Rufo

*sigh* Guess you're right. Nothing beats the naturally bad scenarios (I still wonder what that lost_king trilogy is... ) . And who would play it anyway? I still think it can be done though, as some kind of parody maybe, so you won't get rid of it that easily .

If you are talking about creating new races, Jeff made clear before Spiderweb released the editor that there wouldn't be any possibility to do that. His intention with creating the editor was that people should design scenarios about the Avernum universe, he hadn't time or money to create a RPG development utility. Thus he didn't include a possibility to design new races.

 

I don't think it's a bad idea, thought. I wouldn't mind some Vahnatai in the party...but I guess they're more bound to their people than Sliths and Nephils. So they wouldn't join a party of adventurers just like that.

But we'll see. Maybe some day I hope...

I haven't played the lost_king trilogy, but whatever it is, I will do my best to make something worse. Promise.

I'm planning a quite strange scenario called "Dread Diseased". The name comes from the Article "10 Dread Diseases" by The Creator and the scenario is simply a example of everything a scerario shouldn't be. In other words, I'm trying to make the very worst scenario ever - based upon this list of diseases (which will all be in the scenario) and doing the complete opposite to all advices I've ever read. So my ambition is to create something that people can look at and say: "Learn from this, my friend, this is terribly bad."

 

I truly am pathetic, am I not?

 

I will try to create it with the unregistred version, since disease 6: Delusions of Grandeur requires that. The question is if it will be playable (as I can never test it with the unregistred version). Maybe I'll have to register after all...

This has been discussed on the BoA forum, in this thread . As you can see, everyone who replied (except for me) hated the idea, and no one (except for Kennedy, who started the thread) thought it was possible. I still don't think it's a very bad idea, but read this thread before you consider it further.

I think this is the answer you seek (I found it in an old thread). Good luck.

Appearently not any interview I was able to find... Was that long ago? I checked the interviews in the Spidweb.com News section and I didn't find it. Any clues?

Yes, where?? Not at Spidweb.com, not at Drakefyre's Demesne, and I can't find them with Google. Are they confidential information or something? I'm an extremely curious person, so if I can see them, please give me the link. If I can't... well, then just explain to me why.

Well, Half-life actually was a GAME, more than a utility, it had lots and lots of levels. No offense to the Blades of Avernum included scenarios - they are great - but as I understand it they were created to show what the engine could preform. After all, the first people who bought Half-life, and thereby made it popular, hardly thought that they bought a engine they would use for creating scenarios. Half-life didn't even include an editor (I think). The reason why people started to mod Half-life was that they liked the GAME, not only the engine. So the programmer's fear isn't silly at all - if Valve had released just the engine and some example levels, maybe Half-life wouldn't have been far as famous as it is today.

 

What I was trying to say was that more people should do as Jeff Vogel and make a game/utility focused on the editor, not the premade game. Because, as you say, people like making games. And I do.

I'm also a hobbyist game programmer, but I've never released any shareware games, just freeware (that's why I call myself "hobbyist" ).

 

But in fact, it was game editors that made me intrested in it. I think it all started with the one for Age of Empires, but it was the Blades of Exile editor that really made me understand how great game design really is.

 

I truly agree with you about RPGs - they are a LOT harder to develop than arcade games. But, at a matter of fact, I think they are also much better. When the very first RPGs came, they brought the idea of telling a story in the game, which quickly spread to other genres. But telling a story with a game is (at least for me) quite harder than telling it with words or pictures. I truly admire everyone who has ever finished a RPG.

 

As for Blades - I agree, there's a great idea behind it. I'm almost suprised that so few game developers dares to release a game and say:

"Here is an engine - here is an editor - here is some good examples of what you can do with them - get started."

Maybe most progammers are afraid no one would create any scenarios. But it works! And as you say, everyone gets happy in the end.

Maybe I'm just entirely stupid , but if you refer to the "real" Marx and Pinochet, I actually don't think Marx ever murdered (or sent someone to murder) anyone. Lexicons says he "participated in the revolution", but then mostly as a writer and not as some kind of killer.
Pinochet, however, clearly ordered lots of people to be killed. So I think it's kind of fair to portray Pinochet as more evil, whatever you may say about Marx politics.
But let's not make Spiderweb Message Boards into a political or historical forum - to the point.
Creator, I really do think you got a point, but there are different types of scenarios. BoA takes place in a fantasy world - and after all, almost every old fairy tale has this simple "he-is-a-evil-wizard-and-he-wants-to-be-evil-just-because-he's-so-evil" concept, and thought it may make people feel a bit stupid playing it, you can make a good story out of that too. Remember that in Lord of the Rings (and now I'm talking about the the books, not the scenarios) Sauron didn't really had a good reason to not just join up with the good people, tell them to please give him his ring, and living happily with the Vala for eternal time. He's just evil. And Lord of the Rings seems good to me anyway...
Is a scenario very different?
I don't say all scenarios have to be this simple, I just say they don't all have to be that advanced. We all need some fairytales.

Thanks for giving me the link, it's the right one (which I never found before, how stupid of me not to use Google), but there is no form at the page. It's just like when they're not looking for Beta testers.

 

Jeez, was I too late already?

I can't find any form on Spiderwebsoftware.com. Has it disappeared already or hasn't it been added yet?

In real life (you know, that boring place outside Blades of Avernum ), most roads has got a thin layer of gravel on them. If you step on them, it actually produces more of a "crunching" sound than a "stepping" sound.

The reason why people save the files in JPG instead of the correct BMP is that BMP files takes a lot more web space. People who wants to put their graphics on a website will have trouble if they use a lot of custom graphics.

 

Still, the JPG images is not enought exact, as you say. So we will have to use BMP. It might be added that it has nothing to do with the BoA editor, so don't bother sending messages to Jeff telling him to "fix" it. It's a unavoidable problem.

There is a custom graphics database for BoA called The Louvre, which also has a guide to creating custom graphics yourself. It's not like easy to create graphics even with a guide, but it's still better than a article if you want to try it out. I'll put a link here.

 

The Louvre - Creating BoA graphics

 

Draw a lot of graphics and have fun!

Though a place to leave your stuff would be useful, are you sure it would be good for the game? You are meant to be a party of adventurers, and adventurers generally doesn't have such a "home". This would take away some of the good choices BoA forces you to do - i.e. if you should pick up a good, but heavy, item. Is it worth the trouble to carry it with you?

With this storage place you could leave heavy items to pick them up later, then removing some of the point with that choice - which is a part of the game. Are you really sure you would like to have such a dungeon, even if it was possible?

I'm pretty new on scenario design too, but I guess this order should be appropriate:

1. Outdoors -

Becuase it's the world. Everything is "inside" this section, so to make things work together and get the idea of what your world looks like I would do it first.

2. Town -

You usually start the game in a town, so make sure you have a place to start before you do the rest. Other towns can wait.

3. Items -

Do some items for the first town and make sure it looks good. Other items can wait.

4. Dialogue -

So you can get the first quest and make your town alive.

5. Dungeons -

So you can finish the quests you got in the first town and get some XP.

6. Other towns -

When you're done with most of the dungeons, you can start with new towns and new dialogue for them.

7. Items -

Create the rest of the important items, then create less important items as you work.

 

I guess more experinced designers can help you, but this is the way I'd do it...

As BoA takes place in a magical world, a possible way of getting rid of the scenario's major weapon would be to link it to the last boss in some way. Technically I guess it could be done by editing the boss' death state. In the plot it sounds just great if the Great Sword of Justice is split to pieces when you use it to slay the Great Dragon of Evil. That way you'll not need to bother about if the major weapon isn't good for other scenarios.

(The bad thing about this is that you for the best effect must have the major weapon to kill the bad lord/lady/creature/whatever, which will make the Final Battle a bit boring. However, I'm sure there is a way to solve that.)