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Warning to newer players: hints (and probably spoilers) in this thread! This challenge is closed. Entries are being judged.

I know I'm still wrapping up May's bounty, but I wanted to start June's anyway. This month's bounty is to give me hints that can be inserted into some yet-to-be-determined hints system. I know there are points where the game on its own confuses some people, and that some players need bigger nudges than others. I'd like to work in some in-game shoves in the right direction that will let them solve quests without having to rely on others. I thought about writing them myself, but who better than the people who play and like the game to explain it to others?

Most hints ought to be quest-specific, and focus on things that seem to trip people up. For some of the bigger problems, it might be appropriate to have more subtle and more blatant varieties. I'm willing to accept hints for non-questy stuff, if it's an area that seems to cause some confusion. Keep in mind that the players have to be far enough along to find/buy/earn hints, so something as basic as "click on the map to adventure" won't do them any good--if they're stuck at that point, a hint can't help.

I'm sure we'll get duplicates, so huge preference will be given to versions of the hints that display some wit, humor, etc.

To keep the list manageable, and to give multiple people chances to suggest things, I'm going to ask you to limit your suggestions to your 8 best hints, tops.

Prizes will be some sort of thing I still need to think about that shows up on your profile and in some fashion denotes that you were helpful to the game. Like a "helpfulness points" but probably wittier. Maybe. Possibly with an icon. I'll probably use this for other things later, so over the life of your character, this stuff can keep adding up.

"No no no- Gray Sand. Like, reverse the first letters, just like I've been doing. SAY GRAND. That's what you're supposed to do. No, just- No, you have to... Ah, forget it."

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TheK3vin- #325

http://soundcloud.com/thek3vin

"Neither 'sray' nor 'gand' are actual words. Try again."

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The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone
--October Project: "Dark Time"

"Just say the word, and you'll have a grand entrance."

"A crazed pilot swore he saw a crash site in the desert."

"The Bard is an actual nickname of one of the most well-known playwrights. No, he didn't make Robin Hood."

"Not all vehicles are the same. There's a reason why skateboarders don't go much further than the neighborhood."

Will edit if I actually determine a better phrasing and/or better hints and/or more hints and/or boogers.


Also, because it's required:
"You can (buy/obtain) hints (at/from) (place/item/npc/etc). No Refunds."

For the sewer quest
You know this space seems to be full of ploonerisms. Er...what I meant to spay was soonerisms...Gah! Some of the items might also spee boonerisms. Er...you know what? Everthing's a dod span goonerism!

For the casino quest
That card data you may or may not have...it seems very...cryptic. As is this clue... I'm sure your computer could help you out there... (Why are there so many periods...)

Not neccesarily necessary, but for the Base/ Oil Rig
Hmmm...these things seem to be too closely connected to be a coincidence. Maybe a little snooping on that oil rig or in the interior of that base could help you out somehow with your problems elsewhere? [To clue people to the opportunity of shortening the quests]

Cube Theater Quest
Huh, that bit player sure is a riot. I mean seriouslty, he takes the roles the bard gives him a bit to seriously. As long as you don't say anything ridiculous or steal his thunder, you may be able to work with him. You do know who the Bard is, I mean was, I mean, is/was, right?

Jet Pack Clue
So, check this out! You know how you can rent flying stuff from Quincy? well, this one guy told me he made his own jetpack that works just as well! A jetpack! He mentioned something about PDA, a pair of tights, some sort of tube, lots of metals, a few codes to process all that stuff...man, it was complicated...oh, and some of that stuff he even had to weld together. Quality stuff man.

Also, for the Robots
Hey, man have you ever got a quality view of the desert? Like, in the air, man. I bet that one nuclear testing place would look especially cool, don't you think? But the only guy who sells that sort of stuff makes a shop on the city roofs. Can't you like, leap tall buildings with a single jump, though. No? Ah, well...

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Bard
"The Bard's curly locks don't remind you of anyone? No? Well, shake a spear at that!"

Say Grand
"Some words are actually commands, you know."

Pizza Shop
"Read the sign. Looks like you will have to follow the directions."

Oh god I don't even remember enough about these quests to give good hints

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Just because it isn't nice doesn't mean it isn't miraculous.-- Interesting Times

Ditto....

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Vincent DeMoore (My Character) loves the Farthest Reaches of Insanity!

"Have you figured out the pattern in the dank and rusty maze yet? It's really hot that nard. What are you, some kind of "-

Mod Edit: Had to cut that off due it being a bit inappropriate. Please refrain from that much obscenity, even spoonerized. Feel free to finish it off with something else.

For people who want to give hints and need quest refreshers, just a reminder that the wiki should give a decent explanation of how they work.

Check out the McNally in order to visit Rand.

Zion's Tears for your Fears.

1. I find that the thing new players need the most help about is that they don't notice the journal link. I think this could be helped with a visual cue rather than a textual one. The Journal link could be larger/of different color/bold if there is a new quest there which you haven't seen yet. That way you know there is a quest waiting for you.

2. The second thing asked the most is that new players don't get the idea of transportation. The main map can have a hint link on the bottom, or maybe better, in the Journal in case one didn't notice the map link. Or if there is going to be a separate hint system even there. On the first time it is clicked it can say:

"Have you noticed that you can change your means of transportation?"

3. The second time it is clicked it can be more direct:

"Did you notice you have a garage in your hideout?"

4. In addition to that people were stuck in the "C.H.I.P.S. (Casino Heroes Investigate Purported Scandal)" (requires range 2) and "Don't Cry for Me, Zion-tina" (requires range 3) quests due to lack of transportation.

"Man, if you're going to keep using that old <current means of transportation> you ain't going to get far."

5. In the "A Mysterious Ruin" quest, I was asked more than once how to proceed. A hint can be

"Maybe a bird's eye will help you find things otherwise hidden?"

6. This is odd, but people still don't get the hint about "Cat and Mick-y Mouse Game". Maybe a less subtle approach.

"The administration is sorry, but that's it. You can't get any further with this quest at this point. You'll just have to _wait_ until it is fully implemented."

7. This is probably just a nicety, but when you find the skeptic sandals a "fun" hint on how to proceed could be:

"use the sandals, luke!"

I know that it's a different mechanic, but if people don't notice the red link above the map, they're not going to notice tooltips either. There comes a point where players in an essentially text-based game need to actually read.

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The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone
--October Project: "Dark Time"

Granted. But it's still asked a lot, so I think another cue might help. Perhaps new players need to get used to idea of reading. Maybe put it in the journal or in a separate hint system.

Edit: also, an afterthought. I don't think the problem is that people don't realize there is transportation. They are just used to the KoL way, where new areas are added when you need them. In at least three occasions people who had a range 1 transportation didn't realize they need to get a range 2 one to move forward. So my suggestion would be relevant not only with no transportation but also in the quests which require a range extension to get to. Namely, the "C.H.I.P.S. (Casino Heroes Investigate Purported Scandal)" requires range 2, where players might still be limited to range 1. "Don't Cry for Me, Zion-tina" requires range 3. I'll add such hints to my post.

True. But, at some point, they need to remember that they aren't playing KoL

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The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone
--October Project: "Dark Time"

I feel the same way about the "wait" link on the journal. If you don't know what wait means, click it. It's a link. If you don't know what a linked word means and you won't click a link to find out I don't think anything is going to help short of asking someone personally or me putting an "under construction" sign there. Throwing a reminder hint or three into the pool wouldn't hurt, though.

Some of the other points are well taken, though it can be difficult to keep track of the first/second/xth time you do something, without using a database to track the steps, and I don't think I want to go that far into it. I think I can probably add blink tag to the journal line if you're the right level but haven't started a quest yet, though. Or something like that. Probably the game manual, too, because that gets overlooked a lot, as well.

But both of those are a little outside of the scope of what I'm hoping to get out of this thread.

Hm, as bounties go, this one has been pretty short on participation. Anything I can do to stir up some more suggestions before the end of the month?

Winner gets 5 WHOLE HERO'S CAPES!

You're not helping, S.

You're the only one paying for that too.

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Vote for TH on global rankings!

'You don't always need to go to sleep when you're tired. Coffee and candy, anyone?'
'Plus time per turn is bad. Minus time per turn is good. There's a difference between taking more time to do things and having more time to do things.'
'There's usually other heroes hanging out in chat. Introduce yourself, and you might get some help out of it."

I may have more later.

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ok.. I take this way too far... I thought about an item -or something like that- called "Tomorrow's Diary" -or something like that-

and... when you get stucked... it would say..

A Rank and Dusty Mistery:

"There's a picture of you here, you are typing some Grand word on a box... wait.. are you wearing sandals?"

Go Fish, Again and Trouble in the Wasteland

"look you're in the newspaper! here it says you managed to solve the problem in the platform by going to the military base and... wait.. what?"

Space Robots:

"here it says you were visiting her every day... why don't you go? well.. in the end.. you will do it... 'cause it is tomorrow's diary.. right? so.. this is old news.. you were there already.. but not now.. in the future... but the past here... do you get it? anyway... go and tell Susan to explain this for you"

Coffee Stuff

"another picture of you, in Jitterspout's.. drinking coffee with some heroes, you look tired but after that it says you were patroling again.. Y'know.. there's better stuff in the city than those coffees in Jits"


And.. I like this phrase

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I'm tired and sleepy at the moment, so I don't really have time to flesh this out much (more later possibly) but seeing CN's post above sparked an idea; what if the hinting system (rather than, say, Fortune Cookies) were a quest/zone unto itself?

Say, for example, there's a new archeological dig on the University grounds, where they've unearthed this ancient stone archway which contains a glowing portal.

The adventures would actually contain a hint as to the current step of your current quest. Possibly replaced by amusing non-combat adventures when you don't have a current quest.

During the Sewer quest you might first encounter a Slick Thug wrestling a pair of sandals away from a Thick Slug.

If you step through the archway after acquiring the sandals, but without them equipped you could have a non-com where you witness another hero equipping them.

Stepping through with the sandals equipped might show a different hero twisting black sand into a sack, then twisting the gray sand and having it disappear into a murmur of sound you can't hear clearly from where you're standing.

Not bad, Socket. I'd definitely intended to put in two hint systems, one that would cost a minor amount of chips and one that would take turns, so that players short on one or the other could still get suggestions.

For some reason I'm imagining your archway being made of porcelain, and when you go there you're consulting the porcelain oracle...

Yay! last minute entry!

So, it looks like most of the common questions have been answered already. So I'll start with the system for implementing hints. I'd like to see them offered as classes at the University. Of course, I'd also like to see classes offered that would give you access to some recipes once you completed the class. Especially one for the jetpack. So we should have a cooking class for caffine/sugar recipes, an engineering class for hardware/equipment, and self-help classes for hints. Possibly with several levels in cooking and engineering that would offer different recipies.

As for hints, I'm afraid mine aren't as clever as some that I've seen, but here goes:

Rank and Dusty Mystery.

Let's discuss Spoonerisms. (Add definition here). So, for example, if you have Black Sand and use it, you end up with a Bland Sack. Got that? Black Sand = Bland Sack. Now you have Gray Sand, so who can tell me what Gray Sand equals?

Mysterious Ruin.

Archeology. Sometimes you need to get a better view of the lay of the land. Maybe you could get some highjump boots and get a better view from the rooftops of downtown, or hire a helicopter while your up there to actually take you over the site...

C.H.I.P.S.

Intro to Computers. In our last class we learned how to build computers, this class will focus on the basics of understanding data and assembling it into useful information. I understand that many of you from the last class simply purchased your computer instructions from the all-night electronics store and scavenged parts from the dangerous City of Lost Robots. Those computers may not be top of the line, but they should be sufficient for what we're going to do in this class. First you will need to get some decription software and then we will begin practicing piecing data together from several sources of partial data, until we get enough to make something useful from it.

Something along those lines

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I was actually going for the Star Trek reference, figuring Time Travel is easy narrative justification for hinting.

Hi,

As a hint for getting the pegasus, how about a subtle hint in the Mementonian Memuseum? In Lenny's collection, one item could be a feather, and he could say:

This is a feather I found walking in the park late one night. My friend says it must belong to some mythological creature, but I don't believe him. I mean, a dodo, sure. A sphinx, maybe. But some 'mythological creature'? Horsefeathers!


-The Leopard

So, when do we learn who won the bounty, Rhyme. I must KNO!!!11!!!

-ahem-

But seriously.

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Supplying you with daily lolz to keep the world going round.

Need a few days to look things over and figure out what to make of what's here.

Finally got around to adding the hints system to the game.

Several hints from this list were included, so I'll put together some awards and such this weekend. I also had to make up a large number of them myself, and a couple of the quests are still missing because I couldn't think of anything particularly useful to put in there (7 and 8, I think?).

Contest is closed, but if anyone comes up with any additional hints, or thinks the existing ones don't quite work, I'm still looking for additional entries.