Difference between revisions of "Help Building"
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Latest revision as of 10:36, 29 April 2017
BUILDING BUILD_APP BUILDING_APP "BUILD_APP" "BUILD APPLICATION" BUILDER BUILDER_APP ***Please note that building is a *writing* position. It is not a "cool-eq-making" position (you do get to make your eq with WOM approval of the stats, but it is not the main point of building a zone). If you don't like coming up with creative, fun stories and writing them, you probably won't like being a builder.*** 1.) Are you at least 18 years of age or older? 2.) List your mortal name and levels achieved in Medievia. If you have more than one include them all. 3.) Have you ever had a Medievia character purged before? If so, what was the character's name and why was it purged? 4.) How long have you played Medievia? 5.) What is your native language and what country do you currently reside in? What other languages can you speak fluently? Note that having English as a second language in no way counts against you on the application. 6.) Provide a 2+ paragraph story that gives a good idea of your zone's theme and plot. It is ideal for this to resemble an ANNOUNCEMENT zone story (type ANNINDEX and read back issues of zone openings for ideas). Please do not write a story that Vryce or any other god is a key figure in. Please do not write about other worlds, galaxies, aliens, Satan, Greek or Roman mythology, or anything else that does not fit in with the current theme of Medievia. If you wish to write about elves, dwarves, or other characters everyone is familiar with from Tolkien's stories, please come up with something original. 7.) Provide a brief walkthrough for your zone. (Some possible questions to ask yourself and provide information for are: What happens once the player arrives there? Do they simply kill mobs to get xp? Do they do a complicated eq run? Do they solve puzzles or complete unusual quests? What mobs do they interract with?) 8.) List 3-5 of the main "characters" of your zone. These should be mobs that the player will interact with. What are their names? What are they like? What have they done, and what do they plan to do? An example might be "Jiano, the Egunian lyre player." You could talk about how Jiano is in love with Siezonna, the daughter of the king, and how they plan to turn themselves into fish before jumping out of the tower window into the moat. Then describe how King Lergmoz issues a bounty on Jiano's head, and that the player can choose to assist either Jiano and Siezonna or King Lergmoz, and whichever they choose determines what equipment they get from the zone. Try to make mobs interesting so that the player will feel more immersed within your zone. Show how your mobs will seem real to the player, rather than just saying, "A king asks you to find his daughter because she ran away". The details are what make a zone interesting. 9.) Create 5 sample room descriptions. These do not need to include exits, just the description. See the guidelines below for room descriptions. Anyone not following these guidelines will have their writing disqualified. 10.) A list of proc ideas (special procedures) if you have any. This is optional, and you are welcome to provide only one or two as a sample of your ideas. 11.) Level range (what level of player your zone is for). You can check past zone opening ANNOUNCEMENTs from the ANNOUNCEMENTINDEX for examples (the level is usually listed at the bottom of the zone announcement). *DO NOT* plan for your first zone to be a zone for heroes please. High level equipment zones are best left to builders who have some experience, so if you want an equipment zone try and plan it for lower level players. 12.) Estimated number of rooms. We rarely allow zones above 300 rooms. A good range is somewhere between 150-250. 13.) Amount of time you plan to spend on your zone per week. 14.) List 5 or so (each) sample mob and object names. You don't have to write an entire mob or object's stats, just give examples of what they will be called. (Such as "Lord Agimon of House Shinasu" or "a decrepit old adventurer".) 15.) Any past experience in building. (Most builders are hired with no previous experience, so don't feel under-qualified if you have none). 16.) Describe your education to us. This may be high school, college, or your own personal studies. What subjects interest you the most? 17.) 1-2 paragraphs explaining why you wish to build a zone for Medievia. A sample building application exists under HELP APPLICATION_EXAMPLE. It gives a better idea of what kind of things we are looking for, although we do not necessarily want applications exactly like the example. Room description guidelines: Each of the 5 room descriptions should be a minimum of 3 lines and/or 3 sentences. We recommend they be around 5 lines long. Descriptions should all be different, and contain details of the surroundings in that room. We strongly recommend that you omit the use of the words "you" and "your" for the sample descriptions. However, if you wish to try using them, the criteria is as follows: Do not tell people how they think, how they feel (emotionally), how they act, or what they say. This means you can say "The hot air from the lava-drenched chasm stings your eyes." but you cannot say "The bubbling lava pits fill your heart with fear." The reason for this is that the player may not be scared. Try to show people what something is like rather than tell them. Provide details about the room to get the reaction from a player that you want. A room description that says "You stand here wondering why these walls were built." may be entirely untrue. The player could be sitting in the room, not standing, and they may not be thinking about the walls at all. Describing the area or landscape is usually a much better approach than trying to narrate a player's adventures for them. Let the player come to their own conclusions. BUILDING_TIPS "BUILDING TIPS" How to plan a fantastic zone and get your zone proposal approved. A lot of people email me asking what kind of features I look for in an application and zone proposal, so I have written this help file for people who want to research before they take a shot at building a zone. There are many elements that make up a high quality zone. This help file attempts to cover as many helpful details as possible. 1.) Theme The theme of your zone sets the stage for all the elements throughout your zone. It also plays a large part in how interesting your zone will be to players. Try to think of a creative and detailed theme that will set your zone apart from others. Carbon copy ideas of existing zones, or lazy attempts at coming up with a theme are easy to spot and will affect what players (and gods) think of your idea. Here are some examples of good themes vs. boring themes: - A forest zone filled with bears. = boring - A forest zone filled with a species of bears that has evolved so that it can talk and form social groups, leaders, and culture. = interesting - A forest zone filled with several different species of evolved animals that have formed social statuses and cultures and are at war with each other for ownership of the forest. Players have to choose a side and fight for them to solve the zone. Not only that but the trees have evolved into partially mobile wood nymph species and sometimes come to life and move around, changing the layout of the zone and how you solve it. There are a few small ground dwellings hidden in the forest where ground dwarves who protect the forest live and they provide clues about the zone and have nice eq. In one area there is a pond with a water spirit that grants wishes if you help bring peace to the forest instead of fighting the war. = very interesting or - A city on the edge of a large lake. = boring - A city on the edge of a large lake that was recently invaded by a small species of dragons that travel in herds. = interesting - A city on the edge of a large lake recently invaded by a horse-sized dragon species that travels in herds and players may choose to assist the dragons and be rewarded for their evil deeds with gold, or they may assist the citizens and be rewarded in equipment and goods from the city. Their choice affects their alignment. There are multiple sub-plots throughout the zone of citizens and dragons who need special things done for them, and many clues you must solve to make your way throughout the zone. = very interesting These are only examples of detailed themes. There are endless possibilities. Please try to be creative and original! 2.) Mobs Once you have developed a theme you should plan to have mobs to fit it. The more detailed you make each mob the more interesting your zone will be. Mobs that have well-thought out names, personalities, and histories are more interesting than generic creatures to kill. Builders have choices of making mobs talk, adding clues throughout their zone, and many other tools in order to round out their zone's characters. Many builders have a habit of planning 2 or 3 "boss" mobs for a zone, and then filling the rest of the zone up with generic xp mobs. There is no reason not to have personalities for many of your mobiles! Here are examples of boring mobs vs. interesting mobs. - Boring mob: a bear - Interesting mob: a shaggy bear with a large scar on its side The second mob growls and complains of being attacked by an alligator. - Boring mob: a citizen - Interesting mob: Jakory, the town fiddler Jackory will give you the key to a tower in the musician's square if you return his fiddle to him. - Boring mob: a small dragon - Interesting mob: a lithe dragon the size of a horse The second mob does not take damage from fireshields and has a tendency to flee during battle. - Boring mob: a cook - Interesting mob: Martynor, the King's Chef Martynor proudly talks about the time he caught a spy trying to poison the King's food, and how he was given a reward of 15 of the King's finest chickens for the deed. Whether it has a proc, story, or simply has an interesting name, mobs do not have to be boring. 3.) Objects Objects do not have to be boring, and they don't have to be max stat equipment either. Many builders make the mistake of not loading smaller items of equipment to round out their zone. Sure, you can't have every item you load in your zone have fantastic stats, but it is more fun to an xper when they can examine the items on corpses to see if they are of worth to them, or to collect newbie eq for their clannies. Sometimes objects may just be for looks and have no stats at all. Objects are more fun when they are creatively named and have look at descriptions. If players constantly look at your items and "see nothing special", they begin to think there isn't much special about your zone. Put clues in your objects! Make visually appealing descriptions of their features. Add adjectives to their names. Here are some examples of boring and interesting objects: - Boring object: a hammer - Interesting object: a primitive hammer carved from granite The description of this object lends clues to the primitive nature of the people who live in the zone's caves. - Boring object: a flower - Interesting object: a sweet-scented sprig of oleander If the player puts oleander in the tea of the evil wizard it poisons him and frees the citizens of the zone. - Boring object: a chainmail shirt - Interesting object: a chainmail shirt made from links of hyranthium When you run the zone you find out that hyranthium is a unique metal found in the mines and the source of the city's economy. 4.) Map You don't have to have made your map before you apply to become a builder, but it is a good idea to at least have an idea of what it will be like. Graph paper is an excellent way to plan out your zone. Use each square as a room in your zone, and draw each level separately. It's a good idea to mark rooms that connect for different levels. Once you have your map, count your rooms. Whereas we don't require you send a map to apply to build, we do prefer you know approximately how many rooms you wish to use. Don't go overboard! If your zone is over 250-300 rooms it is probably too big! Try to scale down to be under this range. Most good zones are between 80-250 rooms. This is the size of zone that is easiest to balance, and contains the most interest for players. Remember that big isn't always better! 5.) Story When you write the story for your zone, be sure to check out ANNINDEX to find back issues of zone openings as examples. The type of story we want to see is a well developed one similar to those you see in the news. Good stories contain interesting details and are fun to read, kind of like a short story. It doesn't have to be LONG, but it should be creative and detailed. Many good stories only need 1 or 2 paragraphs to draw the reader in, whereas some take a lot more to cover all the details of the zone's history. Be wary of making your story TOO long since this can bore the reader. The best stories: - Give information about the setting of the zone (forest, lake, castle, city, mountain, swamp...) - Provide details about the zone's history (What happened there before the player heard about it?) - Give background on at least one of the zone's mobs (evil wizard taking over, trapped princess, etc.) - Tell the player why they want to go there (solve a mystery, do a good deed, etc.) - Don't give away the zone secrets, tell just enough to get the player interested but not enough to spoil the surprise. In a zone proposal it is okay to say "This is what happens once they get to the zone" and give a run-through of the way the zone is written. 6.) Room Descriptions Be *sure* to read the help at the bottom of Help BUILD_APP on room description guidelines. We have high standards for writing and your room description entries are a major element of your application. If you turn in something that looks like you just threw it together in a hurry, we are going to think of you as someone who either can't write, or doesn't take the time to write well. We don't want bad writers! Also, be sure to proofread your descriptions and use a spell checker if you are bad with spelling. If it looks like you cared about your work, it will make us care about your work. 7.) Procs (also known as Special Procedures) These are optional, and you don't really need many for your application if you do decide to include them. However, we highly recommend that you plan to have them in your final zone. All you have to do is design them, a programmer will code them for you once your zone nears completion. Pretty much anything is possible for procs, there is very little we cannot do, or cannot adapt into something equally as good. The question is whether or not the rest of your zone is well enough planned and executed to warrant having a programmer spend their time coding it for you. So for those of you who want to know "is this possible?" the answer is "yes, if your zone is worth it". If you follow the guidelines above for the other elements of a zone, it is very likely that your zone is worth the extra effort on our part. What are procs? Procs are deviations from normal game code. You can do all kinds of things with procs. For example, if you wanted a particular mob to be a coward, you could have a proc where it would shriek "AHHH DON'T KILL ME!!!" and run away from the player that attacked it. Ideally procs have to do with solving the zone, or provide clues for the zone. Sometimes small procs are added to give extra character or detail to a zone. You can make procs have to do with opening a door, killing a mob, finding something secret in a room, etc. Your imagination is the limit! GENERAL INFORMATION: Anybody can be a builder. Often people think they must know how to code to build a zone, but all you have to be able to do is read instructions and fill in the blanks. Rooms are created online with an easy to use set of commands that all have extensive help files. Mobs, objects, and zonefiles are created offline using an editor and all you have to do is fill in the blanks to create in it. You also are not required to comply to a strict schedule, we work with you to make your building schedule fit the time you have available. If you are creative, step forward and contribute to Medievia's zones! There is nothing holding you back. To wrap this up here is an abbreviated list of the elements that make a great zone proposal. Good luck! 1.) An exciting and detailed theme 2.) Interesting mobiles 3.) Unusual and well-placed objects 4.) A solid idea of how many rooms will be needed 5.) A creative and intriguing story 6.) Well-written room descriptions 7.) Innovative special procedures (procs) Send zone proposals to builderapp@medievia.com as a text email. Do not send attached files. We hire new builders regularly every 1-3 months from the best applications we have received. See Also: BUILD_APP APPLICATION BUILDER_FAQ JOBS