You can also move the spawn point around the map to where you want to begin. So resetting the map puts you at that point. Good for detailing and encounter balancing, but if there were quest objectives earlier on the same map it won't complete them.
You can simply right click the spot on the map, and 'play map from here' without moving around spawn points.
Foundry Content for 3+ players: The Foul Warrens
NW-DMIFXPAKN
You can simply right click the spot on the map, and 'play map from here' without moving around spawn points.
Even better, you can do this, then exit, and then go into the story tab and right click on an objective and say play. Now you will spawn where you clicked at the objective you want to be at. This is a little buggy for object appear/disappear, and it is pretty annoying to load the map twice, but it can save tons of testing time anyway!
When I create a map I don't usually create the whole map then go back and fill in encounters, etc. I did this for the first version of my quest and it was mostly a 3 star quest. There was too much map, and too much fighting, and not enough enjoyment. I completely deleted that map and streamlined it and now not only is the map smaller but my quest takes twice as long to complete and gets mostly 4-5 star ratings now.
What I do is go room by room, hall by hall and create, then test. Every room and hall gets tested before I move on to the next and sometimes I'll jump in to test just after tweaking one thing. Periodically I do a test from start to where I'm currently at then a full run through at the end. I've noticed that when I create the encounters around the map instead of vice versa I tend to get a lot of filler. If you want your quest to last longer, instead of creating a bigger map with more encounters, try adding puzzles or having players have to retrieve an item from a different path on the map to proceed. There are definitely a set number of encounters you can go through before it gets monotonous. Adding puzzles and other interactions breaks this up with short-term goals and makes it feel like the player is getting somewhere. Make sure these goals are working towards the main goal though. The quest I made has about 20 quest objectives on the map where the quest takes place. I've played some other content that has a map 4 or 5 times larger with only 3 or 4 objectives spaced out with billions and billions of mob encounters. I try to capture the feel of the old pen and paper DM dungeons.
Protip: When you play from a certain point in the storyline rather than playing from a point on the map, it will spawn you in the last place you were when you tested. If you weren't in the area you want to start in, click on the map and play from that area then jump out and play from the storyline.
Try my quest Tucker's Kobolds, now with an all new map and encounters! Version 2.0.2 (5/11/2013)
NW-DGW8GFH6 @EB2013
When I create a map I don't usually create the whole map then go back and fill in encounters, etc. I did this for the first version of my quest and it was mostly a 3 star quest. There was too much map, and too much fighting, and not enough enjoyment. I completely deleted that map and streamlined it and now not only is the map smaller but my quest takes twice as long to complete and gets mostly 4-5 star ratings now.
The room by room approach is a good way to learn to tone it down, but i think once you have a feel for play-pace you can go back to blocking in rooms at the start.
The main problem caused by doing the rooms first is the 'lets fill this with stuff' mentality that occurs. If you can place each room with a vague purpose (architecture, content, encounter design), rather than going room-room-room-room-fightsssss, then you're off to a good start.
Foundry Content for 3+ players: The Foul Warrens
NW-DMIFXPAKN
The room by room approach is a good way to learn to tone it down, but i think once you have a feel for play-pace you can go back to blocking in rooms at the start.
The main problem caused by doing the rooms first is the 'lets fill this with stuff' mentality that occurs. If you can place each room with a vague purpose (architecture, content, encounter design), rather than going room-room-room-room-fightsssss, then you're off to a good start.
What I've taken to doing is "wings". I'll design 3-6 rooms, roughed out and unfilled, just architecture. Then I sit back and look at it and figure out what each room's purpose is in the design of the dungeon. Now let me be very clear, this has nothing to do with the encounter or set dressing that I will put in the room but a "when they dug this dungeon what was this chamber dug out for". This way when I go back and rearrange the rooms, give them room names that show the need they met when the dungeon was first constructed I now have a basis for why the dungeon is the shape it is that is completely separate from the story and the encounters. I can then place story points through out and have areas that are literally just there for exploration and puzzle use because the story doesn't need that room. This is how my dungeons feel "lived in" rather than "I needed room for an ogre fight so I went with a bigger room to give them room to dodge".
Once I have the rough map I start refining by dressing each room, adding it's encounters, naming it's NPCs, etc. Every room is a completed piece of art before I move on, and in many cases I will remove the room I put in during the architecture stage for a refined version when I reach that point in the dungeon.
Do you crave a good old fashioned dungeon crawl? One where the dungeon tells it's own story? The Dungeon Delves campaign is just for you! Start with my first release: NW-DQF4T7QYH Any cave can lead to adventure!
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kamaliiciousMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 0Arc User
Then I sit back and look at it and figure out what each room's purpose is in the design of the dungeon. Now let me be very clear, this has nothing to do with the encounter or set dressing that I will put in the room but a "when they dug this dungeon what was this chamber dug out for".
Just a simple one, but if testing the follow option on your NPC's make sure you are not set to "Untargetable." Or they won't.
All of my new foundry content has this problem. I can't turn it off and when I publish it players are having this same problem. Follow is totally broken for me at the moment. It works on all but one of my old maps, and none of the new
I've found most don't, my friend. It was a lesson I learned while professionally DM'ing and having other DM's in the group as players. The conversations after the fact were VERY enlightening to why my story didn't feel real. Go and read the interviews with the legendary authors like Tolkien. Before ever putting a word to paper for the story he had created the entire world in which that story would reside. I'm not saying that a Foundry mission is flawed if you don't put that effort in but I've learned over the years that the stories that I enjoyed telling the most were the ones I put that effort into.
Do you crave a good old fashioned dungeon crawl? One where the dungeon tells it's own story? The Dungeon Delves campaign is just for you! Start with my first release: NW-DQF4T7QYH Any cave can lead to adventure!
I just found out there are things called clusters. I can't believe I've never looked in there. I've been making everything by hand on this most recent map.
I just found out there are things called clusters. I can't believe I've never looked in there. I've been making everything by hand on this most recent map.
Could you please provide more info on clusters?
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kamaliiciousMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 0Arc User
I've made a few mistakes in my time, and I'm sure you have too. Lets share so everyone can learn from our mistakes.
Write your dialog in an external program!
Quests are shorter than you think!
haha, those are some seriously true ones. luckily when I started my first quest I tried to sit down and come up with a system "it's helped me so much" I organize everything with windows folders, Screenshots, and Microsoft word docs.
(I made a folder for The Foundry, in it I made a folder for Campaigns "and inside it a folder for Quests" and one for stand alone quest. then a folder for Dialogue "inside it one for NPC, and one for inanimate objects" and the list go's on...
just an example of how I do my NPC Dialogue
File name: (NPC Dialogue) Visigoth, Seventeenth Objective, Alt ending
Content formatting:
Visigoth (Seventeenth Objective) Dialogue Tree for Quest: The Headless Hero
[Root] :
[OOC](You’re surprised by the arrival of this stout little Dwarf and his Halfling companion)[/OOC]
Greetings [Nickname], this place is pretty surprising.
[OOC](He ignores you and continues to look around)[/OOC] Response: 1.)
(Clear your throat)
[Limb: 1.] in response to [Root] : Response: 1.)
Oh!...sorry, so what’s this all about then? Response: 1.)
(Tell them about your adventure, and what you have discovered so far about the legend)
[Limb: 2.] first Response to [Limb: 1.] in response to [Root] : Response: 1.)
Wait!...So there wasn’t any gold or jewels? How could that be! The legend…But the legend said...
[OOC](He pauses to take a deep and relaxing breath…then He lets out a sigh)[/OOC]
Well…that wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess it’s something. At least I’ll have a great story to tell Alrica and the other adventurers. But you did get an interesting ring out of it.
Response: 1.)
I’m not sure what I should do with it, The Spirit didn’t go into much detail about it.
Limb: 2.] in response to [Limb: 1.] in response to [Root] : Response: 1.)
and so on :] it took a little more work at first "but now it's easy to work on a quest even when the Foundry is down, plus if something happens it's basically backed up" and I use Screen shots/ videos to setup/ remember the look of a map/ NPC, I also make a Doc. for things like Campaign/ Quest Description, a Quest overview "basicly everything you see on the Story Tab" and so on
It's very easy to get all excited and just jump in and start making stuff without really having a plan, but I guarantee that half the time you'll get halfway through the map and want to start moving stuff around and re-positioning stuff and that can take up a LOT of time. Get your main structures in place, work out where your encounters are gonna go, and then start decorating everything. There's nothing worse than decorating an area then realising your patrolling encounter goes too close to that group of NPCs and you have to move everything and every detailed item (been there...). Have a play around, get an idea of what you can do, then use a good old fashioned pen and paper to sketch your map layout and work to that. An architect doesn't build blindly.
I just found out there are things called clusters. I can't believe I've never looked in there. I've been making everything by hand on this most recent map.
Oh wow, can't believe I never noticed that tab before. I thought I was going to have do an entire forest one tree at a time.
In what context is that? I've never seen anything other than X (Width), Y (Height), Z (Depth) being used for anything (Game Editors, Modeling Programs, Mathematics).
I was confused also. Lightwave, 3DS Max, Maya, MINECRAFT! and a slew of others X,Y is 2D coordinates and Z is height
Wow... After ready this thread I would like to put in my two cents. Ok, I am not a "professional" dungeon master. BUT.. I have ran a regular weekly game for almost 40 years. That's right... I bought my first D&D .. boxed edition.. wow.. in 1975. I have learned a thing or two in my days. Start at the end, start at the beginning... whatever. Let me tell you how it's really done. This is the way professional WRITERS do it. Go read any books by Joseph Cambell, I would recommend "The Hero's Journey" or "The Power of Myth". The whole process is basically called "suspension of disbelief".. This concept is used by almost every writer or director worth anything.
Now to the nuts and bolts. It's basically all about the elements. No, I don't mean fire or water... what I mean is :Plot-line, story hook, major antagonist, minor adversaries, plot twists and sub-plots, red herrings, benefactors, setting, story pacing, theme, individual scenes, etc. These and many more are the elements that writers use in their craft. First... you start with a Theme.... granted in the world of gaming we primarily use action/adventure, but comedy or horror are also good. Then you move on to the major plot. For example.. "go get my lost thing".. or "Protect my place".. or "You have to stop someone". It's that easy. You literally can use the word "thing", "place", or "someone" until you get a bit further in the process. The story hook is WHY the character is helping (they want to get rich, they are good guys and want to help). The next part is called 'the setting'. It relies on several things.. Primarily the theme.. for horror it would be "haunted castle/forest/graveyard".. action-adventure would be the sewers/wizard's tower/deserted mine ... etc. Next step... what or more specifically who, is trying to stop the main character (the one trying to accomplish the quest) from succeeding.. ie, the chief bad guy. Anybody trying to help the characters? Gotta be a couple of good guys too! Ok, how about the major antagonist's underlings and henchmen? The Climax.. that's the end of the story.. the grand finale.
So in a nutshell... The character (our hero) get's asked for help by a young child (story hook=damsel in distress). She want's to find her lost teddy bear.. she thinks it was stolen by the bully up the street (plot), it's a mystery investigation (the theme). She lives in the slums of the city (setting). In reality the teddy was stolen by a local thief because the bear is a collector's item and is valuable (plot twist). The bully was framed (another plot twist). A shop keeper saw the whole thing (a benefactor?). But wait.. maybe her brother took the bear (red herring... false lead). The actual thief (major antagonist) has a few henchmen (minor adversaries). The action takes place in several places (individual scenes) such as the shanty where the child lives with her grandmother, the street where the bear was snatched, the alley where the thief ran off to, the home of the bully, the den of the thieves. The hero might get thirsty and stop into the inn for dinner and some rest (to provide pacing.. there should be several of these moments). It all comes to a climax in the thieves den. It's the fight with the head thief and some of his henchmen. Sub plots come into play when different plot lines cross and can lead to separate adventures (why is the bear valuable?). I could continue to add to this adventure until it becomes the epic 'The Quest for Suzy's Teddy Bear', but I think you get the point.
Look and ANY story, ANY novel, or ANY movie... it's all there.
Now it took longer to type this up than it took to develop this adventure. Go look at the quests you develop in the foundry and apply these elements. Then you will be on the right track.
It confused me too when I first encountered it, but I later learned that a lot of computer 3D graphics stuff assumes X = horizontal on the screen, Y = vertical on the screen, and Z = depth into the screen. I think a lot of games use that convention. When you import models into some software, you have to swap the Y and Z coordinates or it shows up wrong.
It confused me too when I first encountered it, but I later learned that a lot of computer 3D graphics stuff assumes X = horizontal on the screen, Y = vertical on the screen, and Z = depth into the screen. I think a lot of games use that convention. When you import models into some software, you have to swap the Y and Z coordinates or it shows up wrong.
Yeah... the problem comes in, when you want a program to be "intuitive". The foundry is a 2D creator for a '3D' game. So, for most people, they see the map as the surface in the foundry, and assume X is left-right, and Y is north-south. But in computer graphics on a 3D game, it is different because no game is truly 3D, it is just a series of different 2D images. This makes the IMAGE the surface, not the layout or map. So, when determining xyz, think about the surface being what you see on your screen THROUGH your character's eyes (or the camera)... Y is still the same (top of screen to bottom of screen), but that means it is actually the height of something...
The more difficult concept, is that X is usually an indicator of distance to and from the point of origin (IIRC) and Z is left-right from the PoO... which means that X and Z 'should' be completely dependent on which way the object is facing. I guess they decided that since it is a 2D/3D program, that they would just reverse Y and Z to keep things simple?
(Take into consideration that most of my computer knowledge is in Networking/Repair, and in Modeling/render programs)
Aside from that, what I learned is to have a rough sketch of your plot, decide what maps you will need, make the maps, populate the maps with the basic objects, tweak the objects, copy the maps you need more than once, then place the maps in your story-board, add non-combat objectives and transitions... now you have a basic run-through adventure. Once everything else is done, add your combats to flesh it out. Test it several times to make sure all works well. Then, set a timer, run through it with each class at 31, average the times, then add in the description the average time +/- 5 minutes to give a range, and possibly list each class with the times and at level 31.
Let the people playing infer what they will when they see-
At level 31, complete run-through, during testing:
GF 31 Minutes
GWF 42 Minutes
DC 29 Minutes
TR 23 Minutes
CW 22 Minutes
Average Playtime: 29.4 Minutes
Adjust times accordingly for level and group makeup
I think all foundry quests should have those numbers, because then players will have less to complain about (even though we know they will still complain about something, they always do)
If you are one of those that have a really tough time to put your thoughts together I highly recommend a free software called "Freemind." It doesn't take too long to learn it but it is an awesome thought gathering tool. I dunno about you but when I'm thinking I'd be working on one thing then my mind would wonder and say why don't I do this or do that so I go do it as soon as I think of it. And by the time I get back to what I was working on in the first place I would forget what I was doing there and then I would just sit in my chair killing time trying to remember what the heck I was doing there and if I don't remember it I would tear down the whole section area and start fresh. All those hours spent going out of a window. Anyways, with Freemind it will gather your thoughts and if your mind roams like mine does you can jump back instantly to what you are thinking of and continue until you feel you have what you wanted. Keeping a story straight in one's head IS a really tough thing with all the characters, names for those characters, details, plots, and etc.. I call FreeMind a flow chart of your mind.
A tip I would give is to run the quest after you publish it. I ran one about 100 times getting everything ready. Setting up encounters, checking, checking, and more checking. I was writing an introductory quest for my campaign. A simple cave sequence with 98% of it fighting. A setting where (Supposedly) a group of orcs moved in and were setting up to stay in these caves/mines this group of dwarves were trying to set up for mining. Lots of traps not completely set up, patrol routes almost finished set up. It is supposed to give you the feel they have only been there for a couple weeks and are trying to get together a mass force. Anyway I ramble LOL.
I decided to play it and in one of my major encounters the mobs were nowhere to be found. I tried and tried to get this fixed and finally wound up replacing the room. What baffled me was that in my foundry tests before and after the publish this room worked perfectly. Live it did not. So test your live model.
Think of players on your maps like sand in your swimsuit. It's going to get in places you didn't know it could get. Make sure you have plenty of ways out of these pitfalls and/or plenty of invisible walls or other various things to keep them out of there. It may cause chafing in your reviews.
And what if I am creating a believable Underdark? I'm working mainly on the cave blocks, there's plenty of holes there but I wouldn't like to create invisible walls as that would really kill the immersion. Not to mention how much work and objects it would take to cover 15-20 different cave rooms. Underdark was said to kill in more than 1000 ways. Pitfalls are one of them. I would write a warning in the quest description.
But then I guess you are right, speedrunners will only care about fast completion and if they died on the way it would get me bad marks, sadly worth as much as other. Can't really blame them, I did few speedruns myself to get the Foundry event done in time.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
At the whim of our masters
NW-DDJ3SIBY8 @ramazon7
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ladykathleen55Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 34
In regards to writing and planning dialogue -- I use Inklewriter. It's mainly used to make choose your own adventure book style text games, but it works wonders with dialogue that has multiple choices.
Thank you for this tip about Inklewriter. I can really use that one!
Lady Kathleen
Newest Campaign: Enchanted Village NWS-DHNQ9PS99
Act I Find Lady Kathleen NW-DKZBMOPOY
Old Champaign: Enchanted Castle: NWS-DCPHMJS4W.
Act I Enchanted Castle NW-DU7IXVVDR
Act II Home invasion NW-DJTJO4I5P
Wow... After ready this thread I would like to put in my two cents. Ok, I am not a "professional" dungeon master. BUT.. I have ran a regular weekly game for almost 40 years. That's right... I bought my first D&D .. boxed edition.. wow.. in 1975.
I was surprised to discover that there was a campaign of RPG that was twice as long as the campaign that I play, that has lasted 18 years, congratulations to you, please pass more information about her, do you have any blog or facebook page?
One of the things I've learned the hard way is that the more details you add to the map the more rendering someone elses PC has to do. It's easy for someone like me who has a pretty beefy rig to add a crazy amount of detail (objects, npcs, effects, etc.) and not have an issue, but 50% of the players don't have massive rigs so get bogged down by the details...
Comments
You can simply right click the spot on the map, and 'play map from here' without moving around spawn points.
The Foul Warrens
NW-DMIFXPAKN
Even better, you can do this, then exit, and then go into the story tab and right click on an objective and say play. Now you will spawn where you clicked at the objective you want to be at. This is a little buggy for object appear/disappear, and it is pretty annoying to load the map twice, but it can save tons of testing time anyway!
What I do is go room by room, hall by hall and create, then test. Every room and hall gets tested before I move on to the next and sometimes I'll jump in to test just after tweaking one thing. Periodically I do a test from start to where I'm currently at then a full run through at the end. I've noticed that when I create the encounters around the map instead of vice versa I tend to get a lot of filler. If you want your quest to last longer, instead of creating a bigger map with more encounters, try adding puzzles or having players have to retrieve an item from a different path on the map to proceed. There are definitely a set number of encounters you can go through before it gets monotonous. Adding puzzles and other interactions breaks this up with short-term goals and makes it feel like the player is getting somewhere. Make sure these goals are working towards the main goal though. The quest I made has about 20 quest objectives on the map where the quest takes place. I've played some other content that has a map 4 or 5 times larger with only 3 or 4 objectives spaced out with billions and billions of mob encounters. I try to capture the feel of the old pen and paper DM dungeons.
Protip: When you play from a certain point in the storyline rather than playing from a point on the map, it will spawn you in the last place you were when you tested. If you weren't in the area you want to start in, click on the map and play from that area then jump out and play from the storyline.
Try my quest Tucker's Kobolds, now with an all new map and encounters!
Version 2.0.2 (5/11/2013)
NW-DGW8GFH6
@EB2013
Part II Coming Soon!
The room by room approach is a good way to learn to tone it down, but i think once you have a feel for play-pace you can go back to blocking in rooms at the start.
The main problem caused by doing the rooms first is the 'lets fill this with stuff' mentality that occurs. If you can place each room with a vague purpose (architecture, content, encounter design), rather than going room-room-room-room-fightsssss, then you're off to a good start.
The Foul Warrens
NW-DMIFXPAKN
What I've taken to doing is "wings". I'll design 3-6 rooms, roughed out and unfilled, just architecture. Then I sit back and look at it and figure out what each room's purpose is in the design of the dungeon. Now let me be very clear, this has nothing to do with the encounter or set dressing that I will put in the room but a "when they dug this dungeon what was this chamber dug out for". This way when I go back and rearrange the rooms, give them room names that show the need they met when the dungeon was first constructed I now have a basis for why the dungeon is the shape it is that is completely separate from the story and the encounters. I can then place story points through out and have areas that are literally just there for exploration and puzzle use because the story doesn't need that room. This is how my dungeons feel "lived in" rather than "I needed room for an ogre fight so I went with a bigger room to give them room to dodge".
Once I have the rough map I start refining by dressing each room, adding it's encounters, naming it's NPCs, etc. Every room is a completed piece of art before I move on, and in many cases I will remove the room I put in during the architecture stage for a refined version when I reach that point in the dungeon.
I've found most don't, my friend. It was a lesson I learned while professionally DM'ing and having other DM's in the group as players. The conversations after the fact were VERY enlightening to why my story didn't feel real. Go and read the interviews with the legendary authors like Tolkien. Before ever putting a word to paper for the story he had created the entire world in which that story would reside. I'm not saying that a Foundry mission is flawed if you don't put that effort in but I've learned over the years that the stories that I enjoyed telling the most were the ones I put that effort into.
A Nobleman's Request - NW-DIYMYKKVY (Avg. 33 mins)
Try my quest Tucker's Kobolds, now with an all new map and encounters!
Version 2.0.2 (5/11/2013)
NW-DGW8GFH6
@EB2013
Part II Coming Soon!
Author: @GEOPENGUIN
Short Code: NW-DAX6SQH8U
[nickname]
Also, check out the FAQ thread to see all types of manuals and video tutorials.
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?237862-FAQ-Foundry-Tips-Manuals-Tutorials-amp-Bugs
haha, those are some seriously true ones. luckily when I started my first quest I tried to sit down and come up with a system "it's helped me so much" I organize everything with windows folders, Screenshots, and Microsoft word docs.
(I made a folder for The Foundry, in it I made a folder for Campaigns "and inside it a folder for Quests" and one for stand alone quest. then a folder for Dialogue "inside it one for NPC, and one for inanimate objects" and the list go's on...
just an example of how I do my NPC Dialogue
File name: (NPC Dialogue) Visigoth, Seventeenth Objective, Alt ending
Content formatting:
Visigoth
(Seventeenth Objective) Dialogue Tree for Quest: The Headless Hero
[Root] :
[OOC](You’re surprised by the arrival of this stout little Dwarf and his Halfling companion)[/OOC]
Greetings [Nickname], this place is pretty surprising.
[OOC](He ignores you and continues to look around)[/OOC]
Response: 1.)
(Clear your throat)
[Limb: 1.] in response to [Root] : Response: 1.)
Oh!...sorry, so what’s this all about then?
Response: 1.)
(Tell them about your adventure, and what you have discovered so far about the legend)
[Limb: 2.] first Response to [Limb: 1.] in response to [Root] : Response: 1.)
Wait!...So there wasn’t any gold or jewels? How could that be! The legend…But the legend said...
[OOC](He pauses to take a deep and relaxing breath…then He lets out a sigh)[/OOC]
Well…that wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess it’s something. At least I’ll have a great story to tell Alrica and the other adventurers. But you did get an interesting ring out of it.
Response: 1.)
I’m not sure what I should do with it, The Spirit didn’t go into much detail about it.
Limb: 2.] in response to [Limb: 1.] in response to [Root] : Response: 1.)
and so on :] it took a little more work at first "but now it's easy to work on a quest even when the Foundry is down, plus if something happens it's basically backed up" and I use Screen shots/ videos to setup/ remember the look of a map/ NPC, I also make a Doc. for things like Campaign/ Quest Description, a Quest overview "basicly everything you see on the Story Tab" and so on
It's very easy to get all excited and just jump in and start making stuff without really having a plan, but I guarantee that half the time you'll get halfway through the map and want to start moving stuff around and re-positioning stuff and that can take up a LOT of time. Get your main structures in place, work out where your encounters are gonna go, and then start decorating everything. There's nothing worse than decorating an area then realising your patrolling encounter goes too close to that group of NPCs and you have to move everything and every detailed item (been there...). Have a play around, get an idea of what you can do, then use a good old fashioned pen and paper to sketch your map layout and work to that. An architect doesn't build blindly.
Oh wow, can't believe I never noticed that tab before. I thought I was going to have do an entire forest one tree at a time.
I was confused also. Lightwave, 3DS Max, Maya, MINECRAFT!
[SIZE=-1][SIZE=-1]Memories of Krynn ( NW-DMM8MANTM ) Save The Forgotten Realms from th[SIZE=-1]e Queen of Darkness![/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]
The inspiration for the Ansalon NW Foundry Project
http://nwn.starfire3d.com
Now to the nuts and bolts. It's basically all about the elements. No, I don't mean fire or water... what I mean is :Plot-line, story hook, major antagonist, minor adversaries, plot twists and sub-plots, red herrings, benefactors, setting, story pacing, theme, individual scenes, etc. These and many more are the elements that writers use in their craft. First... you start with a Theme.... granted in the world of gaming we primarily use action/adventure, but comedy or horror are also good. Then you move on to the major plot. For example.. "go get my lost thing".. or "Protect my place".. or "You have to stop someone". It's that easy. You literally can use the word "thing", "place", or "someone" until you get a bit further in the process. The story hook is WHY the character is helping (they want to get rich, they are good guys and want to help). The next part is called 'the setting'. It relies on several things.. Primarily the theme.. for horror it would be "haunted castle/forest/graveyard".. action-adventure would be the sewers/wizard's tower/deserted mine ... etc. Next step... what or more specifically who, is trying to stop the main character (the one trying to accomplish the quest) from succeeding.. ie, the chief bad guy. Anybody trying to help the characters? Gotta be a couple of good guys too! Ok, how about the major antagonist's underlings and henchmen? The Climax.. that's the end of the story.. the grand finale.
So in a nutshell... The character (our hero) get's asked for help by a young child (story hook=damsel in distress). She want's to find her lost teddy bear.. she thinks it was stolen by the bully up the street (plot), it's a mystery investigation (the theme). She lives in the slums of the city (setting). In reality the teddy was stolen by a local thief because the bear is a collector's item and is valuable (plot twist). The bully was framed (another plot twist). A shop keeper saw the whole thing (a benefactor?). But wait.. maybe her brother took the bear (red herring... false lead). The actual thief (major antagonist) has a few henchmen (minor adversaries). The action takes place in several places (individual scenes) such as the shanty where the child lives with her grandmother, the street where the bear was snatched, the alley where the thief ran off to, the home of the bully, the den of the thieves. The hero might get thirsty and stop into the inn for dinner and some rest (to provide pacing.. there should be several of these moments). It all comes to a climax in the thieves den. It's the fight with the head thief and some of his henchmen. Sub plots come into play when different plot lines cross and can lead to separate adventures (why is the bear valuable?). I could continue to add to this adventure until it becomes the epic 'The Quest for Suzy's Teddy Bear', but I think you get the point.
Look and ANY story, ANY novel, or ANY movie... it's all there.
Now it took longer to type this up than it took to develop this adventure. Go look at the quests you develop in the foundry and apply these elements. Then you will be on the right track.
I hope this helps.
Yeah... the problem comes in, when you want a program to be "intuitive". The foundry is a 2D creator for a '3D' game. So, for most people, they see the map as the surface in the foundry, and assume X is left-right, and Y is north-south. But in computer graphics on a 3D game, it is different because no game is truly 3D, it is just a series of different 2D images. This makes the IMAGE the surface, not the layout or map. So, when determining xyz, think about the surface being what you see on your screen THROUGH your character's eyes (or the camera)... Y is still the same (top of screen to bottom of screen), but that means it is actually the height of something...
The more difficult concept, is that X is usually an indicator of distance to and from the point of origin (IIRC) and Z is left-right from the PoO... which means that X and Z 'should' be completely dependent on which way the object is facing. I guess they decided that since it is a 2D/3D program, that they would just reverse Y and Z to keep things simple?
(Take into consideration that most of my computer knowledge is in Networking/Repair, and in Modeling/render programs)
Aside from that, what I learned is to have a rough sketch of your plot, decide what maps you will need, make the maps, populate the maps with the basic objects, tweak the objects, copy the maps you need more than once, then place the maps in your story-board, add non-combat objectives and transitions... now you have a basic run-through adventure. Once everything else is done, add your combats to flesh it out. Test it several times to make sure all works well. Then, set a timer, run through it with each class at 31, average the times, then add in the description the average time +/- 5 minutes to give a range, and possibly list each class with the times and at level 31.
Let the people playing infer what they will when they see-
At level 31, complete run-through, during testing:
GF 31 Minutes
GWF 42 Minutes
DC 29 Minutes
TR 23 Minutes
CW 22 Minutes
Average Playtime: 29.4 Minutes
Adjust times accordingly for level and group makeup
I think all foundry quests should have those numbers, because then players will have less to complain about (even though we know they will still complain about something, they always do)
For those that are interested here is the download link: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download
that goes for life in general, btw
Bill's Tavern | The 27th Level | Secret Agent 34
I decided to play it and in one of my major encounters the mobs were nowhere to be found. I tried and tried to get this fixed and finally wound up replacing the room. What baffled me was that in my foundry tests before and after the publish this room worked perfectly. Live it did not. So test your live model.
And what if I am creating a believable Underdark? I'm working mainly on the cave blocks, there's plenty of holes there but I wouldn't like to create invisible walls as that would really kill the immersion. Not to mention how much work and objects it would take to cover 15-20 different cave rooms. Underdark was said to kill in more than 1000 ways. Pitfalls are one of them. I would write a warning in the quest description.
But then I guess you are right, speedrunners will only care about fast completion and if they died on the way it would get me bad marks, sadly worth as much as other. Can't really blame them, I did few speedruns myself to get the Foundry event done in time.
At the whim of our masters
NW-DDJ3SIBY8
@ramazon7
Newest Campaign: Enchanted Village NWS-DHNQ9PS99
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