Starting campaign design: what to do?

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shevegen
Posts: 497
Joined: June 3rd, 2004, 4:35 pm

Starting campaign design: what to do?

Post by shevegen »

This is actually a genuine question, so let me put down the context.

My old pen-and-paper roleplay group back in the days got, well, older. Dudes moved on to work
24/7, most of them are engaged, have kids and so on and so forth.

During that time we created quite a LOT of content and played quite a lot of different RPG systems.
So basically I kind of have a "game world" as-is. So, mostly, the background stuff I won't have a
problem with, e. g. when creating a campaign for wesnoth (ok ok, not really for wesnoth, but
in a playing style SIMILAR to wesnoth).

It may be broken or not quite so playable, depending on how strict I may adhere to the setting
lore, but by and large, I have no problem with "content" per se.

I think back in 2006 or some such I already created some maps for the initial scenario. So I know
a little bit. A LOT of stuff I can also auto-generate via ruby as such. (If that ever is done, I can
link in to rubygems.org too for people to re-use, so that part is also ok.)

So the biggest question for me is ... aside from actually really not knowing WML that well (but
I could now use lua yes? So I probably would opt for that instead ... I don't know how much
lua is restricted, but I'd rather go via lua than use XML again).

Now to the MAIN question here:

- How to go about testing all of this?

Ideally I'd love to create a lot of content, even if it is buggy. So I'd like to do fast test-cycles
and what not.

I plan to do this perhaps around xmas/end of the year more, as I tend to have more time
around that (give or take; I am not really into snow-holidays anymore, too much stress
waiting for passing transport up a hill ...).

I don't really want to make it an "official" campaign, though, until this has become more
fleshed out really.

Is it possible to use some kind of test server, but to also allow other folks to test the campaign,
without this necessarily being available for everyone to play yet?
I am fine with early
feedback but I kind of don't want to add something that is super-beta and super-incomplete.

So a bit like a semi-open initial campaign.

Aside from this, any advice when starting with designing a campaign that actually works?
For instance right now I have no real idea how to progress from scenario 1 to scenario 2.
Is there some template one could use to build up? How about documentation about
event-related parts? (Ideally in lua then I suppose.)

Any useful info is very much appreciated. I'll intend to invest more time come December,
including thinking a bit about a ruby-gtk3 editor (will be crappy, but I just want to see
whether it can still be useful).

Rewording the above, I kind of may need some "testing grounds", "playfield" or what not
to test stuff.
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Pentarctagon
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Re: Starting campaign design: what to do?

Post by Pentarctagon »

I suppose there's the trunk add-ons server (aka https://addons.wesnoth.org/trunk/).
99 little bugs in the code, 99 little bugs
take one down, patch it around
-2,147,483,648 little bugs in the code
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Jarom
Posts: 110
Joined: January 4th, 2015, 8:23 pm
Location: Green Isle, Irdya or Poland, Earth - I'm not quite sure

Re: Starting campaign design: what to do?

Post by Jarom »

For the main question: you can distribute your campaign's code and resources through any means you deem feasible - Pentarctagon mentioned trunk add-ons server, but many people use github in testing phase. Then you can test it on official or alternative wesnoth server with password - this way no one will be able to join your games without you letting them.

As for common lua/WML question, the answer is, you can use pretty much any WML tag using underlying lua functions (check the docs and source) but it's going to be an uphill battle, as they are designed to take a WML config content as parameter. Of course you can use various means to circumvent this issue, but essentially that's a bad solution. It's best to get yourself familiar with WML - it's pretty easy, well documented and has lots of examples. As a starting project it might be good to download a simple add-on or two (see "WML Guide" campaign) and check wesnoth's campaign folders for reference. As a side note, WML is not exactly XML, just somewhat similar. Since you're probably planning something RPG-like, you're probably going to use lua at some point, but it's better for complementing WML.

Here you can find something like a root for most important WML docs, including the link to event handlers docs and this is where you can find documentation on the [campaign] tag itself. Changing from scenario to scenario is pretty simple: either you use default next_scenario= key in [scenario] with value corresponding to other scenario's id= key, or use identical key in [endlevel] tag, which allows for scenario branching.

EDIT: I initially forgot to mention, that there exist pages about file structure and actual WML docs root that somewhat big but eventually leads everywhere. There's also the tutorial which I never used so I can't say whether it's good or bad.
gnombat
Posts: 682
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:49 pm

Re: Starting campaign design: what to do?

Post by gnombat »

Note that there are a lot of add-ons on the add-ons server which are incomplete - most add-on developers will warn users of this by mentioning it in the add-on description (e.g., "Unfinished", "For testing purposes only", etc.) and by giving the add-on a very low version number starting with zero (e.g., 0.1).
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Spannerbag
Posts: 505
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Re: Starting campaign design: what to do?

Post by Spannerbag »

shevegen wrote: October 16th, 2021, 10:47 pm ...
How to go about testing all of this?
...
Aside from this, any advice when starting with designing a campaign that actually works?
...
Fwiw, a few thoughts.

Development styles vary, some people post incomplete UMC (User Made Content) for feedback (story, characterisation, dialogue, gameplay, difficulty level etc.). However I wouldn't worry too much about publishing beta stuff providing it's playable and isn't broken.
Personally I am the opposite :)

I agree with Jarom: using WML will make life easier.
However... if you download the development version of Wesnoth (1.15.18) from Wesnoth.org, that comes with World Conquest a multiplayer campaign that would appear - from my limited poking around -to be written entirely in lua.
You could take a look at that, but you'll be very much diving in at the deep end...

WML is (IMHO) optimised for set piece battles rather than role playing. That said, there are excellent RPG style campaigns such as Trader and Voyage of a Drake for example - not sure if the former is still available though...
You could download these and steal their stuff examine their code for ideas.

When I made my UMC I just dived in; story was incomplete and grew (alongside my understanding of WML) as development progressed.
I ended up with a far bigger campaign than expected (it would actually probably have been better to have split it into three separate but linked campaigns).
And it took me ages to finish.
Large and/or logically complex campaigns can take some time to develop and polish.
There are various components, off the top of my head these tasks come to mind (doubtless other folk will fill in anything I've missed out):
  • Creating interesting maps (IMHO getting these right is as important as coding and characterisation/dialogue).
  • Code/test/edit.
  • Making the story engaging and entertaining.
  • Ensuring dialogue is comprehensible, used in moderation and provides a suitable degree of plot exposition/hints etc. And jokes if you have any!
  • Balancing (getting the difficulty right) - a lot of UMC is only properly tested on medium difficulty (I'm guilty of this).
  • (Optional) advancement: some campaigns use custom advancement logic to allow the player some control over how their characer develops.
  • (Optional) custom units and terrain (requires both art and code).
As has already been said, there is a lot of reference material around but looking at a campaign's WML and/or lua is often more fruitful.

Anyway, I've wittered on enough. Jump in, have fun!

Cheers,
--Spannerbag
SP Campaigns: After EI (v1.14) Leafsea Burning (v1.17, v1.16)
I suspect the universe is simpler than we think and stranger than we can know.
Also, I fear that beyond a certain point more intelligence does not necessarily benefit a species...
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