Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

Hiya,

I ain't sure if this is the right place to put this message, but i want to know how you guys make these big campaigns.

How do you tell the FRED'ers how to make the missions??

Do you have the mission outlines such as:

Events?
amount of ships?
primary, secondary and bonus objectives

and other stuff like that.

i know i can make a mission, but i need info from the developer.

I wanna help with campaigns and stuff, but i am not good at the positioning stuff.

I know how to make a ship vulnerable when a ship arrives or make them invulnerable when they get disabled and/or disarmed.

I bet this is nowhere near good enough to help with major campaigns is it???

Please be completely honest with me...

JamieK

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

Hiya,

I ain't sure if this is the right place to put this message, but i want to know how you guys make these big campaigns.

How do you tell the FRED'ers how to make the missions??

Do you have the mission outlines such as:

Events?
amount of ships?
primary, secondary and bonus objectives

and other stuff like that.

i know i can make a mission, but i need info from the developer.

I wanna help with campaigns and stuff, but i am not good at the positioning stuff.

I know how to make a ship vulnerable when a ship arrives or make them invulnerable when they get disabled and/or disarmed.

I bet this is nowhere near good enough to help with major campaigns is it???

Please be completely honest with me...

JamieK

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location:
Posts: 1234

Now this is an interesting topic. I hope to learn some tips from the ways you guys do it.

For Mindgames we work this way.

The Mission plotlines were worked out over a 3-4 member IRC session and then written up by me into a document which explained the whole of the campaign.

This document was sent to the various mission designers because I didn`t want anyone working on a mission unless they had an idea of how the mission fitted into the campaign as a whole.

The itself outline covered any major events but was mostly a rough guide to what the mission outcome would/should be.

After that I pretty much left it to the mission designer to decide which ships, events and messages would be needed to achieve the desired mission out come. The fact that they had the whole mission file should have helped them come up with a balanced mission which fit inside the MG setting.

As for if it is good enough that depends on if the campaign staff are willing to help you get better. When MG was hiring we pushed the fact that myself and Lady Rose were always ready to answer any questions from our FREDders as well as to help teach better ways of doing things.

__________________
Questions about FS3? Questions about Fred? Questions about missions? Questions about adding new ships to your games?

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Supreme Overlord of The Mercury Affair Campaign.

FREDder, Modder, Story design and general busybody for [URL=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/mindgames/Background.html] Mind Games[/URL]

Last edited by karajorma on 03-31-2003 at 09:55 PM

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location:
Posts: 1234

Now this is an interesting topic. I hope to learn some tips from the ways you guys do it.

For Mindgames we work this way.

The Mission plotlines were worked out over a 3-4 member IRC session and then written up by me into a document which explained the whole of the campaign.

This document was sent to the various mission designers because I didn`t want anyone working on a mission unless they had an idea of how the mission fitted into the campaign as a whole.

The itself outline covered any major events but was mostly a rough guide to what the mission outcome would/should be.

After that I pretty much left it to the mission designer to decide which ships, events and messages would be needed to achieve the desired mission out come. The fact that they had the whole mission file should have helped them come up with a balanced mission which fit inside the MG setting.

As for if it is good enough that depends on if the campaign staff are willing to help you get better. When MG was hiring we pushed the fact that myself and Lady Rose were always ready to answer any questions from our FREDders as well as to help teach better ways of doing things.

__________________
Questions about FS3? Questions about Fred? Questions about missions? Questions about adding new ships to your games?

[URL=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/karajorma/freespace/intro.html]Karajorma's Freespace FAQ [/URL] (now with added GE goodness)

Supreme Overlord of The Mercury Affair Campaign.

FREDder, Modder, Story design and general busybody for [URL=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/mindgames/Background.html] Mind Games[/URL]

Last edited by karajorma on 03-31-2003 at 09:55 PM

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 214

As for Silent Threat: Reborn, the Port staff all sat down in a chat room and discussed how we were going to refine the story. We boiled it down to its basic elements, then beefed it up in a good way, and restructured the missions around that.

For the mission outlines themselves, I put down rough briefings and debriefings, what major ships are included, and any important events. I leave it up to the mission designer to flesh out the full briefing, debriefing, and message text, any minor events, and the ship positions.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Imperial Palace, Coruscant
Posts: 272

As for Silent Threat: Reborn, the Port staff all sat down in a chat room and discussed how we were going to refine the story. We boiled it down to its basic elements, then beefed it up in a good way, and restructured the missions around that.

For the mission outlines themselves, I put down rough briefings and debriefings, what major ships are included, and any important events. I leave it up to the mission designer to flesh out the full briefing, debriefing, and message text, any minor events, and the ship positions.

__________________
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[url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/fsport/]Revisit the Great War at the Freespace Port![/url]

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

seems easy enough........but since my time at Secondary School (High School for you USA People) i lost all my story writing imagination.

I would like to help with a major campaign, as i said, i need alot of practice.......and how can i practice if i ain't got a storyline or anything to do. ???

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

seems easy enough........but since my time at Secondary School (High School for you USA People) i lost all my story writing imagination.

I would like to help with a major campaign, as i said, i need alot of practice.......and how can i practice if i ain't got a storyline or anything to do. ???

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 76

You can join SA once summer comes and I have time to write out the rest of the mission scripts.

SA has been fairly top down as far as general plot goes. I wrote out the main story, and provide a few paragraphs about what is supposed to happen in a mission insofar as the story line is concerned. But aside from any details about what should (or should not) be included for the story's sake, I let the designer decide for himself how to go about making happen what needs to happen.

The basic structure for one of my mission script blurbs is as follows:

mission_file_name.fs2. Author: Whoever
One sentence description.
Background/Description: Info about how the mission fits into the larger story (which is written and posted for the Fredders to read).
System Location: Where it takes place.
Mission Objectives: Obvious, n'est pas?
Plot/Notes: Details about what I need to have happen in the mission.

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Sesqu... Sesqui... what?
[url=http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=sesquipedalian]Sesquipedalian[/url], the best word in the English language.

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Last edited by Sesquipedalian! on 04-01-2003 at 07:45 AM

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 76

You can join SA once summer comes and I have time to write out the rest of the mission scripts.

SA has been fairly top down as far as general plot goes. I wrote out the main story, and provide a few paragraphs about what is supposed to happen in a mission insofar as the story line is concerned. But aside from any details about what should (or should not) be included for the story's sake, I let the designer decide for himself how to go about making happen what needs to happen.

The basic structure for one of my mission script blurbs is as follows:

mission_file_name.fs2. Author: Whoever
One sentence description.
Background/Description: Info about how the mission fits into the larger story (which is written and posted for the Fredders to read).
System Location: Where it takes place.
Mission Objectives: Obvious, n'est pas?
Plot/Notes: Details about what I need to have happen in the mission.

__________________
Sesqu... Sesqui... what?
[url=http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=sesquipedalian]Sesquipedalian[/url], the best word in the English language.

[url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/scroll/index.html]The Scroll of Atankharzim[/url]

Last edited by Sesquipedalian! on 04-01-2003 at 07:45 AM

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

sure, but since this would be my first time helping with a campaign, i would recommend you check it before finalizing it.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

erm, i think GTF Claymore is a rip off of the Starfury on Babylon 5......it looks ALOT like it. lol

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 76

Well, I do as a general rule ask for a sample mission from potential Fredders before granting them access to the SA internal forum, but like karajorma I am willing and happy to take on learners. I do want SA to be perfect, so expect to learn well.

__________________
Sesqu... Sesqui... what?
[url=http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=sesquipedalian]Sesquipedalian[/url], the best word in the English language.

[url=http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/scroll/index.html]The Scroll of Atankharzim[/url]

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

i understand that, since you want it to be perfect, when i make the missions, you give it a once or twice over to see if everything is right and no fatal mistakes are bad. lol

You can't play a mission where you need to protect a GTI outpost and find out i forgot to add it in the mission. lol

It has happend to me before. lol

but hey, i was suffering withdrawl symptoms with lack of sleep. lol

so, send me all the info to: jamiek@psychonet.co.uk


thanks,
JamieK

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: London, UK
Posts: 682

i understand that, since you want it to be perfect, when i make the missions, you give it a once or twice over to see if everything is right and no fatal mistakes are bad. lol

You can't play a mission where you need to protect a GTI outpost and find out i forgot to add it in the mission. lol

It has happend to me before. lol

but hey, i was suffering withdrawl symptoms with lack of sleep. lol

so, send me all the info to: jamiek@psychonet.co.uk


thanks,
JamieK

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