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Planning a scenario?


Handyman
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Hello all,

 

I'm new to designing scenarios. I was wondering what parts of a scenario should be planned out first. Is there a set priority? Like, will I have to code things before I paint things in the editor, or is BoA relatively unrestricted like that?

 

Thanks!

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You can do it in any order you want; likely you'll want to bounce back and forth between drawing terrain, placing objects, and wiring it all up with scripts. Incremental testing can also help a lot to make sure that the pieces are doing what you expect them to.

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I have two methods of working, depending how well formed my plan is. One method I use if I'm unsure how I want the scenario to end, or don't have much planned beyond an idea, is to draw the entire scenario in the editor, planning out what I'll need as I go until I have a clear idea of what's going to happen. Then I script, and blah blah blah.

 

Alternatively, if I have the majority of the scenario already planned, or if the scenario is particularly linear, I'll complete each town in order, not moving on to make the next one until the previous one is drawn/coded/had items/monsters/dialogue placed.

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The thing with Alint is it doesn't really catch anything that you shouldn't pick up during your own pre-beta testing. For that reason it's not really worth using, especially if your scenario is a small one (which is should be if its your first).

 

(I will concede that if you have a large number of scripts its probably worthwhile, but even then, eh.)

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Alint catches the same mistakes that the game will if you play the scenario, but it will report them all at once, rather than one by one, and waiting for the particular bit of the script containing the error to be triggered. I prefer to always use it after editing a script to quickly eliminate dumb little syntax errors, so that they aren't a distraction later. One certainly doesn't have to use it, though.

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I know; I didn't like unlocking it just to post that correction when considering that that's pretty much why it was locked in the first place (well, sort of), which is why I posted it here instead.

 

The only think you'd have to be careful of with using *.txt is that any non-script text files (eg readme, notes) would be included in that; there might be a way around this without removing those files, but I'm not really sure.

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Originally Posted By: Handyman
Hello all,

I'm new to designing scenarios. I was wondering what parts of a scenario should be planned out first. Is there a set priority? Like, will I have to code things before I paint things in the editor, or is BoA relatively unrestricted like that?

Thanks!


Handyman. Grab a composition notebook and write out the events you want to have happen. Ending doesn't need to be there right away, nor does the beginning but try to maintain a rough order. Then, feel free to jump into the editor. Build the towns. This should give you a solid base from which to flesh out the rest of the game.

As you build your initial towns think about the beginning & end if you've left it out.
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