ease of use?

asmodeus451

i'm considering getting into the Foundry, but i have some concerns that i'd like to address before i shell out 10k dil on project slots.

how easy/hard is it to use, for someone who has ZERO experience with any kind of programming/editing/modding, or level building of an kind?


is it intuitive, or complex? (how hard is it to figure out how to do what i want to?)


is it possible for more than one person to work on the same project, and if so, how?

drogyn1701

asmodeus451 wrote: »

i'm considering getting into the Foundry, but i have some concerns that i'd like to address before i shell out 10k dil on project slots.

how easy/hard is it to use, for someone who has ZERO experience with any kind of programming/editing/modding, or level building of an kind?


is it intuitive, or complex? (how hard is it to figure out how to do what i want to?)


is it possible for more than one person to work on the same project, and if so, how?

I recommend starting with some of the tutorials at Starbase UGC http://starbaseugc.com/index.php/noob-guides/tutorials-guide/ particularly Kirkfat's Back to Basics series (under the "Video Walkthroughs" heading on that page). These have all been put together by players that started off right where you are I myself only had a little modding experience before starting in the Foundry. The best part about this tool is it does all the tricky coding bits for you.

I would say that the Foundry is both easy and complicated depending on what you want to do with it. You can make very simple, small missions or you can make giant, epic and very complicated missions. I recommend starting small. Go in and play around with how to create maps, how to place objectives on the storyboard and how to place objects on the maps. Start off with maybe a three-map mission, something like that. Once you get the hang of the basics, you can start building on what you learned doing the small mission.

Many things in the Foundry are good examples of "No, but..." Take collaboration. At the moment it is not possible for more than one person to directly work on a mission since it is tied to one account, and account sharing is against the TOS. But... there are opportunities for collaboration. For example if you had a great story idea but were hesitant about mission building, you could write the dialogue in a word processor and give it to another author, who could build the mission and copy/paste in your dialogue. You can share maps by recording the coordinates of every object you put down on a spreadsheet and sending it to another author. You can also take screenshots of the character creator to share a costume.

And simply brainstorming ideas with other authors is always valuable (and good fun!).

At StarbaseUGC we have a chatroom where a lot of authors hang out. There's almost always someone there who can answer any questions you have.

Good luck and welcome to the Foundry.

asmodeus451

thanks so much for thew advice. i'll def have to check out SB UGC. i might just do a short 3 map intro mission to start.

sort of like a prologue chapter in a book