Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The FRED Workshop => Topic started by: Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet on January 06, 2017, 08:29:18 am

Title: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet on January 06, 2017, 08:29:18 am

I recently threw together a mission I felt like publishing, but I'm not sure if it counts as finished. Some sort of checklist would be appreciated.

Title: Re: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: The E on January 06, 2017, 08:50:49 am

Does your mission have a briefing?
Does it have objectives that are updated as the mission progresses?
Does it have debriefings for the possible failure paths and the win path?

Title: Re: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: Wet Orange Ostrich Toilet on January 06, 2017, 08:51:52 am

Quote from: The E on January 06, 2017, 08:50:49 am

Does your mission have a briefing?
Does it have objectives that are updated as the mission progresses?
Does it have debriefings for the possible failure paths and the win path?

Much appreciated. Thank you.

Title: Re: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: krevett62 on January 06, 2017, 09:10:44 am

There's a couple of useful topics in the wiki ;)

Title: Re: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: LaineyBugsDaddy on January 06, 2017, 01:36:40 pm

I would note that a mission may be finished without being refined or perfected. Tweaking is something you do after the mission is finished though.

Title: Re: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: krevett62 on January 07, 2017, 10:43:31 am

This question is often asked and I know there were some checklists before but I think they are no longer available so I made my own (using my words ;) ) that I'll post here:

1) Have Mission idea / Story
2) Edit Missions specs (Name, Type, Squadron, Loading screen, Mission music)
3) Create Background (if skybox used, number of stars = 0)
4) Place Ships / Wings / Waypoints
Edit Ships / Wings (Name, AI class, Persona, Loadout, Player orders, Initial orders, Initial status, Misc settings)
Sexps / Arrival & Departure cues / Directives / Messages
Edit Ships / Wings (Arrival, Departure)
5) Mission objectives / Command briefing & Briefing / Debriefing
6) Team loadout
7) Test, Test, Test
8) Tweaks / Balance / Correct bugs (sexp / typos)
Misc: Reinforcements, Asteroid fields

I probably forget some things but I think it's a good start if a mission have all these things! For briefing / debriefing, I try to always make at least 3 stages for the mission briefing (+ objectives so 4 pages min) and always try to include some sort of bonus or secondary goal if the mission allows it. I also sometimes add an additional wing of tuned fighters that appears only for those playing on difficult or insane (not always as it often breaks balance!)

Title: Re: What counts as a finished Mission?
Post by: karajorma on January 07, 2017, 10:49:53 am

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Typical_FREDding_mistakes

I wrote that years ago, but it should still be relevant. If you have any mistakes on that list, your mission isn't complete.