The go to Scrpting example mission

[steele6 0]

Hi everyone

I'd like to post a suggestion:

someone of decent scrpting knowledge create a mission, that everyone can enjoy, de-pbo, and use to learn how to do common-asked about-questions-on-forum.

the mission should include comments in the script files to show what is going on at each stage.

now, mods, please note, this is not a request for a mission, but an example mission for scripting, to help those who wish to start making their missions more professional.

most of us are familiar with the mission editor and tabs, and can set up any general type of mission, but

we'd like to make a genuine mission that includes briefing, overview, pictures for the overview, some dialog and custom animation set-ups (for example) during the mission for story purposes. we may even want to do a custscene.

this thread can then be stickied (Mods? ;) )

so basically, I'm calling on a decent mission maker with average scripting knowledge, to make an example mission (I'll set out below what you need to do) and then post a link on this thread.

ok: so the mission setup

a nato squad recieves a quick dialog briefing from their squad leader while sitting in a picturesque view of their squad sitting around them, while the squad leader stands and paces about, telling the details. they then all join up as a squad,

and board a Little Bird (thats a MH-6) the chopper flys to a location (optional banter that tells a bit about the setting is cool while flying) the squad is then unloaded, and the squad forms up into a line formation, and clears an enemy held town, with maybe one or two fireteams in a building (as well as a squad or two patrolling the town). once clear, a second wave attacks and the player's squad must defend, at the climax an artillery strike is called in by the player,

the squad pulls back and a Little Bird is brought in to extract them.

once on the bird and the bird flys for a few seconds, the mission ends.

optional outro showing the devastation of the artillery and the burnt and destroyed civillian vehicles left in the town.

1)overall theme: Player loads the mission, sees the overview screen and the loading screen which has a picture of the village you are to attack, with a brief description:

" A NATO squad must push OPFOR forces out of the nearby town, in order to secure the Island"

This is meant to give the player an idea of how to set up a proper description and screenshot of their mission in the SP main menu, followed by a decent picture and professional look in the loading screen

before the mission briefing is displayed, a brief cutscene should be displayed, showing the village, early in the morning. a few OPFOR infantry should be seen patroling the area of the town.

fancy scrolling text then appear, telling the time, the town, and "OPFOR held" or something similar. (this could even be shown at dusk, with a little fog, maybe put a NATO recon troop in the bottom of the shot with binoculars observing the town)

This is meant to give the player an idea of how to do brief custscenes, and importantly fancy custom writing to creat an atmosphere.

2) a briefing is then displayed containing a few tasks, (With Hyperlinks of the Town, your starting point, Where enemy reinforcements are expected to come from and extraction point once secure

3) the player, while in the briefing screen, can see each task:

* recieve further instructions from squad lead [the tab should include a picture of a few soldiers sitting around a map] [ it should show a hyperlink of where your squad starts]

* board the awaiting little bird (AH-6) [the tab should include a picture of a little bird at a heli-pad] [ it should also include a hyperlink of the heli-pad where the little bird is]

* clear the town of enemy reinforcements [ show a picture of the town] [ it should also include a hyperlink to a map marker of the town]

* prevent enemy forces from reinforcing their position

* pull back to extraction point and await extraction by Little Bird

futher additional things (like mission, execution, notes, setting ) tabs would be great, a few of them need to include pictures

at this point, this is meant to give a user a perfect example of a briefing, either created using the task system in the editor, or by using scripting, with pictures to help with the setting.

4) Inital scene:

[the first task is assigned]

the player is seated custom-seated on the ground (that folded legs one) with members of his fellow squad( unjoined, so those squad mates circles don't obstruct the view of their team-mates) sitting around in custom animations or

looking at ease. a squad leader then has a custom animation (if possible) of him pacing or looking a the squad, giving a short briefing. dialog is then displayed, with the squad leader's lips moving.

basically the squad leader should say

"at [time of day] enemy squad elements have occupied the nearby village of [village name], and are setting up defensive positions, HQ has tasked us to clear out the village, and await further intelligence. a Recon squad has informed HQ that their is around three squads in the village, so it's going to be no easy pickings.

No civilians are in the area and we have no additional support, a Little bird will insert us and extract us once the town is clear. "

[OPTIONAL : A fellow squad member can ask a question, "sir, do we have artillery support available?" the squad leader can then respond, affirmative [name of squad member]

[1st Task in marked as completed, and the second task is assigned]

the squad leader then tells everyone to form up and get on the little bird

This is meant to give a learner an idea of how to structure and script dialog, and an interesting "setting the scene" start to the mission, as well as how to do custom animations to give life to the AI

the little bird is situated a little distance away, and is NOT ON, once the soldiers are on - board, the vehicle starts up and flies to the insertion point, a little bit away and out of sight of the enemy squads in the town.

short example of how to tell pilots to wait until boarded to start engines and fly away, I believe this is done with the turning the AI move off and wait until x squad is onboard

once disembarked, [2nd task is then completed] [3rd task is now assigned]

the squad leader tells everyone basically, to "watch your corners, weapons free, etc" the squad then forms into a line formation, and enters the town, clearing out the enemy

additional setting the scene dialog, with radio text displayed at the bottom. it also gives the learner an example of how to put in custom voice recordings for the squad leader and further dialog, put this in a script

side note: enemy behaviour, if possible, 1 or two fireteams should be in sniping positions in buildings, the rest of the squad should dynamically assault the players squad when sighted, but generally staying in the town, so a small CQC fight can occur.

the fight should be structured so the player moves through the entire town from the one end to the other. the AI should also not run away, but fight to the death.

[this is an example of how to set up a proper enemy assault mission, instead of tasking the squads to "guard" the player can see how an enemy AI is directed to flank or hold a position in the town, waiting for the player to clear them out

once the town is clear [3rd task completed] player squad tells the team, "ok everyone great job, move to the [direction] end to watch for a possible counter attack!

[task 4 assigned]

a further smaller enemy fireteam tries to attack the team, but the squad leader tasks the player to call in artillery on the enemy fireteam, a few rounds are fired [a picture in picture is displayed of the artillery mortar squad firing]

[task 4 completed]

this is great to show calling in a fire mission (ideally with the on map click one, where the player has to choose a position to fire , [i don't know if this is possible if the player is only a squad member, not a leader] and an example of the picture in picture function

the squad leader then radios "everyone to the extraction point! mission is a success," he then radios the pilot, and the pilot aknowledges and signals that he is on his way.

[task 5 assigned]

ideally the bird will completely land (engine still running) and the player squad will board, as AI in Arma 2OA seems to keep flying while everyone boards, its a bit weird and kills the immersion

optional, a smoke grenade is *thrown* to where the little bird will land

once boarded. the squad leader commends the squad for good work, and the little bird takes off and flies away.

the mission is then completed

a small outro scene is show, with destroyed vehicles and smoke rising from the town, fades to black. mission ends.

another example of how set an outro, maybe with cool text, telling the player the are is cleared, NATO holds the advantage or something

I think this would be cool

anyone willing to volunteer their time to make this? I can't, I don't have the scripting knowledge.

could the mods please make this a sticky so it can then be shown to all newcomers who want help. this mission pretty much would give an example of how to do most newbie questions people ask about scripting.

this example has a all in one feature, as instead of goolging how do i do this , how do I do that.. etc its all contained in one mission, with helpful //comments in the scripts that are called

Edited June 19, 2013 by steele6

[Masharra 10]

http://www.armaholic.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=10917

http://phantommissionsite.weebly.com/

Overall google will tell you most everything you need to know. A little bit of work is not a bad thing.

[sproyd 2]

This seems like a very big job for not a lot of gain in terms of educating the community and spreading mission creation knowledge.

Have a look at the guide in my sig. This is my contribution so far for upskilling those who are in the same position I was in a few months ago. I'll be adding to it as my time permits (I have a busy city job) and should be covering most if not all of the points you suggest above. Keep an eye out.

[kylania 568]

Have a look at the guide in my sig.

Your sig is missing. :)

[2nd ranger 282]

Yeah this basically sounds like you wanted to make this mission but didn't know how, so you want someone else to do it. That is all way too specific for an example mission. I actually suggested myself that BIS release a simple example mission in the Mission Presentation thread, but I was thinking about something extremely basic, but covered most of the main aspects that are important for making a mission that looks polished. Something like "Go here and kill this guy" or "get in the car and drive it here".

For more advanced examples it's always a good idea to unPBO BIS missions, or community missions you have played where you saw something cool and wanted to know how to do it.

[sproyd 2]

Your sig is missing. :)

Hmmm you don't say... Ouila! (damn Android)