Piecing scenarios together
| Author | Topic: Piecing scenarios together |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 2300
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written Tuesday, July 15 2003 09:00
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Does anyone know if it would be possible to build a BoA scenario from fragments? e.g. 10 different people each make a town, then send them to 1 person, who can then mash it all together (metaphorically). Will this be any easier than with BoE? -------------------- Beware of pretty girls in dance halls and parks who may be spies, as well as bicycles, revolvers, uniforms, arms, dead horses, and men lying on roads -- they are not there accidentally." - Soviet infantry manual, 1930's Posts: 267 | Registered: Wednesday, November 27 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Tuesday, July 15 2003 13:48
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Not sure. The towns won't be the problem in any case (or I hope so, at least it's like that in BoE now). The problem are the outdoor sections. I hope Jeff changes it so those can be ex/imported between scenarios too, I'm tired of remaking the outdoors every time I notice that I set the scenario too small or too large. :rolleyes: -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 1823
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written Friday, July 18 2003 05:39
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From history, joint scenarios are often disasters. -------------------- Riot Shields Voodoo Economics It's just business Cattle prods And the IMF I trust I can rely on your vote Posts: 530 | Registered: Sunday, September 1 2002 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Friday, July 18 2003 07:15
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That's because the development of a scenario is closely related to its plot, and the plot will often change during development: The most major plot changes will happen at 4 AM, while developing a town and realizing that your plan is impossible, or will take too much work, or is too boring. So when 10 people work together on 10 different towns and 10 different time zones around the globe, then you have plot changes around the clock, and if you don't check your mail every ten minutes, or the guy who made the change forgets to mention it to the others, you're screwed. The result is a scenario vastly inconsistent, where an NPC might have 4 different names with 3 different spellings each throughout the scenario, the quests will be briefed inaccurately, and so on. -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 2300
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written Friday, July 18 2003 07:42
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I know that things such as nodes and encounters are pretty difficult to coordinate between 2 people, but surely something such as the outdoors wouldn't be too confusing? One person could work on crafting the outdoors while the other does the towns - just the town terrain, without putting creatures in (and perhaps the simpler nodes and encounters). Everything gets sent to a final 3rd person who puts in all the nodes, dialogue etc. and polishes off the final scenario. So, at the end, each person has far less work to do, and the scenario gets done quicker. -------------------- Beware of pretty girls in dance halls and parks who may be spies, as well as bicycles, revolvers, uniforms, arms, dead horses, and men lying on roads -- they are not there accidentally." - Soviet infantry manual, 1930's Posts: 267 | Registered: Wednesday, November 27 2002 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 3091
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written Wednesday, July 23 2003 05:43
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Disclaimer: I have no clue how to create a BoE scenario. I'm trying to add general ideas to this thread. There are probably ways they don't apply perfectly to BoE or BoA. People collaborate on screenplays and books all the time. I knew a guy who wrote screenplays with a partner. They would write the outline of the story together in a couple days, name the characters and locations in another day, and then each go home and write alternating chapters of the story. They then would meet back up and splice the story together, to make sure it made sense, then go back and re-write their own chapters that way. In two passes they'd be done. We should be able to do scenarios this way. It just means you have to have a good story pretty well fleshed-out ahead of time. I would think also, if you've got a group of more than two, you need to start specializing on tasks. One person should be in charge of the story, so other people aren't changing it in inconsistent ways. Of course, this doesn't make it technically easier to splice towns, etc., together. But that's something that can be fixed on a computer. Managing the story is a job for a human. Posts: 30 | Registered: Tuesday, June 10 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Wednesday, July 23 2003 05:56
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Exactly. But the point making joined BoE scenarios almost impossible is exactly *not* the plotline and the story - I know that would work. The issue is the technical part of making the scenarios - merging two files is completely impossible, the only stuff that can be directly transferred between scenarios are towns. -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Wednesday, July 23 2003 07:27
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The problem is the motivation. The rewards usually do not justify the effort of collaboration. So what happens is that people in the project do not contribute their fair share and the thing does not get done. Now, it would be great if this method would work. In theory, and on paper, it sounds like a magnificent idea. However, when applied in practice, things almost always do not turn out well and you end up with a lot of wasted time. This is from much personal experience. My suggestion: Everyone should make their own scenario. That way if it never gets done or is poorly done, the author has only him/herself to blame. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |