🚀 go-pugleaf

"reborn rolla" <zzrollazz@King2.com> wrote in message 
news:5Dc3h.262667$R63.32926@pd7urf1no...
>
> "Albert Conklin"  wrote:
>
>> reborn rolla wrote:
>>
>>>   To make a Thief fan mission? Some of the authors claim months and 
>>> months. Do you have to be a computer expert to assemble a decent 
>>> product?
>>  Just a guess, no. Yes, some take months and months, but that depends on 
>> the quality and story line of the game. I have never taken the time to do 
>> it, but some decent come out with just weeks of work.
>> Albert

If I may:  it does take a lot of work.  Dromed (the editing program)
often seems to have it's characteristics.  And no matter how frustrating
it can be, it's a bit habit forming to have something come to life like it
does.  As per being a computer expert....well....no, but it depends
on what aspect of computer work a person does.  I run an intranet
for the government, and making a FM is totally different in most
concepts than what I do every day.
How well and fast a FM is done, depends a lot of how much
time and detail the maker has to put into it.  I can only devote about
1-2 hours a day to it, but right now, am taking a break and playing
Oblivian.
Anyway, areas have to be hollowed out, others filled in.  Placement of
objects isn't always as easy as it may look.  Having the AIs do some
of the things they do can be a major task.   Lighting, textures, sounds,
effects, objects, etc, all have to be placed to make things work right.
If you want, take a look at some of the subjects the makers of FMs
talk about.

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=85

Since I started dromeding (working on FMs), my respect for anybody
that has worked on a game, even the crappy ones, has grown.
If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

>   Say once you have made the complete mission couldn't you just play it 
> through yourself to test it? Instead of getting 5 beta testers to preview 
> it.

The author of the game knows what he is looking for and what to do.
Beta testers go into it not knowing exactly what is what. They see
that things do work for the players (who don't know exactly what is where),
notice errors the maker may have missed so they can be corrected.
Nightwalker is one that often does beta testing, see how it plays,
and I don't envy her job to find the mistakes and let the author know
so they can be corrected.  Sometimes different eyes can see what
others can not.