Questions, questions galore! Input desired!

Ahh, tons of questions for you other mod-makers out there as to some design do's and don't, and basic input as to what would be desirable in a mod.

1) How versatile should the mod be? Should prolific options for players to be either good or evil be inplemented, and should dialogue be made for characters with a low intelligence?

2) World Map size - how big should it be? How does 1000 x 500 sound? A quarter of Arcanum ... would that be a worthwhile module? Recommendations on sizes that people are doing?

3) Sound. Given crappy equipment, should sound files be made for the main characters, etc? Or if they should be, what would be good stuff to use to make good sound?

4) Music - ideas?

5) Followers - allow switchability or pretty much make a 'cast'. What do you all think about a 'cast' that is almost the same (perhaps one cast for good, one for evil) and you keep them all throughout the whole game, excepting player decisions.

6) Art - new NPC art? Yes/No?

7) Type: A single-player RP mod of decent quality and size seems to be in demand, are there any specific scenarios or styles that are in great demand? Are any of these being acted upon by others?

Well, I think that's it for now, I'm going to go back to studying these documents.

 

My two cents

Here are my personal feelings, YMMV:


1) Versatility

Initially I was just focusing mostly on the smart/good options. I just wanted to be able to finish the damn thing. I figured I could add stupid or evil options later.

Recently, I have been adding in a few stupid dialog options here and there . . . once you start doing it, it's actually quite fun.

At the very least . . . you want to have multiple options for solving quests. If you're not careful . . . you'll just wind up with an adventure game :smile:

2) World Map Size

1000 x 500 should give you *plenty* of space. I will say that if you're planning on using a World Map, you should make it square: 100x1000, 500x500, 750x750.

Don't forget . . . you'll be able to add new maps if needed via portals and the like.


3 & 4) Sound & Music

My opion? Skip sound and music. Focus on your story. What are the three most important things in an good RPG? Story, story, and story. Yes, music and sound are nice, but you are one person. You are not a dev team. You are not Troika. Focus on the meat of the module. I imagine that people may love or hate our modules for a variety of reason, but lack of sound and music shouldn't be one of them.

And after you've got everything done, a full working modules . . . then think about putting in mp3 dialog :smile:

5) Followers

I'd borrow some advice from Dark Underlord that I think applies here: focus on you main story. Save sub-quests for later. Same can be said of followers. Add any followers that relate to the main plot. If you're taking the advice from entry one, you can take a short cut and just make good followers to start.

6) Art - new NPC art? Yes/No?

I'm skipping the new art. Again, focusing on the story and getting the module done to me is the first priority. Everything else can be added later.


7) Type: A single-player RP mod of decent quality and size seems to be in demand, are there any specific scenarios or styles that are in great demand? Are any of these being acted upon by others?

This is very subjective. I think a good rule of thumb is that if you honestly think you'll enjoy playing it, most of us will too.

On a final note. I see that some Troika people have released some mods. My plan is to download and play these . . . then take a look on the forums and see what people think of them. I'm hoping that will give me a good sense of what the community is looking for in their mods.