The Scenario Design Library

THE AOE3H SCENARIO DESIGN WIKI
Design Dictionary | Editor Functions | Mapwork | Triggers | Design Teams
Frequently Asked Questions for AOE3 Scenario Editor | How to Set the AI to Work in a Scenario


What is this thread for?

If you ever have a question or a problem related to scenario designing, this is the place to come! This thread contains all the links, questions and answers, articles and guides you'll ever need to design scenarios for Age of Empires III. Be it a question on mapping, scripting, triggers, units, AI, and anything related to the scenario designing world, ask it here!

How to use this thread

Following this procedure is the best way to get your question answered as quickly and effectively as possible:

1. Go to the scenario design Wiki and search for your problem by browsing through the article lists or by using the search box, e.g. when searching for information on the modify protounit trigger, selecting the "Go" button will try to find a page entitled "protounit", and selecting "Search" will bring up a list of articles that have relevance to "protounit".
   
   
   
   
   
2. Your next port of call should be the library articles listed below. These are guides written by our expert forummers to explain aspects of the technique of scenario design.
   
3. If the Wiki and the articles do not have the answer, then try searching through this forum. For example, if you are having trouble with the "Modify Protounit" trigger, and the Wiki hasn't helped, then by searching for "protounit" in the "Subject:" box, a list of all thread titles containing "protounit" will be listed. You'll most likely find that the answer to your question is in one of those.
   
   
   
   
4. If you still can't find the answer to your question, then post your question in here, or if the question is quite large, create your own thread for it.
   

Some tips when asking questions:

• Be patient. It might take some time for a designer with the necessary skills and experience to notice your question and answer it.
• Try to be as detailed as you can when your explain your question or problem. List any steps you have already tried, or make it clear and specific with what you are trying to achieve. This helps people to answer your question and saves a lot of time. Also, vague questions are more likely to be ignored.
• No-one is forced to answer your question; the forummers who take the time to answer questions do so voluntarily and are under no obligation to answer your question.
  
• As in all areas of forumming, try to make sure you use correct spelling and grammar when asking or answering questions. By doing so you make your text more readable and less open to ambiguity. Of course, if English isn't your first language then that is an exception, but always take the time and effort to make your post legible.
  

Some tips when answering questions:

• Try to be as specific as possible. Often people who ask questions don't know what a lot of features are. If in order to solve one of their problems, they need to download something, then tell them. Not everybody has downloaded extended editors.
  
• Often linking to relevant pages in the wiki will help stress your ideas even more. When talking about a certain condition or effect, link to the corresponding trigger page at the wiki. This can easily be done without even going to the wiki. Simply put "wiki.heavengames.com/age/" then the trigger name (with "_" instead of spaces). Example, for fire event: wiki.heavengames.com/age/fire_event.
  
• Don't criticize people, and call them n00bs just because they asked simple questions. Everyone has to start somewhere, right? When you make fun of people for asking a silly question, they might be scared not to ask them anymore, and we wouldn't want that. The point of this thread is for every question to get answered, for the community's sake. Who knows, maybe someday they will realise a fantastic scenario.

Wiki Information and Article Database

The AoE3H Scenario Design Wiki

We are please to announce the first HG-run community wiki. To build a comprehensive encyclopedia of Scenario Design has been an unrealized dream for past games. Starting today, we are going to attempt it for AoE3. With your help, we intend build a complete reference for the art of Scenario Design. Here is the link:

http://wiki.heavengames.com/age/

Here are just a few of the features:

• YOU can add new articles, or edit current ones!
  
• A Question Center, where new designers can learn from experienced ones
  
• A Frequently Asked Questions section with a page for each common question.
  
• Complete guides to all the basics of scenario design
  
• A page on every condition and on every effect
  
• The “Design Dictionary”, containing common design-related words
  
• Much, much more.
  

What is a wiki? What’s so great about it?
A wiki is a lot like this forum. People can post on it, format their posts with colors and links, and they can start discussions with each other. A wiki, however, has one critical advantage: Anyone can edit a page on a wiki. Think of the Scenario Design Library for AoK. Only one or two people can edit it to keep its contents up to date! Talk about a lost cause. Then think of a thread giving helpful information to designers. The thread’s poster can edit it, and other people can contribute to it in an unorganized fashion. Now think of a wiki. Anyone in the world can edit it. They don’t even need to have an account, and they can keep information together in a clear and organized fashion, that is easily searched, and easily referenced to other pages.

Skeptical? Many people are. Don’t take my word for it though: there’s a great example of a wiki in action at www.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia is the world’s largest encyclopedia, and it is growing at a phenomenal rate every day.

What sort of information will be on the wiki?
The wiki will be dedicated to information about Age of Empires 3 Scenario Design. This ranges from a section for asking questions, to a section defining design-related words, to a section explaining each condition and effect in the Age of Empires 3 Editor. In short, the wiki will have everything you ever wanted to know about AoE3 design in one place. Have you ever been designing for another game, and couldn’t remember some minor fact? That will never happen to you again once the wiki project is up and running.

Won’t the wiki overlap with the forums?
We’re going to do everything possible to prevent this. Things related to the scenario design community can still be discussed on the forums, as can things relating to AoE3 design. Think of the forums as the place where you work out the “rough drafts” of what will later become articles.

How can I help?
Let’s face it: the wiki project isn’t going to succeed without a concentrated effort from the community. Don’t just assume that the next guy will help out, because he’s saying that about you! In the end, we feel that the reward will be worth it: a better scenario design experience for everyone.

Have you ever wanted to work for HG? This is your big chance!

Right now, HG is looking for committed individuals, who are willing to dedicate their time to making the community better for everyone. These “Administrators”, while not HG staff, will be in charge of one or more of the sections on the wiki (view sections here). So if you think you’ve got what it takes, apply now! Either post a reply in this thread or email spitfire.23@gmail.com with your application. You should include with your application:

• your email
  
• IM contact info (if possible)
  
• Whether or not you’ve edited a wiki before

Additionally, include a brief description of why you feel you’re suited to work on the wiki, possibly providing examples of things you’ve done in the past to help the design community. If your application is approved by myself and the AoE3H seraphs (NAT and Elpea), we'll let you know. If you have an account on the wiki, we'll give you sysop status. Read about that here.

I have a suggestion for the wiki
By all means, post your suggestions in this thread. This is a brand new approach for everyone, so we're willing to adapt. We're especially interested in how easy you found it to learn how to edit - making this as easy as possible is our goal. Editing a wiki is at about the same level of difficulty as formatting a post you make on the forums, but the conventions may be difficult to adapt to. When the wiki really gets up and running, we'll be relying on people being able to learn the software easily.

Conclusion
Today, the first step into a larger world has been taken. A long journey lies ahead of us, and nobody can see where the road leads. Ultimately, the success or failure of this project depends on you - the scenario designer.

TS University

A fantastic resource for AoE3 related design articles.



The TS University (TSU) is a unique online university dedicated to scenario design, and a comprehensive library of articles, tutorials, and resources for scenario designers.

Our interactive e-zine and forum will further serve the scenario design community through focused discussions, featured articles, and the latest news and information.

The goal of TSU is to assemble the greatest body of scenario design knowledge and discovery information into our library's vast article database.

The database to provide both new and experienced designers with quality articles and tutorials on all scenario design subjects, and also provide an excellent platform for authors and scholars to share their design knowledge with greater focus and scope.

We invite the most knowledgeable in scenario design, regardless of their team affiliations, or independent goals to join us as authors, editors, interns, and scholars for our articles. We encourage everybody who wants to share their knowledge to send articles to us. We promise to present articles in a professional manner that will highlight the creative source, so the greater community can benefit from your accomplishments in scenario design.

(Quoted from TSU website)

Forum Article Database

• A Guide for Improving Your Mapping Skills - Reinfire
  A very extensive and detailed guide explaining how to make beautiful scenery and terrain for your maps.
  
• The Eye-Candy Guide - Custergrant, twoqtimes2, Shaw DA MAN
  An excellent guide catering to all aspects of using eye-candy to make maps and screenshots look beautiful and dramatic.
  
• RMS question thread - RF_Gandalf
  A thread by resident RMS expert RF_Gandalf used to serve as a knowledge base for the area of Random Map Scripting.
  
• A Custom Water Gate Using Triggers - Tutorial - ToMyBoY
  A very useful tutorial outlining how to make a gate that works on water for your scenario. Complete with animations and pictures.
  
• How to Fly AoE3 Units - Tutorial - ToMyBoY
  Another very useful tutorial from ToMyBoY explaining how to make units 'fly' into the air. Ever wanted to stick a pirate on top of a mast? Here's how to do it.
  
• AOE3 Random Map Scripting Tutorial - M0nTy PyTh0n
  an extremely detailed and informative tutorial to help get you started on making your own random map scripts.
  
• Tips and Tricks for Custom Scenarios Online – MosheLevi
  A thread with tips and tricks for designing Custom Scenarios Online.

Thanks to Papaya, Spitfire and FD2 for information from their previous versions.

[This message has been edited by MosheLevi (edited 12-31-2007 @ 01:35 PM).]