Originally Posted by Celludriel
Try and take a lesson from NWN 1 , make it easy and accessible for most people. Make it fun to use and mods/campaigns will follow. Make it to complex and it will fall on it's bum again frown

Soooooo much this ^^^.

Some background...

I wrote the first NWN1 NWScript language reference PDF and was heavily involved in the NWN1 community from early beta thru a year after release. Due to the complexity of editing, I eventually lost interest and faded away. I've watched almost all UGC (User Generated Content) editors in various RPGs over the years. I have been heavily involved in NWO (Neverwinter Online) in the Foundry community. I created several projects in Project Spark, and recently have watched and suffered through the fumblings of SCL (Sword Coast Legends).

That being said, the BEST UGC Editors I have worked with have been NWO, Project Spark, and SCL. NWO has generated tens of thousands of UGC Adventures; Project Spark as well. SCL was unfortunately HORRIBLY mismarketed and targeted at 8-10 year old creators -- the "Fisher Price" of UGC Editors. However, it was at least on the right track albeit considerably anemic in power.

D:OS1 appears to have a quite powerful but very user-hostile editor, and a horrid scripting "language" in Osiris. D:OS1 seems to be a Swiss Army knife with 4,397 functions. I have scoured the internet searching as best I could for basic adventure "mods" for D:OS1 and think I found 2. TWO. TOTAL. Fail. Waaaay too complex for non-developers (and I've been a software developer for 40+ years).

So, here are some suggestions and things I (hope & pray) D:OS2 Editor improves.

* Simplify UGC "Adventure" module creation. Non "modders" need simplified terrain layout, 3-d object placement, and very simple trigger/event handling. They should be able to create a shareable adventure without once having to see/touch Osiris scripting.
* Don't cripple "modders" at the expense of "module creators."
* Osiris needs some major language skills. I haven't studied it in depth, but it appears to be almost like programming PLC (Programmable Logic Circuits) without even rudimentary language structure (if-then-else; statement blocks, etc). Seems closer to assembly code. If nothing else it needs a pre-processor to convert REAL language constructs into whatever Osiris understands.
* 3-D Asset Selection - A File chooser does NOT cut it. There needs to be a (static/2-D) "palette" of objects, organized in sub-tabs or categories that we can see visually at a glance. A 3-D mini-previewer of selected objects would be nice as well.
* 3-D Asset Placement - In 3-D view window, an easy way of placing assets -- perhaps attached to ground or walls, but then further refinement allowing full 3-D rotation on all axis, as well as shifting along all axis.
* Event Triggers - D:OS1 seems to already have a good selection, but improving user-experience would help. An easy way of link triggers and events (Asset Appearance/Disappearance, Sound/Visual effect appear/disappear, etc.) all without requiring user to ever see a line of associated scripting.

PLEASE look at NWO Foundry editor (AND Dialog Editor!) for a "goal" of easy User Experience.

Adventure/Story creators are VASTLY different than "modders."
As long as you leave hooks and accessibility "modders" are incredibly resourceful.
Adventure/Story creators NEED ease of use.

Thanks, and I really, REALLY hope D:OS2 succeeds here -- we could really use a good UGC edtior for RPG.




Last edited by Eldarth; 01/05/16 09:53 AM.