Beginner’s Guide to Scenario Design

Article written by watchwood
Published on 04-12-2004
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Face it, everyone is a beginner at some point or another. You were (or are), I was, everyone was. Developing excellent design skills takes a lot of time and effort. In this guide I will not include very many specifics (trigger and map copy tricks, etc), but I will include plenty of guidelines. I will divide the scenario into several different parts. Story, map design, trigger work, balance, and playability. (Sound familiar to you reviewers?) In each category I will talk about common mistakes, fixes, what you should strive for, and miscellaneous other things.

First off, you need a story. An interesting one. If you are just creating a battle, with no story or back round what-so-ever, then I suggest that you invent one. Make it interesting, make it dramatic. Depending on the theme of your scenario/campaign, it should have most, if not all of the following elements:

-Humour- Everyone likes a good joke. Add some clumsy NPCs, some irony, maybe a main character with a sense of humour. Whatever. As long as it’s funny.

-Drama- Your work should have a good storyline. Think, if it was a book or a film, is it likely to sell? Add some plot twists, mystery, anything to make it more interesting. If you are not sure how to improve the plot, then seek advice from an outside source. Many of the forumers are talented writers, and will be happy to give you a hand.

-Intrigue- Is there any mysterious figures in cloaks, any hermits in the middle of no where? A sub plot to over throw a king? Good stories must have intrigue.

-Subplots- While not really necessary, except in RPGs, they do help to make the game a lot more entertaining.

In terms of map design, you should consider is you map itself. Does it look realistic? No? Fix it. Mix terrain, use eye-candy (BETA units, map copy tricks, etc), fragment your forests a bit. No one likes a map with square forests, and lots of grass one If you are not sure what to do, look at some of the great works, and see what they have done. One thing you should keep in mind is over-kill. I made that mistake with my first project, Raymond’s Ravine. I really over did the cliffs, despite my attempts to do otherwise. If your plot requires a lot of a specific terrain, or a terrain that is difficult (fields, deserts, etc), then seek advice on how to vary it as much as possible.

Balance is a big concern. People don’t like to play scenarios that are to impossible, or way to easy. It’s also generally not very fair to have a battle where one player has 5 or 10 times more troops than the others. That is why it is generally a good idea to ask a few friends to play it through a few times before you release it, to make sure it is reasonably difficult. One good way to help fix this is to add level dynamics, which is the ability to select how hard your scenario will be. There are any number of ways to do this. You can use the difficulty level conditions in some triggers to control it, you can use an AI, and some AI signals, or, you can set up different coloured tents in an out of the way portion of the map, where you can have the player select which difficulty in game. All 3 systems have advantages and disadvantages, but it is really up to you. Or you can simply not bother with it.

One big issue is playability. The question is, is the scenario repetitious? Is the whole campaign repetitious? You need to find a way to alleviate this. Many problems of repetition come from a mixture of the above problems. Also in this category is the question, is it literally impossible to beat this scenario? This can be caused by any number of things, the usual is faulty trigger work, such as a trigger accidently left in the on/off position, or forgetting to use an activation effect. Or any number of other problems. The key to figuring it out is to be patient and thorough.

If you have any specific questions, you should try da hobo’s FAQ in the Scenario Design forum, here at AoKH. If you are afraid of being flamed for what you believe is a really stupid question, then feel free to contact me at watch_wood@hotmail.com. I promise to give you an honest, direct answer, and I promise not to laugh. Too much. If you really want, I can keep your question confidential, but I seriously doubt that your question is THAT stupid.

That’s it, friend. So it’s not the longest guide in the library. Give me a break, it’s my first article. Good luck, and happy designing.