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Creating Your first foundry Guide, Help, Tips
holthar1st
Member Posts: 107 Bounty Hunter
Hopefully this will end up as a sticky for quick referencing...
This is literally my first Foundry Creation or anything like it for that matter...not including pencil and paper (over 20 years).
Since there is really nothing out there in great detail on all the varied and detailed steps to creating a Foundry Quest / Campaign, I am creating this thread as a possible guide / help for other first time Foundry Authors.
Hopefully it will help answer / clear up some questions and problems that I ran into and am still running into in creating my first Foundry Quest and put them all in one source for other beginners and might even help out some authors that aren't so new to this feature.
I will also be taking some questions that I asked the Foundry Forum members and their replies to problems I encountered using the Foundry Editor. That being said I want to thank all the Foundry Forum members that replied to my posts and helped me out. These are a great bunch of people in these Forums and are willing to share their knowledge with others who wish to add to the content of this game through "The Foundry".
I will try to keep things in order for ease of implementation as I go.
I will Edit and Add to this thread as I go.
Stay tuned, this is just the tip of the iceberg...A whole lot more to come
I will be adding a whole lot more to this guide / aid...this really is just the tip of the iceberg...
PS...If any Foundry Pro's out there have anything to add feel free to reply or pm me
Tips...
1....Save and save often (very often) you never know when your power might go out,
hard drive crash, power supply failure, etc, etc, etc...and all that you added / edited
since last save could be lost.
2....When you see a yellow triangle error warning / notice...fix it then if possible. Don't
let them go and add up with the intent I'll come back and fix them latter. You can
literally end up with dozens of errors to have to track down and fix.
3....Do your Storyline and Map, NPC's, Encounters first...don't add any "decor" or editing
to your map until you have everything else done. Save Decorating until the very last,
this is very essential. If you have placed all of you decor in your maps and have errors
in your storyline, dialogue's, that you cant figure out...it's easier to start over from
the beginning and not have lost all the time and effort you put into decorating your
maps. Believe me, you can spend hours just putting things in your maps and moving
them exactly where you want them.
(I did 90% of my decor before my first fight and I had 2 dialogues before that fight (I
had already added multiple dialogues, encounters and NPC's. I had so many
errors that it was more of a headache (for me) to figure out, track down
and fix...it was just easier to start over and do it the correct way...lesson learned.)
4....When you place Items, NPC's and Encounters in your environment pay close
attention to their coordinate "Y" positions / coordinates relative to Y = 0 (ground).
5....Before you begin to move and add things in your environment...play you map. Do a
walk through and take inventory (you can do this in your head or on pencil & paper)
I do this with pencil and paper of where is ground zero (Y=0), what's where, how
many levels, where your going to be placing items and NPC's (are there any items
close to where you are going to be placing items / NPC's on you map that you can use
as coordinates references). If there are, go back to the Foundry, select that item and
use it's Y-coordinate to place it on you map in the general area so you can just push /
pull and move left / right to put it in the desired location.
6....When placing Items and NPC's / Encounters especially NPC's / Encounters that have
patrol pattern, play your map and make sure that they don't get hung up on items or
collisions so that they're just walking in place etc....
7....Before you begin your quest creation, think of a story plot for direction and put it down. I find
it helpful to either type it in MS Word or use pencil and paper. You can also put this in the notes
area where in the editor. You may have to deviate due to the availability or unavailability of
story line items in the editor so be ready to change things up on the fly but it is by no means
the end of the world.
This is literally my first Foundry Creation or anything like it for that matter...not including pencil and paper (over 20 years).
Since there is really nothing out there in great detail on all the varied and detailed steps to creating a Foundry Quest / Campaign, I am creating this thread as a possible guide / help for other first time Foundry Authors.
Hopefully it will help answer / clear up some questions and problems that I ran into and am still running into in creating my first Foundry Quest and put them all in one source for other beginners and might even help out some authors that aren't so new to this feature.
I will also be taking some questions that I asked the Foundry Forum members and their replies to problems I encountered using the Foundry Editor. That being said I want to thank all the Foundry Forum members that replied to my posts and helped me out. These are a great bunch of people in these Forums and are willing to share their knowledge with others who wish to add to the content of this game through "The Foundry".
I will try to keep things in order for ease of implementation as I go.
I will Edit and Add to this thread as I go.
Stay tuned, this is just the tip of the iceberg...A whole lot more to come
I will be adding a whole lot more to this guide / aid...this really is just the tip of the iceberg...
PS...If any Foundry Pro's out there have anything to add feel free to reply or pm me
Tips...
1....Save and save often (very often) you never know when your power might go out,
hard drive crash, power supply failure, etc, etc, etc...and all that you added / edited
since last save could be lost.
2....When you see a yellow triangle error warning / notice...fix it then if possible. Don't
let them go and add up with the intent I'll come back and fix them latter. You can
literally end up with dozens of errors to have to track down and fix.
3....Do your Storyline and Map, NPC's, Encounters first...don't add any "decor" or editing
to your map until you have everything else done. Save Decorating until the very last,
this is very essential. If you have placed all of you decor in your maps and have errors
in your storyline, dialogue's, that you cant figure out...it's easier to start over from
the beginning and not have lost all the time and effort you put into decorating your
maps. Believe me, you can spend hours just putting things in your maps and moving
them exactly where you want them.
(I did 90% of my decor before my first fight and I had 2 dialogues before that fight (I
had already added multiple dialogues, encounters and NPC's. I had so many
errors that it was more of a headache (for me) to figure out, track down
and fix...it was just easier to start over and do it the correct way...lesson learned.)
4....When you place Items, NPC's and Encounters in your environment pay close
attention to their coordinate "Y" positions / coordinates relative to Y = 0 (ground).
5....Before you begin to move and add things in your environment...play you map. Do a
walk through and take inventory (you can do this in your head or on pencil & paper)
I do this with pencil and paper of where is ground zero (Y=0), what's where, how
many levels, where your going to be placing items and NPC's (are there any items
close to where you are going to be placing items / NPC's on you map that you can use
as coordinates references). If there are, go back to the Foundry, select that item and
use it's Y-coordinate to place it on you map in the general area so you can just push /
pull and move left / right to put it in the desired location.
6....When placing Items and NPC's / Encounters especially NPC's / Encounters that have
patrol pattern, play your map and make sure that they don't get hung up on items or
collisions so that they're just walking in place etc....
7....Before you begin your quest creation, think of a story plot for direction and put it down. I find
it helpful to either type it in MS Word or use pencil and paper. You can also put this in the notes
area where in the editor. You may have to deviate due to the availability or unavailability of
story line items in the editor so be ready to change things up on the fly but it is by no means
the end of the world.
Post edited by holthar1st on
0
Comments
STEPS...(Do not forget to save often)
You will have some (3) yellow error warning signs before you put in any information. When you do
the steps it requires, they will go away.
1....Select a name for your Quest or come back at a later date and put the Title in the Name
window.Whatever you name it it should not be something stupid like "The best Adventure You
Will Ever Have"...you'll wind up not getting many plays, and a lot of negative attention, neither
of which you want.
2....Here is where you put in the first information about your quest. Required info. should be; Solo or
Group of 2 or 5. Also let them know if it's a lot of dialogue or more combat (you don't have to,
this is up to you). Your description should be a teaser of your story. Also you have an option to
use or not to use the Pixie trail or area, we'll get to these later (this also is up to you). Basic
info is fine but leave them not knowing the ending or main objective or characters before they
even start.
3....You can use the private notes window (only you will see) as a check list of things you need to
do, put in your map, encounters and NPC's you need to add and items you need to create for
your quest etc.
4....You will have an error sign in your pre-publish task list and on your story tab. there really isn't
an error per-say at this time, it's just letting you know that there is something you need to do.
5....Click on the Story Tab and it tells you you need to create a map. Click on the map bubble, there
are two options for you map. Option 1 is "insert a Neverwinter adventure zone map", Option 2 is
"add a new custom map (quest specific)". Here's where it starts getting a little tricky.