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What is your Favorite part of Mission Creation?
starfarertheta
Member Posts: 740 Arc User
What could you never get tired doing? Do you like to weave together complex narrative into an engaging story? Could you spend all day building and perfecting that striking world for others to explore? Are you an (evil?) mastermind who's all too eager to challenge your players? Perhaps you're a jack of all trades who can do all this and possibly more? Or is there a secret talent unique to you?
There's no wrong answer here.
There's no wrong answer here.
What is your Favorite part of Mission Creation? 10 votes
Building maps.
50%
5 votes
Writing the story.
40%
4 votes
Devising gameplay (things the player can do i.e. puzzles, diplomacy, and battles)
0%
The whole must be as one. (maps + story + gameplay + other)
10%
1 vote
Other (please specify)
0%
Post edited by starfarertheta on
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I find that once I have created the maps and then populated them with possible challenges, a good part of the story is actually writing itself for me. This is not to say that I load up bad guys and story done, but, as I work through the process, the story reveals itself to me, and the creation of dialogue becomes much easier and more natural.
I've tried writing a story first, but find building the environment first to be more practical, as the options available through the Foundry may not meet the requirements of an independently conceived narrative.
For example, a while back I had this idea floating around in my head for a story where Starfleet characters and their Mirror Universe counterparts were trapped together somewhere and had been fighting each other for generations, since the TOS era. Then when the "USS Infinity" Foundry challenge was announced, the pieces all fell into place - I knew what my story was. Then it was just a matter of building it in the editor.
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.
I almost have the same process you do.
The difference being that I like to make up an outline to start just so I know what kinds of maps I'll need. The story is never finalised until I've finished the map though, which I like to take my time on. Building maps is practically stress relief for me.
Actually I have a tendancy to spend too much time on map making (especially with my current project) mostly because I can get stressed out writing dialogue for the story. It seems I'm of the wordy type, and some typos can get by me. Many lessons were learned after making Omnitabula. On the plus side, I've gotten really good at building skycastles.
Your method certainly works. I really enjoyed your Infinity mission.
I like the think of the story as the glue that holds the mission together.
To be clear though, this poll is more about what you enjoy doing the most in the foundry. I didn't really intend for any answers to be interpreted as a declaration of what one thinks is most important. I like to think every part is important, just that one of those might be more enjoyable to work on than the others. It all comes down to personal preference.
P.S. - Somehow, I'm not entirely surprised to see that Duncan enjoys doing everything.
So, I like everything in the Foundry. Costumes, maps, dialog, gameplay, because what I'm interested in here is building the experience (in total.)
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!
Writing dialogue, on the other hand... that's something I never get tired of.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
yeah the 2-D is annoying, constantly loading the map so I can visualize what the prop looks like and they fit together can take up a lot of time.
Still ... I like custom maps
A top down 2D interface also its advantages. I've dabbled with Halo's forge mode (which has a 3D, Foundry-ish map building component) and I honestly prefer working with the Foundry. We have to load the map to visualize but once you have something down one can do a tremendous amount work in a short space of time (and get on with other things) because you're working from the top down omniscient perspective, with rapid mass item selection, no worries about the orientation of your POV, and very fine control.
It has a nice balance of accessibility (you don't need dev experience to get into this) and capability, with the drawback that it's good to have something on in the background as you're waiting through the loading screens.
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!