Behind The Clock: Divine Release Events
In this new blog series, I’d like to talk about how some features, events, or other admin work comes to pass and what sort of time is involved in making it happen. The latter is intended as the focus of the series as that particular facet of admin work is often nebulous and hard to explain without getting into details about how and why we do things a certain way.
When it comes to divine release events, they span a whole gamut of options. How fancy it gets – in terms of length, complexity, impact, etc. – largely depends on the divine in question as that event is their seminal work as an Ephemeral. That means that most often it is solo work – they plan, build, and execute the event. Even then, they still first run the event or brainstorm it with me (Uilani), then one or multiple senior admin will be involved in reviewing and approving the building work (items, denizens, rooms, progs – as necessary), and an Ephemeral Manager (or me) will generally check in with them along the way and help with the actual release as backup and emergency approver of things. If the event touches on any organisational lore or involves any orgs, then active patrons will also be consulted or involved to help handle that side of the event. That is already a fair amount of people, but there are often still others who help brainstorm, advise, or sometimes even build the various bits and pieces.
Now, why do newly minted ‘full admin’ still need approvers? Because graduating from Ephemeralhood is no guarantee of having impeccable prog or building skills, so while they can edit a lot of things live already as ArchEphemerals, they still need their progs or entirely new items/denizens/rooms approved. Back when completing a whole area was a requirement to graduate to a divine role, building skills of graduates were stronger simply because they did make it through that trial of fire. But we also had a much lower graduation rate, and the people who made it to the other end often wished never to build again because it was hell to be pushed into such an immense project without building the skills more organically. Eventually, we changed the requirement because being an amazing progger (and prog was generally the issue) does not automatically make someone an amazing admin. While it is important, and having a good number of those well-versed in prog on the team is very helpful, it is not everything. We’d rather have the amazing people on our team, who are active, creative, and involved, be out there interacting with you than push them through the wringer just to have more prog experts.
So that is one side of it, the other is that even if someone does understand building concepts well, they still need time to grasp the rules once they graduate. As Ephemerals, their focus is singularly on their projects most of the time and those projects most often exist in the vacuum. Rules surrounding bug fixing, edits to live progs, and working on things for their organisations or orders, are still new to them. Once someone can self-approve their work, it generally sees no review, so it needs to follow the rules and conventions or it becomes a problem later.
And the very last side of it all, even if they could self-approve, they need someone senior there for the event in case of an emergency or other needs. Even if you test something very thoroughly, which too is a skill, it may well break mid-event. Them’s the rules of the universe. Even if what breaks is something obvious, they are still usually roleplaying as several denizens at once and steering the plot. Tearing your eyes away from that is difficult, especially if you also need to debug midway through. So in those scenarios, either the event runner or the backup will handle things game-side while the other fixes the error. And we’re not even accounting for the panic that usually sets in when a bug strikes. The first set of events one runs are always tremendously stressful even for the most laidback admin. Having a backup means that even when everything explodes, there’s someone who knows just what to do about it. Having backup also means that should something new come up mid-event that you would like to do, your backup can prepare that while you continue the event. For example, a new solution to an ongoing problem as suggested by players.
So with that whole preamble, we continue with what goes into a divine release event. Whether it is a brand new role or the return of an established role is usually taken into account as well when planning the event. A brand new role will often have a larger event because the event is, in many ways, an excellent way to establish the role. A returning role might also want a larger event if the role has been gone a while or there is a need to establish a change in direction. Other times, a perfect moment for a god release will present itself in an ongoing event and it would be folly not to capitalise on it – as was the case in the recent Kalikai’s release where she came out of nowhere smashing a steel chair over a Soulless.
For the former, take for instance the Malmydia release event. It was important to Malmydia, being a new and much-hyped role, to release with an intriguing event that would help lay the groundwork for the sort of depth of roleplay the admin was striving for. We also did not want Malmydia to release in either one of two ways that are often used in divine releases: arriving in need of help, or arriving to save the day. So we went through quite a few iterations of what this event could be, ultimately arriving at the desire to make it a deeply Magnagoran event. It was one of those events that had something happening every day of the week in the lead-up to the release, with a mystery that needed to be solved to trace back to the source of the disruption in the city. Unlike most releases, Malmydia was already ‘back’, out there on the fringes of aetherspace in her lab doing… something – she just had no intention of being involved with the Prime Plane and presumed there was nothing for her there. Magnagorans tracking her down, and Drocilla meeting her and proving she is real (necessary due to unresolved Nohaji-related shenanigans), is what convinced Malmydia to ‘return’ and thus become involved with Lusternia once more.
For the latter, a release event that desired to highlight a change in direction and also reintroduce the role, the Valtreth release is an excellent example. Valtreth had been gone forever and some, with the original role not being around all that long to begin with. There were a couple of issues we wanted to tackle for the new Valtreth, chiefly the duality of his powers and his memory. The injury sustained in the fight against Marutok’s Cult, and Nohaji in the Void, helped handle both issues. For the former, Valtreth being both an amazing Healer and amazing Keeper of Song, while also being a First Circle divine in the past, risked him being a bit of a Gary Sue. The event itself, and preceding events in the Void, made some of his powers unstable and allowed our new Valtreth to find his own take on the role while having suitable excuses for not remembering much from his Lyreth and Eventru days, which are just not documented well enough for Valtreth to have any hope of pretending to recall should their past followers or others inquire.
Now that we know what goes into figuring out the right event and the breadth of people involved, let’s look at a specific example: Shikari’s release event, which just concluded. Shikari’s been gone a long time now and because of that, but also to celebrate this accomplishment with a bang for our Shikari, we all wanted it to be a bigger event. We also wanted to have a bigger event, period, because it’s been a while since we’ve had one, especially not one that was global and with a lengthy lead-up. So in this particular blog, we will be looking at the bigger type of a divine release event.
We started brainstorming the Shikari release in late November but it took us a while to arrive at the right concept, and Solstice things also took precedence. Not long into the planning, we figured out we wanted Rimsin to be involved – the fourth Soulless prisoner to break free from the Pandimensional Prison, but so far escaping notice, and memory, of even his co-conspirators. We felt it would be natural because Glomdoring was the only organisation Rimsin specifically attacked when hunting Mahalla (which was in turn Manteekan’s release event!) and they were still at large. But more importantly, Rimsin is an apex predator and so is Shikari. The two were made for each other so that helped reinforce and reintroduce Shikari’s roleplay as well. Once we knew that’s where we were going, we had to figure out how it all would come to pass. In what I can only deem my folly (you’ll understand why soon), I suggested the Tar Pits be the focus of the event because it would allow us to have a goal for Rimsin. Back when the Soulless Fantastic Four (Panaxra, Godith, Marutok, Rimsin) were carrying out their plot, they effectively ‘grazed’ powerful entities and then feasted on them (the cloier, the Great Worms, the Eater, etc.). Left to their own devices, Rimsin could continue in that vein, this time hunting the Slaghora’ruin who, threatened, rallied and desperately gathered power for the fight. The event was originally to happen in the week right before the holidays but due to life things and everything else we needed/wanted to get ready for you, we pushed it back to January.
All this brainstorming alone can be split into stages where it was just Shikari coming up with ideas, then Shikari and Manteekan brainstorming together, then me and Shikari brainstorming, and finally all three of us tackling it together. It’s very hard to estimate the time all this chatter took but I’d say the initial brainstorming stage would be 12 hours total. To be clear, this is not 12 hours for each of us, this is 12 hours total for all of us combined. If it were just one person brainstorming all of this from start to finish, it could have been just 3 hours, for example.
Then, to be able to hammer out the details, we needed to review what we have done with Rimsin before, past Shikari events (which luckily were all already neatly organised on Shikari’s role planning page), and do a deep study of the Tar Pits as well. The latter… well. Therein lies my folly. We planned to use the Tar Pits before as part of Marutok’s plot, but as his cult did not gain enough traction (and we wanted the cult to be organic, not forced), that event never materialised. So the Tar Pits were the first thing to pop into my head when we circled back to our escaped convicts because they still had something the Soulless would desire. What I did not realise is how much of an issue figuring out the Tar Pits would be for all of us.
This particular problem requires its own sidebar, so strap in. Tar Pits was the Ephemeral project of an amazing admin, but as with most Ephemeral areas, it has issues. I could probably list the Ephemeral-built areas that are not a mess prog-wise on the fingers of one hand. Nobody does their best work the first time around, including me (Mornhai Sanctuary). This has improved in the past 10 years or so when we made the Ephemeral Department, which supervises training for Ephemerals, more of an official, structured, and well-documented entity. Ephemerals are now advised on how to structure their projects before they start progging, the people approving their work are more involved in reviewing the progs, and finally, the walkthroughs at the end of the project are done both game-side (so by doing the quest) and prog-side (by reviewing the progs in detail), and often by at least two people (an Ephemeral Manager and myself, separately). Much more work, but the end result is that fixing any issues in those additions is not a nightmare. Ensuring that the wiki page on the area is up to date and reflects what is in the game is key too. None of this was done in the past – if it worked, it worked, cue release.
So back to the Tar Pits. The wiki page does not fully reflect how the quest works, and the progs themselves are all over the place. The quest to contain the Slaghora’ruin references sealing it, but on the prog side, sealing is what happens in the counter quest when you seal a normal pit by feeding it. Sealing is actually collapsing. Does Slag actually invade Faethorn? Who knows, it should but nobody has done it in so long that we were no longer sure and we could not find where it is triggered. Three people looked at it, people who know what they are doing, and all our minds were boggled. I could go on, in short, there were issues. We even briefly considered closing the Tar Pits after the event to bring them up to date but decided against it as closed-down areas tend to get pushed down the priority list forever (looking at you Plaxios). All that said, I want to emphasise there is zero fault with the designer. We all did the best we could with the skills and knowledge we had at the time of making our Ephemeral areas. The issue was with the lack of support and supervision of those projects. That admin went on to make things that blew away both admin and players, and continue to be a source of inspiration!
Eventually, we documented things as best we could in December but by the time January came and we were to resume work, actually building what we needed, we needed to reread all of it anew. Even with our notes, we needed to ensure we had a full grasp of the area in order to make the surgical adjustments necessary. All told, between all this research, we probably spent 4 hours each at least. Add to that wiki work that Shikari did which is about 2250 words right now but will probably be at least 5000 words before everything’s documented fully. We skipped some sections that need to be there for posterity earlier in the process, so they need adding, and also the aftermath needs to be there – the event post, the script for the showdown (which is in a Google doc right now), and the consequences. Estimating at least 4 hours of work from Shikari there, so 28 hours total. Probably 31 once we add follow-up work on the wiki page.
Now we get to building – any items, denizens, rooms, progs, and other things needed to pull this off. We estimated we’d need 3 stages for the event:
- Something is afoot in the Tar Pits but nobody knows why.
- Slaghora’ruin started invading on its own, targetting Faethorn.
- Master pit blocked, invasions quicker, target Seren/Glom too.
We needed the quest to reset differently during stages 2 and 3 – more quickly and also for the invasion to happen automatically. Most often areas have just one master prog that manages the reset but in this case, it was 4 progs to edit. We also had to select rooms for the Ethseren and Ethglom pits, describe those new pits to match the area, and then make some extra tendrils and adjust their prog to spawn there. We ended up making some extra tendrils to invade the closest highways mid-way through the event to help pinpoint where the problem is for those outside of the most involved organisations. Then we needed to make all sorts of things in the Tar Pits behave differently based on each stage. All denizens needed to make different comments when greeted or prompted about the state of the wastes, the great pit and Cyarun needed adjusted reactions and descriptions too, and the area needed new ambients. We also needed to fiddle a bit with a separate, healing quest available on the western side of the pits. Luckily as it’s much newer and I’ve done the walkthrough on it personally, it was a breeze to edit. The Tar Pit edits part was done by Shikari and me, and I’d say it would add 5 hours at least, making all of this 36 hours total so far.
Before we get to the event itself, it’s worth looking at what else needed to be done. The custodian messages – the timeline, what they would reveal and when, encoding, prog for notes. The latter we could reuse so that made it easier. The prophecies – which were a joint effort between the three of us, and which tend to be challenging for newer admin to write. How to say something worthwhile without betraying the entire plot immediately? We had to eyeball our options in the Fellowship and the Academy ahead of time in case they got dragged into the event (which they did). We also needed to work out and edit the ‘healing a new pit’ mechanic previously used during the release of the healing pocket in the Tar Pits, and figure out a way for Glomdoring to take part if they wished to so as not to leave them entirely out of it. Helping Slaghora’ruin was also on the table and had extra rewards progged ahead of time, but as the communes held the plot very close to their chest (as made sense to) and few who would help the ‘evil side’ followed the story breadcrumbs made available, that turned out not to have been needed. Further, we needed details on Rimsin – we knew how they operate, but we didn’t have a title, a description, exact vibes, etc. They also needed to be made into an actual shell so they could show up on the who list and in the room, and later have an honours line available. Next, the script for the finale had to be written, including the fight between Shikari and Rimsin. Also because the druid/mage beast remodel was ready, and we started doing these events before this event started, we figured we may get two birds with one stone if we weave the crow and stag transformations into the Shikari release. So add Maylea into the mix of people consulted about things, and any prep these bits involved. Add about 10 hours, and we’re at 46 hours total.
Now we get to the event itself which started on a Monday and culminated on a Sunday, so the whole thing lasted 7 days with something happening every day. As both Shikari and Manteekan were not able to be there during weekdays (until a while after the weave), I was running the majority of things during those days, but Shikari was always along, and Manteekan did the majority of bits in Glomdoring. Even with all prep done ahead of time, we need to estimate about an hour (or more) of prep time before the event every day to review what already happened, what the goals for today, if any players made any moves we need to react to, refresh ourselves on any denizens we need to possess that day, etc. Then the event, which often runs longer than estimated, and then the wrap-up of the day. The daily wrap-up on a global event can take anywhere from half an hour to 3 hours because generally some or all of the below happens:
- We take detailed notes on what exactly happened so event post-writing is easier and so all admin know what’s happening. Especially helpful in case they’re asked about it IC, we also discuss what makes sense for who to know ahead of time.
- Write gossip for the day so players can catch up even if they miss an event day.
- Discuss what else needs doing and build anything that is needed that day/tomorrow as a result of roleplay happening that day (for example, the new Fellowship mission to study where custodians converge).
- Schedule the next event day with admin and on Discord. Sometimes we don’t know in advance when we’ll be free or how long an event will be as player actions influence that.
- Keep possessing denizens and roleplay in between all of that because even though the story is over for the day, there are often extra questions asked of various denizens in the aftermath.
Point 4 in particular bears further explanation. Some events have a predetermined course or ending because they deal with forces beyond mortal interference – such as Divine vs Soulless vs Slaghora’ruin fight happening in this event. But even in those events player actions can still have a major impact – not only do they help define who the characters themselves are through their poignant actions, but their involvement can lead to new information, altered outcomes, or additional rewards (some that may become obvious only later too). The druid Cyarun was not meant to die permanently in this event, but that is what ended up happening, securing a major story win for the Druid Circle and the communes. You can still help Slaghora’ruin but it is much more difficult now and the quest was rewritten after the event to account for the lack of Cyarun.
All told, I’d estimate event prep on each day to total about 6 hours for this event. The event itself, all 7 days combined, at 24 hours – which were the intended event hours plus roleplay outside of those hours when the opportunity arose. And then the wrap-up was about 6 hours total. Add to that about 2 hours for review of the event post, its posting and syndicating, and any additional discussions related to the event (like a late idea to have Rimsin leak memories they stole). So if my math is right, that is a total of 84 hours from 3 people, and that’s almost definitely underselling it and I’m likely forgetting some bits.
Could it have taken less? Probably, if only one person was doing it and did not need anyone’s help, approvals, or anything else. It’s a lot of hours because some of it involved teamwork, and that will always take more time. But team-ran events will often have better ideas and better results, and there is less burnout if you share the burden among the admin team. Working as a team also helps less experienced admin grow so that they can do things solo later if they need to or want to. Also, it’s fun! For the final showdown, we were in a voice channel, to coordinate better, and that was a stellar experience with many emotions and a fair amount of comedy.
To summarise, events take time to prepare, run, and wrap up. The more people involved, the more time it will take from all of them. So, if you see an event happening, even if you’re not sure how long you can stay for or what the heck is happening, show up! We’ve spent a while preparing it and it only works if you are there too.
PS. This blog post took about 4 hours to write. By the time you read it – so after running it by admin, editing based on feedback, proofing, posting, syndicating, etc. – it will likely have taken 8+ hours.
Glossary
Ephemeral – An admin in training, does not have a player-facing role yet.
ArchEphemeral – An Ephemeral far into their training who joins an organisation and learns to interact with players as both an administrator and a semi-immortal being.
Denizen Possession – When an admin takes control of a denizen to direct what they are saying or doing. While possessing a denizen, the admin sees what is being said or emotes in the room even if they are not there. Possessing a few denizens at once, especially across a few rooms, is challenging.
Building – Building covers the creation of everything from items, denizens, rooms, and progs. Those are the base parts of all quests and events, but building can also refer to writing honour lines, ambients, quest blurbs, etc.
Prog – Short for programs. Is a way of defining how items or denizens react to certain predefined events. Almost all item and denizen behaviour is managed by prog. It can be either very simple or limitlessly complicated, depending on how complex you want to get.