Scen Design

[Dan Caviness]

Hey Curt:

The best part of scenario designing for me is mapmaking.
Must be a frustrated cartographer or distant relative of Mercator/Vespucci or something along those lines. I think if they had locked me in a room with 250,000 hex shaped blocks as a child I'd still be there without ever testing the door handle...

I seem to have no end of patience with the map files and just keep coming back to them...adding complexity...structure...nuance...and I guess the thrill is creating your own world to play in.

The worst part for me is constructing OOBs. The engine is great and allows you to do some good work but it's labor intensive and you spend an inordinate amount of time getting commanders, transports, etc, all lined up. The new CS OOB is better than the old Talonsoft version, but it's still many nights getting one close to right. This is the area where you'll get the most scrutiny, and keeping your SS-Sturmscharführer's straight from your Sergeant Major's requires real dedication.

Scenario creation is also great fun. It's the payoff for all the work above and I'm usually like a kid in a candy store by then. But kid's in candy stores get stomach aches and that leads to the next...

Beta testing...which is a mixed bag of experience. If you get the right players involved who can help you through constructive yet critical advice and swallow your pride to institute that advice...it makes the pain worth it.

Good creation of any sort requires iteration, and scenario design is nothing but creation. Once your in it, tunnel vision is ineveitable, and you need outside viewpoints to help.

For me at least, I've never been able to call a scenario done and been able to look at it without wincing until I've played it from start to finish, from both sides. That experience, and the experience of others doing the same, gives you the chance to get it right.

One of my favorite authors was Ted (Theodore) Sturgeon. Ted could make or ruin your day if you read the right page at the wrong time. But, Ted spewed endless amounts of print that usually required serious editing help, and without his lifelong relationship with two readers and even more importantly John W Campbell (creator and editor of the old Astounding and Analog pulps) I doubt he'd have sold anything.

Take your beta testers out for dinner.
Buy them steaks.:bow:

Regards,

Dan