Hard Light Productions Forums
FreeSpace Releases => Mission & Campaign Releases => Topic started by: Taranis on January 05, 2016, 05:28:26 pm
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Well hello all, I've been a long time lurker for about the last 12 years and as of late I've found myself with quite a bit more time on my hands. After coming back to freespace and replaying some of the great campaigns out there I decided to finally open up Fred2 and give it a whirl myself and in the last two days I think I've managed to create something in a state ready to be unleashed upon unsuspecting victims.
I would be greatly appreciative for any critiques of how I'm fredding. I'd love to streamline the process a little more before attempting something more ambitious. Any comments on the mission balance would also be very welcome I've tested it quite a bit on hard but am very interested to know if people find it too easy, hard or how difficulty changes the balance. It's been made with Fred2open 3_7_3 so should hopefully work fine on that and later builds.
Anyway, onto the mission. Set during the events of 'The Sixth Wonder', Overlord details the actions of other parts of the Aquitaine's fleet as they attempt to destroy one of the Orion class destroyers involved in the NTF attack on Epsilon Pegasi. The NTD Normandy. Prove to GTVA command you don't need a superdestroyer to take down a rebel Orion.
(http://s23.postimg.org/kfpgdbqev/2016_01_05_23_13_48_Greenshot.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/kfpgdbqev/)
Download link
http://www.mediafire.com/file/eaqh3y1d3y467ql/Overlord.zip
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Please, release your mission with proper modfolder. It's not a tough job.
1. Create folder "Overlord" [or however You want it to be named] in your main Freespace 2 directory.
2. Make your Mod.ini (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Mod.ini)
3. Make "data" folder in your mod folder.
4. Make "missions" folder in your "data" folder
5. Place your mission there.
6. Open Launcher, Select/Activate your previously created folder [the one in main Freespace 2 directory]
7. Play!
As for the mission itself, I will check it out.
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Alrighty, updated the download to a folder with Mod.ini in. Sorry thought that for a single mission with retail only assets the mission file would be enough.
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Actually, it is; there's no reason to bother with a mod folder for a single mission like this. :)
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Quite chalenging. Grrr Lokis. Good that there are only 2 wings. :p
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Please, release your mission with proper modfolder. It's not a tough job.
It's a single mission. Not even a reskin or anything, a mission. Making a modfolder is totally unnecessary.
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Please, release your mission with proper modfolder. It's not a tough job.
It's a single mission. Not even a reskin or anything, a mission. Making a modfolder is totally unnecessary.
Than where should I put it, huh? I don't want to have anything in my main "data" folder. In theory I can launch it from MediaVPs folder, but it seems to be pretty "dirty" solution.
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No worries, necessary or not making a knockup mod folder was good for me as it's another thing off the list of skills I'll need to learn to make a campaign. Admittedly it only took 2 minutes but every little helps.
And yeah, the first part of the mission is the most challenging from a dogfighting point of view. The Zeus' can really hammer the Warspite if you get caught up in the loki's.
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If it doesn't require any mods to run (e.g. no new ships or weapons) it can live in FreeSpace 2/data/missions happily. If it does rely on a mod (e.g. Apollos and Valkyries in FSPort) then it should go in that mod's data/missions. Personally, if it's using stock FS2 stuff, it's not a bad idea to put it in the MediaVPs Missions folder so it doesn't appear when you are running other mods.
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Well. I applaud you for going out there and FREDding your first mission. I hope you'll stick with the hobby, and keep growing as a FREDder.
Now, this is a quite solid first mission. Good basic idea, lots of stuff happening without feeling overwhelmed, the action flows fairly smoothly through each unique phase of the mission, good attention to continuity, and the dialogue sounds like what :v-old: would write.
Now for some constructive criticism. Don't be disheartened; FREDding is a complex and polished art.
-Briefing's too long. Make the briefing too long, and players will just skim or skip it. You don't need to lay out each phase of the mission in exacting detail; just cover the points which the player will find most important. This applies to FREDding, and to all forms of art in general; trim anything that slows the flow of the mission/narrative.
-Make sure every message is accompanied by "emptymsg.wav", the generic message beep. It alerts the player to focus on the incoming messages.
-Put a delay of, oh, 8-10 seconds between each message. I noticed the messages scrolling by too fast to easily read.
-Attach a hotkey to each enemy bomber wing (or any other mission-critical wing.) Choose a hotkey for each wing from F9-F12 in the wings editor, then write that hotkey in the wing's corresponding directive field in the events editor.
-The first enemy wings take a little while to get to the player and the Warspite. Maybe pull them a couple klicks closer to you at mission start?
-Alert the player that an enemy bomber wing is attacking the Parapet. I didn't notice the Parapet was under attack at first.
-After you disarm its beams, the Normandy just sits there and lets two corvettes beam it to death. Maybe have the Aquitaine jump in instead of the Parapet, so the Normandy dies faster? Or have the Normandy turn around and bring its other beams to bear?
-Maybe have the Normandy's CO deliver some pompous NTF speechifying at some point?
Other than that, pretty solid mission. Will hope to see more FREDding from you in the future! :D
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Many thanks for the feedback. Lot of good points you don't notice as a mission designer and your suggestions are the sort of touches I can apply to any mission. Making the Normandy roll was something I wanted to do but hadn't figured out the sexps for yet.
I don't want to be over ambitious as a single Fredder starting out so I'll hopefully be working on a mini campaign, probably around 3-5 missions long to fully come to grips with Fred2open.
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Many thanks for the feedback. Lot of good points you don't notice as a mission designer and your suggestions are the sort of touches I can apply to any mission. Making the Normandy roll was something I wanted to do but hadn't figured out the sexps for yet.
I don't want to be over ambitious as a single Fredder starting out so I'll hopefully be working on a mini campaign, probably around 3-5 missions long to fully come to grips with Fred2open.
Minicampaign, good idea. Go for it. I might be willing to test.
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3-5 missions is the PERFECT length for your first campaign. Go for it!
Too many folks go for a 30-50 mission long epic right out the gate, get discouraged and stop FREDding altogether. You're on exactly the right level for a minicampaign. If you're feeling ambitious, try a new ship or weapon, but otherwise stay focused and good luck!
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So I've played your mission and it's pretty solid. I don't have much to say about it since Lepanto covered most of it, but there's one thing I feel should be added:
*More strikecraft launching from the Normandy to keep the player busy as she's getting gutted. Sitting there and watching the Normandy burn, while satisfying, it's kinda boring :).
Too many folks go for a 30-50 mission long epic right out the gate, get discouraged and stop FREDding altogether.
or they finish it and it sucks, *looks at himself*, so I as well would recommend starting with a mini-campaign.
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So I've played your mission and it's pretty solid. I don't have much to say about it since Lepanto covered most of it, but there's one thing I feel should be added:
*More strikecraft launching from the Normandy to keep the player busy as she's getting gutted. Sitting there and watching the Normandy burn, while satisfying, it's kinda boring :).
Too many folks go for a 30-50 mission long epic right out the gate, get discouraged and stop FREDding altogether.
or they finish it and it sucks, *looks at himself*, so I as well would recommend starting with a mini-campaign.
Don't be hard on yourself, I thought Dusk Wars was great and I'm looking forward to Act 3.
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Don't be hard on yourself, I thought Dusk Wars was great and I'm looking forward to Act 3.
Don't get me wrong, Dusk Wars wasn't "bad" concept wise, it just could of been a lot better. What I'm saying here is if you overstep your boundaries, you either quit, or try to take some very bad shortcuts.
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:bump:
Just played this. Good concept, great integration with existing canon (especially with the event sequences and ship names), and fun mission. It seemed a little on the easy side, since when I beat all the enemy fighters there was little to do but sit back and watch the corvettes destroy the Orion. I look forward to seeing what comes next from this FREDder. :yes: