Tips for your Foundry Quest[ | ]
These tips are from actual foundry creators on how to you make your foundry quest.
- If its your first Foundry quest, play around with the tools before you go create anything. Create a map and just place stuff and play with it in 3D view.
- Do not make people walk though empty scenery. Don't make distances realistic, walking is boring.
- Learn to use Invisible walls and objects because they are your friends.
- Save often.
- Don't be afraid to experiment.
- Keep an eye on your budget list (currently bottom left). This can be a nightmare if you plan big lengthy quests.
- Ask if you have questions, and ask again and again.
- Make a quick outline of the plot (no more than 1 line per high level plot point) in Google Docs/Microsoft Office Web Apps or a notebook.
- Then create all the objectives in the story board.
- Then make simple maps (1-2 rooms) and place objects, npcs, and encounters, but only ones needed to satisfy the storyboard.
- Then write simple dialog for the conversations, 1-2 boxes max.
- Keep going at the super stripped down level until your quest has all the components I want to include.
- The goal of all this stripping down is to have a completed quest that you can play through without any errors. That means all the "coding" bits are done (e.g. visibilities on/off at the right time, story flow works and is logical, contacts work properly and update, etc.)
- Play the bare-bones-but-complete quest many times and make sure you like the flow of the story.
- Then use pen and paper to sketch up the real maps and then create them.
- Once the maps are in place, populate them with objects, build any customized things, place encounters, etc. to make it look good and playable. Run through each map many times to make sure it works, looks good, etc.
- Then write the full dialog in Google Docs/Microsoft Office Web Apps and cut/paste it into the dialog editor.
- Last add music and sound effects.
- Play, play, play. Hunt for bugs, typos, etc. Try to play it "wrong". Go the wrong way. etc. Keep a notebook and write down every little thing. You won't remember that one typo on the first map when you get done. Also you can write down the ideas for your next quest to get them out of your head. DO NOT STRAY! DO NOT START WORKING ON OTHER QUESTS! THIS ONE IS ALMOST DONE! SPRINT TO THE FINISH LINE!
- Publish and play through with a different class. Unpublish and fix.
- Publish and create a "check out my quest" thread.
- Building a map from scratch? Not looking forward to manually placing every single detail to make the room come alive? "Populate room" is your friend! Right-click a room on the map, choose "Populate Room," and a bunch of items will be placed in there automatically that fit the theme of the type of room. So a house interior will have furniture and vases and bookshelves, while a dungeon room will have chains and skeletons and piles of rubble. It may not be exactly what you envision and will need some adjusting, but I've found it to be a great starting point when adding a brand new totally empty room to your map.
Credit goes to: thunderspanker, izatar, krubar, wininoid, agentjaspor, chili1179 for supplying the tips on the Neverwinter forum.