19.5.1 Class, House, City, Skill, and Artefact Design or Proposals

You are probably reading this scroll because you have inquired about how you
might be able to propose or create a new class, house, city, skill or artefact
in Achaea. If so, read on!


Warning
-------
We have received hundreds of submissions for new classes, houses, cities,
skills, and artefacts. Some proposals were written up in great detail. Some
were submitted quite some time ago and still have not been implemented. New
classes, houses, cities, class skills, and artefacts are only one of the many
things we do, all with limited time and manpower, so the precise scheduling of
new things like this is difficult to determine.


Our Response
------------
We make no commitment as to when we will review new class, house, city, skill,
or artefact proposals. If you submit a plan or request, you will not get a
response. We probably won't even say "thanks."

How will you know if we're going to do anything with your beautiful new class,
house, city, skill, or artefact design or proposal? You won't!

Is the garden receptive to your suggestion? Sure, as receptive as we are to
anybody's suggestion. That still doesn't mean we're making any commitments
about scheduling or implementation.

If we review it, and if we like it, and if we schedule it in, and if we don't
change it too much from your original concept, and if we actually implement it,
then you may recognise it when it appears in Achaea. Or maybe not.


What to do: Class, House, City, or Skill
----------------------------------------
If you are still willing to pursue this course of action, then design your
class, house, city, or skill carefully. Write down everything. Anticipate all
possible objections. Answer those objections. Describe what the skill/class
will do, and why. Describe abilities, when they will be received, how much eq,
balance, mana, endurance, whatever they cost. What messages will be received,
by whom, when the ability is used, when it creates an effect, when it wears
off, etc? Explain why this is needed in Achaea, and what precise problem is it
addressing/resolving. Who will be involved, or not?

For a class or house, or city, describe why it is needed, who it will benefit,
where it will go, etc. Again, anticipate all possible objections, then answer
them. Explain why. Give history and background. Discuss anything and everything
that might be important.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of questions to be asked and
answered.

Then submit your proposal via email to support@achaea.com. That's it. You're
done.


Special for Cities
------------------
Maps! Where the heck will it go? How did it get there? Where does it fit
in the political balance of the world? How about in the spectrum of good
vs. evil, chaos, etc? What products does it produce, if any? What Houses
should live there, and why? The list also could go on much farther.


What to do: Artefacts
---------------------
The differences between class, house, city, and skill proposal vs. artefact
proposal are few. Class/house/city/skill proposals should cover a lot more
ground, with much more detail. Artefact proposals can be a great deal shorter,
though detail is still very important. Why is this artefact needed? How broad
will be the artefact's appeal? The number of questions you might answer in a
proposal can be significant as well.


An Alternative
--------------
Some interesting suggestions are made on the Achaean forums
(http://forums.achaea.com/) in the area called Golden Dais of Creation. Lots of
people put their 2 cents in. Some of the best are developed and implemented
fairly quickly!


Drawing Back the Veil
---------------------
A lot goes on behind the scenes in Achaea, as any careful thinker will be able
to guess. As of this writing, now 399 years after the fall of Seleucar (with
minor updates in 455 AF), we have many bug reports awaiting repair, tens of
thousands of 'ideas' and suggestions, multiple hundreds of artefact and skill
proposals, and scores of house and class proposals. We have NO SHORTAGE of
things to do!

Ideas? We got plenty. Suggestions? Plenty. It would probably take a lifetime
just to review all the ideas and suggestions and proposals in order to decide
in what order to do them. That's before we even do them!

Add in the features we already know we want to add, and other planned
expansions (examples of recently added things - houses, autoclass, libraries,
furniture) - add that all together, and you easily get multiple lifetimes of
things to do.

Now factor in the workload. Let's say you've done a fully-supported, very
logical, complete class design. Hundreds of new messages supporting over a
hundred new abilities in three very carefully balanced skills. Was it a lot of
work to make that? You bet. Guess what? It takes FAR more time to make that
nice plan happen than it did to design it and write it up. So when you write a
plan and proposal, a complete one, keep that in mind: the work has only just
barely begun!

The range of proposals we get is quite humorous. One proposal "I've got a great
idea - let's add a witches' class. Ask me if you need more great ideas." That
was the whole thing.

Now THAT is a candidate for the top of the list! (just kidding).

A well-written, fully developed plan and proposal would easily be fifty
typewritten pages. I know, I have one right here. Most are about three lines,
and are going to get all the attention they so richly deserve.


What Happens Next
-----------------
Please do not ask us if we received your submission, or when we will be
reviewing your submission. Just wait. We will combine your requests with the
hundreds of class/house/city/skill/artefact submissions and ideas, and our
current development plans, and the tens of thousands of ideas and suggestions
we've received over the years that we haven't gotten to yet. We will
prioritise, and
we will decide on a course of action based on available information.