TomMack

I've compiled the prologue into a Campaign format which is now downloadable from this link here (Google Drive). This is the preferred format for new testers, as I can fix bugs based around campaign description.ext. But Steam Workshop files will be updated much more often. Also as far as updates for new missions are concerned... I will be quietening down a bit now and working on the new missions, I also have college coming back up again, so progress may be slower. These mission have taken around a month to make for reference. I will release the next mission once i deem it playable for testing, but after that, I doubt i'll release more content until the entire campaign is ready for mass testing. Thanks. Bugs I have at the moment are; overview images not showing in the campaign menu.

Of course, I meant just to simply recreate the issues. I planned on reverting back to stable for editing.

I'm using the stable branch at the moment and have done since I began creating the missions. Once again, I've never had issues with accessing the cache's. I'll install dev-branch and attempt to re-create.

Thanks a lot, Im quite vocal to my mates about some of the stuff I write on it and instead of arguing or saying the same thing over and over again, i thought I'd just send them a link. I've enjoyed writing for the first time in my life thanks to it, so long may it continue.. :)

I'll double check the car issue... It may be that you have to access it from the passenger side, as I have locked the other vehicle cargo slots so that the player is definitely in the passenger side. I've replayed the mission a few times to double check if this issue is persistent, but i cannot recreate it, it also doesn't appear to matter which side of the vehicle you're on (See image here) As for the tasks, up to that point I had only ever used the "in-editor" module tasks, so the SimpleTask stuff is new to me. I've changed it so the destination is set to the vehicle not a system marker that updates when the vehicle stops, which is something I have done in the later missions, must have forgotten to add it to the first. Should be updated. Thanks for the feedback Lexx :)) Edit - added image for the car bug. and updated task marker.

Weapon persistence is the plan, but the majority of missions dont take place right after the last, the plan is to add persistence but HUBs will usually offer a huge amount of loadout customisation. As for IndeedPetes work, a bit of everything. As I've stated before, I love storylines so character development is crucial, Ive scratched the surface with missions like Escalation and my writing is usually quite witty anyways, so im sure there will be some banter working its way into the dialogue but It's important to maintain the tone of the story too and not have it feel forced and out of place. You mentioned interactivity; This is my aim for HUB missions, make them feel seamlessly integrated into the main mission itself. When the time comes, A lot of emphasis will be placed on the player gaining intel for civilians and conversing with others to discover new things. Thanks for the feedback... It becomes very inspiring for me to work faster, although the next mission is a big one. I will be logging my creation of the next mission on my portfolio site; tomhasthoughts.wordpress.com, as a little reminder for me in the future to some cool editing tricks. Keep an eye on it ;)

Most of the issues have now been fixed, hopefully... and I wouldnt say new players, but as I said in the "What makes a good campaign" thread, I wanted the prologue to be heavily story based and linear, quite the opposite to what arma should be... but would then open up in the coming missions. Im using the next mission "Kavala" to showcase what I have in store. I am planning on adding a prologue mission to the prologue, where it would be a tutorial style, boot-camp like experience for new players to the series. But seeing as my campaign follows on from the official Bootcamp, EastWind and Apex protocol campaigns, i dont think its required as i assume you've gained skills from those.

Thanks for the feedback... Damn, Escalation is the mission I'm most worried about but requires you to have apex because of the vehicle i think. and yh "turks" was an oversight, but easily fixable. Glad I haven't started making the next mission as that is a key plot point. The AAF soldiers at the start of the "part 2" of mission 1 are primarily just ambient units fighting FIA units, the main combat focus for the player is at the LZ. I did consider wet suits but compromised the speed for the atheistic, but I think I may change that decision. As for the clipping issue, I will fine tune that; that part is made with a hidden chair placed precariously in the rock, so it's a bit dodgy anyway. And I'll have a look at that floating weapon, thanks for the feedback. As for the AAf not reacting to the drone, i'll let you in on a little secret, there arent any.... ;) i need to add some ambient ones, but they probably wont react to the drone still.

Thanks man, appreciate it. I doubt i'll be using Tanoa as it doesn't fit the story-line, but I am using Apex's assets and such. I was careful not to include the statement "underwater combat" and instead used "gameplay", it may work its way into the campaign at a later date though. Still a long way to go.

I'll defo be in need for some play testers when the time comes.. thanks to everyone for the support and feedback.. this thread should get pinned somewhere, an incredibly helpful resource!!

Not entirely, this was what had in mind before mentioning how difficult it would be, but thanks to lexx and yourself, saveVars and name spaces are probably the more efficient option. Essentially the method above would activate variations of different missions. @velocity overdrive Thanks, the guide certainly brought about many theories, although I don't think anyone could of expected the artificial earthquake card, like wtf BIS. I agree with your sentiment about not being able to play some of the back story.. I certainly intend for a large part of the lore to be playable as a sort of "prologue" style introduction, but will be very linear and narrative heavy, but after that.. all of the usual arma sandbox will ensue with all of your suggestions attempted to be catered for :) Edit :: don't use ur phone and forum kids, quotes get fucked :/

This was my original plan, but I could see that over complication would be imminent knowing my mission making habits. And also would only allow for 1 side mission with a succeed or fail ending to lead into another mission otherwise your making upwards of 9 variations of missions

I do hope you guys are paying attention to the many threads I'll be creating about how to get my specific variables working.. I'll be doing a lot of reading in the coming months. What's your opinion on limiting the players camera to 1st person throughout certain "story focussed" missions? Is this something that never should be done or can exceptions be made.. being an advocate for a cinematic narrative ( I have a video editing and media studies background) limiting the players view for the sake of a narrative is justified. As I said, being an advocate for narrative and heavily accurate lore, I want the player to know what's happening which is why I felt so frustrated by the campaign intro and the story in general.. so much so to the point I wrote and collaborated my thoughts in a steam guide where we probed the plot between episode releases (search "Arma 3 story guide" and it's a top result). I understand the want for some secrecy and I want to facilitate that, is it acceptable to have secrets revealed through playing different characters. For example, A certain faction randomly starts firing at you and you don't know why... But in another mission a different character reveals that they set it up.. or would you rather not know at all and leave it to interpretation (I have to say, personally, that would tilt my tits off) Edit :: the guide from steam a random arma 3 playing steam friend and I wrote... I haven't touched it since ADAPT - an awful guide but it was how I gained my understanding for the back story, not necessarily the story through the campaign https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=201583053

Having thought more today about hub mission and side missions... Taking on board the feedback, it sounds like a similar system to GTA Vs heists, where you must go through a set up phase to collect certain assets for the missions, however in our case, make them less mandatory. "Oops you didn't complete the "get the drill" mission, so you can't open the vault and get any money sorta thing. I have absolutely no idea about how this system could be implemented... Some serious magic in the campaign files with multiple of the same mission minus certain parts. Edit :: for anyone planning a campaign, I think i great piece of pre production work would be to design a flow chart for your mission flow. This would certainly help with side missions at hubs. Once I'm home I'll begin developing and post the progress in a new thread.

What sort of missions would people like to see as side mission/side quests. They don't have to be combat missions as such, but what would you guys like to see??

Oh yh I've seen the numbers. Makes me a little worried to even add apex content like the blackfish and prowler... Although on second thoughts, if you want to understand the storyline to my campaign you need to play apex.

On further thought i suppose similar localisation is possible with eden objects... Just needs some serious pre thought into the campaign file structure.

Could this be "fixed" with indeedpetes arma 2 animation add-on for arma 3... However this brings around a whole new debate... Are people willing to play a campaign where you have to install add-on. Surely with new workshop system and loader its more accessible, but judging by the poll, it's not favoured regardless. Would a simple Animation mod or Eden objects be acceptable to install for a campaign or should it be vanilla as possible. I myself have always gone toward totally vanilla (also to keep it lore friendly).

Another point that I don't think is categorised in the poll is side missions. I myself never participated in any of the side missions from the main campaign, a because I didn't know they were there and B, I think i felt that I wanted to just to do the main story. Do you feel like side quests / mission are under valued? If so, what sort of missions would they be to make them worth using?

totally agree, hit the nail on the head. I think I'm going to play around with a custom function for unit capture for infantry I found on armaholic and see what use I can get out of that, makes it very hard to do anything team based without going coop, which sacrifices some of the storyline and cinematics.In response to those who wish to command, perhaps on some missions (for example, you have to sweep the streets of Kavala and kill a load of greenbacks) you give the option at a hub mission to command or follow a leader. I think this is something I'll explore as I really liked the implementation of hubs in the campaign, although I'll have to read into how transferring gear from one mission to the other works :/

Thanks for the response... I too would much prefer just a single protagonist, but as we've discussed this becomes limiting to the roles they can under take. I like the idea of limiting the story to 2 roles. Perhaps a spec ops operator who also dabbles in peacekeeping ops and a pilot. As for cutscenes which I think indeedpete mentioned, the one at the start of deliverance was particularly something I wanted to avoid. I'm going to undergo a rethink on many concepts thanks to this thread. Understood, I think the reason why I felt so angered by it was because that was my first real experience of commanding units in that way. But I understand this is a huge part of the arma sandbox experience.So many trade offs have to be considered. I wonder if anyone aspiring to create a campaign would be interested in some sort of progress log? I have to agree also. I hated the missions in the official campaign for instance when you returned to Stratis for some reason and had to scour the southern coast avoiding enemies. I think I extracted the mission and ran it in 4x speed and with allow damage false 😂 Thanks for the great responses!! I may be new to contributing on the forum but I know of all your works and have been huge inspiration.

So implementing playable cutscenes be more interesting? For example, my first mission revolves around a secret meeting where a NATO liason (the Player), Cpt. Miller of CTRG and Nikos of the FIA discuss how the FIA will take back Altis from the AAF. (CSAT was abolished after the Apex protocol papers, but many remain loyal to their qualities) oh sugar, that's the plot, oh well. This meeting and the whole set up to the "Event" would consist of heavily scripted story missions akin to tell tales game where gameplay is injected at intervals. This would only consume maybe 20-30 minutes of a full 3-4 hour campaign. I like the idea of meeting yourself, although in my case you won't be on different sides of the war but you will be on different factions. It's so difficult to get an idea if the community would like it as I don't want to spoil it. Thanks for the response!!

Wow, this has been an epic read. I am currently in the planning phase of a campaign designed to follow on from the the Apex campaign. From the response I've seen, I'm perhpaps a little worried that I won't be making the "ideal" set of missions. The problem with mission making, for me anyway, is that I feel bound by the lore. This is the reason I'm going to be following on from the official campaigns. I've spent hours reading some super mundane stuff and replaying missions often just for a line of ambient voice over but it has led me to write an almost inpermiable lore friendly story set about a year after apex. I'm very big into cinematics and model the perfect mission around the opening of the East Wind and the final boot camp mission. This maybe harkens back to my days of playing battlefield and call of duty campaigns. In regards to revealing story, the East Wind bugged me hugely! I spent a lot of time deciphering the plot via opening up mission files etc. I'd much rather be told in plain text what the back story was. The intro AAN cutscene is infuriating for me. I'd also like to get your opinion on whether playing as multiple characters would be interesting. For me, being a jack of all trades type soldier would be a real immersion breaker (I.e, you're a tank driver, a pilot and you're infantry.) The way around this in my case, is playing as different characters. But is this also too immersion breaking? It's the trade off for whether you spend the whole time as an infantryman or the whole time as a pilot. In terms of individual missions, I plan on having some totally non combat missions or at least some heavily scripted mission purely to get story across, they'll be quick missions however and almost reminiscent of a telltale games game. Once I've told the back story or the setup across 2-3 heavily scripted short missions, I plan on opening up combat and having larger scale battles and HUB areas, where civilian interaction can be made. Would this be something people are interested in? Am I being hampered by my need to be lore friendly for the sake of story (revolving around factions and the geographical and geo-political landscape)? And would your immersion be broken by playing as different characters throughout the Campaign (in my case, a CTRG spec ops guy, an FIA guerrilla, a NATO pilot and a NATO peacekeeper)? EDIT :: a quick side note - I hated the ADAPT campaign due to the control of units. Is this something treasured by the arma community in single player campaigns though? An amazing thread and very timely too.

Would implementing voice overs be as simple as dropping a playSound3D before the first line of your conversation script (not the function but the actual conversation .sqf). If this is the best way to do it, is say3D or playSound a better option? Thanks in advance.