Dragon Age: The Last Court archive & #SaveSerault HQ
Sept 9, 2020 20:48:13 GMT
lynroy, linksocarina, and 5 more like this
Post by Solas on Sept 9, 2020 20:48:13 GMT
Credit for writing this post belongs to samurailink . 
---
UPDATES
As some of you know, Dragon Age: The Last Court is shutting down on November 17th. At the time of writing only a part of the game is documented in the fan Wiki and this is our last chance to fully catalogue the game before it is presumably gone for good. A number of us from across the Fandom are doing what we can to document the missing bits of the game before it is over and we hope that people from the community can band together to help out.
What is the Dragon Age: The Last Court?
======================================
The Last Court is a browser-based game currently available on the Dragon Age Keep. It came out just before Inquisition and was sprinkled with some interesting lore tidbits. You can find it in the sidebar on the Dragon Age Keep.
See "Where to find the Last Court": drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1WNIYm-zrxfzGjCuMRgPtQFkdfDXkaxBb
How can I help?
===============
Tldr; We're screen-shotting everything (that we see is not already recorded on the wiki) that we can from the game, to later fully document the game on the wiki and complete incomplete pages.
How the game works is that there are a series of "Cards" that the player chooses which detail an event. From there the player makes a decision on how to deal with that event and receives a bit of text explaining the outcome of their choice. There is often different text depending on if the player succeeds or fails in the decision made. Text also differs depending on which Option the player chooses. If the player succeeds in a decision is partially randomized and based on the current figures for their various stats. The chances of some cards appearing is also a bit of an RNG, and thus getting certain outcomes to document them will be difficult. In addition, a full playthrough of the game takes about 7 days realtime, so there's a limit to how many runs one person could do before November. So the more people who can help the better our chances of capturing more stuff.
To briefly expand on the game taking 7 days, we mean that the game progressing depends on the irl passing of time. The amount of time involved you'd have to spend actually playing it is pretty much just a few minutes of clicking once or a few times a day. Also note that the game is free to play and so doesn't require any monetary cost from you. There are ingame purchases available, but they're not needed to play and might not even be working anymore. So anyone with access to the Keep can help out.
The Google Drive is set up so that there is a separate folder for each card. Inside each folder should include:
Screenshots of the text explaining the event (which so far we have been titling "Intro Text" or "Top Text"),
A screenshot of available options (which we've been calling "Options")
And screenshots for each outcome, including success and fail when they apply.
An example of a completed folder can be found: drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1PTx_sesZnx1fBihOPPt_qU_3pzrZ-kMs
This way should make it as easy as possible for other volunteers to see if a decision has already been documented and should minimise overlap.
We aim to screenshot each outcome so that after volunteers can add it all to the wiki ensuring that future fans won't miss anything after the game has been discontinued.
We have decided the best way to go about this is:
=================================================
1. When a card comes up for a user as they play, open the page for that card on the wiki. The wiki can be found at: dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Age_Wiki
2. Cross reference the wiki entry with all of the text present on the card in game. Many of the pages are missing parts of the text so be sure to check that all of the text is there.
3. Check if the text is documented in the events folder on the google drive.
4. If there is any text missing, screenshot the text and add it to the drive.
5. Next the user will have to make a choice. Check the wiki and drive to see what decisions are still missing.
6. Prioritize decisions that are still missing.
7. Screenshot the text from that decision and add it to the drive if it is not yet added. Please specify what decision was made, and if it was successful or not. This will help other volunteers check what decisions are still missing.
Other bits of text to note are:
Stat Descriptions
=================
On the sidebar for the stats: Health, Dignity, Freedom, Prosperity, Peril, and Twilight there is a small bit of text after the stat name describing its current amount (e.g. 100 Health is described as Hale). We are aiming to document each version of these small descriptions. We plan to store them in the Folder "Sidebar" under the subfolder "Stats".
drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1hUGtuDC5AonwYuK4nDvl0h15PefQnsiQ
Sidebar Text
============
The sidebar has a series of different text. See related picture "Sidebar Text Tutorial": drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1WNIYm-zrxfzGjCuMRgPtQFkdfDXkaxBb
These include:
The name of the relevant card, the decision made on the story of that card, text that appears when you hover your mouse over it.
From our experience if and when these update is somewhat inconsistent, so if you spot a change be sure to grab it.
Ideally we should store this text with the relevant card. Any hoverovers from non-specific cards (e.g the text for hovering over lovers) is being stored is a folder called "Hoverover" inside "Sidebar".
Google Drive Screenshot Folder Link (Updated with new link 06/29/22)
===================================
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LypqgQd3fkVIZvpAlU2JX6Lo5f-1hbSE
Screenshots to help clarify things (can also be found in the Reference Screenshots folder in the Drive)
===========================
top/intro text: ibb.co/RYDpgC0
options: ibb.co/CbzxWGJ
results text: ibb.co/CPYbHXn
all together: ibb.co/8MdK2k0
Special thanks to unoffical-BSN user Solas for helping me work out what we needed and w/ screenshots.
Thank you to everyone who has read this far, and hopefully as a community we can save this game before it is gone. If you have any questions or are confused by our description please don't hesitate to send us a message and we'll explain as soon as we can.
---
UPDATES
Update: Archival effort now covered in this PC Gamer article
Update: Archival effort now covered in this Fanbyte article
Update: HERE is link to the completed Google Drive of screenshots, which can now function as an archive and resource. Update from 06/29/22 (see below): Google Drive archive now located here.
Update: #SaveSerault Twitter hashtag campaign on Friday 12th March 2021 (see here for info)
Update: #SaveSerault Twitter hashtag campaign now covered in this GameRant article
Update: The archival project and #SaveSerault hashtag campaign received shoutouts in GhilDirthalen's video here and the Split The Veil podcast here
Update: See this post for the most recent updates on the #SaveSerault campaign (responses from BioWare & Failbetter Games about the subject)
Update: The archival project and #SaveSerault hashtag campaign received coverage in Jackdaw's video here
Update: A credits list of the volunteers has been created. If you were a volunteer and don't see your name on the list but would like it to be, see here and get in touch
UPDATE 08/04/21: Some of the information captured in the The Last Court screenshot archive/documenting community project was not in the Dragon Age Wiki. All of said information has now, finally - 7 years after TLC launched, and nearly 1 year after this project began, and after literally hundreds of edits - been added to the wiki.
UPDATE 06/29/22: The The Last Court screenshot archive has moved location, the new link to the completed Google Drive of screenshots is HERE.
There are also some various updates in the subsequent posts in this thread, please check them out if you're interested.
Update: Archival effort now covered in this Fanbyte article
Update: HERE is link to the completed Google Drive of screenshots, which can now function as an archive and resource. Update from 06/29/22 (see below): Google Drive archive now located here.
Update: #SaveSerault Twitter hashtag campaign on Friday 12th March 2021 (see here for info)
Update: #SaveSerault Twitter hashtag campaign now covered in this GameRant article
Update: The archival project and #SaveSerault hashtag campaign received shoutouts in GhilDirthalen's video here and the Split The Veil podcast here
Update: See this post for the most recent updates on the #SaveSerault campaign (responses from BioWare & Failbetter Games about the subject)
Update: The archival project and #SaveSerault hashtag campaign received coverage in Jackdaw's video here
Update: A credits list of the volunteers has been created. If you were a volunteer and don't see your name on the list but would like it to be, see here and get in touch
UPDATE 08/04/21: Some of the information captured in the The Last Court screenshot archive/documenting community project was not in the Dragon Age Wiki. All of said information has now, finally - 7 years after TLC launched, and nearly 1 year after this project began, and after literally hundreds of edits - been added to the wiki.
UPDATE 06/29/22: The The Last Court screenshot archive has moved location, the new link to the completed Google Drive of screenshots is HERE.
There are also some various updates in the subsequent posts in this thread, please check them out if you're interested.
As some of you know, Dragon Age: The Last Court is shutting down on November 17th. At the time of writing only a part of the game is documented in the fan Wiki and this is our last chance to fully catalogue the game before it is presumably gone for good. A number of us from across the Fandom are doing what we can to document the missing bits of the game before it is over and we hope that people from the community can band together to help out.
What is the Dragon Age: The Last Court?
======================================
The Last Court is a browser-based game currently available on the Dragon Age Keep. It came out just before Inquisition and was sprinkled with some interesting lore tidbits. You can find it in the sidebar on the Dragon Age Keep.
See "Where to find the Last Court": drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1WNIYm-zrxfzGjCuMRgPtQFkdfDXkaxBb
How can I help?
===============
Tldr; We're screen-shotting everything (that we see is not already recorded on the wiki) that we can from the game, to later fully document the game on the wiki and complete incomplete pages.
How the game works is that there are a series of "Cards" that the player chooses which detail an event. From there the player makes a decision on how to deal with that event and receives a bit of text explaining the outcome of their choice. There is often different text depending on if the player succeeds or fails in the decision made. Text also differs depending on which Option the player chooses. If the player succeeds in a decision is partially randomized and based on the current figures for their various stats. The chances of some cards appearing is also a bit of an RNG, and thus getting certain outcomes to document them will be difficult. In addition, a full playthrough of the game takes about 7 days realtime, so there's a limit to how many runs one person could do before November. So the more people who can help the better our chances of capturing more stuff.
To briefly expand on the game taking 7 days, we mean that the game progressing depends on the irl passing of time. The amount of time involved you'd have to spend actually playing it is pretty much just a few minutes of clicking once or a few times a day. Also note that the game is free to play and so doesn't require any monetary cost from you. There are ingame purchases available, but they're not needed to play and might not even be working anymore. So anyone with access to the Keep can help out.
The Google Drive is set up so that there is a separate folder for each card. Inside each folder should include:
Screenshots of the text explaining the event (which so far we have been titling "Intro Text" or "Top Text"),
A screenshot of available options (which we've been calling "Options")
And screenshots for each outcome, including success and fail when they apply.
An example of a completed folder can be found: drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1PTx_sesZnx1fBihOPPt_qU_3pzrZ-kMs
This way should make it as easy as possible for other volunteers to see if a decision has already been documented and should minimise overlap.
We aim to screenshot each outcome so that after volunteers can add it all to the wiki ensuring that future fans won't miss anything after the game has been discontinued.
We have decided the best way to go about this is:
=================================================
1. When a card comes up for a user as they play, open the page for that card on the wiki. The wiki can be found at: dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Age_Wiki
2. Cross reference the wiki entry with all of the text present on the card in game. Many of the pages are missing parts of the text so be sure to check that all of the text is there.
3. Check if the text is documented in the events folder on the google drive.
4. If there is any text missing, screenshot the text and add it to the drive.
5. Next the user will have to make a choice. Check the wiki and drive to see what decisions are still missing.
6. Prioritize decisions that are still missing.
7. Screenshot the text from that decision and add it to the drive if it is not yet added. Please specify what decision was made, and if it was successful or not. This will help other volunteers check what decisions are still missing.
Other bits of text to note are:
Stat Descriptions
=================
On the sidebar for the stats: Health, Dignity, Freedom, Prosperity, Peril, and Twilight there is a small bit of text after the stat name describing its current amount (e.g. 100 Health is described as Hale). We are aiming to document each version of these small descriptions. We plan to store them in the Folder "Sidebar" under the subfolder "Stats".
drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1hUGtuDC5AonwYuK4nDvl0h15PefQnsiQ
Sidebar Text
============
The sidebar has a series of different text. See related picture "Sidebar Text Tutorial": drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1WNIYm-zrxfzGjCuMRgPtQFkdfDXkaxBb
These include:
The name of the relevant card, the decision made on the story of that card, text that appears when you hover your mouse over it.
From our experience if and when these update is somewhat inconsistent, so if you spot a change be sure to grab it.
Ideally we should store this text with the relevant card. Any hoverovers from non-specific cards (e.g the text for hovering over lovers) is being stored is a folder called "Hoverover" inside "Sidebar".
Google Drive Screenshot Folder Link (Updated with new link 06/29/22)
===================================
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LypqgQd3fkVIZvpAlU2JX6Lo5f-1hbSE
Screenshots to help clarify things (can also be found in the Reference Screenshots folder in the Drive)
===========================
top/intro text: ibb.co/RYDpgC0
options: ibb.co/CbzxWGJ
results text: ibb.co/CPYbHXn
all together: ibb.co/8MdK2k0
Special thanks to unoffical-BSN user Solas for helping me work out what we needed and w/ screenshots.
Thank you to everyone who has read this far, and hopefully as a community we can save this game before it is gone. If you have any questions or are confused by our description please don't hesitate to send us a message and we'll explain as soon as we can.
- are into DA lore in all its minutiae and can't resist our Inner Completionists, we think it's a shame that the game is no longer available. It's also the case that, while extensive, the screenshot resource isn't in a format which is easy to read through. It would be awesome if BioWare/Failbetter were able to make a playable version (perhaps downloadable?) of TLC available somehow. This of course may not be feasible for various reasons (logistics, integration with online features not working, the subject of who owns the rights to the game, etc), which is understandable. An alternative request could therefore be for the release of a version of the game in an easier-to-read format, such as a script or transcript. A few months ago BioWare/Failbetter were actually asked about this kind of thing and they responded that they would try to look into it.
