Getting started with my first campaign

[ChrundleTheGreat]

i know a lot of campaings use rpg elements for units and i wanted something like that, there are 3 main custom units that need progres by the player selecting which atributes to improve, sort of like under the burning suns use to be, i know that goes on te unit file on the advances to tag but i dont know what to write in it, any help?
-chrundleTheGreat(charly)

[beetlenaut]

i dont know what to write in it, any help?

You need the WML reference wiki to answer questions like this. Just pin the tab in your browser now because you will consult it constantly. Even with years of experience, I still need the wiki. You could look up [advancement] in the list on the right side of that page, and read what keys it takes. The most important part is the [effect] that each advancement has, so would need to look that up as well.

However, I don't recommend starting with special AMLAs. You should get a couple scenarios working and write a few events first. UtBS still has this system, so you can look up units/quenoth/Youth.cfg in that campaign to see how long this will eventually have to get. That might give you an idea of why I don't think you should start with it. (You don't need to use a bunch of macros the way the UtBS authors did, but it makes their code easier to modify.)

[Spannerbag]

i dont know what to write in it, any help?

... However, I don't recommend starting with special AMLAs....

Heh, Beetlenaut beat me to the punch
I would echo Beetlenaut's advice and I'll offer a few thoughts as to why.

IMHO WML (Wesnoth Markup Language) isn't really optimised for RPG, it can implement such logic but the methods tend to be rather unwieldy.
This is because Wesnoth is primarily a game concerned with strategic deployment of (predefined) combatants rather than developing the attributes, powers and inventories of a few individuals.

As I say, WML can do this but has no built in logic specifically intended for such purposes, e.g. managing a character's/unit's item inventories or activating/using deactivating/putting away any item(s) a unit may possess. (It is possible to write a lua routine to define new tags but let's not go there now...).

That said people have indeed written (a lot of) code to do just this however this logic has been bolted on rather than being intrinsic to WML and as such is not IMHO a good place to start your WML journey.

As Beetlenaut explained, [advancement] can be used to implement some RPG elements but requires quite a bit of WML knowledge to do so.

RPG logic comes under added extras and needs quite a bit of extra code to implement unlike, say, testing a new [unit_type] which requires much less by way of supporting infrastructure. If you're not familiar with WML and/or don't have a suitable setup within which to test your shiny new RPG logic then you'll probably find it frustrating and sadly it might put you off trying altogether

I'm not saying don't write an RPG campaign (it's one of the many things I'd like to do some day) I'd just agree with Beetlenaut that you need some groundwork in place first. It's a bit like putting a roof on a house: you need the walls in place first for it to work as intended...

On a personal note I'd also say this: if you start writing a simple campaign then as your confidence and experience grow you may well end up adding ever more enhancements. This happened to me; I got rather stale writing a campaign that was taking some time to finish so started what was intended to be a small, quick and easy campaign as a diversion. Heh, this second campaign is now much more complex than the first (and uses loads of [advancement]s) and I now have two campaigns both around 80% complete .
So to some extent your starting point doesn't matter (for balance I would say that the advice to designers is to storyboard your campaign first then code/test. Sadly doesn't work for me, I'm not that patient or disciplined...).

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[ChrundleTheGreat]

I thougth a lot about it and im doing the same campaign, its long but the story and the maps are fun to make(i am acctually doing storybording first i just want to learn wml so i can do it later), im not doing the rpg stuff tho(not sure what amla stans for), i think im making my units stuck at level 1, and advancements will just be a little tweaked so health and damage go a little bit higher every time their xp fills up, almost like most lvl3 units do, just a little more.

Im still making a 2 scenario campaign just to practice, but i think my main campaign its not that complicated. It is still a long term project(and i have to work)so i dont mind it being a long process, i also migth want some feedback on the story soon, as well as the maps.

Also i was wondering if you ever do colaborations, i wanted to know if you always do solo proyects because i did came up with new idea while trying to come up with something diferent and i want to focus on my main campaign so i thouht id ask if anybody could help me out (tho i know i would have to make a diferent thread) with that (wich is mostly doing a faction).

[gnombat]

not sure what amla stans for

AMLA = After Maximum Level Advancement. It's what happens when a unit has reached its maximum level but it gets enough experience points to "level up" again. Usually the unit just gets 3 additional hit points but some units (like Kaleh in Under the Burning Suns) will gain extra bonuses or abilities.

i think im making my units stuck at level 1, and advancements will just be a little tweaked so health and damage go a little bit higher every time their xp fills up, almost like most lvl3 units do, just a little more

OK, that's what "AMLA" is.

[Spannerbag]

... i also migth want some feedback on the story soon, as well as the maps...

You'll probably get some saying needs bigger maps for longer battles and others saying needs smaller maps for faster gameplay
Some people use publish/feedback "loops" during campaign design whereas others (like me) prefer to publish when everything is finished.
It's all good

...Also i was wondering if you ever do colaborations...

Some people do though I haven't. I've thought about it but decided that if I ever do that I will publish a few (hopefully) high quality campaigns on my own first to show that I have some sort of capability to produce playable content.
I suspect most people can offer decent coding skills whereas artwork seems, to me, to be always in demand.
So if you have any artistic talent you'll probably have loads of people wanting to collaborate with you get you to draw their custom unit portraits.
My artwork skills are minimal

I've far too many ideas sloshing around to ever realistically write campaigns for all of them.
So I'd inevitably try to get my collaborators to work on my stuff

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

[ChrundleTheGreat]

not sure what amla stans for

AMLA = After Maximum Level Advancement. It's what happens when a unit has reached its maximum level but it gets enough experience points to "level up" again. Usually the unit just gets 3 additional hit points but some units (like Kaleh in Under the Burning Suns) will gain extra bonuses or abilities.

i think im making my units stuck at level 1, and advancements will just be a little tweaked so health and damage go a little bit higher every time their xp fills up, almost like most lvl3 units do, just a little more

OK, that's what "AMLA" is.

lol i guess i should really start with the two levels then, i still want to make that campaign though, and i think it needs amla, maybe make xp short so that everybody levels up really quick? then they dont have to level up diferently and stil get a consistent bonus

[ChrundleTheGreat]

... i also migth want some feedback on the story soon, as well as the maps...

You'll probably get some saying needs bigger maps for longer battles and others saying needs smaller maps for faster gameplay
Some people use publish/feedback "loops" during campaign design whereas others (like me) prefer to publish when everything is finished.
It's all good

...Also i was wondering if you ever do colaborations...

Some people do though I haven't. I've thought about it but decided that if I ever do that I will publish a few (hopefully) high quality campaigns on my own first to show that I have some sort of capability to produce playable content.
I suspect most people can offer decent coding skills whereas artwork seems, to me, to be always in demand.
So if you have any artistic talent you'll probably have loads of people wanting to collaborate with you get you to draw their custom unit portraits.
My artwork skills are minimal

I've far too many ideas sloshing around to ever realistically write campaigns for all of them.
So I'd inevitably try to get my collaborators to work on my stuff

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag

my campaign has three parts, i was planing on sharing part one and then checking if people like it, as im still working on the rest.
i did wanted to ask for artwork, not really for the portraits just for the unit sprites, i guess there arent enough artist out there.
where do you think i could find the people with good coding skills? i mean that are interested in colaboration, id even just want to get involved.

Cheers to you to!!
-- ChrundleTheGreat(charly)

[Spannerbag]

... i did wanted to ask for artwork, not really for the portraits just for the unit sprites, i guess there arent enough artist out there.

If your sprites are similar to existing ones it might be possible to "frankenstein" them from existing material by copying, cutting and pasting various bits from multiple sources together.

...where do you think i could find the people with good coding skills? i mean that are interested in colaboration, id even just want to get involved.

Never done this but... the only way I can think of finding folk with good coding skills would be to download their stuff and

a) play their campaign(s)

• is gameplay play smooth and consistent or does it have bugs or rough edges?
• is the logic complete and robust (that is, are all possible player actions catered for)?
• does it offer new or creative ideas?
• is the gameplay/story engaging or not?

If it passes muster then
b) look at the code

• is the coding elegant/efficient?
• is the code reasonably clear to understand (helpful for collaboration)?
• is the work of others properly and clearly credited?

As to finding collaborators no idea except asking on the forum. You'll probably need to summarise what you're offering (your strengths) and what you need (your weaknesses). Given the number of abandoned campaigns out there I suspect that some collaborators may lose interest and wander off or real life may get in the way (that is, you may end up having to finish it off yourself anyway). Also, once a campaign is finished it needs maintenance if it is to remain available (e.g. when a new version of Wesnoth is released all existing campaigns need to be ported to the new version and, possibly, rebalanced if core units have changed - see this post for an example of this).

And finally, you need to be clear to others and yourself why you want to collaborate.

As I say, never done any of this so I'm probably just spouting rubbish

Cheers!
-- Spannerbag