Starting a campaign/story map

[Karzama]

Hi all

I've recently been watching a bunch of videos about the Easter eggs and secrets in Warcraft's campaign and it got me thinking about making my own one

Although I've never made a proper campaign map.... So i wasn't really sure where to start with that kind of thing? I guess the story?

I also think I should keep the scale down so I might actually finish it!

My only idea so far is one where you could switch between different races or factions, where each one have a main quest or two but generally it's filled with secondary quests. You could build up allies or enemies with the other teams which I think could be a cool mechanic!

Like I said don't really know where to start with that kind of thing, any good tips for story maps?

 

[cleavinghammer]

You should try to at least have an overarching endgoal for the campaign. Other missions can be added and removed, but don't lose sight of this goal.

For example, conquering a kingdom, expelling invaders, killing a legendary monster...

 

[Cespie]

Hi all

I've recently been watching a bunch of videos about the Easter eggs and secrets in Warcraft's campaign and it got me thinking about making my own one

Although I've never made a proper campaign map.... So i wasn't really sure where to start with that kind of thing? I guess the story?

I also think I should keep the scale down so I might actually finish it!

My only idea so far is one where you could switch between different races or factions, where each one have a main quest or two but generally it's filled with secondary quests. You could build up allies or enemies with the other teams which I think could be a cool mechanic!

Like I said don't really know where to start with that kind of thing, any good tips for story maps?

Start with a blank and generic slate, and introduce the story to the player, little by little. You want the player to feel like they are discovering a living world with conflicts and secrets to explore, rather than force-feeding them a generic narrative that makes them feel like they're always a few steps behind in catching up with the story.
You want to let the player loose, and have them venture out on their own journey. Tie story progression into the progression of the players character. Have them start out with shitty chores, and killing critters in someone's backyard or etc. Don't send them off to kill Orthogalog, Lord of Death and Despair at level 3, don't send them off to handle a major political conflict early on either. They will not care about the world or any of the factions in it before you've built that up. Have a general outline for the main storyline of the map, and then add minor story elements that brings the world within it to life. The players are far more likely to care about saving a village of farmers from pillaging hordes, if they have interacted with those farmers beforehand. Give the NPCs names and personalities. Good stories are driven by characters, even the mundane ones.

 

[Karzama]

Thanks for the responses guys, haven't really touched this yet until I really get an idea of what I want to do. But your suggestions are very helpful

I'm thinking that there would be a special item each team/faction has that has to be rewarded to the player for completing a number of quests for them, or fighting them for it depending on what decisions you chose.

Then with all the items you can close a portal or something, not sure about that!

Unfortunately having some issues mixing dialogs and cinematics together... will have to do some further tests!