Foundry Do's and Don't s - Advice for New Authors

maninblack017

Hello Foundry authors,

I am in production of my first Foundry Mission and while I wait until the Editor Crashing issue is resolved to finish my mission, I thought it'd be a good time to ask experienced authors if they have any advice for new authors like myself. especially things that we shouldn't do. (Like first rule of fight club is no talking about fight club type of stuff). The last thing anyone wants to do is make a blatant rookie mistake. Hopefully some good advice will help prevent some of the more avoidable mistakes. Thanks in advance!

drogyn1701

There's no hard and fast rules of course, apart from the EULA. I can only tell you what I do and what people have talked about.

I'd say Rule #1 would be test everything repeatedly. This includes playtesting your mission after its published. A post-publish playtest will tell you how the combat plays, whether the puzzles, dialogue and triggers are all working and most importantly, if the mission is completable.

Other advice I'd have would be:

- Start small. I've seen a lot of first-time authors who want to cram everything they loved from the shows into their first mission. Focus on one subject or enemy or whatever for starters while you get the hang of everything.

- Start with stock maps. You see a lot of us doing very complex things with custom maps, but with very few exceptions, we all start out by using the general stock maps. Once you have the hang of objectives, npcs, dialogue and all that, then start customizing those stock maps with objects and effects.

- Ask questions. People are very good about answering questions here. And if you're looking for some real time help, you can always join the chatroom over at StarbaseUGC.com. There's nearly always someone around who can answer questions. I think this is the best thing about the Foundry - the awesome community that has grown up around it.

designationxr377

Name your first map as the where the starting door is.

IE: "Travel to the Kerrat system to rendezvous with the USS Flagler." (Or whatever)

It's sounds stupid, and it is stupid that we need to do it, but that is the best bit of advice that every author ends up needing to know to do.

zorbane

designationxr377 wrote: »

Name your first map as the where the starting door is.

IE: "Travel to the Kerrat system to rendezvous with the USS Flagler." (Or whatever)

It's sounds stupid, and it is stupid that we need to do it, but that is the best bit of advice that every author ends up needing to know to do.

It's for stupid people like me because I can never remember where to go!

thegreendragoon1

Here's a few points I'd recommend:

Writing for a video game is different than any other medium, including the shows. The player is the star of the show, but you don'w know for certain who he/she is. There's atricky balance between keeping the captain/Boff dialog generic enough to apply to a multitude of races (Andorian to Vulcan) but at the same time allow room for the player to insert thir own emotions into their characters. I tend to take the silent protagonist approach. Don't give them excessive emotion, but have characters for them to react with.

Next point I'd make is make sure your plot is clear and concise, with a clear progression between A, B and C. It's a chain of cause and effect. Beyond that you can fill in the story with dialog that fluidly moves toward each point.

Lastly make sure every map, enemy group, NPC, dialog and puzzle (if you have those) supports the plot. The best missions are those where all aspects are moving in unison. If something in you mission isn't working toward advancing the story, it's probably getting in the way and may need to be cut.

Of course, echoing what Drogyn said, all of this is much more doable if you start small. A short well thought out mission is much better than a disjointed epic.

P.S. Also remember to check the names of your skinned NPCs. The default contact names are funky.

maninblack017

Awesome points made by everyone. Thank you! I can't wait to get back at it!

markhawkman

Here's another: focus on writing an interesting story and having functional mission objectives over making the decor look pretty.

This is just for new authors. More experienced authors will often create elaborate sets, but creating an entire starbase from scrap is time consuming and difficult. For a first mission, it's better to avoid that and just redress existing sets.

I actually didn't try building an actual "sky castle" set until after I'd already written several missions. I started with just adding a few simple props, and my designs got progressively more complex as I went along. My KDF mission "Diplomacy in the Gamma Quadrant" had not one but TWO exterior maps where I built a small city.

In retrospect, several of my older map ideas were absolutely horrible, and if I was to go back and redo it from scratch it'd be much better. But I fixed most of that stuff to be reasonably playable.

paxfederatica

designationxr377 wrote: »

Name your first map as the where the starting door is.

IE: "Travel to the Kerrat system to rendezvous with the USS Flagler." (Or whatever)

It's sounds stupid, and it is stupid that we need to do it, but that is the best bit of advice that every author ends up needing to know to do.

Better yet, name it something like "X system, in Y sector of Z sector block" (in case the player doesn't know where the system is).

designationxr377

^---- What he said.

/tenchar