I'm currently working on an update of one of my older missions: Inversion. Lot's of story changes but I'm taking the opportunity to have a go at my maps. Here's a before an after, and I think a good visual demo on how to style environments (ie. use complimentary detail, pattern, and lighting to enhance tone/plot.)
Before
After (from about the same point)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
A new Foundry author and to shy to post screenshots herself... We probalby have all been there. So, after making the grave mistake of challenging me to post them for her, here they are:
Maybe you find some nice words of encouragement for this new author, who, by the way, is far to critical of her first foundry mission.
Due to having a newer account I am not able to start a thread, however if anybody is able to help with these foundry questions(for a college class) it would be much appreciated!!
“Our question we have is about the limitations we will have on our story? From what we can see, we can only do so much with The Foundry. We would like to know our boundaries before creating too much of our story.”
“My only question about the Foundry is, can you have a story where your choices effect how it ends? (So a possible multiple ending plot).”
“We’ve played some of the foundry episodes in the game so we have an idea on how a good game would look. Our main issue is with incorporating one of the themes we’ve talked about. I’m just wondering on how exactly we’re supposed to incorporate those and what exactly you’re looking for.”
“I was wondering how we are going to incorporate the formal elements of film into the foundry episode? How would we include character development in these types of episodes?”
“The biggest question we have is what kind of limitations will we have to create a story? From what we saw, the Foundry can only provide so much content. Maybe some limitations can help us creatively, but we would like to know before we get started with the Foundry.”
Due to having a newer account I am not able to start a thread, however if anybody is able to help with these foundry questions(for a college class) it would be much appreciated!!
“Our question we have is about the limitations we will have on our story? From what we can see, we can only do so much with The Foundry. We would like to know our boundaries before creating too much of our story.”
“My only question about the Foundry is, can you have a story where your choices effect how it ends? (So a possible multiple ending plot).”
“We’ve played some of the foundry episodes in the game so we have an idea on how a good game would look. Our main issue is with incorporating one of the themes we’ve talked about. I’m just wondering on how exactly we’re supposed to incorporate those and what exactly you’re looking for.”
“I was wondering how we are going to incorporate the formal elements of film into the foundry episode? How would we include character development in these types of episodes?”
“The biggest question we have is what kind of limitations will we have to create a story? From what we saw, the Foundry can only provide so much content. Maybe some limitations can help us creatively, but we would like to know before we get started with the Foundry.”
though questions. I'l try to answer (not a native speaker, so... sorry for bad english )
1. The bondaries are clear: It should fit in Star Trek. And, based at the Terms of use, it's better not to use characters from the series/movies. After that, there are some object-limets.
2. Yes, you can. But it's hard work with triggers. One of the german spotlight-foundries have multible endings. @benalexander can say more about it, it's his mission.
3. The most important thing is the story. It shouldn't be "borg attack esd, defend them!" or this should only be the base of the mission. for me a good story has good writing. you don't have the feeling to just warp in, kill a bunch of NPCs and finish. after that, it can be all: an exploration-mission. a more fight-based mission. horror (whish is very hard to do). everything can it be.
4. The Foundry is part of a game. Games aren't movies and work on other rules. and since a good foundry should between 20 and 40 minutes long, a real development isn't easy to archive in this time if it's not a charater-focused story. for a movie-like story-arc with character development, and all the movie stuff you need to make a series. whish is more difficult than one mission.
5. see above. didn't have the object limits at hand right now but i'm sure someone will post them.
Edit:
This video is about the topic, why most film adaptations of games aren't good, but it's good for knowing the difference between a game and a movie (also, I think the complete channel is helpfull for every foundry-author) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnP2boSC-FM
Edit again:
About the character develpoment, maybe a exemple is an idea.
For this I will explain the story of my german spotlight trilogy:
In Part one, the Player investigate an anomaly in the vulcan system. It sucks the players ship in and he's stranded in the Mirror-Universe. And there is his self from this universe. because the mirror-me of the players ship is heavily damaged due to a klingon attack (it playes before the cryptic-mirrorstoryarc and the war between the klingon-cardassian alliance and the terrans is still on9). to get home the player needs some things. his mirror-version tells him, that he can ged it from a nearby starbase. in fact, he was on a way to this starbase, because the klingons attacked it.
after the player pick the stuff he need, he's back at the vulcan-system and learns that his version from this universe is captured by the klingons. but the imprisoned mirrir-me of the player can attack the klingon captain and the player can go back home.
In Part two, the player goes back to the mirrorverse for a diplomatic mission. again his mirrorme is greating him, ha could be rescued by terran forces in the meantime. as an act of trust, the mirrir-me wants help from the players: the kilngons again, this time they attack a researchlab from the terrans.
but on the surfside of this planet the player learns, that the terrans do work on a virus whish would kill all klingons and cardassians in the mirror universe. in other word: an holocaust. as an good starfleetofficier the player helps the klingons and must fight against his mirror-self at the end before he goes back home
In Part three the player is tricked by the terrans to go in the mirrorverse and is captured by the terrans for his actions against the terran empire and for the murder on his mirrorself. the players cellmate is an klingon, the son of the general of the last mission. with his help the player is able to contact this general and in an battle on the side of the klingons the player can flee back home in his universe
You see, there is much character development there. the mirror-self of the player who was helpfull in the beginning of this storyarc, the main enemy in the middle and dead at the end. the klingon general for whom we are at the beginning another enemy and at the and an friend and the one who rescued his son.
and the main figure, the player? it depents on the person who's playing. some could have a bad feeling to - in some way - kill themself (or their counterparts from another universe). In fact, at part two i've had a critic that it would be better the help the terrans and he didn't want to fight himself. others may have no development at all. there a situatation and they react. others don't evan read the dialogues.
Due to having a newer account I am not able to start a thread, however if anybody is able to help with these foundry questions(for a college class) it would be much appreciated!!
“Our question we have is about the limitations we will have on our story? From what we can see, we can only do so much with The Foundry. We would like to know our boundaries before creating too much of our story.”
There's boundries all over the place, but I found that they help creativity. For one, the Foundry editor is a 2D interface that can only make use of existing game assets. We cannot make truly original visual content, only original combinations of content. But that also simplifies our job, because we don't have to render original assets. We just make use of what Cryptic has provided. Here's some example maps (in the spoiler tag), showing some of what we can do.
And some example characters:
It's worth thinking about feasibility when approaching a Foundry build, so getting to know the editor, how it works, and what we have to play with is very important. There's not much else I can say on that, it's just a matter of getting hands-on experience.
What it boils down to is that we can make original Star Trek content, referencing the live action TV shows and movies. We cannot use actor's likenesses (so any old character is out) though we can use Cryptic original STO characters. But that just means we have to rely on our own imagination, for the most part, to create original episodes/series. Keep in mind that you are also writing for an audience consisting entirely of STO players. That also provides some constraint, though perhaps the least impactful to how you write (since people seem pretty willing to go along with things provided they fit broadly under the Star Trek umbrella.)
“My only question about the Foundry is, can you have a story where your choices effect how it ends? (So a possible multiple ending plot).”
You can fake it, but multiple endings and mission-persistent choices are not built into the editor. What you can do is use pop-up mission dialog and triggers outside of official objectives to tie single-map state changes (ex. spawning 1 character over another, enemy NPC's or none at all) that provide the illusion of choice while players proceed through the single specified mission objective path. Exactly how is a technical discussion, and perhaps best left until after one gets the basics down.
“We’ve played some of the foundry episodes in the game so we have an idea on how a good game would look. Our main issue is with incorporating one of the themes we’ve talked about. I’m just wondering on how exactly we’re supposed to incorporate those and what exactly you’re looking for.”
It depends on what kind of theme you're talking about. If it's a narrative theme (ex. loss, hope, exploration) then it's just a matter of writing (a lot of it will come through plot, dialog, and objective choices). If it's a mission theme (ex. the latest Foundry challenge) then it's a matter of creating an original story that fits the guidelines. It's difficult to provide advice for exactly how to do that (it's a question of "how do I make a story?" The subject is a big one and a lot of us approach it intuitively) so I can only say "jump in and experiment."
“I was wondering how we are going to incorporate the formal elements of film into the foundry episode? How would we include character development in these types of episodes?”
In my first episode I worked out a method for having 2 or more characters have a conversation outside of the player's perspective, allowing for scenes that basically play out like any TV show or film scene (with cues directing actions that can't be conveyed through character portrait boxes, ex sighing, sitting, standing, punching, hugging, ect.)
Basically, you just write a script. Character A has their lines (plus any cues), character B has their lines in turn. Here's what the raw text looks like (from MS word, where I sometimes write Foundry content for later transfer to the editor):
Each line has it's own own dialog box, presenting character portrait (with a small selection of moods, ex. sad, angry, afraid) plus your dialog. I don't happen to have an in-game screenshot, but in the editor it looks something like this:
With the player advancing by clicking the appropriate dialog option (which you can set to whatever you like. In scenes like this, I just use "continue listening.")
I haven't found lately that this method of writing for the Foundry precludes me from writing things that would fit into a formal film (except for car chases ).
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
A new Foundry author and to shy to post screenshots herself... We probalby have all been there. So, after making the grave mistake of challenging me to post them for her, here they are:
Maybe you find some nice words of encouragement for this new author, who, by the way, is far to critical of her first foundry mission.
Blending assets together, custom lit interiors, rationalized decor, that's some serious Foundry author stuff. This new author is doing a great job!
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
“My only question about the Foundry is, can you have a story where your choices effect how it ends? (So a possible multiple ending plot).”
You can fake it, but multiple endings and mission-persistent choices are not built into the editor. What you can do is use pop-up mission dialog and triggers outside of official objectives to tie single-map state changes (ex. spawning 1 character over another, enemy NPC's or none at all) that provide the illusion of choice while players proceed through the single specified mission objective path. Exactly how is a technical discussion, and perhaps best left until after one gets the basics down.
Alternate mission objectives and / or endings are - in my opinion - among the most complicated things you can do in the foundry. Using triggers, dialog trees and obejcts outside of objectives is the most common way you will find. You could, as duncanidaho wrote, add additional enemy NPCs to a map, if a security system is not deactivated. Most techniques work something like that: Spawning or despawning stuff outside the main mission line. One could say, these are not alternate objectives, but alternate paths to the same objective. Side missions with "mission reward" like battle assistance work like that, too.
Technically, the objectives are always the same, always linear. But if you phrase them the right way, they could mean anything. "Find the Klingon" for example could mean "Kill him" or "Talk to him". Depending on the story, the player will get what is expected. This, of course, ties in with the method explained earlier: You would have to trigger pretty much everything in your map depending oin the choices players make.
Other techniques deal with the mission objectives themselfes. So no more "faking" mission objectives through intermittent "objectives" in Popup Dialogs. You can have the player skip a Kill Enemy objective by killing the NPCs for him / her. Other objectives (Interact with object / Reach Marker) can be met on different parts of the map, by use of floors, large and invisible objects. You could, for example, let the player interact with an object or reach a marker on oppisite sides of a map with vastly differnt paths to take. This is of couse quite hard to pull of - especially with Reach Markers if you want them to be reached only at specific, distant points, but not in between. Custom interiors are a good candidate for a map that would allow a technique like this.
Another way is to use a Complete All box to allow the player to choose between different paths in the same mission. This can get complicated and - again - involves a lot of triggers. The basic trick is to use triggers to change the map depending on which objectives the player decides to do first.
Yet another possibility is to incorporate a Respawn Point into the mission as another challange, the player has to overcome, e.g. Respawn - Dialog "You have been cought, now escape" - additional guards, a new part of the map, etc. It is even possible to have the player spawn in vastly different settings: Let the player choose between infiltrating a building or a complex in the open und trigger everything around it. Mission persistant choices would require players to enter a sort of code, once they are on a new map, which is fairly easy to incorporate in a mission - just have a locked door and tell the player a decision-dependent code on the earlier map. This of couse carries the possibility of the player forgetting the code. Some bright yellow reminders and help options might be required. Or let the player formulate a plan on map A and give orders to his crew on map B.
All these techniques can (and often should) be combined, allowing for a vastly different mission and outcomes. And scince duncanidaho said, we can only "fake" decisions... well, maybe they are fake - from a technical point of view. But the are jolly good fakes - even pretty real for the players: A friend recommended a mission where you fight your way into a bunker and have to kill lots of guards to steal a valuable item. When you played it, you infiltrated a jungle base quietly. You decides to sneak in instead of fighin, but got cought, chose to explain yourself (instead of fighting your way out - which was an option) and made the former enemy hand over the dangerous item. That doesn't sound fake to me.
A new Foundry author and to shy to post screenshots herself... We probalby have all been there. So, after making the grave mistake of challenging me to post them for her, here they are:
Maybe you find some nice words of encouragement for this new author, who, by the way, is far to critical of her first foundry mission.
*.* Wow! Nice screenshots! Love the one with the Rex... mind telling me what mission that is and the author?
A new Foundry author and to shy to post screenshots herself... We probalby have all been there. So, after making the grave mistake of challenging me to post them for her, here they are:
Maybe you find some nice words of encouragement for this new author, who, by the way, is far to critical of her first foundry mission.
A few WIP screenshots of Legacy Beta, my next Foundry mission.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
It's been a while since we've seen some screenshots. I've been meaning to post something about this for some time, but always seem to get distracted. I'm getting close to finishing putting this mission together, so here it goes.
Here's a few shots from [AEI] "The Three Star Tale, Part 2!"
anyone know a good cost-free image host, I got some stuff I'd like to post but no host for the pictures atm
Imagur seems to be a regular choice (which I'd look into myself if I wasn't "hosting" images through my twitter account.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Just to add those were all taken in the same place and time for some reason the roof was out of frame in the first pic and it's WIP, I need to figure out what to do about the second floor walls for example and the SF logo on the roof wasn't clear enough so, I've already removed it.
> @paxfederatica said: > Presenting Casino Imperiale, from my in-development mission "Mirrorball". The Romulan walls worked best, so I decided to take the idea farther and make it a Romulan-themed casino, with holographic Romulan dealers and dabo girls and Reman bartenders. The vertical Fed consoles in rows are stand-ins for slot machines.
Which one opens the secret passage to Team Rocket HQ???
STAR TREK CONTINUES
Episode One - A Single MomentEpisode Two - InfancyEpisode Three - Unto the Breach Episode Four - Head Of A NeedleEpisode Five: The Duality of MenEpisode Six - Redemption Earned Episode Seven - Shattered UniverseEpisode Eight - The Gepetto ConditionEpisode Nine - One Room, Two Officers Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest StarEpisode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't HurtEpisode Twelve - A Protracted Officer Episode Thirteen - SomewhenEpisode Fourteen - The Boy Who LivedEpisode Fifthteen - Empathy
Here's some more pics now with the second floor walls in place.
the walls will have more decorations in the final version atm I'm trying to get the basic form of the room to work before adding stuff that would distract from that
thanks to misplaced wall piece I noticed this is nice place for a window.
and as with the previous a link as well http://imgur.com/a/0TCPN
Sorry for essentially taking over but here's 4 pics from the hangar I built
Yes this is inside a ship
when I said I made hangar big enough to fit a ground scale Sao Paulo I meant it
a better view of the hangar bay opening and no you can't get down (well you can jump down but you're not intended to)
a peice of corridor leading to the landing bays seen (though you can access only 1 and rest are scenery
as previous any comments or critique is welcomed as long as it's civil, oh and here's the link http://imgur.com/a/SbJyS in case the embeded pics don't work.
a better view of the hangar bay opening and no you can't get down (well you can jump down but you're not intended to)
Just a suggestion - you might want to put up an invisible wall to make sure that players can't jump down. Because otherwise somebody will, and they'll get stuck, and they'll blame you.
Foundry Missions by @zebgodwin Trouble in Trimble: An illicit Reman colony is under attack by Orion pirates. Will you defend the colony or arrest its only defender? Paying the Price: You must protect an uncontacted pre-warp civilization from Orion slavers, without violating the Prime Directive. The Mirror of Infinity: To save your ship, you must convince the descendants of the crew of the long-lost USS Infinity to work with their mortal enemies - their Mirror Universe counterparts. Part of the USS Infinity Foundry Roundtable Challenge. The Tholian Tempest: A rescue mission on a Y-class world leaves the away team stranded inside a Shakespeare play while under attack by Tholians and Gorn. The Trafalgar Paradox: A mission to locate a missing Starfleet vessel leads the away team into a mind-bending temporal paradox.
a better view of the hangar bay opening and no you can't get down (well you can jump down but you're not intended to)
Just a suggestion - you might want to put up an invisible wall to make sure that players can't jump down. Because otherwise somebody will, and they'll get stuck, and they'll blame you.
Yeah I was thinking of doing that either a pair of 5k or 10k walls at same height as that catwalk/bridge to prevent people from jumping off I got few redundant walls (as in something leftover from the time the corridor was visible thru the hangar rather stopping at a closed door a bit behind from where the pic was taken from) on the side with the Sao Paulo on it so I can remove those to get more assets if needed.
I already got an invisible wall stopping the player from jumping out from the landing bay. While mostly done this is still WIP so any suggestions for tweaks are welcome.
added a control center and changed the layout of the shuttles at the main hangar
updated the lighting on this corridor as the old version was too dark
a view of the main hangar from one of the side landing bays
a bit of teaser of a bridge/fleet control center I've building for the same mission.
pic from the orbit of the planet most of this mission happens on (the lighting is what it is, there's not much I can so about that) and catian carrier is a placeholder for a design that exists only in my mind at the moment.
a pic of the entry hall of this govermental estate building
the dining hall of the same building, I'm really satisfied how the light streams inside from the Windows
main meeting halls, the roof is missing atm as I'm not done working on the (inacessble) second floor yet.
as always any civil feed back is welcomed and also the playble part will have blue carpet once I'm done as well as walls will probably be the same sandstone color as the current floor but atm they're all different colors to make building things easier.
I published a "test" version of the mission I'm working on (not even close to a complete project but it's what you have to do to work around some bugs at the moment) and here's 5 pics I took while testing that map with my main.
How the main hall should look like when fully complete (well close enough anyway the colors might not be final ones I use)
The room leading up to the main hall when looking from the hall itself
The main gate to the compound
A view of the security center building and the landing pad
Interior of the security center
the betazoid costume with really bad fashion sense is a placeholder for costume designs I've not done yet and is intentionally bad and out of place (so I won't forget to replace any of them in the final version)
EDIT:oh and if anyone for what ever reason wants to play this incomplete project feel free to contact me and I'll tell you the name and where to find the door (I've intentionally not told the location of the entry door in the description as this isn't ready to be seen by the general public).
To add in seperate post as the forum doesn't like edits, suggestions and comments are welcome and I might also add more details to the locations if people(or just myself) think that's needed.
Comments
Foundry Mission Database
Check out my Foundry missions:
Standalone - The Great Escape - The Galaxy's Fair - Purity I: Of Denial - Return to Oblivion
Untitled Series - Duritanium Man - The Improbable Bulk - Commander Rihan
Before
After (from about the same point)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
And with a fitting backdrop, a ceiling and light 2.0
(Note: This one's out of date; I've since changed the sky backdrop to a different color.)
My Foundry missions | My STO Wiki page | My Twitter home page
Looks awesome!
Maybe you find some nice words of encouragement for this new author, who, by the way, is far to critical of her first foundry mission.
“Our question we have is about the limitations we will have on our story? From what we can see, we can only do so much with The Foundry. We would like to know our boundaries before creating too much of our story.”
“My only question about the Foundry is, can you have a story where your choices effect how it ends? (So a possible multiple ending plot).”
“We’ve played some of the foundry episodes in the game so we have an idea on how a good game would look. Our main issue is with incorporating one of the themes we’ve talked about. I’m just wondering on how exactly we’re supposed to incorporate those and what exactly you’re looking for.”
“I was wondering how we are going to incorporate the formal elements of film into the foundry episode? How would we include character development in these types of episodes?”
“The biggest question we have is what kind of limitations will we have to create a story? From what we saw, the Foundry can only provide so much content. Maybe some limitations can help us creatively, but we would like to know before we get started with the Foundry.”
though questions. I'l try to answer (not a native speaker, so... sorry for bad english
1. The bondaries are clear: It should fit in Star Trek. And, based at the Terms of use, it's better not to use characters from the series/movies. After that, there are some object-limets.
2. Yes, you can. But it's hard work with triggers. One of the german spotlight-foundries have multible endings. @benalexander can say more about it, it's his mission.
3. The most important thing is the story. It shouldn't be "borg attack esd, defend them!" or this should only be the base of the mission. for me a good story has good writing. you don't have the feeling to just warp in, kill a bunch of NPCs and finish. after that, it can be all: an exploration-mission. a more fight-based mission. horror (whish is very hard to do). everything can it be.
4. The Foundry is part of a game. Games aren't movies and work on other rules. and since a good foundry should between 20 and 40 minutes long, a real development isn't easy to archive in this time if it's not a charater-focused story. for a movie-like story-arc with character development, and all the movie stuff you need to make a series. whish is more difficult than one mission.
5. see above. didn't have the object limits at hand right now but i'm sure someone will post them.
Edit:
This video is about the topic, why most film adaptations of games aren't good, but it's good for knowing the difference between a game and a movie (also, I think the complete channel is helpfull for every foundry-author)
Edit again:
About the character develpoment, maybe a exemple is an idea.
For this I will explain the story of my german spotlight trilogy:
In Part one, the Player investigate an anomaly in the vulcan system. It sucks the players ship in and he's stranded in the Mirror-Universe. And there is his self from this universe. because the mirror-me of the players ship is heavily damaged due to a klingon attack (it playes before the cryptic-mirrorstoryarc and the war between the klingon-cardassian alliance and the terrans is still on9). to get home the player needs some things. his mirror-version tells him, that he can ged it from a nearby starbase. in fact, he was on a way to this starbase, because the klingons attacked it.
after the player pick the stuff he need, he's back at the vulcan-system and learns that his version from this universe is captured by the klingons. but the imprisoned mirrir-me of the player can attack the klingon captain and the player can go back home.
In Part two, the player goes back to the mirrorverse for a diplomatic mission. again his mirrorme is greating him, ha could be rescued by terran forces in the meantime. as an act of trust, the mirrir-me wants help from the players: the kilngons again, this time they attack a researchlab from the terrans.
but on the surfside of this planet the player learns, that the terrans do work on a virus whish would kill all klingons and cardassians in the mirror universe. in other word: an holocaust. as an good starfleetofficier the player helps the klingons and must fight against his mirror-self at the end before he goes back home
In Part three the player is tricked by the terrans to go in the mirrorverse and is captured by the terrans for his actions against the terran empire and for the murder on his mirrorself. the players cellmate is an klingon, the son of the general of the last mission. with his help the player is able to contact this general and in an battle on the side of the klingons the player can flee back home in his universe
You see, there is much character development there. the mirror-self of the player who was helpfull in the beginning of this storyarc, the main enemy in the middle and dead at the end. the klingon general for whom we are at the beginning another enemy and at the and an friend and the one who rescued his son.
and the main figure, the player? it depents on the person who's playing. some could have a bad feeling to - in some way - kill themself (or their counterparts from another universe). In fact, at part two i've had a critic that it would be better the help the terrans and he didn't want to fight himself. others may have no development at all. there a situatation and they react. others don't evan read the dialogues.
I hope, this was an helpfull example
There's boundries all over the place, but I found that they help creativity. For one, the Foundry editor is a 2D interface that can only make use of existing game assets. We cannot make truly original visual content, only original combinations of content. But that also simplifies our job, because we don't have to render original assets. We just make use of what Cryptic has provided. Here's some example maps (in the spoiler tag), showing some of what we can do.
And some example characters:
It's worth thinking about feasibility when approaching a Foundry build, so getting to know the editor, how it works, and what we have to play with is very important. There's not much else I can say on that, it's just a matter of getting hands-on experience.
Also important are the explicit guidelines on making Foundry content. I've linked them off here.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1009558/the-foundry-end-user-license-agreement/p1
What it boils down to is that we can make original Star Trek content, referencing the live action TV shows and movies. We cannot use actor's likenesses (so any old character is out) though we can use Cryptic original STO characters. But that just means we have to rely on our own imagination, for the most part, to create original episodes/series. Keep in mind that you are also writing for an audience consisting entirely of STO players. That also provides some constraint, though perhaps the least impactful to how you write (since people seem pretty willing to go along with things provided they fit broadly under the Star Trek umbrella.)
You can fake it, but multiple endings and mission-persistent choices are not built into the editor. What you can do is use pop-up mission dialog and triggers outside of official objectives to tie single-map state changes (ex. spawning 1 character over another, enemy NPC's or none at all) that provide the illusion of choice while players proceed through the single specified mission objective path. Exactly how is a technical discussion, and perhaps best left until after one gets the basics down.
It depends on what kind of theme you're talking about. If it's a narrative theme (ex. loss, hope, exploration) then it's just a matter of writing (a lot of it will come through plot, dialog, and objective choices). If it's a mission theme (ex. the latest Foundry challenge) then it's a matter of creating an original story that fits the guidelines. It's difficult to provide advice for exactly how to do that (it's a question of "how do I make a story?" The subject is a big one and a lot of us approach it intuitively) so I can only say "jump in and experiment."
In my first episode I worked out a method for having 2 or more characters have a conversation outside of the player's perspective, allowing for scenes that basically play out like any TV show or film scene (with cues directing actions that can't be conveyed through character portrait boxes, ex sighing, sitting, standing, punching, hugging, ect.)
Basically, you just write a script. Character A has their lines (plus any cues), character B has their lines in turn. Here's what the raw text looks like (from MS word, where I sometimes write Foundry content for later transfer to the editor):
Each line has it's own own dialog box, presenting character portrait (with a small selection of moods, ex. sad, angry, afraid) plus your dialog. I don't happen to have an in-game screenshot, but in the editor it looks something like this:
With the player advancing by clicking the appropriate dialog option (which you can set to whatever you like. In scenes like this, I just use "continue listening.")
I haven't found lately that this method of writing for the Foundry precludes me from writing things that would fit into a formal film (except for car chases
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Blending assets together, custom lit interiors, rationalized decor, that's some serious Foundry author stuff. This new author is doing a great job!
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Alternate mission objectives and / or endings are - in my opinion - among the most complicated things you can do in the foundry. Using triggers, dialog trees and obejcts outside of objectives is the most common way you will find. You could, as duncanidaho wrote, add additional enemy NPCs to a map, if a security system is not deactivated. Most techniques work something like that: Spawning or despawning stuff outside the main mission line. One could say, these are not alternate objectives, but alternate paths to the same objective. Side missions with "mission reward" like battle assistance work like that, too.
Technically, the objectives are always the same, always linear. But if you phrase them the right way, they could mean anything. "Find the Klingon" for example could mean "Kill him" or "Talk to him". Depending on the story, the player will get what is expected. This, of course, ties in with the method explained earlier: You would have to trigger pretty much everything in your map depending oin the choices players make.
Other techniques deal with the mission objectives themselfes. So no more "faking" mission objectives through intermittent "objectives" in Popup Dialogs. You can have the player skip a Kill Enemy objective by killing the NPCs for him / her. Other objectives (Interact with object / Reach Marker) can be met on different parts of the map, by use of floors, large and invisible objects. You could, for example, let the player interact with an object or reach a marker on oppisite sides of a map with vastly differnt paths to take. This is of couse quite hard to pull of - especially with Reach Markers if you want them to be reached only at specific, distant points, but not in between. Custom interiors are a good candidate for a map that would allow a technique like this.
Another way is to use a Complete All box to allow the player to choose between different paths in the same mission. This can get complicated and - again - involves a lot of triggers. The basic trick is to use triggers to change the map depending on which objectives the player decides to do first.
Yet another possibility is to incorporate a Respawn Point into the mission as another challange, the player has to overcome, e.g. Respawn - Dialog "You have been cought, now escape" - additional guards, a new part of the map, etc. It is even possible to have the player spawn in vastly different settings: Let the player choose between infiltrating a building or a complex in the open und trigger everything around it. Mission persistant choices would require players to enter a sort of code, once they are on a new map, which is fairly easy to incorporate in a mission - just have a locked door and tell the player a decision-dependent code on the earlier map. This of couse carries the possibility of the player forgetting the code. Some bright yellow reminders and help options might be required. Or let the player formulate a plan on map A and give orders to his crew on map B.
All these techniques can (and often should) be combined, allowing for a vastly different mission and outcomes. And scince duncanidaho said, we can only "fake" decisions... well, maybe they are fake - from a technical point of view. But the are jolly good fakes - even pretty real for the players: A friend recommended a mission where you fight your way into a bunker and have to kill lots of guards to steal a valuable item. When you played it, you infiltrated a jungle base quietly. You decides to sneak in instead of fighin, but got cought, chose to explain yourself (instead of fighting your way out - which was an option) and made the former enemy hand over the dangerous item. That doesn't sound fake to me.
Looks great. the T-Rex shot is awesome.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Here's a few shots from [AEI] "The Three Star Tale, Part 2!"
"No matter where you go...there you are."
Imagur seems to be a regular choice (which I'd look into myself if I wasn't "hosting" images through my twitter account.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
My character Tsin'xing
any advice and critique would be welcome.
> Presenting Casino Imperiale, from my in-development mission "Mirrorball". The Romulan walls worked best, so I decided to take the idea farther and make it a Romulan-themed casino, with holographic Romulan dealers and dabo girls and Reman bartenders. The vertical Fed consoles in rows are stand-ins for slot machines.
Which one opens the secret passage to Team Rocket HQ???
Episode Four - Head Of A Needle Episode Five: The Duality of Men Episode Six - Redemption Earned
Episode Seven - Shattered Universe Episode Eight - The Gepetto Condition Episode Nine - One Room, Two Officers
Episode Ten - Beyond The Farthest Star Episode Eleven - It's OK, It Won't Hurt Episode Twelve - A Protracted Officer
Episode Thirteen - Somewhen Episode Fourteen - The Boy Who Lived Episode Fifthteen - Empathy
the walls will have more decorations in the final version atm I'm trying to get the basic form of the room to work before adding stuff that would distract from that
thanks to misplaced wall piece I noticed this is nice place for a window.
and as with the previous a link as well http://imgur.com/a/0TCPN
Yes this is inside a ship
when I said I made hangar big enough to fit a ground scale Sao Paulo I meant it
a better view of the hangar bay opening and no you can't get down (well you can jump down but you're not intended to)
a peice of corridor leading to the landing bays seen (though you can access only 1 and rest are scenery
as previous any comments or critique is welcomed as long as it's civil, oh and here's the link http://imgur.com/a/SbJyS in case the embeded pics don't work.
Just a suggestion - you might want to put up an invisible wall to make sure that players can't jump down. Because otherwise somebody will, and they'll get stuck, and they'll blame you.
Trouble in Trimble: An illicit Reman colony is under attack by Orion pirates. Will you defend the colony or arrest its only defender?
Paying the Price: You must protect an uncontacted pre-warp civilization from Orion slavers, without violating the Prime Directive.
The Mirror of Infinity: To save your ship, you must convince the descendants of the crew of the long-lost USS Infinity to work with their mortal enemies - their Mirror Universe counterparts. Part of the USS Infinity Foundry Roundtable Challenge.
The Tholian Tempest: A rescue mission on a Y-class world leaves the away team stranded inside a Shakespeare play while under attack by Tholians and Gorn.
The Trafalgar Paradox: A mission to locate a missing Starfleet vessel leads the away team into a mind-bending temporal paradox.
Yeah I was thinking of doing that either a pair of 5k or 10k walls at same height as that catwalk/bridge to prevent people from jumping off I got few redundant walls (as in something leftover from the time the corridor was visible thru the hangar rather stopping at a closed door a bit behind from where the pic was taken from) on the side with the Sao Paulo on it so I can remove those to get more assets if needed.
I already got an invisible wall stopping the player from jumping out from the landing bay. While mostly done this is still WIP so any suggestions for tweaks are welcome.
added a control center and changed the layout of the shuttles at the main hangar
updated the lighting on this corridor as the old version was too dark
a view of the main hangar from one of the side landing bays
a bit of teaser of a bridge/fleet control center I've building for the same mission.
and of course link in case the embed pics don't work http://imgur.com/a/Mun9m
pic from the orbit of the planet most of this mission happens on (the lighting is what it is, there's not much I can so about that) and catian carrier is a placeholder for a design that exists only in my mind at the moment.
a pic of the entry hall of this govermental estate building
the dining hall of the same building, I'm really satisfied how the light streams inside from the Windows
main meeting halls, the roof is missing atm as I'm not done working on the (inacessble) second floor yet.
as always any civil feed back is welcomed and also the playble part will have blue carpet once I'm done as well as walls will probably be the same sandstone color as the current floor but atm they're all different colors to make building things easier.
EDIT:almost forgot the link to the gallery http://imgur.com/a/f9ezk
How the main hall should look like when fully complete (well close enough anyway the colors might not be final ones I use)
The room leading up to the main hall when looking from the hall itself
The main gate to the compound
A view of the security center building and the landing pad
Interior of the security center
the betazoid costume with really bad fashion sense is a placeholder for costume designs I've not done yet and is intentionally bad and out of place (so I won't forget to replace any of them in the final version)
oh and here's the link http://imgur.com/a/7bqzb
EDIT:oh and if anyone for what ever reason wants to play this incomplete project feel free to contact me and I'll tell you the name and where to find the door (I've intentionally not told the location of the entry door in the description as this isn't ready to be seen by the general public).