40 réponses à ce sujet

[Maria Caliban]

Guide me oh wise and experience forumites.

[Shadow180]

Plan it.

[Maria Caliban]

Could you be a bit more detailed?

[Maria Caliban]

I decided to check on the wiki to see if it would help me with this important question: "I want to build a module, what do I do now?"



I found "Here's some tutorials that are not so much about the toolset itself, but about how you can organize your use of it when working on a project:

Project Tutorial." It's not very helpful.

[Shadow180]

Okay;



Define your projects purpose and objective.



A project needs careful planning to be successful even more so with modules. Depending on your projects purpose you should define what makes it different and why somebody would download your project over somebody else's.



What is your project going to achieve? How long is it going to take you to make? Will you need help with it? Do you have the skills to create it yourself? Do you have the motivation to complete it and stay loyal to it's production ( this is more important when working with other people)?



Ask yourself all the questions, write yourself a design document ( search Google how to makes these ).



This is just scratching the surface; fortunately you have quite some time to plan before the game is released.

[Beerfish]

- Take a look at the various tutorials and components of the toolset and if nothing else briefly read through them. Some stuff will not make sense until you get you hands on the toolset but you can at least get a feel for what some of these things can do. Just skim through this though until you are ready to look deeper into one area or another of the toolset.



- The basis for many modules is level/area and plot/dialogue creation so you might want to start there.



- My biggest single piece of advice is to approach things in a step by step method. Don't look at the big picture too much right away because one can get overwhelmed that way. Instead take things on one at a time.



For example you might want to start out with level/area creation. Think of what type of things you want and then ask about how you might get what you envision. Then do the same thing with the cutscene editor etc.

[Maria Caliban]

Shadow180 wrote...
Define your projects purpose and objective.

I want to make a nice mod.

A project needs careful planning to be successful even more so with modules. Depending on your projects purpose you should define what makes it different and why somebody would download your project over somebody else's.

I don’t want this to become competitive. I’m looking to make a nice mod, not a mod that’s better than someone else's.

What is your project going to achieve?

Something playable.

How long is it going to take you to make?

I don’t know.

Will you need help with it?

You’re helping me now, so yes.

Do you have the skills to create it yourself?

I don’t know.

Do you have the motivation to complete it and stay loyal to it's production ( this is more important when working with other people)?

Again, I don’t know.

Ask yourself all the questions, write yourself a design document ( search Google how to makes these)

*goes in search of a design document. *

Thank you Shadow.

Modifié par Maria Caliban, 13 octobre 2009 - 11:30 .

[Shadow180]

Heh, I guess I am too used to working like that.

I forget what it's like to work on this stuff for the hell of it.

What Beerfish said, look up some tutorials and just have a hell of a lotta fun making weird stuff.

[Marinade Plushie]

Maria Caliban, thank you for posting the very same question(s) that I've been to afraid to ask.  :happy:

Beerfish and Shadow180, thank you for the wonderful responses.  I've been wanting to do a mod, but I have absolutely no experience whatsever. 

Is the toolset pretty user friendly for newbies?  I've got some ideas simmering around, but really didn't have any idea on how to start implementing them.

Thank you all for the great advice. 

[Beerfish]

It all depends on how ambitious you want to be. There are a lot of tools and menus and such however don't let this put you off or frighten you. Only worry about the parts you want to use and just totally ignore the rest of it. Tackle questions one at a time and once you have learned to do one thing then move onto the next.

[Elvhen Veluthil]

For me, the two most important questions at this point are if you know how the tale you are going to tell starts or ends?

[Eoweth]

Yeah, if you're going to design a module story, get the outline done first. Don't worry about the mechanics or small details, start with broad strokes and general concepts first. Once you have that the other stuff will fill itself in.

[Thirdpres]

Developing an idea of what you want to build is important. A story board of whatever it is that you want to build is a good start. Make a design document, as has been mentioned, will help you figure out some of things you might want in your module, get you thinking constructively about it.



Read through those tutorials, even if just a brief look over as Beerfish suggested.



Try to figure out what you believe you can do already. Writing out, roughly, what your story is going to be. The npcs you need. The basic quest(s) of your module, assuming you'll use them. Are you building a free-form adventure or something more linear.



As you develop ideas or have questions about them or other issues that occur to you don't hesitate to ask questions.



You can also look over this old thread I made on building modules for NWN that still has some vague uses for building any kind of module:



http://nwn.bioware.c...2&forum=66&sp=0



Good luck.

[Maria Caliban]

Elvhen Veluthil wrote...

For me, the two most important questions at this point are if you know how the tale you are going to tell starts or ends?

Indeed. I know how it begins and how it ends.

What now?

[Lord Thing]

I personally would say for your first module, don't make the story that you're dying to make, postpone that one until you are more familiar with the toolset.

Secondly, be ambitious, don't be afraid to attempt the impossible, if you can survive the frustration of a module never working, you'll be the better for it and will have picked up a lot of knowledge on the toolset in the process.

Also, if you're just starting out in the mod scene, be prepared to do a lot of 'beginner' tutorials that go over the same basic principles, most tutorial series I've used for previous toolsets burn out just when they start to get to the more complex stuff.  You're going to have to do a lot of digging and questioning if you want to find details on the more complex aspects of the toolset, (although hopefully by this time you'll have enough experience/confidence with the toolset to be able to play around in it and learn things for yourself.)

Finally, and most importantly, have fun and stick with it, it's hard going to start with, but the end result is definitely worth it. 

~Edit:  I don't have access to the Dragon Age Toolset yet, but this info should still be relevant

Modifié par Lord Thing, 14 octobre 2009 - 09:34 .

[Elvhen Veluthil]

If you have all the story ready in a novel-like form, you'll need to translate it in a gameplay form. Will there be different ends, will there be different paths for the player to take or will it be linear, what are the key events that define the story?

I am not by the way expert in all this, these are friendly advices, maybe someone with more experience in writings for games can be of more help. But discussing things sometimes is good in itself

Modifié par Elvhen Veluthil, 14 octobre 2009 - 09:35 .

[BoomWav]

If I were you, I'd start small. You could make it episodic if it's easier for you. Establish your character and make one short but enjoyable quest. If you go too big, you'll probably drop it before it's finish. It happened to me way too often.



You could make it episodic if you want. Personally, I'd also recommend you to stay in Dragon Age Lore. It'll be way easier to recreated since we'll have good example with the OC.

[Mistress9Nine]

If you need any help writing steamy sex-scenes you know where to find me.

Anyways if you need help with writing/dialogue or anything that doesn't involve skillz then I'm your man!

Modifié par Mistress9Nine, 14 octobre 2009 - 06:05 .

[caspertjuhh]

wishing you strenghth!

[BoomWav]

Mistress9Nine wrote...

If you need any help writing steamy sex-scenes you know where to find me.

Anyways if you need help with writing/dialogue or anything that doesn't involve skillz then I'm your man!

lol.. so.. you're pretty good with steamy sex-scenes huh.. yeah.. right. If I ever get voice over to do for one, I'll leave you a message .

[CID-78]

make sure the module is focused on your strong side with the toolset. if you are best on making areas, do a hack and slash module. good at scripting do a tricky dungeon full of puzzles and traps. good at dialogues focus on the people involved. maybe start out with a village. good at cutscenes well go more cinematic. then broaden the horizon in the long run, when you start to master other parts of the toolset.

[FalloutBoy]

I made modules for NWN 1 and 2 and the one thing I would suggest to everyone at this point is that, while it is never too soon to start planning, realize that (unless you got the beta) you don't even know what the toolset can and can't do yet. Avoid going into too many details. Don't plan out your big finale with the 6 dragons and your army of Sherman Tanks and Gandalf flying in on his magic carpet, etc. That's too much detail, and you are setting yourself up for compromises and possibly failure.



Rough story outlines are good as well as character descriptions for your NPC's. Those take a lot of time and you might as well get them out of the way early. However, don't write a story that requires for example, a race of sentient lizardmen, unless you want to be that guy on the forums on day 1 begging someone to make a lizardman model since you "just can't make your module without it".



Like CID said, you will want to take some time with the toolset when you get it and figure out just what you can do with it, then create something around that. If you try to go against your strengths, you probably won't ever finish it.



I plan on just laying out an area. If I make something that looks good, I'll add NPC's to it and maybe script some stuff. If that works out, then maybe I'll think about making a module out of it. I have no shortage of story ideas. It's just a matter of whether or not the toolset will be A. fun to work with, and B. capable of making something worth spending the time.