Inactive Game mode: Scenario

[Cervator]

Putting this here rather than in the Incubator to toss the idea around some first and see if somebody is interested in running with it - then that person can make the Incubator

Goal: Provide a game-mode called "Scenario" that swaps from picking modules via the "Mods" button to instead pick a scenario from a similar list. Actual scenarios would be packaged like modules but come with a list of mandated normal modules, possibly a saved world, and maybe stuff like objectives, introductory back-story, in-game story, and so on.

Been playing a bit of Battle for Wesnoth to test out Android gaming and I'm impressed with how well the missions there work out. Likewise Dungeon Keeper was big on its campaign too, and they're certainly not alone. This seems to be like something big that's missing from the more sandboxy voxel-verse. Plenty of Minecraft players prep interesting worlds they then send to their friends to try out, but you really need to be able to constrain the player to make sensible scenarios (and to share/score them well).

For us that might mean making the player unable (or really slow) at destroying/placing blocks, while maybe creatures can do it on command. Predefined world is a big deal, as is activating specific modules. We could actually make a primary campaign related to real game lore like SuperSnark has tried to lay out a bit of now and then. But rather than it just being words you could play some of it out in-game. Maybe with some named creatures that gain skill with you and transfer between missions. Or the world area just expands as you complete objectives. Who knows?

Could also do goofier things like Tower Defense. Main point being that everything is predefined by the scenario author - which can include custom modules

Initial coding requirements would include:

• New sub-dir akin to "mods" (or going straight to a repository-based dependency manager)
• The ability to include a saved world as an asset
• Module dependencies (also becoming needed for miniions now)
• Probably an option in the main menu in-game to convert the running game into a scenario (easiest way to provide a saved world and a set of modules)

Annnd of course writing this reminds me why I should be focusing on something like a module repo split out in preparation for a dependency manager in the first place

 

[GoldenDragon]

Looks like making a Terasology version of Minecraft adventuremaps. (Can we have command blocks too? ) Try the Herobrine's Mansion adventuremap. Maybe you can get some ideas from that.

For us that might mean making the player unable (or really slow) at destroying/placing blocks

Adventure mode

 

[Immortius]

Hmm.. Basically a scenario is just a saved game, except that when you start it a copy is created. Saved worlds already keep track of the modules they need, but some messages warning about missing moduels would be needed. So I guess what you would have is a button similar to Create New World but Load Scenario or similar.

 

[Cervator]

Looks like making a Terasology version of Minecraft adventuremaps. (Can we have command blocks too? ) Try the Herobrine's Mansion adventuremap. Maybe you can get some ideas from that.

Adventure mode

Yep, pretty much. But where adventure maps in MC are pretty much only possible due to the community with minimal actual game support in Terasology I would like to see such scenarios as "first class" citizens

Herobrine's Mansion looks awesome but I'm leaving playing those and getting ideas to those with time to create similar scenarios for us

Immortius - we could probably just rename "Create new world" to "Start new game" then toggle "Mods" into a scenario list if you pick the game type "Scenario"

I was wondering about the distinction between scenario and game mode/type. For instance if scenarios should always contain a saved world and game modes never contain a saved world - although either could force the use of certain modules so you could affect the world generated for a non-scenario anyway. Maybe a strict definition would help with clarity.

Existing list of games you can load from the single player screen could just indicate scenario name vs game type, although at that point it probably wouldn't matter - same storage format at that point

 

[Immortius]

I was wondering about the distinction between scenario and game mode/type. For instance if scenarios should always contain a saved world and game modes never contain a saved world - although either could force the use of certain modules so you could affect the world generated for a non-scenario anyway. Maybe a strict definition would help with clarity.

Existing list of games you can load from the single player screen could just indicate scenario name vs game type, although at that point it probably wouldn't matter - same storage format at that point

I don't think a scenario would necessarily need to be linked to a specific gametype. The way I'm thinking we would have (names open to suggestion):

* Modules, which are low level and probably not selected by players at all eventually. These contain all content and code.
* Game types, which can be defined in a module. The player would select one of these for a world. A gametype would mostly have some information on what prefabs to use for clients/players and similar things, and also some system/manager replacements if desired. There probably wouldn't be any code required for a gametype definition itself, so it may just be a json asset.
* Mods, once again in modules. These are smaller changes designed to work on top of a specific gametype or set of gametypes. These would replace the current module selection menu - instead you would select from the available mod definitions. Once again may just be a json asset.
* Scenarios. This are just saved games that have been marked as templates (much like what a Word template is to a Word document), and kept in a different directory. We would have an API that can be used to create these ingame. I don't think they would need to be tied to a specific game type, although obviously game types designed for creating and replaying scenarios would work well. Mods wouldn't need to be distributed with scenarios either, although that would be convenient. A game type would be linked into the scenario (the gametype used to create it) - not necessarily the modules of the gametype though.

World generators would need to fit into this as well. But I guess the point is during world creation you would either pick a scenario, which would dictate all the mods and gametype, or you select mods, gametypes, generators, etc.

 

[Cervator]

Yeah that sounds about right. I didn't mean a scenario would have a specific gametype, more that it would contain its own definition of everything that makes a game type