, one possible low-hanging fruit is clickable presents. The spawn points for them are embedded in the zone maps, so it wouldn't be too difficult to make some of them randomly appear. Somewhat more work to synchronize them over XMPP so other players see them disappear when you click, but doable I think.

The sticky point is what happens after you click on the present. We don't have inventory so influence and candy canes when you've been nice is out. We don't have combat, so winter horde attacking you when you've been naughty is out too. We need to think outside the box, if you'll pardon the pun.

So, thoughts, comments, suggestions? Don't feel limited to just the presents if something else comes to mind.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2016, 10:22:05 PM by Codewalker »

Tahquitz

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2016, 01:27:43 AM »
Click on a present...

-- to change your costume to something Christmas themed or a City of Heroes Character?  Or extreme scale changes? (This year, Paragon Chat wants you to go Elf Yourself!)*

-- Jingle Jet.  Click on a present to get one.*

-- Click on a present for a temporary title?*

-- Click on a present for zone wide parts of christmas lyrics with $player name in it?  (See if others can click on presents in the right sequence to complete a lyric?)

* Since there's no 'server' to speak of to control duration, perhaps the temporary part could be it wears off immediately if you log, zone out or if you try to head to a Icon tailor and edit.

(Also, full disclosure: while I'm a Titan Network forum moderator, I have no idea what the development looks like in Paragon Chat.  I don't even beta test the client.  I have no more idea of what can and can't be done than you: my suggestions and ideas are on the same level as the general public...)
« Last Edit: November 30, 2016, 02:40:00 AM by Tahquitz »
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Kassandros

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2016, 03:13:05 AM »
I like the costume idea. Could the client temporarily (until you change it again) modify your costume to add one piece of seasonal apparel so it looks as if it was inside the box? This would be visible to you and to others and is the closest thing to a real object in the game. You could even have a set of various costume pieces considered festive so you could try to collect them all - of course, if you wanted to cheat, you could add them in manually, but who cares? I just don't know if there would be an issue with force modifying a costume or ways it could work without ruining the existing costume. I don't know enough about the complicated costume part modifications to know if parts can be patched on over top or what not. I've heard of fx being added though so maybe a special effect?

Title is also good I think and maybe there could be various collectable titles that your client "unlocks" as you get them.

saipaman

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2016, 08:59:21 PM »
How about if you open a present and are then randomly teleported?  "Nice" sends you to a blue zone and "naughty" sends you to a red zone?

Garble

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2016, 03:16:00 PM »
I still associate presents with "getting things"

Since we don't have loot any more, how about clicking the present spawns a random npc?
Or maybe just a piece of debris from the Grav Control Propel power?

"Hey I got a Jack Frost!" or "I got a forklift!"

Codewalker

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2016, 03:40:34 PM »
Haha, "finding" random objects inside gift boxes sounds like it could be fun.

Tahquitz

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2016, 02:39:26 AM »
I think Garble nailed it. :D

Because the Grav Control power doesn't sync what you see with others, then players can argue over what the present actually revealed... "It's a forklift!"  "No it's a crate!"  "You're all crazy, it's a lamppost!"
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Nyghtshade

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 04:24:24 PM »
Is it possible for the holidays to make the Jingle Jet available?  Or skin a rocket-pack to look like the Jingle Jet?  And snowflakes, and the jingle jet music..... Ah, the memories!! 

But seriously, thank you, Codewalker, for all your devotion to P.C. and the players!  Bless you, and Happy Holidays!

Tahquitz

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2016, 04:54:55 AM »
It might add too much complexity, but Paragon Avenger had a good thought:

And how about giant christmas presents, either non-clickable or when you click them they reponse kind of like the doors do.

"This package isn't for you."
"Hey, not until Christmas."
"Snowman local 315 on strike"
"Did you see your name on this, go buzz off."
"You peek inside, it's socks and underwear.  You re-wrap the present."
"This package brought to you by NCSoft.  Have a whole lot of nothing."  (ok, maybe not this one.)

Mix those in with the 'working gifts' as a parody of the Paragon Chat door setup?

Some more ideas:

"Thin Mints.  Just like the last five presents."
"Cordial Cherries.  Just like the last five presents."
"It's Fruitcake.  People still make these on purpose?"
"You found a DVD... of your best friend's vacation photos from last year set to 1980's music.  Fun, I guess?" (Actually happened to me.)
"Someone gave you a Self-Help Book.  Is someone trying to tell you something? Guess not, it's supposedly from 'Santa'."
"Just what you always wanted: A box of Nasal Tissues." 
"The philosopher in you considers for a moment: Are you opening the present, or is the present really opening you?"
"The unnecessarily large present has nothing but packaging peanuts from top to bottom.  Coal would be more practical..."
"Nah, you can't have this one.  You'll shoot your eye out, kid." (A Christmas Story)
"After the paper is removed, it's a cardboard box with the word 'TRANSMOGRIFIER' on it and all sorts of buttons and panels drawn in marker." (Calvin and Hobbes)
"Good news?  It's a puppy!  Bad news? He's high strung and tearing up all of your other gifts out of boredom."
"Good news?  It's a kitten!  Bad news? She keeps trying to scale the Christmas Tree and flinging ornaments off wherever possible."
"You opened a present with one slipper in it.  Keep looking!  The other one has to be out here somewhere..." (Actually happened to me.)
"A bottle of Dish Soap.  But it's from a 5-year-old kid who is grinning from ear to ear.  How can you say no to that?"
"It's a gift card!  But it's for a restaurant chain that's no longer in business."
"You found a dish towel.  Embroidered on the towel is a calendar for November 1982.  Easiest way to put it?  You're confused."
"Remember those Gift Enhancements?  It's one of those, except when you activate it nothing happens and another one appears, then when you activate that one nothing happens again and you get another one, and so on and so on..."
"It's a secret encoder ring.  The message from the Radio translates as follows: B E   S U R E   T O   D R I N K   Y O U R   E N R I C H E.  What?" (A Christmas Story)
"It's a flash light and a tire gauge... and you don't own a car."
"It's a Paragon Transit Authority Bus Pass good for six months!  Come to think of it, when have you ever seen a bus in Paragon City?"
"It's one of those nifty dimension boxes that lead you to a parallel universe... that looks an awful lot like this one.  In fact, when you enter it there's no bottom.  You realize too late that you just emerged from an empty box in the current universe." (Futurama gag that might be too long for a dialog box.)
« Last Edit: December 06, 2016, 05:59:43 AM by Tahquitz »
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Floride

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2016, 07:58:56 AM »
Oh wait... were you looking for GOOD ideas? My Bad XD



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aeb

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2018, 01:33:54 AM »
Um... I understand this topic is old, and I understand you have those costume pieces set up to work with a vendor, but... since that is all taking a while...

What if we started getting Candy Corn and/or Candy Apples? If the Candy Keeper trades Candy Canes for stuff, all he needs to expand is a Candy Corn to Candy Canes to Candy Apples exchange rate, and business has started. Then you could add permanent costumes (since at least two of the costumes were briefly available for purchase as permanents), more badges and such to his range of offerings at leisure. :)

Paragon Avenger

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Re: Holiday Event Ideas?
« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2018, 02:24:47 AM »
ok, probably too late, I think that that is my M.O., but how about including inspirations in the treats.
Now that we can die, wakies and greens could actually be used.
Reds, Blues, Orange, yellows and purples would be just for show.