Design Questions from a Newbie

[valmont]

How long (how many turns) should it take to play a scenario? How difficult should it be? How many objectives should there be? If Wonders are set as objectives, does that include wonders built during the course of the game, or only those that exist at the start? Would it work if wonders were the only objectives?

A lot of questions, I know.

[Michael Daumen]

1. Probably upwards of 100 turns.

2. Most people design a scenario at King or Emperor level (that doesn't answer your question )

3. That depends on how many cities you think are important. Most designers match up the actual historical number of cities and use that as a benchmark to measure defeeat or victory.

4. If you count wonders as objectives, you will only be able to build wonders that are ready at the start of the scenario. If you discover a tech that allows Darwin's Voyage in the course of play it won't be available.

5. Sure.

[Cam]

Valmont,

It's often difficult to generalise about scenario design...

As for the length, one of the best scenarios about at one stage was 'Zaire' that had a clock of 24 turns! 'El Dorado' - another one that a lot of people enjoyed was about 100 relatively quick turns. 'Toussaint L'Ouverture' was 84 turns, but these were often quite involved - co-ordinating battles on several fronts. It really depends upon the nature of your scenario and what you hope to achieve with it.

The clock can be a useful mechanism to ensure that the game does not stagnate and become too 'development-oriented' if you want the player to wage war in the earlier stages of the game so they build a momentum that will lead towards possible victory. Again, it really depends on several factors including the plot of the scenario, the size of the starting position, and the relative magnitude of the different tribes.

On the matter of the difficulty level, I would tend to make the game for Deity level play in many cases as the AI obviously operates at its toughest level, less likely to offer peace, exchange maps, and all the things that can slow down a conflict or aid the human player. If it's too hard, the player can always select an easier level. If you think that the modifications that you may make to allow Deity to be manageable (e.g. making citizen discontent less burdensome by changing the global parameters) will make the game too easy, you might want to think about slipping in a second *.scn file that puts the player in a tougher starting spot (fewer units or cities, less technologies, less Wonders, etc.).

Mike's responded well on the other points already.

Best of luck!

[shamrock]

There are lots of bad scenarios out there and lots of interesting scenarios out there, but it seems like there are very few GOOD scenarios out there. By GOOD, I mean a scenario that is well-balanced and fun to play again and again. IMHO, many designers spend hours upon hours creating the units, the map, etc., but not nearly enough time playtesting the game. Play your own scenario over and over! If you make it fun, rather than just novel, I think you will have succeeded in creating a good scenario.

[Fast_Eddie]

I remember I made this really stupid scenario in about an hour. However, the events were hilarious, and it was unpredictable even when I knew what should happen. I think that was the scenario I had the most fun with. Like if you took Madrid, the Spanish got Stealth Bombers. And then after awhile, I actually changed some stuff to make it funny. Like Caeser becomes a pothead and such. That was just an idea that I never got the chance to put in. Maybe I'll finish it someday.

[Michael Daumen]

It's HARD to playtest a scenario! By that time I am nearly always burned out. That's why it's a good idea to post a request for playtesters in this forum or the Scenario League down below (and for eager beavers like Shamrock to volunteer).

[Stefan Härtel]

The best way to playtest the scen is to let others playtest it. For "Artaxerxes", I asked Mr. Temba to playtest. I didn't regret it! He turned out to be quite patient (except for some elephants), and very honest and exact. Also, he has a playtesting section on his site, however I have not posted any scenario there. It is always a good choice to let others playtest it, because then you can fit this scenario to other tastes, and more people will enjoy it.