Normally I take a step back and enjoy how the island evolves, even if I don't get it at first. New systems like food and hunger, while I may initially not understand I eventually work out (bouncing between trim and well fed!). So since its been implemented for a while, and I have failed to see any other threads (sorry if I'm just blind), I decided to start one concerning the notebook!

Now onto buisness, I like the notebook, its a cool thing and helps me keep track of what quests I actually picked up and where I am in them. Dan's quests from The Prancing Spiderkitty however are not kept in the notebook/recorded. Any one else think that may be useful? (side question, he says the jungle around X...that looking for trouble at the outpost or literally wandering around it?). The other thing, if updates are to happen concerning this, a section of the journal for you to keep your own notes? I for one have a couple text documents for recorded info like where to find things, combos of food I like for the stats, and other purpose things.

(Love everything else 'bout the island Caveman Joe! keep it up! and every other admin that I don't know of. Cant forget them.)

Input? Criticism? Or am I just being a plonker as The Watcher would say?

-Kaz

CMJ is our one-and-only Admin. All credit for making and enhancing the Island goes to him!

For the Spiderkitty quests -- just look for trouble in the jungle as usual. Any kind of fights will do, just make sure you are in the outpost that Dan named. When the item or creature will show up is entirely random. It can take a very long time, or it can happen on your first fight.

As for your suggestion: tracking everyone's quest history would soon balloon into a lot of data. Noting what your current quest item is might be doable. However, if it doesn't happen, you can still find out where you're supposed to be questing, if you forget, by going and talking to Dan again. He'll be rude, but he'll tell you where you need to be looking.

Me, I keep a notebook beside my computer in which I write the outpost, the full name of the item or creature (even though that doesn't matter, it amuses me),* and whether it's the boss enemy. Then I check it off when I've found it. Over time, that notebook has turned into a weird Island souvenir. Sometimes I like to imagine a future archaeologist finding it...

--
* Okay, so I'm easily amused.

Duly noted. And ah, makes sense, data storage is money, so floods of new data per player would get out of hand. Fair enough indeed. As for your literal notebook, that concept amuses me greatly .
Guess we can call this closed now.

Closed?! Never!

Note on DanQuests:
If you'd like to track DanQuests on something less tangible (and, thus, lose-able), the Greasemonkey page on the wiki has something for you.

Notes on the notebook:
1. Nifty!
2. Needs more Quests in it!
3. I'm feel trepidation about the Story Passes. I'm cool with them giving you developer's commentary, and the deciphered messages, and all the possible outcomes, but I'm a bit dubious of it giving you extra scenes. It makes me suddenly doubt that I was reading the full story all along, now that I know there are extra scenes I haven't read. Entirely subjectively, I think this contradicts the philosophy of II's free-unless-you-want-shiny-extras policy.

Yeah, it feels sort of like DLC. Basically a money-grab when you should've gotten the full experience to begin with.

Side note, this is my 99th post. Part of me wants to never post again, just to keep that number.

I suppose neither of you have ever heard of "deleted scenes" or watched them on a DVD? O_o Kind of a common practice in any form of media to write or brainstorm several scenes, characters, or subplots, and then decide not include them.

I rather think there's a world of difference between exclusively sharing a story or idea that didn't make the final cut, and DLC. I'd buy that idea a little more if CMJ was selling Story Passes for supporter-only storylines, quests, and plots, but I would still consider it his prerogative as opposed to something sickeningly capitalistic. I think calling the offering of deleted scenes (for 50 cents) a "money-grab" is kind of an (uncharitable) stretch.


On subject, I think it would be pretty useful to have your current Dan Quest show up in the Notebook!

Apologies. I worded that badly. I meant that it had the potential to be DLC-esque material if abused, and the 'money-grab' comment was about DLC in general.

Actually, now that I think about it, your comment about deleted scenes was a bit off -- Joe seemed to say that the extra scene was specifically written for the 'pay for extra' bit.. So it's kind of exactly like DLC. I don't mean to put it in a negative light or spur any argument or offense to my posts, these are just my observations.

I'd thought it was a scene he just hadn't gotten around to polishing or fitting in anywhere, rather than it being written especially for that Story Pass... but I could be mistaken, or misremembering! In any case, I don't think that one scene (in the Watcher Stories, right?) is a vital plot element, so I've got no problem with it being a "bonus material" sort of thing. here I wrote something comparing DLC to Story Passes, but it was convoluted and stupid and I realized we'd all be better off if I stopped trying to make sense and hugged a cat instead

All this aside, I do think it's a good idea to have a little snippet in the bottom of your journal detailing your current Dan quest. It's a gigantic pain in the ass to have to haul all the way back to Improbable Central just to check with Dan, if you forgot. Obviously, that information is kept somewhere, so I can't imagine it would be at all resource-heavy.

The Notebook DanQuestTracker could also have some sort of counter for how many DanQuests you've been on. Like tally-marks. Or the messages reminding you about the DanQuest could get more and more flippant, like from "SEEK OUT AND DESTROY THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE MENACE TO THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, [x]" to " go kill the powerful creature that's appeared on the Island, [X]" to "Bread, eggs, kill [x], milk". Just a thought.

See, that's a far more flattering way of putting it than I've been thinking about it. I've been thinking about the story passes as...

Well...

Say I'm making a sculpture. I don't do that, so I don't know how it's done, but let's assume that it's the cartoon way, in which you start off with a great big block of stone and then you hack at it until it's The Thinker On The Loo or whatever. I finish up, and the sculpture is as good as I can make it.

I then give the sculpture away for free, and then I sweep up all the bits I knocked off, and the crappy chunks that weren't good enough to go on the main thing, and I offer those bits for money.

The fact that people then give me money for these chunks of unfinished rock, while sitting happily with the actual finished sculpture in their living rooms... well, it blows my mind. Also my writery friends think it's weird.

I only manage to reconcile this with any idea of a sane universe by viewing those fifty-cent purchases as, like, a "tip" for a good story. Also it helps to bear in mind that the most popular Story Pass has made a grand total of $53.

But, see, it's not just the unfinished chunks you're selling us. To try and fit it into your analogy, it's more like selling us a replica of the sculpture along with the unfinished chunks.

The sculpture sits in one spot, where we can go see it for free, but that's it. That's the only place you can find it. Sure, we can find pictures of it, but that's not the same thing as being there, looking at it from all the angles and seeing how the sunlight gleams of it or how it seems to have perfect places for pigeons to sit and take a crap on it for maximum hilarity. What you're selling is the entire sculpture, as well as a couple of the possible chunks or failed attempts, without the need to travel across the country or stand out in the cold.

More than anything, you're selling convenience. And for half a buck, that's a damned good deal.

---

For rent: one skull, in serious need of dusting.

I'm always in support of CMJ being able to pay for any of the deliciously awesome things he provides us at very little meaningful income to his household. Cause we certainly ain't paying many bills.

IE: I will pretty much always support the idea of him charging us things for stuff.



-moo

---

moooooooooo Visit and help me finish the monster list: goo.gl/rpBGe (Ya'll mostly know me as CLOG, fyi)

Stepping away from the story pass which I have not looked into very much and back to the notebook which I am currently exploring for the first time...
What are the plans to add things to the notebook presently?
I feel like I've spent some time running around the island doing various and sundry things, but the only notes in my notebook concern the Watcher storyline and the tasks I performed for the museum at New Home.
Shouldn't there be a note of concern about the strange thing strangely injected into my face by the stranger?
Or maybe a note about the cooking quest?
Or a note about that one time I went all around the island burning cryptic messages into trees because I was feeling a little off my rocker?

Don't know if these things have been addressed. Just loooking for some info about the notebook in general.